Lemuel A. Pittenger, 1927-1942

L. A. Pittenger was a native Hoosier, born in Delaware County and educated at Indiana State. He taught English at Muncie High School, was on the faculty of Indiana Normal School, taught at Bloomington High School, and became Head of the English Department at Kent State Normal School in 1913. He served three two-year terms in the Indiana House of Representatives from 1923 to 1927. Pittenger also became a professor of rural education at Ball State in 1923. He assumed the presidency of the college after the death of President Burris in 1927. In 1929, the Indiana General Assembly separated Ball Teachers College from the Indiana State Normal School and named it Ball State Teachers College. In March 1930, on the third attempt by President Pittenger, the North Central Association of College and Secondary Schools transferred Ball State from the list of teacher-training schools to the list of colleges and universities. During this period, several buildings were added to campus, including Burris Laboratory School, the Arts Building, and Elliott Hall. The Beneficence memorial to the Ball Brothers was dedicated in 1937. Pittenger resigned in December, 1942, due to illness. In 1952, he was elected to the Indiana State Senate.