James Dickason Hoskins held three UT degrees and had served in numerous administrative roles including dean of the College of Liberal Arts when he became UT’s 14th president. Under his leadership, the university successfully weathered the Great Depression and World War II to see student enrollment increase by the thousands. Hoskins retired as president emeritus in 1946 after more than 40 years of service at his alma mater, but he kept an office on campus where he worked on a history of UT. Hoskins Library was completed in 1931 and named after him in 1950.