School of Health Sciences - Harold S. Bailey, Jr.
1998 Distinguished Alumnus

Following his graduation from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in 1944, Dr. Bailey joined the war effort and was stationed at the 118th Station Hospital, Fukuoka, Japan, as chief pharmacist of the 500-bed facility. After the war, he resumed his education at Massachusetts, earning an M.S.; his doctoral studies were at Purdue, where he also was an instructor. He began teaching at South Dakota State University (SDSU) in 1951 and gained full-professor status in 1958, continuing as a professor until his retirement in 1985.

Dr. Bailey also assumed many educational administration responsibilities throughout his long tenure at SDSU. Beginning as director of the Radiation Laboratory in 1959, he subsequently held positions as head of the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, dean of academic affairs, dean of the graduate school, and, in 1976, became vice president for academic affairs.

In this latter position, which he also held until his 1985 retirement, he was responsible to the university president for the coordination and administration of the total instructional program of the university through the deans of the eight colleges and the graduate school. This involved the principal activities of curriculum coordination and reorganization; administration of university academic policy; analysis of faculty functions and approval of new staff additions where necessary; coordination and planning of new academic buildings and presentation of needs to Regents of Education and legislature committees; coordination of catalog revisions including justification to the Regents for new courses and curriculum; and recommendation to the president of requests for contract renewal, promotion, and tenure of instructional personnel.

In addition to his academic and administrative duties, Dr. Bailey also held statewide and national higher education positions, including secretary of the South Dakota Regents of Education Interinstitutional Committee for Educational Coordination (1963-71); project director, Regents of Education and South Dakota Legislative Research Council, Space Utilization Study of Public-Supported Higher Education Institutions (1965); Project director, Regents of Education, Space Utilization Study, SDSU School of Medicine (1966); member, Regents of Education Academic Advisory Council (1971-85); director, South Dakota Departmental Leadership Institute for the Board of Regents and the American Council on Education (1979-85); and director, North Dakota Departmental leadership Institute (1981-85).

His research interests have included the areas of biopharmacology, radiation biology, and dental pharmacy, with particular emphasis on the effects of high-level radiation on blood components and the effect of protein anabolic agents on dental tissues. The results of his research have been published in the Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association, the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, the Journal of Dental Research, and the Proceedings of the South Dakota Pharmaceutical Association. He also was editor of the South Dakota Journal of Medicine and Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Section, from 1953-61, at the time the only cooperative professional publication of its type.

Dr. Bailey's involvement in community service has included the Kiwanis Club of Brookings as past president and current secretary; Masonic Orders AF and AM, Royal Arch and Commandry (1963-present); the Methodist Church (1953-present); Boy Scouts of America (1953-62); and, at Brookings Hospital/Brookview manor, president (1991-present) and board of trustees member (1989-present).

He has honorary and biographical listings in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the Midwest, Who's Who in American College and University Administration, Who's Who in American Education, the World Who's Who in Community Service, Outstanding Educators of America, Men of Achievement, Community Leaders of America, The Blue Book, 1970, and others. Among the honors Dr. Bailey has received are memberships in Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Xi, Phi Lambda Upsilon, and Rho Chi; he is a fellow of both the America Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education and the American Association for the Advancement of Science; Vice President for Academic Affairs Emeritus and Distinguished Professor of Higher Education (1985); and recipient of the Liberty Bell Award for voluntary community service (1997). Harold S. Bailey Hall, on the SDSU campus, was dedicated in 1994.

He and his wife, Barbara Ann (Dewey), were married September 4, 1946. They have five children: Cynthia Ann Kodis, Lynda Jeanne Bailey, Gwen Ellen Myers, Pamela Louise Berg, and Harold Stevens Bailey III. The Baileys have nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.