Charles Bicknell Creager joined the Emporia
State University faculty in the fall of 1971 as the chair of the
Division of Physical Sciences and served until his retirement in
1984. The seventies were productive years for the physical
sciences under his leadership. He continued the tradition
established by S. Winston Cram of emphasizing teacher education while
promoting strong liberal arts majors in the physical science
disciplines. He oversaw the national accreditation of the
chemistry degree, the evolution of the earth science program from a
service function into a full major with both an undergraduate degree
and a graduate degree option, and the creation of pre-engineering
within physics. He introduced day-long workshops for high school
students which exposed participants to both laboratory experiments and
some of the social issues related to the sciences. He developed
the agreements that led to the involvement of ESU in the education of
senior nuclear reactor operators at Wolf Creek. He taught courses
ranging from photography to musical acoustics to advanced mechanics and
nuclear physics.
He was always proud of the support and
leadership given to the development of Science and Mathematics
Education Center, the Geology Museum, and the outdoor rock garden that
bears his name.
Active in professional organizations such as
the American Physical Society (APS)
and the American Association of Physics
Teachers (AAPT), he was president of both the Kansas Academy of
Science and the regional section of AAPT.
Charles Creager was born October 5, 1924, in
Bicknell, Indiana, a town named after his great grandfather. In
1942 he left high school to work at Patterson Field in Dayton,
Ohio. In 1943 he joined the Navy; he was discharged in 1946
shortly after completing flight training.
Immediately after the war, he entered Case
Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio as an architecture
major. After being named "the most promising architect of the
year" in his sophomore year, he switched to physics and subsequently
received a B.S. degree in 1951. He stayed on to earn the M.S. in
physics in 1953. He entered the Ph.D. program in nuclear physics
at Indiana University in 1956, and received the degree in 1959.
After his graduation from Case Western
Reserve, he joined the faculty of Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina,
Kansas as a physics instructor and, after completing his doctorate,
returned as chair of the science department, a position he held until
coming to Emporia State.
Charles Creager had a lifelong interest in the
arts and the cultural life of his community. While at ESU he
enjoyed avocations as a pianist and a painter and even did some
acting. A leader in his church, president of the Emporia Arts
Council and the Breakfast Lions Club, and a member of both the National
Historic Preservation Society and the Kansas Historical Society, he was
also a long-standing advocate of equality and civil rights, a member of
Common Cause, the ACLU, and the advisory board of the first Kansas
Civil Rights Commission.
His fairness, friendliness, and sense of humor
were cherished by those who knew him. Membership in his "Good Egg
Society," which recognized a few people who have gone beyond the call
of duty, was a highly coveted honor. Charles B. Creager is
acknowledged as the best "Good Egg" of all. He resided in Emporia
until his passing on August 1, 2004.
Page contents excerpted from the Dedication of the Creager Rock Garden
program, April 24, 1993.
Page posted 8/6/04 by Jim Johnson, johnsoja@emporia.edu