Roy A. Seaton

Associated with the university over a longer period of time than all but one other individual, Roy A. Seaton came to be thought of as “Mr. K-State Engineering.” Seaton studied engineering at K-State, the University of Wisconsin and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He held bachelor’s and master’s degrees from K-State, the S.B. degree from MIT and an honorary Doctor of Science from Northeastern University, Boston. After graduation in 1904, Seaton joined the K-State faculty as an assistant in mathematics and advanced to become dean of engineering in 1920.

He retired from administrative duties in 1949 at age 65 but continued to serve as building expediter until 1954. His career spanned half a decade as a K-State educator. When he retired from K-State in 1954, Seaton was tapped as academic director for the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. He was in charge of organizing and directing undergraduate and graduate technical programs for the Air Force.

Seaton was a national president of the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education, later known as the American Society for Engineering Education. He was awarded the Lamme Medal in 1942 in recognition of his contributions to war training during World War II. He was a director of the National Council of State Boards of Engineering Examiners and served for nearly a quarter of a century as chairman of the Kansas Registration Board for Professional Engineers. He also had been president of the Kansas Engineering Society.