{{short description|American biochemist}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Lorene Rogers | image = Lorene Rogers.jpg | caption = | order = 21st | title = President of the University of Texas at Austin | term_start = 1974 | term_end = 1979 | predecessor = Stephen Hopkins Spurr | successor = Peter T. Flawn | birth_date = {{Birth date|1914|4|3}} | birth_name = | birth_place = Prosper, Texas | death_date = {{death date and age|2009|1|11|1914|4|3}} | death_place = Dallas, Texas | alma_mater = University of North Texas<br/>University of Texas at Austin | profession = Biochemistry | spouse = | children = | website = | footnotes = }}
'''Lorene Lane Rogers''' (April 3, 1914 – January 11, 2009) was an American biochemist and educator who served as the 21st President of the University of Texas at Austin.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://president.utexas.edu/past-presidents/lorene-lane-rogers|title=Lorene Lane Rogers {{!}} Office of the President {{!}} The University of Texas at Austin|website=president.utexas.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-08-05|date=2016-01-12}}</ref> She has been described as the first woman in the United States to lead a major research university.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/26/education/26rogers.html|title=Lorene Rogers, President of University of Texas in '70s, Is Dead at 94|last=Hevesi|first=Dennis|work=The New York Times |date=26 January 2009 |access-date=2018-08-05|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://news.utexas.edu/2009/01/12/former-university-president-lorene-rogers-dies-at-age-94|title=Former University President Lorene Rogers Dies at Age 94|date=2009-01-12|work=UT News {{!}} The University of Texas at Austin|access-date=2018-08-05|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-lorenerogers28-2009jan28-story.html|title=Lorene Rogers dies at 94; former University of Texas president|last=Reports|first=Times Staff and Wire|website=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2018-08-05|date=2009-01-28}}</ref>
==Early life and education== Born on April 3, 1914, in Prosper, Texas, as Lorene Lane, she was awarded a bachelor's degree from North Texas State Teachers College (now the University of North Texas), majoring in English. She met her husband, Burl Gordon Rogers,<ref>Burl Gordon Rogers (1914–1941) graduated from the University of North Texas in 1935 with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry (North Texas Yucca Yearbook)</ref> while an undergraduate. After graduating from North Texas, Rogers became a school teacher. Her husband, Burl Rogers, was a chemist. He had graduated from the University of North Texas in 1935 with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and taught at the University of Texas until about 1940. Around that time, he accepted a job from a chemical company, General Aniline Works, in Linden, New Jersey, where, in 1941, he died from injuries of a laboratory explosion.<ref name=NYTObit>Hevesi, Dennis. [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/26/education/26rogers.html "Lorene Rogers, President of University of Texas in ’70s, Is Dead at 94"], ''The New York Times'', January 25, 2009. Accessed January 26, 2009.</ref>
At a time when biochemistry was a "field dominated by men", Rogers decided to follow in her husband's footsteps, figuring that "if he liked chemistry so well, that she wanted to pursue it also." She earned a master's degree and a doctoral degree in biochemistry from the University of Texas at Austin and taught at Sam Houston State College (now Sam Houston State University) before returning to Austin, Texas.<ref name=NYTObit/>
==University career== Rogers had been a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, but her application in 1962 for a teaching position was rejected, despite the fact that she had already taught courses in the chemistry department. She ultimately was given a position as a professor of nutrition in the university's home economics department, before becoming a full professor, assistant director of a biochemical institute, associate dean of graduate studies and vice president.<ref name=NYTObit/>
Rogers was named as interim president of the university in September 1974, succeeding Dr. Stephen H. Spurr, who had just been dismissed after becoming the school's fifth president in a six-year period.<ref name=NYTObit/><ref>Staff. [https://www.nytimes.com/1974/09/26/archives/u-of-texas-head-ousted-in-dispute-woman-is-appointed-acting.html "U. OF TEXAS HEAD OUSTED IN DISPUTE; Woman Is Appointed Acting President by Chancellor"], ''The New York Times'', September 26, 1974. Accessed January 26, 2009.</ref> She became president in 1975, and was variously described as the first woman to be president of a major state university or was believed to be the first. Faculty members were critical of the appointment, claiming that they should have been involved in the selection process, and protest rallies were conducted by faculty and students demanding that she resign.<ref name=NYTObit/><ref>Sterba, James P. [https://www.nytimes.com/1975/09/28/archives/campus-protests-u-of-texas-head-new-president-is-opposed-by-faculty.html "CAMPUS PROTESTS U. OF TEXAS HEAD; New President Is Opposed by Faculty and Students"], ''The New York Times'', September 28, 1975. Accessed January 26, 2009.</ref> President Rogers and the Board of Regents were the target of a 1975 lawsuit filed by Philip L. White and seven other UT Austin professors, who claimed that they had been denied raises as part of an effort to stifle their dissent, in violation of the First Amendment rights.<ref>Staff. [https://www.nytimes.com/1975/10/01/archives/7-professors-sue-u-of-texas-head-they-say-she-denied-raises-to.html "7 PROFESSORS SUE U. OF TEXAS HEAD; They Say She Denied Raises to Stifle Campus Dissent"], ''The New York Times'', October 1, 1975. Accessed January 26, 2009.</ref> She served as president of the university until 1979.<ref name=NYTObit/>
In a 1975 profile, Rogers described how she had "never been one who pushed ahead and scratched the walls trying to climb my way up". She stated that "I had no plans or ambitions to become a career woman. If my husband had lived, I probably would have been a housewife."<ref name=NYTObit/>
William C. Powers, president of The University of Texas at Austin at the time of her death, described how Rogers was "the first and only woman to serve as president of the university, a position she accepted under difficult circumstances. She was not afraid to make tough decisions."<ref name=NYTObit/>
Rogers served as a director of Texaco starting in 1976, serving until 1989.<ref>Gilpin, Kenneth N. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE4DD113EF937A15752C0A96F948260 "Fund's Choice Joining Texaco Board"], ''The New York Times'', January 24, 1989. Accessed January 26, 2009.</ref>
Rogers died at age 94 on January 11, 2009, of natural causes in Dallas.<ref name=NYTObit/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-aca}} {{succession box | before=Stephen H. Spurr | title=President of University of Texas at Austin | after=Peter T. Flawn | years=1974-1979 }} {{s-end}}
{{University of Texas at Austin presidents}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Lorene Lane}} Category:1914 births Category:2009 deaths Category:American women biochemists Category:People from Prosper, Texas Category:Presidents of the University of Texas at Austin Category:University of Texas at Austin alumni Category:University of Texas at Austin faculty Category:University of North Texas alumni Category:20th-century American women scientists Category:20th-century American chemists Category:Women heads of universities and colleges Category:21st-century American women Category:20th-century American academics Category:20th-century American women academics