Faculty honors former professor

Tribute helps to remember his accomplishments

A crowd of retired and present faculty members cheered as a sculpture of former professor Nicholas Perkins Hardeman was unveiled in the University Library on Thursday.

The sculpture, marks the first tribute of its kind to a former professor at Cal State Long Beach.

Hardeman headed the history department at CSULB for three of his 30 years of teaching.

Among numerous other awards, Hardeman was named Outstanding Professor of the California State University System by the Board of Trustees in 1986.

The tribute, which was initiated by the Emeritus and Retired Faculty Association focused on remembering a man who prioritized the needs of his students, colleagues, and faculty.

"This man was a wonderful man and a very good teacher as a professor. Whenever someone had a problem he always went out of his way to help them," said Jerry Baylor, retired theater arts professor at Cal State University Long Beach.

Hardeman was born in 1923, and died over 3 years ago after a battle with Lymphoma Cancer.

Hardeman's wife, Ada Mae, and sons, Keith and Jim were also in attendance at the ceremony and considered the tribute a great honor.

"I think Perk' was well respected and beloved by his students and his colleges, who respected and admired him," Ada Mae Hardeman said.

The bronzed statue also serves as a remembrance of Richard Oden, the statue's sculptor and former head of the illustration department at CSULB.

Oden died several months after beginning the sculpture of Hardeman. CSULB alumna, Claudia Muller-Stach finished the sculpture by making the mold and casing for the sculpture Oden had begun.

"It was a unique situation for me. I wish he was here to see the piece completed, but I think he is here in spirit," Muller-Stach said.

The statue has been permanently placed in the Conference Room on the fifth floor of the University Library.