Robert L. Slagle

 Robert Lincoln Slagle was the ninth president of the University of South Dakota and served the second longest term.  Slagle graduated from Lafayette College and received advanced degrees from John Hopkins University.  Before accepting the Presidency of USD, he was president of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and South Dakota State University.  Slagle came to the university at a time when the school had been governed by a commission of deans.  Slagle's administration distinguished itself by administration development, increasing student enrollment and promoting events such as Dakota Days.  During Slagle’s tenure, the faculty grew to more than 80 members. In the later years of Slagle’s term, his health began to fail and in 1927 he announced his retirement.  In between 1927 and 1929, he had a series of strokes and on January 29, 1929 he died of heart failure.  The university administration building is named in his honor.