This information about the J.W.F. Wilkinson Men's Residence Hall and J.W.F. Wilkinson is provided in the dedication program:
J.W.F. Wilkinson Men's Residence Hall:
"Scheduled for opening in September, 1971, the J.W.F. Wilkinson Men's Residence Hall is very nearly identical to the Bertha V. Nair Women's Residence Hall. This seven floor structure, adjacent to Nair Hall, also has a capacity of 450 students, a square footage of 97,400 and was built at a cost of $3.31 million. The building also contains student public lounges, study lounges, vestibules and reception areas, galleries, recreation and television rooms, kitchenettes and vending areas, project rooms, exercise rooms and student laundries. Reinforced concrete frame construction, faced with red brick, is also the motif in this residence hall, with masonry walls and supporting built-up roofs. Windows are of aluminum. As in Nair Hall, driveways and parking areas will be of bituminous construction, with sidewalks, exterior concrete stairs and elevators included."
J.W.F. Wilkinson:
"Dr. J.W.F. Wilkinson came to Clarion State College in 1898 and served the institution until his retirement in the spring of 1935. For thirty-one years of his long tenure he was Dean of Instruction as well as Chairman of the Mathematics Department. He was Acting Principal of Clarion State Normal in 1926 and again in 1928. Born in 1865, Dr. Wilkinson received his secondary education in Friends Academy in New Jersey, well before public high schools became commonplace. He earned both his A.B. and his A.M. at Princeton University, the latter in 1896 shortly before coming to Clarion. He did additional graduate work at Columbia and was awarded the Honorary Doctorate by Grove City College. Although still in his twenties when he came to Clarion, Dr. Wilkinson had already had considerable experience as an educator. He began his professional career as principal of a preparatory school in Shelburn Falls, Massachusetts, and in succeeding years was supervisor and teacher in a high school in Brooklyn and elementary principal in Rahway, New Jersey. During the 1898 term he taught at West Chester State College, then West Chester State Normal. A man of strong community interests, Dr. Wilkinson was an active member of the First Methodist Church of Clarion and the Kiwanis Club, serving as District Lieutenant Governor of the latter. He was a devoted Mason in the Clarion Lodge No. 277 F. & A.M., and also a member of the Coudersport Consistory and the Knights Templar of Oil City. Through these non-college relationships and his long time residence on Wood Street near the Presbyterian Church he became a kind of symbol of the union of Town and Gown, and he continued his lively interest in collegiate and local affairs until the end of his long life in 1957. Clarion State College is proud to dedicate its new seven story residence for men to Dr. Wilkinson in recognition of his long service as faculty member and dean."
