UI Alumni Association Hall of Fame - 1975
Back to Hall of Fame Index | Awards Home

Terrell H. Bell
Terrel H. Bell earned his master's degree from the University of Idaho in 1954. Before coming to UI, he was a science teacher and athletic coach at Eden Rural High School in Eden, Idaho, for eight years. From 1947 to 1954, he served as superintendent of the Rockland Valley School District in Idaho.

In 1955, Bell became superintendent of schools in the Star Valley School District in Afton, Wyoming. From 1957 to 1962, he served as superintendent of schools in the Weber County School District in Ogden, Utah. He was chairman of the Department of Educational Administration at Utah State University from 1962 to 1963. He was appointed Utah's superintendent of public instruction in 1963 and remained at that post until he joined the Office of Education in 1970. In April, 1974, Bell was nominated by former President Nixon to be the 21st Commissioner of Education in the 107-year history of the United States Office of Education.

Bell has received the Council of State School Officers Distinguished Service Award and is a member of the honor society of Phi Kappa Phi. His other accolades include the Certificate of Appreciation from the U. S. Office of Education (1971); the National Adult Education Outstanding Service Award (1971); the Secretary's Special Citation from the U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare and the Distinguished Service to American Education Award from the Council of Chief State School Officers (1970). The Weber County Board of Education designated a new secondary school as the T. H. Bell Junior High School in 1963.

Born in Lava Hot Springs, Bell received his doctorate in educational administration from the University of Utah in 1961 and has studied school administration as a Ford Foundation Fellow at Stanford University. He is the author of five published books and numerous articles on educational subjects.

During World War II, Bell served for 26 months in the Pacific and was discharged as a first sergeant in the U. S. Marine Corps. In 1957, he was married to Betty Ruth Fitzgerald. They have four sons.

Bruce E. Colwell
Bruce E. Colwell, a native of Wallace, graduated from the University of Idaho in 1950 with a bachelor's degree in forestry. Upon graduation, Colwell worked with the Clearwater Potlatch Timber Protective Association as a forester and road locator, and then with U. S. Army Engineers as a topographic mapper in Alaska. He returned to the Clearwater Potlatch Timber Protective Association in 1951.

In 1952, Colwell became a forester and road locator in the Coeur d' Alene area for The Ohio Match Company, where he served as construction foreman, logging superintendent and as timber and land manager. In 1959, he started working for Diamond International Corporation as logging superintendent in Coeur d'Alene.

Colwell was promoted to timber and lands manager for the Northwest Lumber Division of Diamond International in 1961 and became general manager of the division in 1964. In April, 1972, he was appointed vice-president and general manager of the Northwest Lumber Division and was promoted to corporate vice-president in charge of all company lumber and plywood manufacturing operations in the Northwest, California and the New England states in 1974. In addition, he manages all the corporation's timberlands.

Colwell is active in many logging and forestry groups. He is a past resident and member of the board of directors for the Intermountain Logging Conference; past vice chairman of the Forest Practices Committee of Region Two of Western Wood Products Association; a member of the Society of American Foresters and a past president of the Coeur d' Alene Log Owners Association and the North Idaho Forestry Association. He also has served on the board of directors of the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry, the Timber Products Manufacturers, Inc., Associated Taxpayers of Idaho, and the Inland Forest Resource Council.

He is active in the Priest River Protective Association, and has served as a member of the National Resources Council of the Federation Rocky Mountain States. He also is a board member of the Idaho State Chamber of Commerce, the governor's Natural Resources Advisory Council, and the UI College of Forestry's Advisory Council. He is a past chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Coeur d' Alene School District and is a member of the Coeur d'Alene rotary club.