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The Distinguished Educator Award, established in 1986, recognizes outstanding service and dedication to education. After graduating from Mansfield with a B.S. in Music Education in 1952, Harley Rex went on to earn his Master of Music from the University of Michigan in 1954. He did postgraduate work at American University, the University of Virginia, and the Eastman School of Music.
In 1972 he received his D.M.A. in performance and theory from Michigan. Rex served in the Army from 1955-62, performing with the U.S. Army Band and Chorus. In 1962, he accepted a teaching position at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, TX. During his tenure he directed the jazz band, marching band, concert band, and saxophone ensemble. He organized and wrote the curriculum for the university’s music therapy program and taught some of the most popular classes in the music department until his retirement on 1997.
Rex also served ten years as the Music Department’s assistant chair and summer chair. Among his other accomplishments, Rex developed a music program for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and played with the Houston Symphony for 16 years. In 2004 he received a Humanitarian Award (Huntsville) for contributions and dedication to the continuation of academic excellence.
He and his wife Marjorie (Brodrick), a 1958 Mansfield graduate, are the parents of three children: Donald, David, and Cynthia.