April 24, 2002

Tony George, Shelton Hannig
to receive honorary degrees

Tony George

Shelton Hannig

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Anton Hulman George and Shelton Hannig will receive honorary degrees from Indiana State University during its 131st Commencement Ceremony.

The ceremony begins at 2 p.m. May 4 in Hulman Center. George and Hannig will each receive a Doctor of Laws degree.

Anton Hulman George, at the age of 42, has already earned an international reputation for leadership and service in business and the sport of auto racing. It is this service and leadership that ISU recognizes by awarding George an honorary doctor of laws degree. George, president and chief executive officer of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since 1989, has led a program of expansion, investment, and redesign that has preserved the 91-year home of the Indy 500 as the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing." In 1994, George further enhanced the reputation of the Speedway by bringing the NASCAR Winston Cup racing series to Indianapolis with institution of the Brickyard 400 event. That same year, to preserve the traditions and excitement of open-wheel oval racing, George founded the Indy Racing League which features 15 races across the country.

George, a 1985 business administration graduate of Indiana State University, is also active in civic and community activities. He serves on the Boards of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, the Terre Haute Boys and Girls Club, the Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Development Committee of Indiana State University’s Foundation Board. George and his family are well-known throughout Indiana for their philanthropic activities.

He and his wife, Laura, reside in Indianapolis with their three children. 

Shelton M. Hannig has been a business and civic leader in Terre Haute and the Wabash Valley since 1949. Born in Chicago in 1923, Hannig earned a bachelor of arts degree in engineering in 1948 from the University of Illinois — Champaign/Urbana and completed studies in advanced structures at the University of Minnesota. He served in both World War II, earning a commission in the Chemical Corp in 1943, and the Korean War.

In 1948 he moved to Terre Haute as an architect/builder with the firm of Yeager Architects. Yeager Architects was the firm chosen by the then Indiana State Teachers College to complete the physical expansion of the campus. Hannig served as architectural supervisor and structural designer for many of the University’s buildings. Thus began the 50-year relationship between Hannig and the University, which is being recognized at Commencement 2002 by the presentation to Hannig of an honorary doctor of laws degree. 

Now residing in Sedona, Ariz., with his wife, Muriel, Hannig still holds the office of president of his first architectural/engineering firm and as president of March, Inc. Architects-Engineers; Shelton Hannig Construction Inc.; and Construction Consultants, Inc. Hannig and his wife have three children and two grandchildren.

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