Russell J. Hosler Biography

Russell J. Hosler spent the early years of his teaching career in the public schools of Montpelier, Fostoria, and Toledo, Ohio.  He received his Master of Arts from Toledo University in 1941. Between 1942 and 1944 he taught in the Naval Training Schools of Indiana University. He remained at Indiana University on the staff of the School of Business until 1946, the year that Indiana University awarded him a doctorate in education.  He then joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin to establish and implement a program in business teacher education. Dr. Hosler held rank of professor in the School of Business and in the School of Education at the University since 1954.

Dr. Hosler contributed extensively to the professional literature in business education. He authored chapters in several yearbooks of professional organizations and wrote numerous articles in professional magazines. He coauthored several textbooks in the areas of shorthand, including experimentation with programmed shorthand for the classroom, transcription, and typewriting. He assumed a lead role in writing the history of the National Business Education Association and editing the Frederick Nichols handwritten memoirs for publication.

He pioneered in the development of multiple channel dictation equipment for shorthand and methods and materials for using the equipment in the late 1950s and early 60s. He served as a consultant to schools in several states in connection with the installation of multi-channel equipment.

Russell J. Hosler made outstanding contributions to the progress of business education through his active participation in professional organizations.  In 1937-1938 he served as president of the Ohio Business Teachers Association.  He was the president of the National Business Teachers Association in 1955 and president of the National Association for Business Teacher Education from 1959-1961. Dr. Hosler was a member of the Council of the Associated Organizations for Teacher Education from 1959 to 1966, and he also served as a member of the executive committee of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education from 1963 to 1966. In 1966 he was elected to the executive board of the National Business Education Association from the North-Central Region for a three-year term. He had served a previous three-year term on the board from 1948 to 1951. In 1969 he served as president of the National Business Education Association.  NBEA called him to serve again in 1982, after he had been retired for six years, to chair the NBEA Building Fund.

In 1966 Dr. Hosler received the John Robert Gregg Award for his meritorious contributions to the development and advancement of business education. To mark his twenty-fifth anniversary at the University, Alpha Eta Chapter of DPE presented him with a bound copy of the articles he had published in that time.  A doctoral student at the University of Mississippi focused on Dr. Hosler by writing her dissertation on The Contributions of Russell J. Hosler to Business Education.

Upon his retirement in 1976, his department established the Russell J. Hosler Award to be presented annually to the individual completing the most outstanding doctoral dissertation.  Delta Pi Epsilon initiated the "Russell J. Hosler Lecture" to be delivered annually by an outstanding leader in business education.  To recognize his efforts in establishing the state association as well as his many contributions to business education, the Wisconsin Business Education Association initiated the Russ Hosler Fun/Run Walk in 1986.  They used to be held each year at the state conference.  The state of Ohio issued a Resolution and presented it to Dr. Hosler in 1987 on the event of fiftieth anniversary of his presidency of the Ohio Business Teachers Association.  The Resolution cited the "invaluable contributions of Russ Hosler to the field of business education."

-2019 Business Education National Hall of Fame, 1979-2019, 40th Anniversary. Copyright University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.