George F. Beatty papers

From 1942 to 1945, George F. Beatty served in China, India, and Assam as a staff sergeant with the meteorology section of the United States Army Air Force. After World War II, he attended Ball State, receiving his bachelor's degree in 1949. Beatty proceeded onto graduate study in geography and geology at the University of Illinois, where he received both his master's and PhD. While at Illinois, he returned to India on a Fulbright student scholarship from 1953 to 1954 and later on a Fulbright faculty scholarship from 1963 to 1964. Beatty's research concentrated on Calcutta and northeastern India. During his stays there, he worked with Indians to modernize their economy, enabling them to compete with their northern, communist neighbor: China. One such endeavor was the Damodar River Valley Project, which was patterned after the Tennessee Valley Authority.

In 1965, Beatty returned to Ball State as chairman of the geography-geology department, which was created that same year. In the summers of 1979 and 1980 and in the spring of 1981, he spent more time working and researching in India. After teaching 25 years as a professor at Ball State, he retired in 1983. George F. Beatty died in 2003.

Information obtained from The Muncie Star, August 16, 1964 and March 6, 1983