In 1953 William Bender was the chair of the Dept. of Physics at the University of South Dakota. In 1958 when Bender resigned, G. I. Moller was appointed acting chair until 1962 when Olen Kraus was appointed chair. Kraus resigned in 1967. William L. Hoffman served as chair at the time of departmental review and reorganization in 1970-1971. In May 1971 the departments of Geology and Physics were merged into a new department called the Department of Earth Sciences/Physics as a single administrative unit in the College of Arts & Sciences. Astronomy was also transferred from Mathematics to the new department effective for the 1972-1973 academic year. The chair of the newly formed department in the fall of 1971 was Robert Rutford, a geologist. Upon his resignation, Moller, a physicist, was appointed Acting Chairman for 1972-1973 and became chair in 1973. Professor Moller retired in 1977 and was replaced by Val Ansfield.