Gov. Mel Carnahan lost out to his father when it came to naming Southeast Missouri State University's renovated social science building.

The university officially dedicated the nearly century-old structure Wednesday afternoon, naming it A.S.J. Carnahan Hall in honor of the governor's father.

An educator, congressman and U.S. ambassador, Albert Sidney Johnson Carnahan died on March 24, 1968, at the age of 71.

His life took him from one-room schoolhouses in Carter County to the halls of Congress.

The Carnahan family -- including Mel Carnahan and his wife, Jean, and their children -- were among the 200 people who attended the outdoor dedication.

Don Dickerson, a friend of the governor and president of the university's Board of Regents, said school officials had considered naming the building in honor of Mel Carnahan.

But Dickerson jokingly told the governor that A.S.J. Carnahan won out in part because he wasn't a lawyer.

"Your father had the good sense to be a teacher after all and not a lawyer," said Dickerson. Like the governor, Dickerson is a lawyer.

But Dickerson suggested that the university would be happy to name another building after Mel Carnahan.

"The only trouble, Governor, we are fresh out of buildings," said Dickerson. The regent pointed out the need for state funding to help turn a former Catholic seminary into a Mississippi riverfront campus for the performing and visual arts.

Mel Carnahan said the naming of the social science building would have pleased his father, who graduated from Southeast in 1926. At that time it was known as Southeast Missouri State Teachers College.

Carnahan presented his father's university diploma to school officials.

He and Dickerson also unveiled a plaque for the renovated social science building and a large portrait of the elder Carnahan.

The governor said his father always cared about education and public service.

A.S.J. Carnahan grew up on a farm near Ellsinore, the youngest of 11 children. He served as a school administrator in Carter, Reynolds and Shannon counties.

He was elected to Congress in November 1944 and served seven terms. He retired in January 1961.

He was appointed in 1961 as the U.S. ambassador to the then newly independent African nation of Sierra Leone. He served in that post for two years.

Carnahan said his father, who was named after a Confederate general, always recognized that education was the key to a better life in rural Southeast Missouri.

Southeast's president, Dr. Dale Nitzschke, said the renovated social science building fits right in with the school's celebration of its 125th anniversary.

The anniversary theme is "Honoring Yesterday, Creating Tomorrow."

Faculty Senate Chairman Nancy Blattner said the building is both "a monument to the past and a promise to the future."

The building near Academic Hall was built in 1901-1902. It is the oldest structure on campus but was never formally named until the regents voted last month to name the structure after the former congressman.

The university closed the building in June 1993 because of structural problems.

It was latter gutted and renovated at a cost of $4.4 million. The stone exterior was preserved, but the interior was completely rebuilt.

The building, which houses the political science and history departments, reopened in August.