Born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on June 28, 1888, George Albert Selke was a champion of public education in Minnesota. He taught at multiple rural schools before studying at St. Cloud State Teachers College (today, St. Cloud State University) and the University of Minnesota. In the years following World War I, he served as superintendent of schools, director of elementary and high schools for the Minnesota State Department of Education, and director of the Minnesota chapter of the National Youth Administration (NYA) of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). After completing a master’s degree from Columbia University in 1926, he lectured at the University of Minnesota and St. Cloud State Teachers College, where he also served as president. In 1946, the college’s sports field was named Selke Field in his honor.

In August 1943, Selke took a leave of absence to join the war effort. Stationed at SHAEF headquarters in London, he helped devise the occupation plans for Germany and Austria before being transferred to the Allied Military Government in Italy and Austria. He was assigned temporary duty with the MFAA in November 1945 as acting chief of the Education, Religion, Fine Arts, and Monuments Office of the US Military Government for Land Salzburg. In this position, he worked alongside Monuments Men Captain Charles R. Sattgast and Lieutenant Colonel Ernest T. DeWald to facilitate the recovery and return of works of art and other cultural objects looted by the Nazis and stored within the jurisdiction of the US Forces Austria (USFA). During his brief service as a Monuments Man, Selke participated in the movement of the Hertziana Library collection from the Hallein salt mines, the transfer of Polish works of art and books from Schloss Fischhorn to the Wiesbaden Central Collecting Point, and the removal of a collection of Tibetan artifacts from Schloss Mittersill.

Though he returned to the United State in June 1946, first back to his role at St. Cloud and then as chancellor of the University of Montana, he was called back to Germany in 1951. There, he served as deputy chief of the Education and Cultural Relations Division of the US High Commissioner for Germany (HICOG). He was also selected as chief of the Division of Cultural Affairs. One of only five Americans appointed to the United States Educational Commission, he played an important role in the postwar planning of West Germany’s education system.

After completing his service with HICOG in 1953, Selke returned home to Minnesota and became a legal advisor to Governor Orville Freeman. Selke followed Freeman to Washington, DC, when the latter was named Secretary of Agriculture in the Kennedy Administration. Selke reportedly refused an invitation from senator and future vice president Hubert H. Humphrey to run for governor of Minnesota, instead choosing an appointment as part-time consultant and advisor to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. He was elected president of the American Association of Teachers Colleges, member of the National Education Association, and member of the National Committee on Colleges and Civil Defense. He authored Rural School Administration and Supervision (1926) and Handbook for County Superintendents of Schools (1935).

George Selke died in Portland, Oregon, on October 2, 1970. In October 2003, St. Cloud State University hosted “Salute to Selke,” an outdoor pep rally commemorating his years of devoted service to not only the university but the entire state of Minnesota.