George Beto was a criminal-justice expert, teacher, and Lutheran minister. Beto served as President of Concordia University from 1949 to 1959 and became director and chief of chaplains for the Texas Department of Corrections in 1962. Beto was also a professor of criminology and corrections at SHSU from 1972 until his retirement in 1991.

The Beto Criminal Justice Center was renamed in his honor in 1992.