Corbin, Harry Finch, 1917-1990.

Harry Finch Corbin was born February 7, 1912 in Latham, Kansas. He moved to Wichita with his family in 1921 and attended Park Grade School, Central Intermediate School, and North and East High Schools. He was awarded a Rhodes scholarship in 1937, but his father's death forced Corbin to leave school in order to run the family oil brokerage business in Mattoon, Illinois.

Three years later he returned to Wichita and continued his studies. He received his bachelor of arts degree in 1940, and enrolled in law school at Stanford University. He married fellow Stanford student Sally Hyde in 1940 and transferred to the University of Chicago where he earned a bachelor of divinity degree. Following three years as a lieutenant in the Navy's Chaplain Corps, he completed his law degree at the University of Kansas in 1949.

Dr. Corbin joined the faculty of Wichita State University in 1946, as an assistant and then associate professor of political science and philosophy. At the time of his appointment to the presidency of the University in 1949, Corbin was the youngest college president in the United States. During his tenure as president 14 new buildings including the Frank Lloyd Wright designed College of Education building were constructed on the campus.

Corbin also developed ties between the University and Wichita community, brought educational television to Wichita, and was the driving force behind the admission of the University of Wichita into the Kansas Regents system in 1964. During Corbins' tenure as president enrollment increased from 3,300 students to 6,000 students. After he stepped down from the presidency of the University in 1963, Corbin continued to teach and be an active member of the faculty until his death in 1990.