Indiana University. President

The first president of what was then Indiana College was elected by the Board of Trustees in 1829. Elvis J. Stahr, Jr. served as president of Indiana University from 1962-1968.

From the description of Indiana University President's Office records, 1962-1968. (Indiana University). WorldCat record id: 206408724

In 1972, Indiana University alumnus George Taliaferro was named Special Assistant to IU President John Ryan. While he assisted Ryan on a number of fronts, at the time of his hiring, his stated responsibilities were to include the development of equal opportunity policies and programs for staff and students on all of the IU campuses and assisting in recruiting and counseling minority students. One of his first assignments upon entering the position was to coordinate the Affirmative Action plan at IU. In 1982, Taliaferro was reassigned to the dean's office of the School of Social Work.

From the guide to the Special Assistant to the President's records, 1970-1983, (Indiana University Office of University Archives and Records Management http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives)

The first President of what was then Indiana College was elected by the Board of Trustees in 1829. William Lowe Bryan served as president of Indiana University 1902-1937.

From the description of Indiana University President's Office correspondence, 1902-1913. (Indiana University). WorldCat record id: 71003319

Myles Brand served as president of Indiana University 1994-2002.

From the description of President Myles Brand speeches, 1994-2001, bulk 1995-1997. (Indiana University). WorldCat record id: 658046840

The first president of what was then Indiana College was elected by the Board of Trustees in 1829. Gerald L. Bepko served as interim president of Indiana University January through July 2003.

From the description of Indiana University President's Office records, 1996-2003, bulk Jan.-June 2003. (Indiana University). WorldCat record id: 70822676

The first president of what was then Indiana College was elected by the Board of Trustees in 1829. Joseph L. Sutton came to IU as an instructor in the Dept. of Political Science in 1955 and continued to advance until he came to serve as the thirteenth president of Indiana University from 1968-1971.

From the description of Indiana University President's Office records, 1964-1974, bulk 1968-1971. (Indiana University). WorldCat record id: 191072316

Andrew Wylie assumed the position as the first president of Indiana College in 1829. He died on 11 November 1851 of pneumonia, which he developed after accidentally cutting his leg while chopping wood.

From the description of Indiana University President's Office records, 1820-1851. (Indiana University). WorldCat record id: 52075738

Please see the biography by James Capshew available online at: http://www.indiana.edu/~libarch/Wells/wellsbio.html

From the guide to the President Herman B Wells speeches, 1937-1962, (Indiana University Office of University Archives and Records Management http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives)

Herman B Wells served as President of Indiana University from 1938-1962.

From the description of President Herman B Wells speeches, 1937-1962. (Indiana University). WorldCat record id: 44169539

Adam W. Herbert served as President of Indiana University 2003-2007.

From the description of President Adam W. Herbert speeches, 2003-2008, bulk 2004-2007. (Indiana University). WorldCat record id: 318214094

Joseph Swain served as president of Indiana University 1893-1902.

From the description of Indiana University President's Office records, 1893-1902. (Indiana University). WorldCat record id: 49358727

Adam W. Herbert served as the 17th president of Indiana University from 2003-2007 and has the distinction of serving IU as its first African American president.

From the guide to the President Adam W. Herbert speeches, 2003-2008, bulk 2004-2007, (Indiana University Office of University Archives and Records Management http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives)

The first president of what was then Indiana College was elected by the Board of Trustees in 1829. Herman B Wells was named interim president in 1937 and president in 1938, a position he held until 1962. Please see Jim Capshew’s brief biography of Herman Wells at http://www.indiana.edu/~libarch/Wells/wellsbio.html.

From the guide to the Indiana University President's Office records, 1937-1962, (Indiana University Office of University Archives and Records Management http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives)

Elvis J. Stahr served as President of Indiana University from 1962-1968.

From the description of Speeches of President Elvis J. Stahr, 1962-1968. (Indiana University). WorldCat record id: 44169478

The first president of what was then Indiana College was elected by the Board of Trustees in 1829. After the resignation of President Elvis Stahr, the Board of Trustees asked University Chancellor and former president Herman B Wells to serve as the interim president. He served in this role September 1, 1968 through November 30, 1968.

From the description of Indiana University President's Office records, 1967-1969, bulk Aug.-Dec. 1968. (Indiana University). WorldCat record id: 188062151

The first president of what was then Indiana College was elected by the Board of Trustees in 1829. William Lowe Bryan served as president of Indiana University 1902-1937.

From the description of Indiana University President's Office correspondence, 1913-1937. (Indiana University). WorldCat record id: 262829880

The first president of what was then Indiana College was elected by the Board of Trustees in 1829. Herman B Wells was named interim president in 1937 and president in 1938, a position he held until 1962.

From the description of Indiana University President's Office records, 1937-1962. (Indiana University). WorldCat record id: 285183827

This series of conferences was held annually at Indiana University from 1950 through 1956. They were organized by a committee under the general direction of the university president's office in cooperation with the U.S. Dept. of State and with funding from the Lilly Endowment.

The conferences sought to bring State Dept. officials together with academic and civic leaders from the Midwest for frank discussions of current foreign policy problems.

From the description of Conference on Problems of American Foreign Policy records, 1950-1961 (bulk 1950-1956). (Indiana University). WorldCat record id: 56937534

Lemuel Moss served as president of Indiana University 1875-1884.

After spending a short while as president of the University of Chicago, Moss came to Indiana University in 1875 to accept the position of president. During his presidency, IU underwent a great deal of changes, but foremost was the relocation of the campus after a fire in 1883. Moss resigned in 1884 amidst a scandal involving himself and a female professor at the university.

From the description of Indiana University President's Office records, 1880-1884, bulk 1882-1884. (Indiana University). WorldCat record id: 47441190

David Starr Jordan served as president of Indiana University 1885-1891.

During Jordan's tenure, the university grew in leaps and bounds and despite his reservations about taking the post, Jordan was so successful in this position that Senator and Mrs. Leland Stanford asked him to head the new university named for their deceased son. He accepted and recruited some of the more prominent Indiana faculty to accompany him to California.

From the description of Indiana University President's Office records, 1884-1891. (Indiana University). WorldCat record id: 47706794

John W. Ryan served as Indiana University president 1971-1987.

Ryan first came to IU in 1951 as a graduate student after completing his undergraduate work at the University of Utah. A scholar and administrator, Ryan served in a number of acadmic administrative positions around the country. Positions held at IU include research associate in the Program in Public Admnistration in Thailand, 1955-1957, Assistant Director of the Institute of Training for Public Service on the Bloomington Campus, 1957-1958, and Vice-President and Chancellor for Regional Campuses, 1968-1971.

From the description of President John W. Ryan speeches, 1971-1987. (Indiana University). WorldCat record id: 47195258

In 1972, George Taliaferro was named Special Assistant to Indiana University President John Ryan.

While Taliaferro assisted Ryan on a number of fronts, at the time of his hiring, his stated responsibilities were to include the development of equal opportunity policies and programs for staff and students on all of the IU campuses and assisting in recruiting and counseling minority students. One of his first assignments upon entering the position was to coordinate the Affirmative Action plan at IU. In 1982, Taliaferro was reassigned to the dean's office of the School of Social Work.

From the description of Indiana University Special Assistant to the President's records, 1970-1983. (Indiana University). WorldCat record id: 48800836

William Lowe Bryan served as Indiana University president 1902-1937.

Bryan first came to IU as a student, graduating in 1884 with a degree in ancient classics. After graduation Bryan went on to become an instructor and subsequently associate professor of philosophy. Bryan continued his studies, and received his Master's in 1886 and his PhD in 1892 after studying at Clark University under G. Stanley Hall. Upon his return from Clark, Bryan was appointed vice president and in 1902 was named the 10th president of the university. Bryan oversaw IU's development for the next 35 years. During his tenure the schools of medicine, education, nursing, business, music, and dentistry were established, in addition to many graduate programs and several satellite campuses throughout the state. Bryan died in 1955.

From the description of President William Lowe Bryan speeches, 1903-1937. (Indiana University). WorldCat record id: 47441012

Gerald L. Bepko was born in Chicago, Illinois, on 21 April 1940 to Geraldine F. and Lewis Bepko. Bepko was a bright student and was entered into a program called “Double Promotion” which enabled him to skip a grade during his grade school career. He graduated in 1957 from Carl Scherz High School, a co-educational institution. Bepko’s father passed away in 1958, and his mother remarried in 1961.

After having spent his formative years on the North side of Chicago where he excelled as a student, he decided to enroll at Northern Illinois University where he graduated with a B.S. in 1962. He was the first member of his family to graduate from college. Eligible for the draft and unsure of what he wanted to do, he was convinced by a family friend and member of the Board of Kent College of Law in Chicago to apply for entrance into the school. He did and was accepted into the law program where he earned a J.D. in 1965.

Still eligible for the draft after graduation but protected by a deferment, Bepko felt the need to serve his country in some capacity. He applied to the United States Navy Judge Advocate General Corps (JAG), the United States Army Officer Candidate School, and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). The FBI was particularly alluring to him due to the new found popularity of Ian Fleming’s James Bond series. He heard first from the F.B.I. and became an agent in 1965.

During his time as an agent Bepko was involved in a very serious accident that almost cost him his life. Just married to Jean Cougnenc in February 1968, Bepko was assigned to a surveillance mission in New York City. In September of that same year the truck he was in was struck by another car, and he was thrown from the vehicle. The truck then tipped over landing on top of Bepko almost crushing him to death. Shortly after this incident, Bepko resigned from the F.B.I in 1969 and turned to teaching, which would become his life-long career.

Almost five years after his graduation from Kent College of Law, Bepko returned to Chicago to teach. He served at the school from 1969-1971. Having decided to go back to school to earn his L.L.M., Bepko applied for and was appointed the Ford Urban Law Fellow at Yale University in 1971. When he resigned his position at Kent College he had been appointed as the Director of the Institute for Criminal Justice. He received his L.L.M degree from Yale in 1972.

Bepko joined the Indiana University faculty at the School of Law-Indianapolis in 1972, becoming a full professor in 1975, associate dean for academic affairs in 1979, and dean of the law school in 1981. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Illinois, Ohio State University and Indiana University Bloomington

At the time of his appointment to Interim President of Indiana University, Bepko was serving as Chancellor of Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI), a position which he had held since 1986. He served as interim president from January-July 2003, when the university officially appointed Adam Herbert as president in August 2003.

Bepko is married to Jean B. Cougnenc of New York, and they have two children, Gerald L. Jr. and Arminda.

From the guide to the Indiana University President's Office records, 1996-2003, bulk Jan.-June 2003, (Indiana University Office of University Archives and Records Management http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives)

John M. Coulter was a professor of Botany and the eighth president of Indiana University from 1891-1893. He was born in Ningpo, China on November 20, 1851 to Moses Stanley and Caroline E.(Crowe) Coulter. He received his BA (1870), MA (1873), and Ph.D. (1882) from Hanover College. Coulter also received a law degree from Indiana University in 1920 (pro merits). Married to Georgie M. Gaylord in January 1884, they had three children, one son and two daughters.

Coulter's career began as a Botanist for the U.S. Geological Survey in the Rocky Mts. from 1872-1873. He then became a professor of Natural Sciences at Hanover College (1874-1879) and of Biology at Wabash College (1879-1891). After his term at Indiana University, he became President of Lake Forest University (1893-1896) He ended his academic tenure as head of the Department of Botany at the University of Chicago from 1896-1925. Coulter was also a member to the National Academy of Sciences, the Botanical Society of America, American Society of Naturalists, and the President of the American Association of University Professors in 1918. He was an advisor of the Bryce Thompson Institute for Plant Research in Yonkers, New York from 1925-1928. In addition, Coulter was the founder and editor of the Botanical Gazette from 1875 until his death on December 23, 1928. He was buried at Warsaw, Indiana.

From the guide to the Indiana University President's Office records, 1891-1893, (Indiana University Office of University Archives and Records Management http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives)

BRYAN, William Lowe (11 Nov. 1860-21 Nov. 1955), philosopher, psychologist, and educator, was born William Julian Bryan on a farm near Bloomington, Indiana, the son of John Bryan, a Presbyterian minister, and Eliza Jane Philips. In 1876 he entered the preparatory department of Indiana University in Bloomington, which served as the local high school, and the next year he matriculated as a university student. As an undergraduate he developed his skills in public speaking and helped to revive the Indiana Student newspaper in 1882. He became a member of the Specialists' Club organized by David Starr Jordan, professor of natural sciences, to encourage promising students to pursue research careers. Bryan graduated in 1884 with a bachelor's degree in ancient classics.

After graduation Bryan was hired as an English instructor in the preparatory department. Within a few months he received an unexpected opportunity to join the regular faculty when the president of the university, Baptist minister Lemuel Moss, and Katherine Graydon, the professor of Greek, were caught up in a romantic scandal and left the university. Bryan was hired as Graydon's replacement, and in early 1885 Jordan was appointed president. Jordan, a noted ichthyologist, placed science at the center of his ideas on educational reform and stressed that the highest function of the real university is that of instruction by investigation. Working with limited financial support from the state he relied heavily on local talent to fill the ranks of the faculty.

Although Bryan earned a master's degree in philosophy at Indiana in 1886 with a thesis on ancient Greek logic, his interests shifted toward the new psychology that promised to revolutionize the study of human nature through laboratory experimentation and other empirical techniques. He went to Germany, the center of scientific psychology, in 1886-1887 to study at the University of Berlin; after returning he was promoted to full professor and granted $100 to purchase a Hipp chronoscope for experimental studies of human reaction times. In January 1888 Bryan opened the Indiana University Psychological laboratory, the second such facility established in the United States.

Bryan married Charlotte Augusta Lowe in 1889 and in her honor replaced his given middle name with her last name. His wife was a graduate of Indiana University, having earned a bachelor's degree (1888) and a master's degree (1889) in Greek. They collaborated on two books, Plato the Teacher: Selections from Plato (1897) and Studies in Plato's Republic for Teachers (1898). They had no children.

Bryan carried a heavy teaching load, and at first the psychological laboratory was used mainly for classroom demonstrations rather than original research. In 1891 he went to Clark University to pursue a doctorate under G. Stanley Hall, a prominent advocate of the new psychology. Bryan received his Ph.D. in psychology in 1892 for a dissertation on the development of voluntary motor abilities in children. He was also recruited by Hall to help organize the American Psychological Association, founded in July 1892, and became one of its twenty-six charter members.

After returning to Indiana University, Bryan expanded the psychological laboratory and was appointed vice president of the institution. He resisted repeated offers by Jordan, who had become president of Stanford University in 1891, to join the faculty of the California school. Bryan also became involved in the child-study movement, an effort to develop a scientific foundation for pedagogical techniques. He served as an officer in several national organizations, including the secretary of the National Association for the Study of Children (1893) and the president of the Child-Study Section of the National Educational Association (1894).

In the 1890s Bryan conducted pioneering psychological experiments. He investigated the process of learning to send and receive messages in Morse code on the telegraph. The research, published in the Psychological Review (1897, 1899), was among the first such studies to graphically represent its data in the form of learning curves and became a classic in the study of human learning. Because of Bryan's efforts, during this period Indiana University became an undergraduate training ground for notable future psychologists, including Edwin D. Starbuck, Ernest H. Lindley, and Lewis M. Terman.

In 1902 Bryan was appointed the tenth president of Indiana University. The next year he was elected president of the American Psychological Association and delivered his presidential address on the problem of Theory and Practice (repr., Psychological Review 11 [1904]: 71-82). His remark that the scholar may at great price become a statesman suggested his ambivalence about leaving the laboratory for administration.

Pious and scholarly, Bryan presided over the transformation of Indiana University from a small, traditional liberal arts college into a modern research university. He led the institution for thirty-five years and oversaw an era of enormous growth in student enrollments, physical facilities, and curricular offerings. He considered administration an exercise in practical psychology and viewed the university as a key institution for the transmission of cultural values as well as specialized knowledge. His most notable accomplishment was the expansion of graduate and professional training. During his administration, schools of medicine, education, nursing, business, music, and dentistry were established, along with many graduate programs and several satellite campuses around the state. By the time Bryan retired at the age of seventy-six, Indiana University had significantly broadened access to its programs and had dramatically increased the quality of graduate and professional education.

Bryan was known as a pithy orator, and his speeches were highly moralistic. His strong belief in the scientific study of human nature was tempered by an equally powerful conviction that it was not sufficient to provide moral and spiritual guidance. Hence he maintained an interest in ethics and metaphysics throughout his life. In 1940 Bryan published Wars of Families of Minds, a book that reflected on the consequences of different ways of knowing the world. A colleague once called him a philosopher tamed by science --a characterization that could have easily been applied to Bryan's intellectual hero, William James.

After retirement Bryan continued to live on campus in the president's house, and he remained a familiar sight walking along its wooded paths. He died in Bloomington. The institution he developed commemorated his work with many memorials, including the William Lowe Bryan Hall, the main administration building at Indiana University, and his hometown also named in his honor Bryan Park, a large municipal park.

* Bryan's papers are in the Indiana University Archives. On his university administration, see Thomas D. Clark, Indiana University: Midwestern Pioneer, vol. 2 (1973), and Burton Dorr Myers, History of Indiana University, 1902-1937, the Bryan Administration (1952). Bryan's career as a psychologist is described in Eliot Hearst and James H. Capshew, eds., Psychology at Indiana University: A Centennial Review and Compendium (1988), which also contains a comprehensive bibliography of his writings. Additional biographical material can be found in Manfred Wolfe Deputy, The Philosophical Ideas and Related Achievements of William Lowe Bryan (Ph.D. diss., Indiana Univ., 1947). Major obituaries are in the American Journal of Psychology 69 (1956): 325-27; Science 123 (1956): 214; and the New York Times, 22 Nov. 1955.

Written by James H. Capshew

From the guide to the Indiana University President's Office correspondence, 1913-1937, (Indiana University Office of University Archives and Records Management http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives)

After Indiana University President Elvis J. Stahr resigned suddenly on July 6, 1968, the Board of Trustees asked University Chancellor and former president Herman B Wells to serve as interim president while they conducted a search for a new leader. Chancellor Wells served as interim president from September 1-November 30, 1968. Joseph Sutton was elected as the new president of Indiana University on November 15, 1968 and took office on December 1. During this short period, Wells was faced with a number of challenges, such as public opposition to the new opposite-sex guest privileges in dormitories and the activities of student organizations such as Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

For more information on Herman Wells, please see the brief biography written by James H. Capshew at http://www.indiana.edu/~libarch/Wells/wellsbio.html

From the guide to the Indiana University President's Office records, 1967-1969, bulk Aug.-Dec. 1968, (Indiana University Office of University Archives and Records Management http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives)

Joseph Lee Sutton was born on March 22, 1924, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Although he was not a native Hoosier, his great uncle and grandfather, Wilber and Elmer Sutton, ran a newspaper in Muncie, Indiana, before moving to Oklahoma. Sutton was involved in music and sports in high school, and in 1941, at the age of seventeen, he enlisted in the army. During World War II, Sutton was stationed in Tokyo, Japan, and served on the staff of General Douglas MacArthur as a language officer.

Sutton's work in the military sparked his interest in the Orient. After leaving the army he enrolled at the University of Michigan where he subsequently obtained an A.B. in Oriental Languages (1948), an M.A. in Oriental Civilization (1949), and a Ph.D. in Political Science (1954). Sutton worked as a Research Assistant at the Center for Japanese Studies at the University of Michigan from 1948 to 1949. From 1949 to 1951 he was a Teaching Fellow for the Department of Political Science, and in 1951 he studied in Japan, on a fellowship from the Social Science Research Council.

After a year teaching at Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, Sutton came to Indiana University in the fall of 1953 as an instructor in the Department of Political Science. The following year he was promoted to assistant professor. Sutton's erudition and his strong personality soon made him a popular figure at IU, and in 1955 Sigma Delta Chi honored him with the Brown Derby Award for most popular professor. By 1962 he had become a professor of government. He served as Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 1962 to 1965, and as Dean from 1965 to 1966. Sutton left the College of Arts and Sciences in 1966 to become Vice-President and Dean of the Faculties. On November 15, 1968, Sutton became the thirteenth President of Indiana University.

Sutton was also chief advisor for the university's public administration program in Thailand, from 1955 to 1958. In 1959 he organized the Asian Studies program at IU and served as its chairman until 1965. Sutton also worked as a consultant for the Ford Foundation in New York, and for the House Committee on Republican Policy. He was a member of several academic organizations, including the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Political Science Association and the Association of Asian Studies. In the course of his career Dr. Sutton published several articles on politics and government administration in Japan and Thailand.

On January 25, 1971, Sutton resigned as President of Indiana University following his wife's death from cancer the previous month. He remarried in March 1971. Later that year he was offered an appointment as an exchange professor at Tenri University in Japan, where he was to launch a new inter-institutional program which would broaden and strengthen the Asian Studies program at IU. By early 1972 Sutton had made plans to move his family to Tokyo, but on April 4, as he and his wife Elizabeth were returning to Bloomington from Nashville, Indiana, their car skidded off the road and overturned, throwing Sutton from the car. Sutton remained in critical condition for several weeks, and on April 28, 1972, at the age of 48, he died as a result of injuries sustained in the accident.

From the guide to the Indiana University President's Office records, 1964-1974, bulk 1968-1971, (Indiana University Office of University Archives and Records Management http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives)

Dr. John W. Ryan was elected fourteenth president of Indiana University on January 26, 1971, having proved his scholarly and administrative ability in a wide range of academic assignments which took him from Bloomington, where he did his graduate studies, to Thailand, Wisconsin, Arizona, Massachusetts and then back to Indiana.

Dr. Ryan returned to I.U. in July, 1968 to become Vice- President and Chancellor for Regional Campuses. In this post he guided the development of the campuses at Fort Wayne, South Bend, Gary (Northwest), Kokomo, and Jeffersonville (Southeast) from extension centers to degree-granting divisions. During his tenure, a cooperative program of long standing in Richmond was launched as the University's sixth regional campus. As Vice-President, Dr. Ryan also became completely conversant with the Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses.

President Ryan came to Indiana University as a graduate student in 1951, having been awarded the A.B. degree at the University of Utah. He received both the A.M. and Ph.D. degrees in political science here in 1959. He was a research analyst in the Department of Revenue for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, 1953- 55; research associate in the I.U. Program in Public Administration in Thailand, 1955-57; Assistant Director of the Institute of Training for Public Service on the Bloomington Campus, 1957-58; Associate Director, Bureau of Government, University of Wisconsin, 1958-62; Executive Assistant to the President and University Secretary, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1962-63; Vice- President for Academic Affairs, Arizona State University, 1963-65; and Chancellor, University of Massachusetts, Boston, 1965-68.

Dr. Ryan is past president of the Indiana Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration and president-elect of the national organization. His scholarly contribution includes a number of articles in professional publications.

He was married in 1949 to the former Miss D. Patricia Goodday. They have three children, Kathleen Elynne, born in 1950; Kevin Dennis Mitchell, in 1951; and Kerrick Charles Casey, in 1953.

Biography from "The Investiture of John W. Ryan as Fourteenth President of Indiana University" Program.

From the guide to the President John W. Ryan speeches, 1971-1987, (Indiana University Office of University Archives and Records Management http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives)

Born May 17, 1947, Myles Brand received his undergraduate degree in philosophy from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1964) and his Ph.D. from the University of Rochester (1967). He held faculty and administrative posts at the University of Pittsburg (1967-1972), the University of Illinois at Chicago (1972-1981) and the University of Arizona (1981-1986). He was provost and vice president for academic affairs at The Ohio State University from 1986 to 1989 and he was president of the University of Oregon from 1989 to 1994. He became the 16th president of Indiana University on August 1, 1994.

During his tenure at IU, Brand developed the Strategic Directions Charter to enhance the quality of education at IU (1995) and shepherded the consolidation of the IU Medical Center Hospitals and the Methodist Hospital to form Clarian Health Partners. Brand was instrumental in the development of life science initiatives and information technologies at IU. In 2000, Brand faced controversy in his firing of long-time IU’s men’s basketball coach, Bob Knight. Brand left IU in 2002 to become president of the NCAA. He passed away September 16, 2009.

From the guide to the President Myles Brand Speeches, 1994-2001, bulk 1995-1997, (Indiana University Office of University Archives and Records Management http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives)

This series of conferences was held annually at IU from 1950 through 1956. It was organized by a committee under the general direction of the office of President Herman B Wells in co-operation with the US Department of State, and with funding from the Lilly Endowment. The primary organizational work was done by Peter Fraenkel of the President’s office and Austin V. Clifford of the Law School. Others who were active in organizing the conferences included Edward Buehrig, Department of Government; Frank Lee Benns, Department of History; and John T. Hays, of Hays & Hays Law Firm.

The conferences sought to bring State Department officials together with academic and civic leaders from the Midwest for frank discussions of current foreign policy problems. In this they were successful. However, recognizing that they were not moving beyond discussions of current events to the deeper issues of the nature and purpose of foreign policy per se, the committee determined to end the conference in its current form in the spring of 1957. Planning for a renewed conference continued into 1960, but none was held.

From the guide to the Conference on Problems of American Foreign Policy records, 1950-1961, bulk 1950-1956, (Indiana University Office of University Archives and Records Management http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives)

Andrew Wylie, the first president of Indiana University, was born on 12 April 1789, on a farm in western Pennsylvania. The son of an Irish immigrant, Wylie was brought up in a Scots-Irish Presbyterian household where education, religion, and discipline were instilled deeply into the young man’s psyche. Before entering Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, at the age of fifteen, Wylie helped his father farm the land and took classes at the public schools in the area as the seasons permitted. Wylie’s mother also supplemented his education.

Wylie graduated with honors from Jefferson College in 1810 at the top of his class. Promptly after graduation Wylie began tutoring at the college, and in a relatively short amount of time Wylie made a reputation for himself as one of the most gifted scholars in the east. This led to Wylie being unanimously elected president of Jefferson College by the Board of Trustees a mere two years after graduating from the school. Sometime during this period Wylie was ordained as a Presbyterian minister.

In 1817, Wylie resigned his position at Jefferson College and became the president of Washington College in Washington, Pennsylvania, in an attempt to unify the two Presbyterian schools which were only located about seven miles away from one another. The attempt to unite the two colleges failed when the board members of Washington College and Wylie clashed on the terms of the unification. Wylie resigned as president of Washington College in December of 1828 when he realized he no longer had the full support of the college's Board of Trustees. During his presidency at Washington College, Wylie received his D.D. (Doctor of Divinity) from Union College in 1825.

In 1828, Indiana Seminary was undergoing the transformation to Indiana College and Wylie was contacted about becoming president of the fledgling institution. After being continuously courted by the faculty and other officials of the college, the Indiana College Board of Trustees elected Wylie president in 1829. Wylie, his wife Margaret, and his growing family moved to Bloomington to assume his new duties as the first president of Indiana College on 29 October 1829.

When Wylie arrived he not only served as president but was also an instructor. One of the first things he did was change the curriculum and the student body structure. The institution adopted the "One-Study Plan," adding both a junior and senior class. It outlined that the freshman and half of the sophomore year be dedicated to the study of Greek and Latin. In the second half of the sophomore year and the entire junior year, mathematics and some "natural sciences" were to be the main course of study. In the senior year, all students studied philosophy, Christianity, constitutional law, political economy, and literary criticism under the watchful eye of Wylie himself. When classes at the college opened December 1829, Baynard Hall and John Harney had the responsibility of teaching the other three classes with a total enrollment of forty students. During the remaining years of Wylie’s presidency the curriculum changed very little.

During the first years of Wylie’s administration the biggest scandal of Wylie’s presidency was born. The events of 1832 were so tumultuous that they almost resulted in the death of the college. The scandal, christened the "Faculty War of 1832," began in the spring of that year when a representative of the student temperance society, Samuel Givens, asked Wylie if he could speak either first or last at the student oration presentations. Wylie agreed, but was later preoccupied by a troublemaking carpenter at the site of the orations and forgot his promise to the young man. He called upon Givens to speak second and Givens, outraged by Wylie recanting his word, refused to speak. That following Saturday morning in the chapel Wylie called upon Givens to explain his behavior to the assembled faculty and student body. He explained that Wylie had reneged on a promise and that he did not want his speech mixed up with the others. Wylie apologized and explained that he had to deal with an unruly carpenter at the Presbyterian Church where the orations were held. He asked the boy if faced with the same situation again would he behave in the same manner. The young man responded with a "yes," and Wylie denounced him as a "very mean man." Upon this declaration the present faculty, Harney and Hall, entered into the fray causing Wylie to lecture them in front of the student body. Hall and Harney in turn denounced the president as a liar and spy.

The events surrounding the oration were in essence the final event which brought about the complete degeneration of an already failing relationship between the faculty members and the president. Harney and Hall were at odds with Wylie over the new curriculum and the methods used to teach it almost from the beginning of Wylie’s presidency. Complicating the situation was the fact that Wylie was a rigid, uncompromising man. The power struggle ended with Wylie retaining his position and with Hall resigning and Harney being dismissed.

Adding to the difficulties faced by the college was an outbreak of Asiatic cholera in August 1833. The disease struck very quickly forcing people to flee from Bloomington by whatever means they could manage. Classes were cancelled and the students sent home after one of the students died of the disease. Classes did not resume until September after the epidemic had run its course and the new faculty thought it safe for the students to return.

Not long after the fires of the first scandal burned themselves out another scandal erupted. In 1838 the college became a university, and Wylie was re-elected president at that time. However, in 1839, William C. Foster, an officer of the board of trustees, brought charges against Wylie, accusing him of abuse of trust. After being investigated by the members of the board of trustees, Wylie was exonerated of the charges. In the end the scandal cost the university three more professors and a drop in enrollment. During his twenty-two year administration Wylie had to defend himself four times against charges brought against him. He was cleared of any wrong doing each time.

Many of the problems of the fledgling university were grounded in the sectarianism that pervaded the Bloomington community and the state government in general. Simply put, it was the Presbyterians vs. the Methodists as was best exemplified by the Faculty War of 1832. With the exception of enrollment, no real growth occurred in the first 30 years of the university’s existence until all of the perceived sectarians were either removed or died. As a result of the political strife surrounding the university, talk swirled between 1840 and 1850 of moving the university up to Indianapolis to a "more receptive audience." In 1841 the University Board of Trustees was disbanded, and the restriction stating each county in Indiana could have no more than two members of their community represented on the board at any one time was introduced. This restriction helped to end the sectarianism or the "Bloomington Divide" which adversely affected the university.

Andrew Wylie died on 11 November 1851 of pneumonia, a complication that he developed after accidentally cutting his leg while chopping wood.

From the guide to the Indiana University President's Office records, 1820-1851, (Indiana University Office of University Archives and Records Management http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives)

Thomas Ehrlich became president of Indiana University on August 1, 1987. During his presidency he concentrated on an academic agenda to enhance IU's position as an international research university of the first rank, and simultaneously a national leader in reaching out to higher education's emerging new majority of nontraditional students. Ehrlich is a scholar, educator, university administrator, lawyer, and governmental executive. He was Provost (chief academic officer responsible for all educational research components of the university and all aspects of student affairs) and Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania before serving as President at Indiana.

In the 1970s Ehrlich was Dean and Richard E. Lang Professor at the Stanford University Law School; first President of Legal Services Corporation in Washington D.C.; and first Director of the International Development Cooperation Agency, also in Washington D.C. After graduating from law school, President Ehrlich served as a law clerk for highly respected Judge Learned Hand of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York City.

Ehrlich became chair of the Midwest Universities Consortium for International Activities' Big Ten Council of Presidents on July 1, and served on the boards of several national organizations. He has undertaken a number of special responsibilities for the United States government. In 1991 he was appointed by President Bush to the Board of Directors of the Commission on National and Community Service. He was reappointed in 1992 and served as Chairman of the Board. He also served as the executive-committee chair of Campus Compact, an organization of college and university presidents, formed to promote student volunteer service.

He was graduated magna cum laude from both Harvard College (A.B. 1956) and Harvard Law School (LL.B. 1959). He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and served as Article Editor for the Harvard Law Review. He has three honorary degrees, from Notre Dame (1980), Villanova University (1979), and the University of Pennsylvania (1987), and is author or co-author of several books and many articles.

In addition to his presidential duties at Indiana University, President Ehrlich served as professor of law and regularly taught undergraduates and law students. His tenure as president ended following the 1994 school year. President Ehrlich and his wife, Ellen Rome Ehrlich, have three children, David, Elizabeth, and Paul. *Biography excerpted from 1993 Biographical Sketch with minor revisions.

From the guide to the President Thomas Ehrlich speeches, 1987-1994, (Indiana University Office of University Archives and Records Management http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives)

Born in Trumball County, Ohio in 1814, Cyrus Nutt held various educational positions and served as a Methodist minister before becoming the fifth president of Indiana University. He graduated from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, in 1831, and upon completing his studies served as the principal of the College’s Preparatory Department. He later moved to a similar position at Indiana Asbury University (now DePauw), which he held until 1843 when he began pastoral work in the Indiana Conference at the Bloomington station. He then returned to Asbury before serving as president of the Fort Wayne Female College and Whitewater College. Between 1855 and 1860, he resumed his work in the ministry and served as both a mathematics professor and president at Asbury University.

In 1860, Nutt was elected president of Indiana University. During his presidency, the University attempted to create an agricultural and mechanical school under the terms of the Morrill Act, though by 1869 Purdue was established as the land grant college of Indiana. In 1867, the Board of Trustees voted to admit women to classes, and around the same time the university experienced the beginning of organized athletics with students embracing the game of baseball. The junior and senior-class-controlled newspaper The Student also was founded that year.

The final years of Nutt’s presidency saw growing tensions with students, though the reasons are unknown. Students published a bogus newspaper in March 1873 titled The Dagger in which they attacked Nutt. In 1875 the Board of Trustees dismissed Nutt, likely over internal problems with the board and the students. Nutt died on August 24, 1875, approximately one month after his dismissal.

From the guide to the Indiana University President's Office records, 1857-1875, (Indiana University Office of University Archives and Records Management http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives)

Elvis J. Stahr, Jr., was born in Hickman, Kentucky on March 9, 1916 to Elvis Jacob and Mary Anne (McDaniel) Stahr. After graduating high school as valedictorian in 1932 at the age of sixteen, he attended the University of Kentucky where he was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, the ROTC program, and the varsity tennis and debate teams. He graduated in 1936 with a degree in English Literature and the highest grades on record at the University of Kentucky. He continued his education at the University of Oxford in England as a Rhodes Scholar, where he received a B.A. in jurisprudence and a B.A. in civil law in 1938 and 1939, respectively. Later, he received his M.A. from Oxford in 1943.

After his graduation from Oxford, Stahr practiced law as an associate in the New York firm Mudge, Stern, Baldwin, and Tucker from July 1939 to February 1941. However, his law practice was interrupted by World War II. Stahr joined the war effort in October 1941 as a second lieutenant and served for twenty-six months overseas, mainly in China, but also in India and North Africa. During his military tour, he received the Special Breast Order of Yun Hui, twice awarded by the Nationalist Republic of China, and the Bronze Star medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, among other honors. He ended his stint in the Army as a lieutenant colonel. During his tenure as an officer of the United States Army, he received a diploma in Chinese language in 1943 from Yale University.

Dr. Stahr left the Army in 1946 and again joined the law firm of Mudge, Stern, Williams, and Tucker, this time as a senior associate, but left in 1947 to return to what he called his first love, higher education. He joined the faculty of his alma mater, the University of Kentucky, as an associate professor of law in 1947, but was quickly promoted to full time faculty in 1948, and soon thereafter, to the position of Dean of the College of Law. He was the youngest, (at the age of 32) to serve in this post. In 1954, he was named Provost of the University of Kentucky. During his career at the University of Kentucky, he also served as special assistant to the Secretary of the Army during the Korean Conflict, and under United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower in1956 as the executive director of the Committee on Education beyond High School. He left the University of Kentucky in 1957 to become the Vice Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh. Soon after, he left his position at the University of Pittsburgh to become the President of the University of West Virginia. He stayed in West Virginia for two years before accepting the nomination by President Kennedy to serve as the Secretary of the Army. While in this position, Stahr established the Army Intelligence and Security Branch as a separate, professional division of the Army, oversaw the reorganization of the combat division of the Army, and expanded the community relations of the Army.

Stahr gave up the position of Secretary of the Army to return to higher education as the President of Indiana University in 1962, where he succeeded his friend Herman B Wells as Indiana University's 12th President. In his inaugural address, he stressed the need for maintaining the leadership role IU had in fields where it was nationally renowned, for spending Indiana tax dollars to prepare the campus for the expected large influx of baby boom generation students, and for stressing the importance of higher education in creating jobs and security in the state of Indiana.

During Stahr's presidency, Indiana University saw its largest expansion. In the course of his term, the awarding of baccalaureate degrees at the regional campuses began, as well as the addition of majors, such as the Study of Religion; of Divisions, such as the Honors Division, and of Schools, such as the Library Science School, within the Bloomington campus. He guided plans for the building of Assembly Hall, the Student Health Center, the Optometry Building, the Graduate Residence Center, and several different residence halls, including Briscoe, Wilkie, and Forest. The University School was also built during his term. His presidency witnessed the creation of the Aerospace Research Center which acted as a clearinghouse for technology developed by the government to be adapted for civilian use. His tenure also saw a large growth in the number of students and faculty, not only in Bloomington, but also in the regional campuses. Finally, Stahr led a reorganization of the university administration into three separate and distinct areas, the Bloomington campus led by a chancellor, the Indianapolis campus, and the regional campuses as more autonomous units.

Dr. Stahr served as Indiana University President until 1968 when he stepped down due to "presidential fatigue." He wrote to the Board of Trustees stating that although he had enjoyed his term as president, he felt that he could no longer devote himself to such a large task as president. His intention, he told the Board of Trustees, was to return to Indiana University after a sabbatical as a professor of law. However, he accepted the position as President of the National Audubon Society in 1968, writing that the issue of conservation was something that could not be ignored. He retired as President of the National Audubon Society in 1978, after having seen the membership rate almost quadruple to 400,000, and being instrumental in liberalizing the tax laws in the United States to allow charitable organizations to lobby on public policy issues. Although retired, he was still active in a number of environmental and public service organizations until his death of cancer on November 11, 1998.

From the guide to the Indiana University President's Office records, 1962-1968., (Indiana University Office of University Archives and Records Management http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives)

William Julian Bryan was born 11 November 1860 in Monroe County to John Bryan, a Presbyterian minister, and Eliza Jane Phillips Bryan. After attending the public schools in the county, Bryan entered the Preparatory Department of Indiana University in 1877. While a student a IU, he was active in many activities, including the university baseball team (where he earned his letter) and the student newspaper, The Daily Student. He graduated in 1884 with a degree in ancient classics. Following graduation, he was appointed English instructor in the Preparatory Department. Within a few months he was invited to join the faculty of the Greek Department and in 1885 he was named Associate Professor of Philosophy.

Bryan continued his studies and in 1886 he received his Master's degree in Philosophy. His interests shifted to psychology, however, and from 1886-1887 he went to Germany to study at the University of Berlin. When he returned he was named full professor and granted money to conduct research on human reaction times. Bryan opened the Indiana University Psychological Laboratory in January 1888. In 1891, Bryan decided to study under G. Stanley Hall at Clark University and received his Ph.D. in psychology in 1892. Bryan went on to become a leader in the movement for the scientific study of children.

Upon returning to IU after his studies with Hall, he was appointed Vice- President of the University. In 1902 he was named the tenth President of the University. Bryan oversaw the development of the institution for 35 years. During his tenure the schools of medicine, education, nursing, business, music, and dentistry were established, in addition to many graduate programs and several satellite campuses throughout the state. During his presidency, the university grew from 1,335 students and 65 faculty members to 7,005 students and 330 faculty members.

Bryan married Charlotte Lowe in July, 1889. They took one another's names and thereafter Bryan was William Lowe Bryan. Charlotte graduated with a Bachelor's in Greek in June 1889. After their marriage, she continued to study on her own and collaborated with Bryan on two volumes of selections from Plato for teachers. Throughout her life, Charlotte was often ill and Bryan frequently turned down social invitations so that he could stay with his wife. Charlotte died in 1948, shortly before her 81st birthday. Bryan passed away in 1955 at the age of 95.

From the guide to the President William Lowe Bryan speeches, 1903-1937, (Indiana University Office of University Archives and Records Management http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives)

David Starr Jordan was born in Gainesville, New York on January 19, 1851 to Hiram J. and Huldah Lake (Hawley) Jordan. After home schooling and attendance at area schools, Jordan won the local scholarship to the newly founded Cornell University. By his junior year in Ithaca, Jordan was named instructor in Botany. Upon completion of his thesis, "Wild Flowers of Wyoming County" in 1872, Cornell awarded Jordan both his BS and MS degrees.

Following his years at Cornell, Jordan held several short-term teaching posts before coming to Indiana in 1874 as an instructor at Indianapolis High School. He joined the Butler University faculty in 1875, and in 1879, he left Butler for Indiana University, where he was a professor of natural history. In a short time, the popular professor received recognition as an outstanding educator and scientist. In 1885, Jordan was named the 7th President of the University. He was the youngest person as well as the first non-clergyman to hold that position. The election to this post came as a complete (and unwelcome) surprise to Jordan, who was really hoping to receive a permanent position with the United States Fish Commission. As reported in the Bloomington Saturday Courier (January 17, 1885), at a scheduled lecture shortly after the election, Jordan stated, "Let me speak frankly, my friends. I enter these new relations to my adopted state with no feeling of exultation or of gratified ambition....If the duties of the President kill the work of the naturalist, these duties must be taken by another hand."

Dr. Jordan served as Indiana University President until 1891. During his tenure Jordan initiated or promoted several important changes at IU. Among the most important changes were 1) Transformation of the faculty. During Jordan's tenure, the number of IU faculty members increased from 18 to 29. Many of these new faculty represented the type of scholar/teacher that Jordan felt was needed in the modern university; 2) Allowing students more freedom in selecting a major and in designing their own curriculum; and 3) Increasing the number of departments and courses.

Jordan was so successful in this position that in 1891 Senator and Mrs. Leland Stanford asked him to head a new university named for their deceased son. He accepted the position, and persuaded 6 IU professors and 37 students to accompany him to Stanford. Jordan held the post of President at Stanford until 1913, when he moved to the position of Chancellor of Stanford. In 1916, he retired and assumed the position of Chancellor Emeritus until his death in 1931.

From the guide to the Indiana University President's Office records, 1884-1891, (Indiana University Office of University Archives and Records Management http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives)

Lemuel Moss was born in Boone County, Kentucky on December 27, 1829, to Rev. Demas and Esther Moss. He received his AB in 1858 from the University of Rochester, and a degree from the Rochester Theological Seminary in 1860. Moss also received an honorary DD in 1868 and an honorary LLD in 1883 from the University of Rochester.

Dr. Moss was a printer by trade. He served as Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Worcester, Massachusetts from 1860 to 1864, and was pastor in Woodbury, New Jersey from 1864 to 66. From 1864 to 1865 he served as Secretary of the U.S. Christian Committee. In 1865, Moss began his career in education when he became Professor of Theology at the University of Lewisburg (now Bucknell), where he remained until 1868. In 1874, Dr. Moss accepted the post as President of the University of Chicago, which he left the following year to become President of Indiana University. He maintained this position at IU until 1884 when he resigned amidst a scandal involving himself and a female professor at the University. He later resurrected his career as Lecturer of Christian Sociology at Bucknell University, a post he held from 1898 until his death on July 12, 1904.

Dr. Moss was actively involved in a number of organizations, including the American Baptist Historical Society, where he served as president from 1895-1900 and vice president from 1900-02; the American Baptist Missionary Union, where he served as vice president from 1883-84; and the National Council on Education, 1880- 84.

Moss married Harriet Bingham of Cincinnati, Ohio on December 24, 1851. They had three children: Charles Henry, Harriet Payne, and Mary Helen.

From the guide to the Indiana University President's Office records, 1880-1884, bulk 1882-1884, (Indiana University Office of University Archives and Records Management http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives)