Presidents

June 20, 1815—November 11, 1831

Allegheny College took its beginning in the dreams and education of a lonely school boy who became a zealous scholar and later an itinerant preacher and teacher. His hopes, convictions, strengths, and weaknesses shaped the institution he created in 1815. The Reverend Timothy Alden Jr. was the first president of Alleghany College (as the name was then spelled) and professor of oriental languag­es, ecclesiastical history, and theology until 1831; librarian until 1832; and trustee until his death on July 5, 1839.

Born August 28, 1771, to a ministe­rial family in Yarmouth, Massachusetts, the direct descendant of John Alden of Plymouth Colony escaped early assignment to the drudgery of a farming life. Alden’s uncle, on whose land he labored, supported his desire for education. It was he who led Alden to an appreciation of history, specifically regarding his separatist Pilgrim forebears of Leyden in the Netherlands and of William Bradford’s Plymouth Plantation.

The lad’s preparation for college was delayed by illness. Its symptoms, along with other events of his career, suggest that what would be today classed as bipolar II disorder was an influential factor in his life. It produced not excessive mood swings destructive of all function, but rather milder peaks and depressions that could strongly affect his conduct. Alden’s behavior displayed a variety of bipolar II symptoms: ability to fall rapidly and violently in love; obsession with trivia and memorization; hyperactive involvement in a wide variety of matters, followed by periods of lethargy while he “awaited the indications of Providence”; risk taking in financial affairs; quick changes in career or location; and fondness for showy displays, whether of academic achievement or architecture. The compass of his life, however, was faith in a benevolent God who could be trusted under all circumstances. This sustaining faith, nurtured since youth, became vital to him while studying at Phillips Academy, as it was there that he “obtained a hope.”

Alden worked his way through Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, waiting tables and teaching in local schools. Oriental languages became his focus; he gave his senior oration in Syriac. By the time he grad­uated Phi Beta Kappa in 1794, Alden was proficient in eleven languages besides English. He subsequently earned a master’s degree while teaching in Marble­head, Massachusetts; the subject of his advanced studies was theology. Scholarship, he believed, informed and strengthened faith. In his mind, no conflict existed between science and belief.

In Marblehead, Alden married Elizabeth Shepherd Worm­sted, the daughter of his landlady. “Betsy,” he called her, and she would bear him two sons and three daughters in addition to a set of stillborn twins. Although Timothy considered teaching to be a sublime and important profession, he soon yearned to become a minister. It was a natural step in that it enabled him to teach a wider audience than grammar school students and also directly to serve God. A Trinitarian Con­gre­gation­alist, in 1799 Alden was ordained as an associate pastor in the South Parish of Ports­mouth, New Hampshire. Desire for higher pay to support his growing family brought separa­tion from his post in 1805. He re­mained in Ports­mouth as a teacher and magazine editor until moving to Boston to open a school in 1808. Two years later he accepted appoint­ment as principal of Newark Ladies Academy in New Jersey. There he joined the Pres­by­terian Church. Throughout this period he published short articles and a five volume Collection of American Epitaphs that won him recognition as an anti­quari­an.

While living in “New Ark,” as Alden termed the town in his correspondence, the Aldens learned about the western frontier. He determined to be active in the West, founding a town and then a college. His goal was to serve God by serving Man, and to service his young county by strengthening its unity through inculcation of a community of ethics and morality through the education of ministers, teachers and others in the newly settled regions. After a few months in New York City, Alden brought his family to Meadville, PA, arriving on April 24, 1815. Local citizens, eager to develop their frontier town, persuaded him to establish his col­lege there. Only in 1828 would he initiate a village, called Alden­ia, on the west shore of Con­neaut Lake.

In addition to founding the College, teaching many of its first students, forming its library, and shaping the erection of its great building, Bentley Hall, Alden undertook five missionary trips among the Seneca Indians in their reservation at the headwaters of the Allegheny River. He played a key role in the creation of the Meadville Bible Society and was the founder of numerous Memoriter Bible societies. Designated county patron for the American Sunday School Union, Alden started close to eighty Sunday schools in the region and amassed a sizeable library for the Crawford County Sunday School Union. A Free Mason, he helped to found the Western Star Lodge of Meadville, the first in the area. He also served as regional counselor of the American Antiquarian Society created by his friend Isaiah Thomas and as an officer of the local chapter of the American Society for Colonizing Free People of Color. On several occasions he acted as regional delegate to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. Receiving little or no wages for his college duties, Alden barely managed to support his family through frequent preaching at local churches and by land speculation. He prevented Harm Jan Huidekoper—agent for the Holland Land Company, a group of Dutch investors that controlled a vast portion of the region—­from influencing the congregation of the Community Brick Church to Unitarianism, which Alden opposed, and caused a rift with the land agent that endangered the financial future of the College.

Because of low enrollment in the College, scanty legislative funding, and lack of support from the Presbyterian Church, Alden came to believe he had done all that he could in a mission to which he had devoted seventeen prime years of his life. The College closed in 1831 for lack of funds (it would reopen in 1833). Alden wished to return to preaching in New England, but no opportunities arose. Instead, on June 2, 1832, he and his family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. Elizabeth had died on April 3, 1820. Two years later Alden married Sophia Louisa L. Mulcock of Reading, Pennsylvania, eighteen years his junior, with whom he had one daughter. The two opened a school in the Queen City, but a cholera epidemic caused them to withdraw to Pittsburgh. Alden started another school but soon accepted the post of principal at East Liberty Academy. Sale of his lands along Conneaut Lake quickly provided sufficient income to allow him to pursue the activity he truly desired: the ministry. He preached to small congregations, first at Yellow Creek in Madison Township and then at Pine Creek Church near Sharpsburg.

Alden died unexpectedly after a month’s illness at the home of his daughter Martha in Pittsburgh  and was buried in the Pine Creek churchyard. In 1908 his remains and those of his first wife were relocated to the College’s plot at Greendale Cemetery in Mead­ville. Though wearied by multiple disappointments and anxious for the future of his family, Alden, throughout his life, was sustained by an unflinching and vibrant faith. In the end he achieved an unlikely success: the establishment of an institution of classical higher learning in the western wilderness.

* This account is taken with permission nearly completely from  J. E. Helmreich, Through All the Years: A History of Allegheny College. Meadville, PA: Allegheny College, 2005.

August 1833—June 17, 1837

Born April 3, 1785, in Charlton, Massachusetts, the son of a pious black­smith, Martin Ruter moved with his parents to Bradford, Vermont, in 1793 and later to Corinth. He received only modest schooling. Yet his spontaneous address to a camp meeting at the age of fifteen had such effect that he was invited to accompany an elder on a preaching cir­cuit. In due course he was licensed as a preacher. Primarily self-taught, he mas­tered five languages and was known as the most educat­ed man in the community of Methodism.

In 1818 Ruter became principal of a Methodist academy in New Market, New Hampshire, the distant forerunner of Wesleyan University. At the Methodist General Conference of 1820 he proposed that each conference of the church have an educational institution within its precincts. This recommenda­tion sparked the beginning of a Methodist effort that had national impact. His success at New Market brought him ap­pointment as the book agent for the new Meth­odist Book Con­cern in Cin­cinnati. In eight years Ruter accelerated the church’s educa­tion­al activities in the West and began his noted volume on The Histo­ry of the Chris­tian Church. Other works by Ruter include A Sketch of Calvin’s Life and Doc­trine and A History of Martyrs. In 1822 the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him by Transylvania University.

In 1825 Ruter became president of Augusta College, an institution he had helped to found. But he longed for the ministry and a congregation, so he went to the Smithfield Church in Pittsburgh in 1832. Small wonder then that he sighed when pressured by Pittsburgh Conference col­leagues to assume the presidency of Allegheny in 1833. He re­solved to stay only long enough for Alleghe­ny to ac­quire, as he said, “pros­perity and permanency sufficient to se­cure its usefulness.” During his first year in the post, Ruter petitioned the legislature in Harrisburg while Vice President Homer J. Clark ran the College. Ruter assumed on-site presidential duties only in June 1834. He moved into the east wing of Bentley Hall in spring 1835, the first pres­ident to reside where the president’s of­fice is now located. His salary was $700 per year. Ruter contin­ued to work on behalf of the church, preach­ing at camp meet­ings and serv­ing as pastor to a local congregation.

On June 21, 1837, with the College seemingly reestablished, Ruter resigned to undertake evangelism in Texas. That winter he traveled the plains in weather fair and foul. For his founding of congre­gations he is termed the spiritual fa­ther of Texas. Exhausted, Ruter died of fever May 16, 1838. His body was first buried at Old Wa­shington, Texas, then at Ruters­ville, a town named for him in 1840. Rutersville College, predecessor to South­western University, was also founded there. In 1899 Ruter’s re­mains were relocated to Nava­sota, Texas.

Martin Ruter had immense impact on the Method­ist cause in New England, the educational mission of the Methodist Church, and the reli­gious history of Texas. His stay at Alle­ghe­ny Col­lege was brief, but as with his other ventures, he was the right person active at a crucial time. Ruter Hall on the Allegheny campus, completed in 1854, stands a monument to his service and character.

*This account is taken, with permission, from  J. E. Helmreich, Through All the Years: A History of Allegheny College. Meadville, PA: Allegheny College, 2005.

June 27, 1837—November 20, 1847

The Reverend Homer Jackson Clark was twice instrumental in saving the College from collapse. Born in Mt. Holly, Vermont, on December 23, 1803, he moved to Ohio with his parents in his youth. In his teens he joined the Method­ist Church and was licensed to preach. He received trial membership in the Ohio Conference in 1824 but resigned to attend Ohio University. His record there was such that upon graduation in 1829 he was invited to become an instructor.

The secession of the Methodist Protestant Church from the Methodist Episcopal Church saw the latter lose many of its clergy and lay leaders. To stem these defections, Bishop William McKendree sent Clark to Pittsburgh in 1830, where his energy and eloquence won him a following. The next year Clark was appointed to Uniontown and a year later made a professor at Madison College in that same locale.

While seeking support for Madison College, Clark traveled to Meadville, where he learned of Alleghany’s outstanding library and fine hall. Party strife and competition from nearby Jefferson and Washing­ton colleges spelled the failure of Madison. Yet the Methodists were sure there was demand within their Pittsburgh Conference for higher education. When Mead­ville trustees sent a proposal to Clark on March 15, 1831, nego­tia­tions began that led to Methodist patronage of the College.

Clark, newly the recipient of a master’s degree from his alma mater, was appointed vice president and professor of mathematics and natural science. For nearly a year while Martin Ruter was in Harrisburg, Clark served as acting president. Upon Ruter’s resignation in 1837, Clark was elected president. Amiable and kind-spirited, he gained the respect of the faculty, students, and community for his capabilities as a teach­er and for his industry. He followed a disciplined personal regimen, rising at 4:00 a.m. in the winter, 5:00 a.m. in the summer, retiring at 9:30 p.m., and reserving Tuesday for prayer and fasting. He memorized his noteworthy dis­courses, which were given as pol­ished performances. In his memoirs the future bishop, Matthew Simpson, noted that Clark “was a chaste and eloquent speaker, a man of clear thought and beautiful expression, and was a successful teacher. He was, however, more successful in teaching than in administration.”¹ Clark’s work and talents were recognized by Transylvania Uni­versity, which awarded him a Doctor of Divinity degree in 1837.

Clark encouraged formation of a course of scientific studies in 1840 leading to the Bachelor of Science degree. A Civil Engineering Pro­gram began and the practice of hiring native speakers to teach modern foreign languages was instituted. The College briefly prospered as enrollment increased. But state aid declined and in 1844 ended. Separation of Erie and Pittsburgh into different Methodist conferences led to a decline in support from the Pittsburgh region, as the College fell within the Erie Conference.

A Perpetual Scholarship Plan proposed by Clark rescued the College from its deficits. He led the campaign for subscriptions while the College briefly closed. The College reopened in 1845 and began accepting the new scholarship students the next year. By 1847 over 200 students were on campus.

President Clark’s heavy workload damaged his health. He resigned in Novem­ber 1847. After recuperating on a farm for two years, he accepted pastorates at South Common Pastorate in Allegheny borough and next at Smithfield Street in Pitts­burgh. He served as editor of the Pittsburgh Christian Advocate from 1852 to1856 and then as presiding elder in the Pittsburgh and later the Steubenville dis­tricts until 1864. He died at his Ashland County, Ohio, farm on Sep­tember 24, 1875, widely respected for his character, humility, eloquence, and service.

*This account is taken, with permission, from  J. E. Helmreich, Through All the Years: A History of Allegheny College. Meadville, PA: Allegheny College, 2005.

1. As quoted in Charles H. Haskins and William J. Hull, A History of Higher Education in Pennsylvania. United States Bureau of Education. Circular of Information November 4, 1902. Contributions to American Education History No. 33, ed. by Herbert B. Adams. (Washington, D.C: Government Printing Office, 1902) 15.

June 23, 1875—June 28, 1882

Born in Gowanda, New York, on November 25, 1830, Lucius Bugbee was li­censed to preach in 1850. Like George Loomis, he attended Genesee Wesleyan Seminary but trans­ferred his senior year to graduate from Amherst Col­lege of Massachusetts in 1854. Following a year’s teaching at Cooperstown Female College, he headed a banking house in Iowa. In 1857 he became principal of Fayette Seminary, which the next year was char­tered as Upper Iowa University. Health concerns forced his resigna­tion in 1860. Preaching posts in Wheaton, Chicago, and then Aurora, Illinois, fol­lowed. In 1865 he became president of North­western Female College in Evanston. Three years later he became pres­ident of Cincinnati Wes­leyan Col­lege. In 1869 Ohio Wesleyan of Delaware, Ohio, awarded him an honorary doctorate.

Bugbee’s success in building the Cincinnati college won him acclaim. In early 1875 the Allegheny Board of Control invited him to assume the presiden­cy of the College. He was inaugurated in June, taking over from Professor Jonathan Hamnett who had served as acting president for a year.

Bugbee began an energetic building program, refitting Bentley and Ruter halls and improv­ing the grounds. Culver Hall was placed under a cooperative system of board­ing, reducing costs by 40 percent. A capital fund was launched. The liter­ary soci­eties that had played and would continue to play such an influential role in Allegheny education throughout the nineteenth century—Allegheny, Philo-Franklin, and the new women’s Ossoli—were encouraged and their rooms refitted. Because of Bentley Hall renovations, he bought a home at 544 Park Avenue, becoming the first president never to reside in Bentley Hall (during his last years in office President Loomis dwelled on North Main Street).

Allegheny had accepted preparatory stu­dents since the time of Timothy Alden. Often the campus held more preps than matric­u­lated undergraduates. Bugbee formalized this practice by creating the Alle­gheny Preparatory School with a three-year program. Through care­ful letter writing Bugbee recruited a government-funded military professorship for Alleghe­ny, and a Military Depart­ment was formed in April 1877. To ensure the College’s ability to prepare Methodist preachers, the School of Hebrew and Biblical Literature was strengthened. A new School of Latin and Modern Languages was formed, giving the European languages higher status and relieving some students of the laborious study of classical Greek.

Enrollment prospered. In the 1876–77 academic year, the increase was 70 percent. Including the 135 preparatory students, attendance totaled over two hundred. Two new faculty members were added, raising the academic staff, including the president, to nine. In 1880, twenty-one students graduated.

Concern for housing of women caused purchase of a small frame house on Highland Avenue and then recruitment of a challenge grant from Marcus Hulings. Completion of a residence for eighty women­ in fall 1880 assured that coeduca­tion at Alle­gheny, always referred to before as an “experiment,” would now become per­manent.

The president was liked personally, applauded for his achieve­ments, and recognized for his executive and organizational abilities. Yet some faculty and students questioned his policies, including his emphasis on inculcation of religion. More ominous was the grow­ing con­flict between the trustees and the Methodist Board of Control. Issues in­cluded salaries, lengths of contracts, academic programs, and the utility of the Board of Con­trol. These dis­agreements would in time bring greater prob­lems. Stress, failing personal health, and shortfalls in his own salary payments led Bugbee to resign in 1882. He died in Evans­ton, Illinois, on July 28, 1883. His legacy to the College, however, would continue for generations to come, not only through his work, but also through numerous relatives and descendants who would attend and serve on the faculty and staff. Among these was his grandson, the noted entomologist Robert E. Bugbee, who taught biology from 1947 to 1974.

* This account is taken with permission nearly completely from  J. E. Helmreich, Through All the Years: A History of Allegheny College. Meadville, PA: Allegheny College, 2005.

June 27, 1883—June 1888

The Reverend David H. Wheeler served two terms as president of Allegheny. Although the College was wracked by faculty dis­sension and dispute between trustees and the Methodists’ Board of Control, he averted a disruption that might have brought about the College’s demise. His success was due greatly to his own popularity as a person, scholar, and teach­er.

Wheeler became president at a time when the post was changing from that of leading teacher and “chair” of the faculty to profes­sional admin­istrator. He had come to Alle­gheny as an estab­lished scholar, the author of­ a noted two-volume work on Brigandage in South Italy and a book of essays on literature. In addition he had edited historical sketches by J. A. Froude and translated a work on Genoa in the sixteenth century. ­­One of Wheeler’s major achieve­ments was his stress on scholar­ship and profes­sional specialization on the faculty. A powerful teacher and preacher, he taught crowded classes. Word that he was speaking anywhere in Meadville guaranteed a large turnout. Wheeler was noted for his bacca­laureate ad­dresses, a collec­tion of which was published in 1886. Students remembered the cultured president’s talks on practical Christianity as well as his credo that “only the good are great and the greatest hero is he who masters himself.”

Born in Ithaca, New York, on November 18, 1829, Wheeler moved with his family to Illi­nois in 1846. He entered Rock River Seminary of Mount Morris, Illinois, two years later. From 1851 to 1853 he tutored there, then became instructor of Greek at Cornell College in Iowa. In 1855–56 he edited a paper in Illinois before returning to Cornell to teach Greek. In 1861 he won appointment as U.S. Consul General in Genoa, Italy. Five years later he was the Italy correspondent for the New York Tribune and Chicago Tribune. Offered the chair of English liter­a­ture at Northwestern University, he returned to the United States in 1867. Northwestern awarded him a Doctor of Laws degree in 1881; Cornell College conferred on him a Doctor of Divinity degree. In 1875 Wheeler became editor of The Methodist, a journal that soon merged with the Christian Advocate. In June 1883 he was inaugurated seventh president of Allegheny College.

Wheeler coalesced the several schools of instruction into three departments. His reorganization of the program and effort to improve faculty harmony led to a decision in the summer of 1886 that all fac­ul­ty members re­sign. All but four were offered new contracts. A postgraduate program lead­ing to a doctor of philosophy degree was inaugurated, and affil­iations established with the Meadville Conservatory of Music and the Mead­ville Business College. Wheeler advocated in­creased emphasis on civil engi­neering and the move of preparatory students to a separate building and faculty. Though he could preach eloquently on Christian stewardship, the president found solicitation of funds personally distasteful.

The stress of instituting many changes plus a touchy student disci­plinary case resulted in Wheeler’s “nervous prostra­tion” and his unexpected resignation in June 1888, but he remained on the faculty. When his successor suddenly resigned in June 1889, Wheel­er became acting president and officially became presi­dent again in January 1890. Twice a compromise choice for president, too much the gentleman to press his own views ardently, and galled by criticism for his one bold step in 1886, Wheeler naturally took a cautious approach. Wilcox Hall of Science would be begun in 1892, and Wheeler took final re­tirement in June of 1893. He moved to the Chicago area where he continued to write and to lecture until his death on June 18, 1902.

*This account is taken, with permission, from  J. E. Helmreich, Through All the Years: A History of Allegheny College. Meadville, PA: Allegheny College, 2005.

June 26, 1888—June 1889

Although scores of Allegheny graduates have become college and university presidents, in the first 190 years of Allegheny’s existence only two succeeded to the presidency of their own alma mater: Wilbur Garretson Williams, class of 1875, and Raymond P. Shafer, class of 1938. Each served a single year under highly different circumstances.

The Reverend Wilbur Williams was born in Plainfield, Ohio, on October 9, 1852. After a year at Washington and Jefferson College, in 1873 he entered­ Allegheny where his brother had just graduated. He proved an eager, intense student who complet­ed his course of study in philosophy, lan­guages, and literature in two years, while participating in the Philo-Franklin Literary Society and Phi Gamma Delta.

For a year after graduation he taught at the Lake Shore Seminary in North East, Pennsylvania, then accepted a parish at the 10th Street Church in Erie. College Presi­dent Lucius Bugbee, aware of Williams’s linguistic skills, in­vited him to teach French and German at Allegheny in 1875. “Barney” Williams’s classes responded enthusiastical­ly to his buoyant classroom style. During the summers he traveled in Eu­rope, where he lectured in German with a perfect command of the lan­guage. In 1880 he married Carrie K. Wyth ’77. When Presi­dent Bugbee left in 1882 Wil­liams departed also to assume the pulpit of a large congre­gation in James­town, New York. From 1884 to 1885 he held the princi­palship at Genesee Wesleyan Seminary.

When Williams returned to the Allegheny faculty in 1885 it was widely expected that he would in time succeed to the presidency. This seemed all the more likely with his reappointment after the faculty purge of 1886, conferral of an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree, and his directorship of the new nonresident doctoral program.

Following the unex­pectedly early resignation of College President David Wheeler, Williams took office in June 1888 with energy and a detailed plan for the improvement of the College. He had a generous gift in hand for the renova­tion of campus and buildings. Soon Bentley and Ruter halls were under re­pair, boardwalks laid, and the swamp of Lake George drained. Williams’s energy was contagious and hopes expanded. Unlike his prede­cessor, who had never held an appointed preaching charge, Williams had done so and spoke clearly of the responsibilities of the College for the religious forma­tion of its students. Some faculty did not endorse this new-old thrust. Perhaps Wil­liams was moving too quickly. He could inspi­re others but he did not know how to deal with opposition. His temperament was sensitive and intense, with little experience in diplomatic maneuvering. The issue of “teachers, not preachers” was still uppermost for the faculty and the scars of the 1886 faculty reorganization still painful. Battle lines between the trustees and the Board of Control were drawn. Williams’s warm sup­port by the latter was matched by similar opposition among some trustees who contested the Board of Control’s influence over length of terms of appointment.

At the June 1889 commencement Williams recommended the dismissal of a popular professor of mathematics. The Board of Control supported him, but the trustees objected. Believing his judgment on faculty ap­pointments should be final, Williams resigned. He would be­come pastor of some of the greatest churches of U.S. Methodism. In 1889 he served the Broad Street Church of Columbus, Ohio. Around 1894 he moved to the First Methodist Church of New Haven, Connecticut. He was there only a year before tak­ing the pastorate of Union Church in St. Louis, Missouri, where he died on April 16, 1897, at only forty-four years of age.

*This account is taken, with permission, from  J. E. Helmreich, Through All the Years: A History of Allegheny College. Meadville, PA: Allegheny College, 2005.

June 27, 1883—June 1888

The Reverend David H. Wheeler served two terms as president of Allegheny. Although the College was wracked by faculty dis­sension and dispute between trustees and the Methodists’ Board of Control, he averted a disruption that might have brought about the College’s demise. His success was due greatly to his own popularity as a person, scholar, and teach­er.

Wheeler became president at a time when the post was changing from that of leading teacher and “chair” of the faculty to profes­sional admin­istrator. He had come to Alle­gheny as an estab­lished scholar, the author of­ a noted two-volume work on Brigandage in South Italy and a book of essays on literature. In addition he had edited historical sketches by J. A. Froude and translated a work on Genoa in the sixteenth century. ­­One of Wheeler’s major achieve­ments was his stress on scholar­ship and profes­sional specialization on the faculty. A powerful teacher and preacher, he taught crowded classes. Word that he was speaking anywhere in Meadville guaranteed a large turnout. Wheeler was noted for his bacca­laureate ad­dresses, a collec­tion of which was published in 1886. Students remembered the cultured president’s talks on practical Christianity as well as his credo that “only the good are great and the greatest hero is he who masters himself.”

Born in Ithaca, New York, on November 18, 1829, Wheeler moved with his family to Illi­nois in 1846. He entered Rock River Seminary of Mount Morris, Illinois, two years later. From 1851 to 1853 he tutored there, then became instructor of Greek at Cornell College in Iowa. In 1855–56 he edited a paper in Illinois before returning to Cornell to teach Greek. In 1861 he won appointment as U.S. Consul General in Genoa, Italy. Five years later he was the Italy correspondent for the New York Tribune and Chicago Tribune. Offered the chair of English liter­a­ture at Northwestern University, he returned to the United States in 1867. Northwestern awarded him a Doctor of Laws degree in 1881; Cornell College conferred on him a Doctor of Divinity degree. In 1875 Wheeler became editor of The Methodist, a journal that soon merged with the Christian Advocate. In June 1883 he was inaugurated seventh president of Allegheny College.

Wheeler coalesced the several schools of instruction into three departments. His reorganization of the program and effort to improve faculty harmony led to a decision in the summer of 1886 that all fac­ul­ty members re­sign. All but four were offered new contracts. A postgraduate program lead­ing to a doctor of philosophy degree was inaugurated, and affil­iations established with the Meadville Conservatory of Music and the Mead­ville Business College. Wheeler advocated in­creased emphasis on civil engi­neering and the move of preparatory students to a separate building and faculty. Though he could preach eloquently on Christian stewardship, the president found solicitation of funds personally distasteful.

The stress of instituting many changes plus a touchy student disci­plinary case resulted in Wheeler’s “nervous prostra­tion” and his unexpected resignation in June 1888, but he remained on the faculty. When his successor suddenly resigned in June 1889, Wheel­er became acting president and officially became presi­dent again in January 1890. Twice a compromise choice for president, too much the gentleman to press his own views ardently, and galled by criticism for his one bold step in 1886, Wheeler naturally took a cautious approach. Wilcox Hall of Science would be begun in 1892, and Wheeler took final re­tirement in June of 1893. He moved to the Chicago area where he continued to write and to lecture until his death on June 18, 1902.

*This account is taken, with permission, from  J. E. Helmreich, Through All the Years: A History of Allegheny College. Meadville, PA: Allegheny College, 2005.

June 1893—June 1920

The Reverend William H. Crawford was recognized in his own day as the founder of “The New Allegheny.” His twenty-seven years in office left it mark­edly al­tered in almost every way.

Born in Wilton Center, Illinois, on October 6, 1855, Crawford earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts degree from Northwestern University in 1884 and 1887, and a Bachelor of Divinity degree from the Biblical Institute of Evanston, Illinois, in 1884. From 1884 to 1886 he was pastor of the Ravens­wood, Chicago, congregation and then served at Fulton Street for three years. From 1889 to 1893 he taught the history of theology at Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta. His election as president of Allegheny was unexpected.

At thirty-seven, Crawford was the youngest of all Allegheny presidents to that time, except for Wilbur Williams. His energy and self-confidence complemented each other. Skill as a platform speaker won the attention of those who did not know him well. Those who did were impressed by his concern for them personally and by his ability to bend every effort to the betterment of the institution. He inspired confidence and himself drew strength from a deep religious faith. As a cleric and a college president he guarded his public persona. He would not don old clothes and help plant shrubbery; when the College newspaper omitted “Mr.” after “Reverend” he admonished it. Crawford’s firmness stabilized operations and assuaged doubts. His influence upon the College in terms of focus of mission, scholastic standards, moral behavior, and “clean” athletics was huge. It was he who concentrated the institution’s energies on undergraduate education, ending doctoral programs and linkages with the Meadville Conservatory of Music and the Meadville College of Business. He guided the College though choppy waters as the Methodist Board of Control relinquished its role and alumni gained permission to elect some trustees. In collaboration with Frank Arter he established the College’s own endowment fund distinct from those of the Methodist Church. He also joined with leaders of sixteen other institutions to found the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

One solid measure of Crawford’s greatness as a planner and builder is still visible today. When he came to the College in 1893 there were four major structures; when he retired in 1920, there were twelve. Buildings added to the campus included a gymnasium, a heating plant, Newton Observatory, Ford Memorial Chapel, Reis Library, Alden Hall, Cochran Hall, and Carnegie Hall. The faculty had grown from six to thirty-five in number with fourteen full professors in contrast to the four when Crawford assumed office. In 1893 the only College endowment was the Lindley scholarship fund of $10,000. The coffers of the Centenary societies of the Erie and Pittsburgh conferences held about $150,000. By 1920 the College’s endowment amounted to $850,000, plus the somewhat depleted Centenary funds. In 1893 enrollment at Allegheny numbered 118 undergraduates and 119 preparatory students. In 1920 there were 529 undergraduates.

President Crawford was a relentless fund-raiser. Instead of shrinking from the task or relying on a College agent or the church, he willingly took it on, saying that his positive attitude was the result of working for a thoroughly good cause. Sometimes audacious in his vision of where the College should be headed, Crawford was more often right than wrong in his presumptions. In 1903 he told the senior class: “Within the text ten years no college will be of any account which does not have an endowment of $1,000,000.”

Like Winston Churchill later in the century, Crawford was a man who thrived on crisis. When prospects were grim he buckled down and spoke up. For example, he defended Allegheny’s integrity during an embezzlement scandal. When the Alden Academy burned he quickly sought resources to replace it, and in harsh times he constructed Reis Library, a project thought impossible. “Prexy” Crawford was more than a man of words. In the words of Frank Arter, Crawford was “doer,” “a man who never let his pants cool.”

Crawford’s leadership won the respect of the faculty and townspeople. In a governance system that already gave czar-like powers to the chief executive, Crawford enhanced his personal stature vis-à-vis the boards and faculty by his accomplishments. In the last years of his presidency his benevolent dictatorship became a touch too authoritarian for the likings of some, who, for the most part, saw the wisdom of keeping silent. Yet even an unpleasant disagreement such as that over the contract renewal of a professor of English would in time prove beneficial, forcing the College to review and to regularize its appointment practices. The release of a professor of German as war fever rose was lamentable, but more a reflection of the Germanophobia of the country than of a Crawford weakness. The president’s likes and dislikes were so strong that they colored campus culture; they were, however, greatly shared by a number of faculty, especially the senior and most productive. Crawford’s leadership capacity is attested by his ability to enlist strong support from able teachers and scholars, some of national reputation, such as William Elliott  ’89, William Dutton, James Montgomery ’77, Camden Cobern ’76, Richard E. Lee, and Clarence F. Ross ’91.

The president supported higher education for women. He saw the goal of their education the foundation of an informed Christian home rather than preparation for employment or a professional career. In his 1908 report to the trustees he commented: “I am glad to report that most of our women graduates get married shortly after they leave college. Many of them teach for a time but the right man soon comes along and then they give up teaching to establish a college home where children are born to replenish future college classes.”

In his final baccalaureate address of 1920 Crawford described his administration as having three phases. From 1893 to 1901 he grappled with financial depression and small matters. From 1901 to 1910 he began to implement the “New Allegheny.” The years from 1910 to 1920 were those of larger realization, of a dream slowly coming true. His creed as president, he said, had two cornerstones: a Christian college must serve its students in a fuller way than secular institutions if it were to merit existence, and faculty in a Christian college stood in the same relation to their students as ministers to their flocks.

Crawford received many honors and honorary degrees. He expanded his widely delivered lecture on the Florentine monk Savonarola into a book in 1906 and published The Church and the Slums in 1908. To mark the Thoburn jubilee of 1909 he also edited a volume of sermons on Thoburn and India (1909) and later one comprising addresses on The American College (1915) given at the College centennial. A trustee of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, in 1909 he was elected president of the Association of College Presidents and Principals of Secondary Schools of the Methodist Episcopal Church. From December 1917 to May 1918 he served in France with the YMCA. After retirement in 1920 he became a national officer of Phi Beta Kappa, re­mained active in Kiwanis, and lived in Meadville. The success of his public career was not free of personal sadness. His daughter died unexpectedly while a student at Johns Hopkins University. His son, a classical scholar, suffered an eye injury while fencing that caused such pain and mental distress that he shot himself. It fell to Crawford to speak at memorials for two of his successors as College president in whom he had placed great hope. Crawford died on March 6, 1944, and lies in the College lot in Greendale Cemetery.

Crawford had great ability to focus his efforts and to make excep­tional use of his time. His relationships with Andrew Carne­gie and Sarah B. Cochran benefited the College greatly. While having visions for the future, he also knew how to bring dreams into reality. A later president, John Richie Schultz, eloquently summed up the man and his life: “It seems almost incredible that any one man . . . should have done so much.”

* This account is taken with permission nearly completely from  J. E. Helmreich, Through All the Years: A History of Allegheny College. Meadville, PA: Allegheny College, 2005.

June 15,1920—November 23, 1924

Intellectual aptitude, talent for friendship, and appetite for hard work enabled the Reverend Fred Whitlo Hixson successfully to follow in the footsteps of former College president William Crawford.

Hixson was born on November 24, 1874, in Dover Hills, Indiana, the son of a Method­ist minister. Early on he developed a love of nature and the skill of keen observation. A precocious student, at thirteen he passed the examination for a teach­ing cer­tificate, although he was too young to receive one. He entered a prepara­tory school associated with DePauw Universi­ty and four years later in 1894 en­rolled in the universi­ty. Between his sopho­more and junior years he took leave to teach school in Monrovia, Illinois. He also gained a preacher’s license and upon return to col­lege served the Brick Church near Greencastle, Indiana. At DePauw he was a member of the mili­tary training corps for four years, graduating in 1899 as a captain and a mem­ber of Phi Beta Kap­pa.

Hixson married that fall and in due course was ordained. He took successive pastorates at Bloomingdale, Rockville, South Bend, Terre Haute, and Crawfordsville, Indiana. In this last post at the Centenary Church, held from 1910 to 1914, his administrative and sermoniz­ing abilities reached full power. He developed a plan for an Every Member Canvass, a fund-raising technique that spread to other churches. In 1913 he received an honorary doctorate from DePauw and the following year became president of the University of Chattanoo­ga. In 1918 Dickinson College granted him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

Hixson’s presidency of Chattanooga was a work of art. When he arrived the university had but one building, with another on the way. Hixson added four more in his six years there, improved ties between the city and the uni­versity, and raised scholastic standards. Though successful, he came to believe that he had reduced factional disputes and tapped re­sources to the extent he personally could do so.

Hixson had long aspired to being part of a Methodist institution. When selected as Allegheny’s president in 1920 he had not taken a vacation in ten years, yet he quickly threw himself into his duties. In his inau­gural address of November 11, 1920, Hixson emphasized the need for Christian liberal education. He also called for a larger endowment. The capital funds cam­paign he promptly launched was oversubscribed in one year. To improve alum­ni ties to the College, he arranged for copies of the Campus and the literary magazine to be sent to all alumni free of charge. Alumni were encouraged to return for commence­ment by a switch to a weekend ceremony in 1924. A ten-year program, essentially his vision, called for enlargement of the campus, freshman dormitories, an auditori­um, and a re­modeling of Bentley Hall.

President Hixson was known for his reserve. Never vociferous, he spoke only when he had something to say. Modest, polite, and gentle by nature, he prevailed by kindness. Always direct and devoid of egotism, he was a steadfast Republican. Hixson served as secretary of the University Senate of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was elected to the thirty-third degree in Masonry. Students welcomed his liberality on cer­tain social issues as bringing Allegheny more closely in tune with the times. He suspended the ban on dancing on campus, allowing the 1921 junior prom to be held in the gymnasium. It featured a six-person band, “The Pennsylvanians,” led by a state university undergraduate, Fred Waring, and his younger brother.

After serving as a delegate to the Methodist General Conference in 1924, Hixson craved a break, but a Colorado vacation did not restore his energies. Following a tonsillectomy, he took to his bed, overcome by pain presumed to be caused by arthritis or some systemic poisoning or infection. Hixson last attended chapel on October 7, 1924. On 23 November, he died in his Park Avenue home, from whence he had watched repair on Bentley Hall. His body lay in state in Ford Chapel. Following the funeral at Stone Church, he was interred in the College plot in Greendale Ceme­tery.

*This account is taken, with permission, from  J. E. Helmreich, Through All the Years: A History of Allegheny College. Meadville, PA: Allegheny College, 2005.

April 6, 1926—June 1930

It is ironic that in his first address to the Allegheny community the Reverend James Albert Beebe referred to the high professional mortality rate of college presidents. Illness and stress forced his retirement after only four years as Allegheny’s president. Though the eleventh person to hold that title, in later decades he would be counted the twelfth president due to President David Wheeler’s two separate terms in the post.

Born in Mound Valley, Kansas, on December 8, 1878, Beebe received his early educa­tion in Harlan, Iowa. In 1897 he entered Simp­son College in Indianola, Iowa, but left during the Spanish-American War to serve as a first sergeant with the 51st Iowa Infantry in occupation of the Philippine Islands. He was thus the first Allegheny College president per­son­ally to have experienced active military service. After his discharge, Beebe returned to Simpson, receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree and Phi Beta Kappa key in 1903. The same year he was or­dained into the Methodist Epis­copal min­istry. He held his first pas­tor­ate in Des Moines until 1906, when he moved to attend the Boston University School of The­ology. While studying for his Bachelor of Sacred Theology de­gree, received in 1909, he held min­isterial posts in Newport, New Hampshire, and then in Man­chester, from 1908 to 1909.

For six years, beginning in 1909, Reverend Beebe ministered to a large con­gregation at the Engle­wood Church in Chicago. His reputa­tion as a person, scholar, and speaker led to his appointment in 1915 as pres­ident of the Iliff School of Theol­ogy in Denver, Colorado. Five years later he was called by the Bos­ton School of Theology to become its dean. While there, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Allegheny College and published a well-received book on The Pastoral Office.

Beebe was chosen president of Allegheny in February 1926 and took over duties from Acting President C. F. Ross on April 6. His integrity and trans­parent sincerity won friends. Former president William Crawford later referred to Beebe as “the man everybody loves.” Students liked to hear him speak more than famous visiting lecturers. Faculty appre­ciated his belief that governance was a cooperative matter involv­ing the teachers as well as the administration. By nature more a mediator than a leader, he saw his role as “a kind of liaison officer whose privilege it is to keep all groups in our college community in touch with each other and to interpret the spirit and ideals of each to the others.”¹

Beebe’s dream was of a finer Allegheny, characterized by educational sincerity, devotion to the liberal rather than the vocational ideal in education, and dedicated to the notion that the highest end of education is the making of better women and men. He wanted better classrooms and the ­opportunity to house all first year men together. These goals were met by the construction of Arter and Caflisch halls. His plans to expand the li­brary building did come to pass, but those for an addition to the chapel were curtailed by the 1929 stock market crash.

Like Alden, Beebe thought religion was “the great instrument for securing morality.” To assure this, Beebe believed reliance should be placed on all teachers, not just those of the Bible, developing Christian attitudes in students by leading them to interpret life from the point of view of Jesus of Nazareth.² The College, he argued, should provide a moral Christian perspective not through regulations, sectarian control, or courses in religion, but by personal exam­ples of faculty and staff.

Beebe did much to awaken alumni spirit. In particular he empha­sized all-College events that acknowledged Alleghe­ny history and tradi­tions. His motive in part was to offer focal points for College loyalty that would provide common ground as compared with increas­ingly strong fraternity ties and rivalries. He also sought alternatives to the growing fervor for intercollegiate­ sports, calls for increased athletic subsidies, and pres­sure to win big games, but was tardy and modest in exercising leadership in this area. The athletic and fraternity themes intertwined in an unusual manner in fall 1928, when the societies adjusted their living arrange­ments to ac­commodate others so that the football team might reside together in the Phi Gamma Delta house for the season. The president happily later noted that the academic averages of both the team and the fra­ternities rose as a result of this experiment, which he suggested dem­onstrated the distractive effect of fraternity activities on their members.

A lengthy nervous disorder forced Beebe to resign at the close of the 1929–30 academic year. His frame house at 544/545 Park Avenue, home to most presidents since the Reverend Bugbee—save for the Reverend Crawford who briefly resided on Highland Avenue—became a dormitory named for him. It is now part of the site of Schultz Hall. Beebe died in Newtonville, Massachusetts, on May 7, 1934.

*This account is taken, with permission, from  J. E. Helmreich, Through All the Years: A History of Allegheny  College. Meadville, PA: Allegheny College, 2005.

1. Trustees minutes, June 20, 1927, Beebe report to trustees.
2. Trustee minutes, January 19, 1928, Beebe report to trustees.

July 1, 1931—July 1942

Born in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, on September 13, 1900, William Tolley grew up in Binghamton, New York. He excelled in public speaking and was valedictorian of his high school class. While at Syracuse University he misrepresented his age to volunteer in World War I, or so he later claimed. He saw no active duty, remaining on campus in the Student Army Training Corps. Tolley also sang in the Glee Club, played saxophone in a group he organized, the “Sinful Syncopaters,” and edited the yearbook. In his spare time he was president of the YMCA chapter and a shoe salesman.

He graduated in 1922 with Phi Beta Kappa honors. Intending to enter the ministry, he enrolled in Drew University while also taking graduate courses at Columbia University. He received a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Drew in 1925, a Master’s degree from Symmons University in 1924, and another Master’s from Columbia in 1927, followed by a PhD from Columbia in 1930. While at Drew he was alumni secretary for two years; he also taught philosophy and served as assistant to the president. In 1928 he became acting dean of the new undergraduate college for men at Drew, Brothers College, and full dean in 1929.

The Depression hurt many small colleges. Tough times called for strong action, and Tolley was prepared to take it in Meadville when he assumed the presidency of Allegheny on July 1, 1931. College requirements and curricula, he believed, needed streamlining to meet students’ individual needs. Programs were cut and athletic scholarships ended. New offerings were initiated, including Secretarial Studies. Inventory examinations were developed to measure educational progress, a first for American colleges. Allegheny became the first liberal arts college to operate a successful educational guidance clinic for high school students. Tolley’s aim was not to make the College bigger but to raise its quality. Placing Allegheny in the company of the nation’s very best small colleges was his unwavering goal. He did not shrink from gaining publicity for both the College and himself by adopting at Allegheny the role of a leading national spokesperson for educational reform and curricular innovation.

More than any previous presidents, he instructed the Board regarding national trends in education and their implications for Allegheny. As the trustees observed upon the tenth anniversary of his appointment, there were few administrators in the country who so “lived in the future” as did Tolley. When he left for Syracuse, the trustees lauded the president for carrying the College “to a fundamentally new philosophy of education.” “We say . . . that ‘Allegheny recognizes the fact of individual differences and adapts its program to meet the needs of the individual student,’[this] is the really revolutionary change that has been wrought.”1 A confident person, President Tolley projected an aura of leadership that came naturally but also was one he encouraged. Extremely neat and well combed in his appearance, he had the knack of making each person with whom he spoke feel that she or he was the sole focus of his attention.

He was also a master at praising others, but not insincerely or as a flatterer. Tolley called attention to achievement and accentuated the positive. He could charm; women found him interesting, perhaps because of his sense of humor and willingness to poke fun at himself.
In 1932 Tolley was appointed to the University Senate of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
a seat he held for nearly forty years. In 1964 he would provide the leadership that created the
United Methodist Higher Education Foundation. Tolley chaired the academic freedom and tenure committee of the Association of American Colleges (AAC) that with the American Association of University Professors formulated the famous 1940 Statement on Freedom and Tenure. In 1942 and 1943 he presided over the Association of American Colleges. After the United States joined World War II, he lobbied Congress for passage of bills creating the V-12 Program and the Army Specialized Training Program that would bring servicemen to depopulated campuses. A few years later he helped draft legislation that became known as the “GI Bill of Rights.”

Tolley and his wife Ruth, especially, loved Allegheny, wished its welfare, and later would enroll two daughters at the College. But Tolley’s interests and ambitions were broader than what could be fulfilled in Meadville. He saw himself as an apostle of higher education, enjoyed company with the influential and powerful, and needed a larger stage from which to launch his campaign for a new and reformed higher education.2 It was therefore not difficult for Syracuse University’s call on Tolley’s loyalty to take him there as its seventh chancellor in August of 1942. Tolley led Syracuse through the war crisis and through major expansion until his retirement in 1969. University assets grew from $15 million to $200 million; undergraduate enrollment expanded from 3,800 to 24,000, and graduate enrollment from 400 to 8,000. He maintained his reputation as a “hands-on” manager, a trait he said he developed as a dean and then as a small-college president. Tolley authored several books and received many honors, including a Doctor of Laws from Allegheny in 1943. In retirement he chaired the board of Mohawk Airlines. He died on January 26, 1996, in Syracuse, New York.

*This account is taken, with permission, from J. E. Helmreich, Through All the Years: A History of Allegheny College. Meadville, PA: Allegheny College, 2005.
1. Trustee minutes, 3 October 1942.
2. John A. Beach, “Minister of Higher Education: A Biography of William Pearson Tolley” ch. 5

May 8, 1943—August 11, 1947

John Richie Schultz was the first Allegheny president who was not a member of the clergy and the third to accede to that post from the faculty (fourth, if John Barker, who briefly left for another institution, is counted in addition to Homer Clark and Wilbur Williams). A native of Canton, Missouri, where he was born on December 12, 1884, Schultz was drawn to the writings of another favorite son of that region, Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Schultz also savored provin­cial speech, especially the argot of the river men. He was a master pun­ster and took delight in writing poems in doggerel. His lengthy mock ode “Faculty Parade,” with which he entertained a faculty dinner in 1936, poked friendly fun at the fads and foibles of the College family.

Schultz was a model citizen of the College and town. High-spirited and public-minded, his interest was for the general good. His outward conviviality was matched by an inward concern for others. He enjoyed people and wished them to enjoy Allegheny. During the grim years of World War II he worked to make the campus a source of warmth for the soldiers training there. Off campus, he served as member of the Mead­ville Civil Service Commission.

“Richie,” as he was known, received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Culver-Stockton College in Canton in 1905, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He went on to earn his Masters of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Yale in 1909 and 1917. From 1905 to 1908 Schultz was principal of Canton High School and also served as city clerk. From 1909 to 1911 he taught at East St. Louis High. The following year he returned to Yale as an instructor of English while completing his doctorate. He came to Allegheny as professor of Eng­lish literature in 1917. During the summers in the 1920s Schultz was adminis­tra­tor of Redpath Chautauqua, first for its Midwest lecture circuit, then for New York­ and New England. The many associations he developed while with the Chautauqua organization enabled him to bring to campus acclaimed contemporary cultural and literary figures such as Carl Sandburg, Vachel Lindsay, and Alan Lomax. He authored a collection of essays on literature, sever­al articles, and a book on The Unpublished Letters of Bayard Taylor. Schultz’s abil­ity to relate well with students brought his appointment to the post of dean of men in 1930. He was active in this role, became a friend to the fraternities, and built the significance of the position.

To most of the campus and community Dean Schultz was a natural choice to be­come acting  president upon William Tolley’s resignation in 1942. The trust­ees formally elected him president on May 8, 1943. His leadership during a period of uncertainty had a calming effect upon the College and community, strained by the challenges brought by war. Central to the president’s success was a friendly, “warm and fuzzy” style and an abili­ty to deal well with issues at hand and not to fret unduly over unsolv­able or future problems. Colleges including Allegheny, Culver-Stockton, Mount Union, and the Uni­versity of Pittsburgh awarded him honorary LLD Degrees. Happy and vigorous, he was suddenly attacked by cancer. Weak at commencement in 1947, he was soon unable to walk to Bentley Hall from his home at 380 North Main Street. He died on August 11, 1947. In 1992, what was formerly known as South Hall on the Alle­gheny campus was renamed Schultz Hall in his honor.

*This account is taken, with permission, from  J. E. Helmreich, Through All the Years: A History of Allegheny College. Meadville, PA: Allegheny College, 2005.

September 1, 1948—June 1955

The portrait gallery of Allegheny presidents currently on display in the Tippie Alumni Center presents an imposing array of presidential dignitaries. Most are formally posed wearing dark vested suits or academic regalia. The exception is Dr. Louis Tomlinson Benezet. He is shown at his desk in the midst of preparing a speech, gazing alertly as if trying to envision the future. He wears a light brown jacket and an orange tie. The presentation is bold and straightforward.

One of the youngest college presidents in the nation, Benezet faced the task of moving the College ahead. Allegheny had first been a tiny fron­tier institution, then one of many “neigh­bor­hood colleges.” At the end of the nineteenth centu­ry it held re­gion­al prominence and, under William Crawford, na­tion­al recog­nition. But upward mobility in Allegheny’s standing slowed as a result of the growth of state institutions, two unexpectedly short presidencies, two in­terim admin­istrations, the Depression, and a war. During the pres­iden­cies of William Tolley and John Richie Schultz the cataclysmic effects of depression and war were countered, yet lit­tle energy remained to pro­vide for­ward momentum.

Born in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, June 29, 1915, Benezet received his Bachelor of Arts in 1936 from Dartmouth College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Next came a Master’s degree from Reed College in 1939 and a PhD in Psycholo­gy from Co­lumbia University in 1942. He taught English at the Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, from 1936 to 1938 and served as instructor in psychology at Reed College between 1938 and 1940. From 1941 to 1942 Benezet was a fellow in psy­chology at the City Col­lege of New York. He then gained appointment as associate professor of psychology and assis­tant direc­tor of admissions at Knox College of Galesburg, Illinois. Follow­ing active duty in the Naval Reserve, in 1946 Benezet became as­sistant dean at the University College of Syracuse Univer­sity; in 1947 he was ap­pointed assistant to the chan­cel­lor. The Syracuse experience and connec­tion with Chancellor Tolley influenced Benezet’s se­lection as Alle­gheny’s fifteenth president in 1948. He took over re­sponsibili­ties on September 1 from Acting President Chester Darling.

Like Schultz, Benezet was known for his cordiality and charming informality.­ Much of the change he endeavored to bring about was achieved through personal contact. His ability to link faces and names was legendary. It took him only a few weeks to learn and remember the names of an entire entering class, plus those of new faculty, spouses, and their children. He could put any group at ease instantaneously. In his first weeks on campus he attended a cider and doughnut gathering of new faculty hosted by a young faculty couple. The newcomers gathered, but awkwardly avoided helping themselves. Conversation was at a standstill. So Louis—as he soon came to be known by all—strolled to the table, impaled doughnuts on each of his fingers and served the guests. With the ice broken the party became a relaxed affair. Benezet’s warmth had much to do with the quality of collegiality long attributed to his era.

Funds were limited, facilities crowded or worn. There was a strong need to construct new buildings, both to accommo­date students and classes and to show that Allegheny, like its competi­tors, was alive and moving forward. Benezet’s vision of a grow­ing College aroused alumni and towns­people. Improvement of athletic fields at Eberhardt Field along Park Avenue Extension had already begun. Erection of Baldwin Hall, Quigley Hall, and the David Mead Field House attached to the back of the gymna­sium signified Allegheny’s post-World War II renaissance. General education courses became the foundation of the curriculum. The role of student government expanded, faculty became more involved in policy making, and Benezet organized his chief staff into an informal cabinet that met Friday mornings to improve communication. Yet progress was endan­gered by the outbreak of the Korean War and a decline in male enroll­ments. Strenuous effort to obtain a Reserve Officer Training Corps program brought establishment of an Air Force unit in September 1951, helping to maintain both enrollment and finances.

In fund raising and in the competition for students, Benezet found Allegheny’s location a challenge. It was neither east nor midwest enough to associate well with similar institutions in those areas that were gaining national attention. Believing he had done what he could for the College, in 1955 he ac­cepted appointment as president of Colo­rado Col­lege in Colorado Springs. His fondness for Allegheny and friendships made in Meadville remained strong for the rest of his life.

Benezet again moved in 1963 to lead the Claremont Uni­versity Center and Graduate School in California. In 1970 he became presi­dent of the State University of New York campus at Albany. In 1975 he began appointment as research professor of human development at the State University of New York at Stony Brook for another ten years. From 1987 to 1990 he consulted on college adminis­tra­tion.

Author of several books and recipient of numerous honorary degrees, Benezet was president of the Pennsyl­va­nia Association of Colleges and Universities in 1951–52. He also chaired Rhodes Scholar selection commit­tees in Colorado, California, and New York. In California he served on the Governor’s Committee on Tax Reform and in New York on the Governor’s Task Force on Financing Higher Education.­­ In his last years he endured a lengthy battle with cancer, dying on January 23, 2002.

* This account is taken with permission nearly completely from  J. E. Helmreich, Through All the Years: A History of Allegheny College. Meadville, PA: Allegheny College, 2005.

July 1955—June 1980

Allegheny obtained a down east New Englander in Lawrence Lee Pelletier, replete with a broad accent, reserved demeanor but internal warmth and love of conversation, and insistence on personal respect as the core of democracy and College governance. His presidential term from July 1955 through June 1980 was second in length only to William Crawford’s in the College’s first two centuries. It brought great change and increased national recognition.

Born on September 8, 1914, in Farmington, New Hampshire, Pelletier grew up in Sanford, Maine. Shy, he developed rapid reading skills and love of the written word. He attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, on a scholarship. There he persevered despite loneliness that overwhelmed him during his freshman year. He never forgot what it was to be a small town boy thrown into foreign circumstances. Throughout his career he fought for student aid and an effective faculty advising program. He graduated in 1936 with Phi Beta Kappa honors, receiving MA and PhD degrees from Harvard University in 1939 and 1947. From 1939 to l945 he taught history and government at the University of Maine in Orono.

In 1946 he returned to Bowdoin to teach government. During the 1940s he served as consultant to the National Resources Planning Board and the Maine Municipal Association and published studies on financing state and local government, the initiative and referendum in Maine, and the town manager plan. In 1950 he was executive secretary to Maine Governor Frederick G. Payne and member of a tax committee that modernized the state’s tax structure. From 1953 to 1954 he was associate director of the Citizenship Clearing House of the New York University Law Center. The contacts he made in that post, including Judge Arthur D. Vanderbilt who headed the project, brought Pelletier to the attention of Allegheny’s search committee.

As president Pelletier led the College out of narrow financial straits in the 1950s, through the politically troubled 1960s, and through the financially challenging 1970s. Students, faculty and alumni came to appreciate his concern for them and his style of allowing faculty and administrators enough latitude to develop their potential. His practice of not commenting on issues in faculty meetings until after a vote was taken, or of simply not expressing his views, meant that faculty were often in the dark over how differently or critically he viewed a given matter. Each year he met with entering students in small group matriculation ceremonies, and he and his wife, Louise Pelletier, invited each graduating senior to a small dinner at their home.

During Pelletier’s tenure the student body increased from 1,000 to over 1,850. A three-term calendar was adopted in 1962 and a new curriculum granting more emphasis to the undergraduate major was established two years later. An innovative five-year internship Masters in Education program won national recognition. The faculty expanded from seventy-eight to 130 with over 70 percent holding doctorates. Salaries were increased and the system of faculty sabbaticals expanded. The students introduced an honor system and Pelletier founded a program of Alden Scholars and emphasized Honors Day. A chief goal of the president was to raise the educational standards and the scholarly productivity of the College. Student admissions to graduate colleges mounted steadily. Higher enrollment permitted the offering of a wider range of instruction by added faculty members. More students also required more facilities. Dr. Pelletier presided over the construction of South (Schultz), Carr, Murray, Highland, Crawford, and Ravine-Narvik halls, a new maintenance building, Walker Annex, Edwards House, Mellon Recreational Building, and the Fine-Arts Campus Center. In 1976 a new library was dedicated by the trustees in his honor.

The president met student unrest in the 1960s and early 1970s with patience and an open door. Dormitory visitation regulations were modified but not abandoned. Protests regarding government actions in Vietnam were heeded but the campus was not shut down. Programs for the educationally underprivileged were established. Efforts to improve access and service to minorities, however, had only limited success.

Dr. Pelletier served as trustee for the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. In 1968 he was elected by the Meadville area as its delegate to the convention that revised the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s constitution. He chaired its committee on style and drafting. He was honored with three Doctor of Laws degrees awarded by his alma mater in 1962, by Colby College of Waterville, Maine, in 1963, and by Gannon University in 1975.

For Pelletier, knowledge was the fountain of power. He read voraciously. His interest in gadgets is what led Allegheny to acquire its first 1640 IBM computer in 1962 when other small colleges were assuming that such items were only for universities. Language intrigued him. Not foreign languages, for they baffled him, but rather the precision of the rightly chosen word. The elegance of the honorary degree citations that he drafted gained renown in academic circles. For him the greatest art was knowing how to understand people. Few persons were his peer at sizing up other individuals. His skill at interviewing was legendary. Future oriented, his greatest concern was not what a person was, but what he might become. As long as he saw possibility of growth, he was supportive, and he possessed a sixth sense as to when to encourage or caution. If individuals were treated properly he believed the institution of which they were a part would prosper as well. Sometimes considered diffident and aloof by those who first met him, in time he revealed himself as warm and gregarious. An artful raconteur, his eyes would sparkle as he suddenly came to the climax of a tale. A man of considerable public patience, he privately felt deep frustration at the difficulties in moving individuals and the institution. But he steadily sought to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

Always subject to low points, Pelletier experienced spells of depression increasingly during his last years in office. Troubled by a sense that he no longer had the sort of support he had come to expect from faculty members and weakened by his own health problems and those of his wife, he opted not to match William Crawford’s term in office despite urging by trustees. Because he believed the purpose of life was service, he was wary of retirement. But after moving to York Harbor, Maine, in 1980, he found multiple ways to serve as a member of bank, hospital and other boards and as a fundraiser for local institutions. He succumbed to cancer on August 10,1995.

*This account is taken, with permission and slight changes, from  J. E. Helmreich, Through All the Years: A History of Allegheny  College. Meadville, PA: Allegheny College, 2005.

July 1, 1980—June30, 1986

David Baily Harned became president of Allegheny College after establishing a distinguished record as professor and chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.

Born in Allentown, Pennsylvania on June 5, 1932, Harned graduated from Yale University in 1954. The next year was spent in study at New College in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 1957 he received a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School. He then earned MA and PhD degrees from Yale in 1959 and 1963. He was ordained in the Pennsylvania Synod of the Lutheran Church of America in 1961. Except for Timothy Alden, he was the only non-Methodist of the thirteen clergy among Allegheny’s presidents prior to the millennium.

For three years beginning in 1957, Harned was an assistant instructor at Yale. The next year he spent at Williams College. From 1963 to 1967 he was assistant and associate professor at Smith College before moving to Charlottesville. At the University of Virginia he created dormitory seminars for first-year students that proved effective in personalizing education in a large university. In 1978 he won the Most Distinguished Professor Award. He also taught abroad, in the 1970–71 academic year as visiting professor of Christianity at Punjabi University in India and as visiting professor at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1972, 1976, and 1979. He produced scholarly books on a regular basis. From 1965 to 1980 he published six; especially noted was his 1967 volume on The Ambiguity of Religion.

An accomplished scholar and teacher, Harned was attuned to faculty concerns. Aware of mounting salaries in the increasingly competitive academic market place, he arranged substantial increases for continuing faculty and improved and updated faculty fringe benefits that had severely lagged. New tenure and promotion procedures were introduced that responded to current legal trends and the need for increased documentation. Computer science offerings were augmented and the aquatics environment major expanded into a more inclusive environmental science major. More foreign students were brought to campus, adding to its international perspective. Harned believed it was incumbent upon him to arouse the campus by inducing change. Personnel shifts took place in the administration and he pressed for curriculum review. Several areas received additional staffing, especially the development office. A $20 million capital campaign was begun. The annual fund grew from $400,000 to over $1 million. Another goal that Harned coveted was a loftier image for the College, and he actively compared Allegheny with other institutions such as Williams College. He made his staff more aware of statistical measurements of finances and qualifications of entering students as ways of building the reputation of Allegheny.

President Lawrence Pelletier had commented toward the end of his term that the tasks of a college president were becoming increasingly difficult for scholars, teachers, and educators. The demands of fund raising, budgeting, lobbying, and balancing multiple constituencies required administrative specialists. Harned never found these latter responsibilities palatable, and he experienced difficulty in mending rifts within his new administrative staff.  Connections with alumni faltered. When he accepted the presidency he spoke of a term of five years after which he would evaluate his success. The College undertook its own assessment as well, taking note of its special need for leadership of an expanding development program. After discussions with representatives of the executive committee of the Board of Trustees, on July 8, 1985, David Baily Harned submitted his resignation effective June 30, 1986, following a year’s sabbatical leave offered by the trustees. In 1986 Dr. Harned became Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Louisiana State University. Later in retirement he moved to Virginia and continued with his writing.

* This account is taken with permission nearly completely from  J. E. Helmreich, Through All the Years: A History of Allegheny College. Meadville, PA: Allegheny College, 2005.

July 1, 1985—July 31, 1986

Raymond P. Shafer ’38, the second Allegheny alumnus to preside over his alma mater, was also the first Alleghenian to become governor of Pennsylvania. Following the departure of Dr. David Harned in July 1985, the College needed an acting president who could provide leader­ship especially with alumni and the capital funds campaign. Shafer was a natural choice, as a former member of the Mead­ville community, an experienced administrator, and above all an active alumnus. He was well informed about­ the College, for he had served on the Board of Trustees since 1964 and had chaired it from 1972 to 1981. Shafer responded to the call, agreeing to serve for up to two years while a na­tional search for a new College executive was undertaken. His multifaceted service to the College over many years was so extensive that the Board in gratitude named him president nunc pro tunc upon the completion of his year as acting president.    As David Harned technically retained his title as president until June 30, 1986, the 1985–86 academic year from a retroactive viewpoint, but not actually, appears to have hosted simultaneously two presidents of the College.

Born on March 5, 1917, in New Castle, Pennsylvania, Shafer completed his high school education in Meadville when his family moved there at the start of his senior year, and then he matriculated at Allegheny College. He served as class president for each of his four years and for one year was the elected head of the Allegheny Undergraduate Council. He was an accomplished athlete. In three of his four seasons as a basketball player he was the team’s high scorer. On February 14, 2004, his number 24 basketball jersey was the first in the history of the College to be permanently retired. During one of the four years Shafer played varsity soccer he achieved the rank of All-American. Shafer won his ninth varsity letter in track and field. An able student, the genial cheer­leader of the class of 1938 graduated Phi Beta Kappa. He ob­tained a Doctor of Laws degree from the Yale University Law School in 1941 in a class noted for the careers of its graduates, including future Supreme Court Justice Byron White and future U.S. President Gerald Ford. During World War II Shafer was a naval intelligence officer and skipper of a PT boat, earning Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Philippine Libera­tion, and Navy Commen­dation med­als. He continued in the USNR and retired from it as a lieutenant commander.

Shafer had begun private law practice before entering the Navy, and in 1945 he cofounded what became a successful law firm in Meadville. He taught business law at the College on a part-time basis, and from 1948 to 1956 he was district attorney for Craw­ford County. In 1959 he won election as state senator for the Fiftieth District. After four years in the Senate, he ran for lieutenant governor on the success­ful Republi­can ticket headed by William Scranton.

In 1966 Shafer was elected governor, serving from 1967 to 1971. His programs bolstered educa­tion, improved the high­way system, and recruited new industries. The state judicial system was reorganized and steps for environmental protection taken. During his term Pennsylvania enjoyed low unemployment rates, rising per capita income, and an influx of new industries. As governor Shafer took on a daunting challenge: revision­ and modernization of the commonwealth’s obsolete constitution. Though predecessors had found excursions in this direction endangered by po­litical quicksands and electoral pitfalls, Shafer persevered and won ap­proval for creation of a con­stitutional con­vention and acceptance by referen­dum of the document it created. During his gubernatorial term Shafer chaired the Republi­can Governors Associa­tion, was an executive committee member of the Republican Governors Conference, and headed its Law and Justice Commit­tee.

The constitution under which Shafer was elected stated that gov­er­nors could not succeed themselves. Upon leaving his gubernatorial post, he accepted appointment by U. S. President Richard M. Nixon as chair from 1971 to 1974 of the National Commission on Mari­juana and Drug Abuse. The report it issued was at the time con­troversial, yet in later years was recognized as correct in its assess­ment of the growing problem. In 1971 he also chose to become chairman and chief executive officer of the Tele­prompter Corpo­ration. From 1975 to 1977 Shafer served as counselor to the vice president of the United States, Nelson Rocke­feller. Upon retirement from that post, Shafer stayed in Washington, D. C., as partner and senior counsel­or for nation­al and in­ternational affairs for Coo­pers and Ly­brand until called to Allegheny.

As Shafer wrote in his July 1986 farewell report to the trustees, his year as president was “a period of building and re-building among the College’s several constituencies: students, faculty, alumni, staff, and the business and foundation communities.” His two other principal missions were the completion of Phase I of the Campaign for Allegheny College and the recruitment of a new president. The interim president’s focus was therefore more on the College’s future than on its daily operation. Shafer was indefatigable in fund recruitment. His energy and enthusiasm gave the campaign a needed boost. By June 1986, the College had exceeded the $20 million goal of Phase I by $3 million. The annual fund reached a new record of $1,131,000. Midway through Shafer’s term an issue arose that stirred student and faculty concern: College portfolio investment in firms that did business in South Africa, where a system of apartheid and white dominance over the black majority held sway. Shafer did not grasp how this matter might erupt into a major issue, and his staff failed to alert him. The real debate came later.

In 1988 Shafer be­came counsel to the law firm of Dunaway and Cross. He subsequently returned to Meadville and participated in College affairs until ill-health curtailed his activities. Death occurred on December 12, 2006.

Shafer’s public service involved work on many national and inter­nation­al boards, in­cluding chairing the National Committee on United States–China Relations from 1982 to 1991. He received many honors, including thirty-five honor­ary de­grees and, in 1972, the Gold Medallion from the Society for the Family of Man. In 1981, upon his retirement as chair of its Board of Trustees, Allegheny named the auditorium of its Fine Arts-Campus Center in his honor. Shafer achieved the thirty-third degree of Freemasonry. In 2002 he was inducted into the Verizon Academic All-American Hall of Fame for those whose sports careers predated the Academic All-America program founded by the organization of College Sports Information Directors in 1952. Through a notable ca­reer, he remained loyal to the shaping influences of his youth: family, faith, teamwork, scouting, and Allegheny College.

*This account is taken with permission nearly completely from  J. E. Helmreich, Through All the Years: A History of Allegheny College. Meadville, PA: Allegheny College, 2005.

August 1,1986—June 30,1996

A dynamic long-range planner and fundraiser, Daniel Sullivan led the College to expansion of its science structures and use of comput­ers for educational purposes. During his term the Col­lege re­turned to the semes­ter sys­tem with Satur­day classes abol­ished. A new liberal arts studies program for the freshman and soph­omore years was initiat­ed and progress made on additional athletic and physi­cal fitness ­facili­ties.

Born on January 18, 1944, Sullivan grew up in Holley, New York. He graduat­ed from St. Lawrence University Phi Beta Kappa in 1965, with majors in mathe­matics and Eng­lish. He next attended Columbia Uni­versity, receiving a PhD in sociology in 1971. In that year he became assistant professor of soci­ology at Carleton College in Northfield, Minne­sota. In 1979 he was appointed Carleton’s dean of academic development and planning and, two years later, vice president for planning and develop­ment. He also served as secre­tary of the college and on panels and committees of the Nation­al Sci­ence Foun­da­tion, the Consortium on Financing Higher Educa­tion, and the College Board. In 1990 he would chair Project Kaleidoscope, a national effort to im­prove undergraduate education in mathematics and sci­ence. An athletic person himself, he found time to be a summer league soccer coach. While at Allegheny he sank ten baskets in a row during a foul shooting contest at halftime at a varsity basketball game.

Sullivan set three priorities for Allegheny: faculty re­cruitment, student recruitment, and construction of new facilities. In the first area, initial progress resulted from improved salary schedules, an easing of the recruitment market, and vigorous effort. Enrollment reached 1,959 students, and a report labeled “Allegheny 2000” outlined campus needs.

Nationally, alcohol abuse on campuses was a growing problem. Allegheny proved no exception. Steps were taken to improve counseling, and pressure was placed on the Greek system to be a more positive force on campus. Faculty and student calls for divestment of institutional funds invested in South Africa brought a debate with the Board, which by 1990 agreed to begin divestment. A Commit­tee on Racial Issues initiated by students and faculty spurred ef­forts to improve campus inclusiveness. A series of foun­da­tion grants supported a variety of programs.

Change was rapid. Some faculty questioned the legitimacy and the implementation of new guidelines regard­ing tenure review. Students react­ed negative­ly to new room contracts, alterations in financial aid, and discontinu­ation of the wrestling team. They protested admin­istrative ac­tions during a key admis­sions weekend. Only 380 freshmen and just seven transfers regis­tered in fall 1990.

The resulting shortfall in tuition revenue forced cutbacks. Moreover, fundraising did not keep pace with capital expenditures. Borrow­ing against the endowment was undertaken for a projected three-year period. The size of the faculty fell, and in 1991 a one-year freeze was placed on salaries. Two new science buildings opened (the Doane and Steffee Science Halls), assisting the chemistry and biology departments and the grow­ing environmental science program. Yet faculty remained restive over an abort­ed proposal to reduce payments to their TIAA–CREF pension funds and what, to many, seemed dispro­portionate emphasis on Allegheny as a “science college.”  Many were also disturbed by the administration’s eagerness to jettison the long-standing teacher education program. Sullivan’s confidence and reliance on his staff and in data at times led him to accept policy recommendations and actions that might have benefitted from further review.  He enjoyed creative debate, but others thought discussions tended toward the abrasive. The gap between faculty and adminis­tra­tive salaries raised eyebrows, especially as it became clear that debt prob­lems were rooted in ongoing sys­temic deficits. Undertones of serious disharmony murmured in the administration.

There were posi­tive signs, as­ construction of the David V. Wise Sport and Fitness Cen­ter pro­ceeded and plans for new housing were implemented. Enroll­ment was recovering despite the decline of popula­tion in the Pitts­burgh recruit­ment pool. Important gender and racial issues on cam­pus were being con­struc­tive­ly ad­dressed, and on the na­tional scene Allegheny’s rank was mounting.

In 1996 Sullivan accepted the invitation of his alma mater to serve as its president. While at St. Lawrence he oversaw expansion of the curriculum and faculty and raised substantial sums. The student center was named for him, and he received honorary degrees from Clarkson and St. Lawrence. After thirteen years as the head of the university, he retired in 2009.

*This account is taken with permission nearly completely from  J. E. Helmreich, Through All the Years: A History of Allegheny College. Meadville, PA: Allegheny College, 2005.

August 1, 1996—July 31, 2008

Born October 20, 1947, Cook grew up near Hubbard Lake in northern Michigan, attending a one room grammar school. Following graduation from Alpena High School as valedictorian he majored in chemistry at the University of Michigan, graduating with class honors in 1969. Study at Princeton University led to a Master of Arts degree and, in 1973, to a PhD in organic chemistry. Cook then joined the faculty at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he served as professor of chemistry, eventually as chair of the division of natural sciences and mathematics, and in 1989 became provost. In the latter position he participated in a major modernization of the curriculum and calendar and expanded the college’s noted study-abroad program. In 1987 he received one of Kalamazoo’s highest honors, the Lucasse Fellowship for excellence in scholarship.

Cook became known most for his environmental concerns and activities. At the request of his brother he agreed to “look through” the report of a study by the government’s Environmental Protection Agency on the Love Canal near Niagara Falls, New York. The report asserted there were no serious pollution problems, but Cook identified fundamental flaws in the design of the investigation. His examination led to a reevaluation of the plan for the rehabilitation of that area, which became nationally known for its toxic waste pollution. This experience led to more environmental activities, including service on the State of Michigan Environmental Science Board and chairing the opening sessions of both the Second and Third International Symposiums on Operating European Hazardous Waste Management Facilities.

It was the enjoyment derived from assisting citizen groups that nurtured Cook’s already strong interest in working with people and led him to accept a departure from full-time teaching to administrative posts at his college. He would also serve on the City of Kalamazoo Community Relations Board and the boards of directors of the American Lung Association of Michigan and the Great Lakes Colleges Association.

Though the chemist envisioned spending the remainder of his career at Kalamazoo College, when the call came to preside at Allegheny he accepted the challenge. A believer in volunteer work and in building neighborhood relationships, Cook quickly made friends. His participation in local “Make A Difference Day” labor crews won attention. Students took up the challenge, and the number of volunteer hours contributed by the campus to the community increased steadily.

On campus Cook supported steps to educate against harassment based on race, gender, and sexual orientation. His interest in environmental concerns resonated well and spurred the College to take environmentally sensitive actions. These included installation of an experimental in-vessel food composter in 2001 and commitment to wind-generated electricity for a portion of College power needs. His leadership, defense of the liberal arts, and scholarly record brought election to Phi Beta Kappa by the College chapter in 2003.

Cook’s challenge was to confront a systemic deficit. The work of a specially appointed committee provided guidelines for a retrenchment that Cook undertook with determination and sensitivity. His openness, instincts that usually led him to say the right thing at the right time, and evident concern for all segments of the College community enabled him to retain the support of its majority. Within a short period new initiatives were launched and a capital campaign undertaken with unprecedented backing from the Board of Trustees. The challenge of holding expenditures to income levels did not disappear immediately, however, and a new round of staff reductions proved necessary in 2004.

Cook did not seek markedly to alter the student clientele the College served. In his experience this would be possible only if the institution received a huge boost to its endowment. He believed that the traditional Allegheny College practice of helping students of limited financial means and of opening new horizons for those whose opportunities had been circumscribed should be celebrated and nurtured, not avoided. He strove to bring to the attention of the educational community Allegheny’s strong record in giving aspiring students opportunity and its reputation for changing students’  lives in a positive manner. He also encouraged awareness of the history and heritage of the College.

The capital campaign was closely linked to a strengthening of trust and collaboration within an increasingly well-informed Board of Trustees. Success in raising over $115 million dollars (pus $15 million in government grants excluding student financial aid) brought an increased sense of confidence on campus. It also brought several computer assisted “smart” classrooms and the creation of the Tippie Alumni Center in a restored and expanded Cochran Hall. The Merrick Archives were created in the library, and the building itself was renovated with creation of a Learning Commons on the main floor. The Center for Political Participation was founded and provided good quarters. A remarkable glass sculpture rose at the Senior Circle. Major remodeling of the Campus Center took place, and work was begun on the construction of dormitories that would constitute part of what became known as the North Village Complex. The  College acquired the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity to transform it into an admissions building. The football field and track received major refurbishment. Construction was begun on a new large communications building, to be known as the Vukovich Center.

Efforts to improve the physical campus were matched by efforts to strengthen the substance of the College. Progress was made in recruiting more minority representation within the student body and faculty and in increasing the number and status of women in the faculty and administration. New curricular programs arose and faculty additions again became possible. In the regional and national fields, Cook served on the steering committee of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment and as chair of the Council of Independent Colleges-New York Times Partnership. Allegheny was invited to joined the Great Lakes College Association in 2008.

Cook’s decision to resign at the end of the 2007-08 academic year came as a surprise. Yet he believed it appropriate for his family and  the College. The former strategic plan and capital campaign had been completed; building projects were well underway; the budget was balanced; a strong and cooperative administrative team had been formed and gained experience. New plans and a new campaign he thought should be the purview of a new leader.  The appreciative trustees purchased a handsome old building on the site of the Old Court House, where the College was founded, named it Founders House, and dedicated it in honor of Cook and his wife, Terry Lahti.  They also launched plans for a major renovation of Carr Hall to create the Cook Center for Environmental Sciences.

In retirement, the former president enjoys the farmland of his birth and actively assists his wife as she and her sister expand the work of the nationally known admissions officer recruitment firm they founded years earlier. Cook maintains a close relationship with the College and his successor and has returned to campus on several occasions.

*Portions of this account are taken, with permission, from  J. E. Helmreich, Through All the Years: A History of Allegheny College .  Meadville, PA., Allegheny College, 2005.

August 1, 2008—June 2019

James  Mullen was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, on March 20, 1958, and grew up in the small town of Granby. On entering the College of the Holy Cross he planned a career in dentistry, emulating his father who had died when James was seven. Soon he turned to a history major. Following graduation in 1980, he earned a master’s degree in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1984. He received his doctorate in higher education from the University of Massachusetts in 1994.

In the mid-80’s Mullen worked as a management intern in New York City and next became an Assistant to the Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Subsequently he served as Special Assistant to the Director of Aviation of the Port Authority and moved, in 1988, to a post as Special Projects Coordinator for Springfield, Massachusetts. Very quickly thereafter he became part of Middlesex Community College in Middletown, Connecticut,  serving over time in several posts:  Assistant to the President; Dean of Planning, Research and Development; Vice President for Fiscal and Development Affairs; and then Executive Vice President.

Experience in both municipal and academic governance proved valuable when Mullen moved in 1995 to become Vice President for Strategic Planning and Community Relations at Trinity College in Hartford. He subsequently would become Vice President for Student Services. While at Trinity, Mullen developed a comprehensive plan for Trinity and oversaw a major public-private partnership with the city meant to address decay in the neighborhood surrounding the college. A $110 million effort, the latter resulted in construction of a Learning Corridor hosting one elementary, one middle, and two high-schools. The partnership brought significant change, still being carried forward by a Southside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance. It also marked a major enhancement in town-gown relations and college commitment to the community.

In 1999 Mullen became Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Asheville. There he continued to work at building contacts with students and the larger community. He was called away, however, by personal and family factors including a sense of duty to his faith and home region. Elms College, a small college in Chicopee, Massachusetts, founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph was experiencing enrollment and financial difficulties. In 2005 Mullen agreed to assume the presidency of the institution and in three years guided it back on track. Having accomplished this task, in 2008 he accepted the post of president of Allegheny College.

Mullen spent his first year in the presidency establishing connections with alumni, linkages with the local community, and listening. He also appointed a planning committee to formulate a strategic plan for the coming decade.  “Combinations 2020” calls for further strengthening of the academic program, continuing linkages with the local community, and enhancement of the College’s national visibility.  Increase in the College’s endowment is central to achievement of the plans’ goals. Mullen has therefore bent great effort to that task, made all the more challenging by sudden and severe economic recession in the nation.  His outgoing personality and extensive travel schedule have been of aid, as have  increased notice and good rankings given Allegheny in various college reviews and listings.  The president’s first years in office have witnessed the completion and dedication of the Founders House,  a new admissions building,  the Vukovich Center for Communication Arts, the second stage of the North Village dormitory complex, and the Richard J. Cook Center for Environmental Science  in Carr Hall.   Ahead lie the challenge of completing the new financial campaign and, in 2015, celebration of the bicentennial of the founding of the College.

July 1, 2019—September 20, 2022

Dr. Link has more than 20 years of experience across a broad range of institutions of higher education, from large public and private universities to small private colleges. She has built programs, increased resources, enhanced institutional visibility, and created innovative interdisciplinary and experiential approaches to education.

Prior to her arrival at Allegheny, Dr. Link served for six years (2013) as dean of Temple University Rome. As the senior Temple University administrator in Rome, she was responsible for all aspects of Temple Rome’s campus, which annually enrolls more than 600 students in undergraduate and graduate programs. She strategically expanded and revamped curriculum to enhance enrollment by including more contemporary topics and developed new courses and internships with Temple’s Klein College of Media and Communication; College of Liberal Arts; College of Science and Technology; College of Engineering; and School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management, among other divisions. Dr. Link was instrumental in leading recruitment initiatives to achieve an enrollment that was the highest in the 52-year history of the campus, and she initiated and garnered support for a full-fledged development program, including creation of a Temple Rome Board of Visitors.

Among her most important accomplishments at Allegheny were:

• Successfully keeping the College open for in-person living and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, through establishment of the on-campus Allegheny College Health Agency;
• Establishing a brand-new Class Dean structure within the inaugural Maytum Center for Student Success;
• Expanding and elevating the College’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, to develop and sustain DEI initiatives and strategies across campus and in the local community;
• Positioning the College as relevant to and engaged in issues confronting the nation and the world by addressing globalization, climate action, interdisciplinarity, and women’s leadership in her role as president, leading to an elevated national and international profile for the College, evidenced by the most recent U.S. News Rankings.

Dr. Link’s professional and academic accolades include membership in the Stanford University Associates, honoring her long-term service to Stanford; selection as a Presidential Fellow of the Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA); the Administrator of the Year Award from the Barnard College Student Government Association; the Elizabeth Deering Hanscom Fellowship in the Humanities at Yale University; and the Pi Mu Iota Award for the highest achievement in the Italian Department at Stanford University. Until June 2019 she was vice chair of the American Overseas School of Rome Board of Trustees and a member of the Centro Studi Americani Board of Directors.

Dr. Link serves on the Climate Leadership Steering Committee of the Presidents’ Climate Leadership Commitments. The steering committee is the chief oversight body of the Presidents’ Climate Leadership Commitments, signed by presidents of higher education institutions that are taking action on climate change and preparing students through research and education to solve the challenges of the 21st century. Dr. Link also has been appointed to a four-year term on the NCAA Honors Committee, which reviews the nominations and selects the recipients for several prestigious national awards that are presented annually at the NCAA Convention. Dr. Link also is a member of The International Women’s Forum, an invitation-only global network of C-level women leaders with a common mission of advancing women’s leadership and championing equality worldwide.

A transdisciplinary and globally oriented scholar of Italian art and literature, Dr. Link has taught at Temple University Rome, Barnard College, New York University, Columbia University, and Yale University. She is a graduate of Stanford University and earned her M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale University in Italian language and literature.