Alma mater of college presidents

By Jayne Spencer

Over the course of three different centuries, consider how many people have been influenced by a college or university president credentialed with a degree or two from IU.)

No one knows exactly when Indiana University became known as the “Mother of College Presidents,” but as early as 1922 the phrase had solidified, as evidenced by a story in the Alumni Quarterly. And in the late 1930s, a recruiting tool used the phrase as its main theme. (See today’s “Friday Flashback” on the back page.)

We do know that two consecutive 19th-century IU graduating classes had 25 percent and 33 percent, respectively, go on to become college presidents.

Of course, the Class of 1830 had only four students and the Class of 1831 had three, one of whom was Thomas Miller, who would go on to become president of Columbia (Mo.) College. Robert Aley, Class of 1888, headed the University of Maine and Butler University, and Elmer Bryan, Class of 1893, headed three institutions during his lifetime: Franklin College, and Colgate and Ohio universities.

Among the historical list of approximately 209 college or university presidents who have carried IU degrees into their presidencies, a good number have come from the IU School of Education. Since 1908, the year in which a separate School of Education was established within the College of Arts and Sciences, more than 92 graduates have become college or university presidents, with more than a dozen heading black or predominantly black institutions.

According to IU Archives, School of Education records and research conducted by William Peter Hood, a retired administrator at University of Illinois who completed his 1970 dissertation on IU’s alumni base of college and university presidents, graduates of the IU School of Education have headed colleges and universities in 37 states and five countries (the Philippines, Korea, Thailand, Canada and Jamaica). The majority received doctor of education degrees in higher education and school administration. The list includes the first woman college president in Wisconsin (Beverly Simone); the former president of Indiana State University (John William Moore); and the current presidents of California State University, Fresno (John Welty) and Illinois State University (Victor J. Boschini Jr.).

Perhaps the most recent IU alumnus to be installed as head of an institution of higher learning is Robert Gates of Texas A&M. He received a master’s degree in history at IU, later serving as director of the Central Intelligence Agency and remaining the only career officer in CIA history to rise from entry-level employee to director. His 1996 memoir, From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider’s Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War, focused on another type of presidency.