Drake University - Quax Yearbook (Des Moines, IA)

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UNIVERSITY

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Dr. George C. Huff congratulates Dr. Paul Sharp after the President's Convocation in mid-March. The future of Drake and its spirit lie within the philosophy and ideas of Dr. Paul Frederick Sharp, the university's eighth president. A capable academic community administrator, he was named Jan. 7 as the top Drake executive. On March 75, Dr. Sharp moved into the president's chair and two days later, at an all-university President's Convocation, he challenged Drake students and faculty to prepare for the unrealized hopes for future stu- dents. The new president said the academic community was engaged in a race against obsolescence and that the values for judging the university are undergoing revolutionary change. President Sharp said Drake is on the threshold of revitalization. Appointment of Dr. Sharp as president ended a 75-month search for a top executive. President Sharp, who served an 78-month presidential tenure at the Uni- versity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, accepted the post left vacant Oct. 5, 7964, by the death of Dr. Henry Gadd Harmon, who occupied the presidential office for 23 years. During the months after Dr. Harmon's death, an administrative triumvirate of Dr. George C. Huff and Carl Kasten, Drake's vice presidents, and William Wallace, director of development, guided the univer- sity. In accepting the challenges of Drake, Dr. Sharp cast his abilities as administrator, speaker, fighter for academic freedom and author to the forge for Drake's future. Dr. Sharp arrives at Drake first as an accomplished administrator who guided small Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio, to endowment and salary increases during a seven year term. During his tenure at Hiram, the new Drake administrator tripled the annual budget and doubled faculty salaries. At Hiram, Dr. Sharp, an intellectual in an academic environment, revised graduation requirements, strength- ened emphasis on liberal arts study, added a fine tarts course and created a senior graduation seminar. In 7965, he was named chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he entered one of the thorniest situations of his career. President Sharp became recognized as one of the leading spokes- men for the repeal of the infamous North Carolina loyalty oath, or gag rule. Throughout his career as administrator and edu- cator, Dr. Sharp has displayed interest in improving education and has attained a distinguished position among fellow educators. One testimony of the respect held for him by his colleagues was the tribute he received during University Day at Chapel Hill last fall. The day was dedicated to Dr. Sharp as he entered his second year as Chancellor. The new Drake president has distinguished himself as an author by publication of three books and several contributions to professional journals. He is the author of Agrarian Revolt in Western Canada, 7948, Old Orchard Farm: Story of an Iowa Boyhood, 7952, and Whoop-up Country: Canadian American West, 7955. 27