Northwestern University - Syllabus Yearbook (Evanston, IL)

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- sisifyfy- Wyg) resident n JOSEPH CUMMINGS, D.D., LL.D., President of Northwestern Uni- versity, was born at Falmouth, Maine, March 3, 1817. He graduated from the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Conn., in 1840. He then took a position in Amenia Seminary, New York, as teacher of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. From 1843 to 1846 he was Principal of the Seminary, but at the end of that period joined the New England Conference of the M. E. Church. He remained in the active work of the ministr} 7 , filling some of the leading pulpits in New England, until 1853, when he accepted the Professorship of Theology in the Methodist General Biblical Institute, Concord, N. H. In the following year his Alma Mater conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He was for three years President of Genesee College, Lima, N. Y., and in 1857 was called to the Presidency of Wesleyan University. This position he filled until 1875. The eighteen years of Dr. Cummings ' Presidency at Middletown were among the most prosperous and progressive of that honored institu- tion. In 1863 a gymnasium was added. In 1868 a library building, capable of containing 10,000 volumes, was erected at a cost of $40,000. A chapel was built in 1871, and dedicated to the memory of the students and alumni of the institution who had fallen in the War of the Rebellion. In the same year a hall for Natural Sciences, costing $100,000, was added. In 1872, young women were for the first time admitted to the University. Dr. Cummings received the degree of D.D. from Harvard University in 1861, and in 1866 the degree of LL.D. from Northwestern University, After resigning the Presidenc}- in 1875, Dr. Cummings retained his position as Professor of Mental Philosophy and Political Economy for two years, after which he occupied the pulpit at Maiden, Mass., until 1879, when he went to Harvard Street, Cambridge, where he remained until called to the Presidency of Northwestern University in

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Greeting. C-: «3 Qim HIS second volume of the Syllabus appears in spite of the oppo- C sition of the most adverse circumstances. Two editors-in-chief resigned ; one associate-editor left ; our first business manager was called away to pastures new, and two of his associates left. No work was done until the second term ; but then the grand array of genius and ability overcame all obstacles and pushed on to a successful issue the work so tardily begun. Whatever improvement upon the last there may be in this volume, the reader will readily perceive ! Our aim has been to make this volume commend itself by its worth to the student communit} and to the Alumni as a book of rare merit — and to pay our expenses ! We hope we have succeeded. Quoted from Syllabus of ' 85.

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,A A m 1881. His administration among us has been marked by that vigor and thoroughness which form prominent features in Dr. Cummings ' character. A more liberal elective system has been devised, and the curriculum modified in other ways to meet the demands upon our growing institu- tion. Improvements in and around the University buildings and gym- nasium have been made as fast as the funds of the school would allow. In scholarship and morality the standards insisted upon by Dr. Cum- mings are of the highest character. A comparatively small part of the useful and honored career of our President has been spent in connection with our own University. He came to us crowned with years of noble achievement in the departments of educational, literary and religious thought. In the class-room we are impressed with the breadth of his views and the keenness of his intellect ; out of it he inspires us with the force of his personal character. With a career so honored and successful both in the past and pres- ent, it is our hope that many years of usefulness may yet be allotted to our President.