University of Kentucky - Kentuckian Yearbook (Lexington, KY)

Page 29 text:

Oke University

Page 31 text:

President Barker HENRY SI I rES BARKER, President of the University of Kentucky, is one of the oustanding figures in the educational activities of the South. Leaving the Appelate Bench of the State, of which body he was Chief Justice, and at the same time a trustee of the governing board of this institution, President Barker was called February 3, 1910, by the unanimous vote of that body to the presidency of the University. He entered actively upon his official duties January 1, 1911, succeeding Professor James G. White, who had been acting executive since the resignation of James K. Patterson. When President Barker assumed his new duties there were at the close of the col- legiate year 721 students enrolled in all departments of the institution. The student en- rollment began to increase the first year of President Barker’s administration, whereupon followed seven years of gradually augmented enrollment; that of each year was in excess of its predecessor except one, with the result that in that comparatively brief period the body of matriculates in the institution was doubled almost to a man by the end of 1916. At the time that President Barker took charge the College of Agriculture was a struggling institution with a small body of students. With an enthusiasm that seemed boundless he addressed himself to the task of co-ordinating with the University the agri- cultural activities of the Commonwealth. He attended every farmers’ meeting consistent with his daily duties. He made speeches throughout the State; he effected co-operation with farming elements on the broad and substantial basis of mutual understanding and common interest, and set in motion every energy of that growing department. Records are the best evidence of results. From a handful of students in the Agricultural Col- lege in 1910, the enrollment increased to 222 in 1913; to 290 in 1914; 390 in 1915; 365 in 1916. During President Barker’s administration there were set in motion activities looking to- ward the establishment of the University Y. M. C. A., at first a struggling organization, without positive leadership and without well defined purposes, on the broad, firm basis on which it now rests. To-day the Y. M. C. A. has a well equipped home, a resident secretary, and a larger membership than it has ever had. An ardent admirer of athletics and a believer in the doctrine of a sane head and a sound body, he gave unstintedly of his time, money, and personal leadership to the cause of athletics, so that to-day the University of Kentucky enjoys co-operation in ath- letics with the leading universities of the State and of the South, and is fast inviting com- petition with the larger universities farther North. It is not the purpose of the Kentuckian here to enter into the detals of the achieve- ments of the University in the field of athletics during President Barker’s administration. Suffice it to say that she has held her own in every contest and is entering upon a career of broader endeavor destined to lead on to full fellowship in the athletic activities of the best colleges of the country. (27)