University of Miami - Ibis Yearbook (Coral Gables, FL)

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Dr. Bowman Foster Ashe, President of the University, whose skill and devotion are chiefly responsible for the existence of the University today. tc... .,.....'i,,, .ww S V . . -Q . .,. h V ..,. ,.,..-,,,,,,,,.., ,. . I d ,o.se, ...r t. . . t mei A relic of boom planning, this poster showed University as promoters envisioned it in 1925. Charter Day Marks A Quarter-Century of Progress Charter Day celebrations this year were ripe with signiiicance for both the Uni- versity and its hard-working president, Dr. Bowman F. Ashe. In heralding the twenty-fifth year since its founding, the celebrants could view a secure and established institution with pride. Their plant was large and among the rnost modern in the country, and still expanding. With the triumphant completion of the Merrick Building, dedicated a quarter-century ago by the Universityas first dreamy planners, a dramatic cycle was ended. And a new one, a story of great ex- pansion and rising fortunes was well begun. That none of this would have been possible without the almost legendary efforts of the University's president was also brought forcibly to mind. Born in 1885, the son of a Methodist minister in Scottdale, Pennsylvania, Bowman Foster Ashe has guided the University of Miami with spectacular success since its inception. lronically, the Universityis grandiose planners never intended him to be president at all. Visualizing a mammoth institution housed in a structure resembling a Spanish Crandee,s castle, they planned to hire for the faculty a collection, of the greatest scholars in the world, headed -by an eminent philosopher-president. While looking for such a man they decided, fortunately, that it would be wise to hire someone who knew the mechanics of starting a University first. Thus they approached Dr. Ashe, a man of sound academic background, whose organizational abilities had attracted wide attention. Had they done otherwise this chapter in the University history would surely have never been written, for a devas- tating hurricane soon swept away the planners' dreams, leaving Dr. Ashe, 275 stu- dents, and a ii'5500,000 debt to face the future together. The rest of the story is well-known. Again and again, through his devoted and brilliant management, Dr. Ashe saved the struggling institution from disaster. Throughout the depression year, when other, more august schools were suffering a decline, Dr. Ashe managed not only to keep the University alive but expanding, a little at a time. The institution became one of the wonders of the academic world, and its president widely admired. In 1936 President Roosevelt chose him to organize the Social Security Board for the six southeastern states, and again, during the war years, to serve as Regional Director of the War Manpower Commission for the same area. Then, when post-war enrollment, swollen by G.l.'s turned students, soared to un- precedented heights Dr. Ashe hurried to build a campus to meet it. Soliciting funds from both local community and government loans, he began construction of the ultra-modern buildings that now dot the main campus. Today they form a multi-million dollar educational plant, standing at the cross- roads of the Americas. The planners, dreams are well on their way toward reali- zation, but the Universityis most valuable asset is still the Methodist Minister's son, President Bowman Foster Ashe. 9

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