Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Peddler Yearbook (Worcester, MA)

Page 19 text:

Ira Nelson Hollis “ Prexy ” t b n President Hollis is a man with whom the student body as a whole has little opportunity to become acquainted; and few undergraduates realize the real good fortune of the Institute in having such a man at its head. Modest and unassuming as he appears around the Hill, it is with difficulty that we appreciate the fact that Prexy is one of the country’s leading mechanical engineers. A graduate of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, he held various im¬ portant positions connected with the Navy Department, among them being Professor of Marine Engineering at Union College, member of the Advisory Board which built the White Squadron, and lecturer at the Naval War College. In 1893 he resigned from the navy department to become the head of the Engineering Department at Harvard University. During his ten years of service there, he conceived and supervised the construction of the Harvard Stadium. One of the more recent honors to be bestowed on President Hollis was his election to the presidency of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. It was as a member of a delegation from this organization that he went to Europe last summer in the interests of uniting the engineers of all nations. During his nine years of service to the Institute, he has always held the interests of every student at heart. Although we seldom come into personal contact with him, we cannot but appreciate the great work that he is doing. 15