List of University of Texas at Austin presidents
The complete list of University of Texas at Austin presidents officially includes 28 individuals in the history of the University. The office of the president was originally established in 1895.
The position did not exist when the University was established in 1883. The founders of the University had decided to follow the example of University of Virginia,[1] where Thomas Jefferson, a skeptic of central authority and bureaucracy, had prevented the establishment of such an office years before. The faculty would retain control, under the regents, through an annually selected chairman.
John William Mallet, a professor of physics, served as the first chairman of the faculty for one year, starting in 1883. Mallet was followed by William LeRoy Broun, who served only briefly. Leslie Waggener received the position in 1884, and served until 1894. Waggener subsequently served as president ad interim until his death in 1896.[2] George Tayloe Winston, who took over in 1896, is officially considered the first president of The University of Texas.
President Logan Wilson concurrently served as acting chancellor in 1954, until the chancellorship was abolished in September of that year. The position was re-instated in 1960, upon which Wilson left the presidency to become chancellor. In 1963, the office of the president itself was abolished. The chancellor of The University of Texas System, Harry Ransom, assumed the duties of the presidency until the position's re-establishment in 1967.[3]
Presidents
| Dates of office | President | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1895 – 1896 | Leslie Waggener |  | President ad interim |
| 1896 – 1899 | George Tayloe Winston |  | First president of The University of Texas |
| 1899 – 1905 | William Lambdin Prather |  | |
| 1905 – 1908 | David Franklin Houston |  | |
| 1908 – 1914 | Sidney Edward Mezes |  | |
| 1914 – 1916 | William James Battle | President ad interim | |
| 1916 – 1923 | Robert Ernest Vinson |  | |
| 1923 – 1924 | William Seneca Sutton | President ad interim | |
| 1924 – 1927 | Walter Marshall William Splawn | ||
| 1927 – 1937 | Harry Yandell Benedict | ||
| 1937 – 1939 | John William Calhoun | President ad interim | |
| 1939 – 1944 | Homer Price Rainey | Fired by the Board of Regents over a dispute regarding academic freedom | |
| 1944 – 1946 | Theophilus Shickel Painter | Acting president | |
| 1946 – 1952 | Theophilus Shickel Painter | ||
| 1952 | James Clay Dolley | Acting president | |
| 1953 – 1960 | Logan Wilson | Served concurrently as acting chancellor in 1954 until the office was abolished on September 30 | |
| 1960 – 1961 | Harry Huntt Ransom | ||
| 1961 | Harry Huntt Ransom | Acting president | |
| 1961 – 1963 | Joseph Royall Smiley | ||
| 1963 – 1967 | Chancellor Harry Ransom assumed the duties of the office of the president | ||
| 1967 – 1970 | Norman Hackerman |  | |
| 1970 – 1971 | Bryce Jordan | ||
| 1971 – 1974 | Stephen Hopkins Spurr | Fired by the Board of Regents and Chancellor Charles LeMaistre | |
| 1974 – 1975 | Lorene Lane Rogers | President ad interim | |
| 1975 – 1979 | Lorene Lane Rogers | ||
| 1979 – 1985 | Peter Tyrrell Flawn | ||
| 1985 – 1992 | William H. Cunningham | ||
| 1992 – 1993 | William S. Livingston | Acting president | |
| 1993 – 1997 | Robert M. Berdahl | ||
| 1997 – 1998 | Peter Tyrrell Flawn | President ad interim | |
| 1998 – 2006 | Larry R. Faulkner |  | |
| 2006 – 2015 | William Powers, Jr. | ||
| 2015 – present | Gregory L. Fenves | ||
References
- ↑ Berry, Margaret C. University of Texas at Austin from the Handbook of Texas Online. Accessed 19 March 2006.
- ↑ Past Presidents. Office of the President. The University of Texas at Austin. Accessed 19 March 2143.
- ↑ Berry, Margaret C. The University of Texas: A Pictorial Account of its First Century. University of Texas Press, 1980.
