Univ. presidents see role shifts

When he was hired in 1859 to be the first president of the Farmer's High School that would later become The Pennsylvania State University, Evan Pugh's job description included advising and disciplining the 86 students, addressing parental concerns, ordering books and acting as head of the faculty.

When he was hired in 1995 to be the 16th president of the University, Graham Spanier's job description included spearheading fund-raising efforts, working with state and federal legislatures to secure appropriations and managing an organization that includes more than 20 locations and serves every county of Pennsylvania.

"The role (of the University president) is probably more similar over the years than different, but it is also true that the role has evolved," Spanier said in an E-mail. "The demands on a president's time have increased."

- Lee Stout, University archivist

"A university president at a place like Penn State has to work with different constituents, and they all have a different view of what the University should do," Jordan said.

When Jordan was hired, one of the qualities the University Board of Trustees was looking for was the ability to raise funds privately. Jordan was the first president to lead a major capital campaign for private funds, Lee Stout, University archivist, said.

"The administration was always afraid that if they raised too much money privately, the state would cut their appropriation," he said.

Jordan's successors, Joab Thomas and Spanier, have continued the search for private funding as state appropriations have been reduced compared to the University budget.

The role of fund-raiser is just one of the ways the role of the University president has grown with the University's mission, scope and size.

"Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people are affected by Penn State," Stout said. "I would think it would be an incredible challenge to be the president because so much of the time you're 'on.' . . . (T)he role changed also in that the president has much more to do with external affairs."

When Pugh, William Allen, John Fraser, Thomas Burrowes, James Calder, Joseph Shortlidge, George Atherton and Edwin Sparks headed the University, they were trying to establish a solid state reputation. Modern University presidents are working with Penn State's national reputation.

"Penn State has been, since Milton Eisenhower (was president of the University from 1950 to 1956), spiraling into national recognition," Stout said. "Before Eisenhower, Penn State was regarded as a pretty good college in Pennsylvania."

National affairs have always affected the University president. During Ralph Hetzel's term from 1927 to 1947, world events, such as the Great Depression and World War II, "simply overwhelmed the day," Stout said. And the student activism of the late 1960s and early 1970s affected the end of Eric Walker's term in 1970 and the start of his successor, John Oswald's term, Stout added.

The relationship between the University president and the students has changed through the years as well. In its early years the University had an "in loco parentis" -- in place of parents -- attitude towards the student body, Stout said.

"(Edwin) Sparks prided himself on knowing all the names of the students . . . And he remembered them," Stout said.

Sparks was University president from 1908 to 1920 when the student enrollment grew from about 1,500 to about 3,200. Total enrollment for the 1997 Fall Semester was more than 97,000.

With the increasing numbers, it is harder for University presidents to get to know students. When Stout was an undergraduate student from 1965 to 1969, he remembers seeing then-University President Walker twice -- at graduation and commencement.

However, State College Mayor Bill Welch, who has lived in the town since 1943 and is an alumnus of the University, said the job of the president has become more visible and directly involved with his constituents.

"The image of the ivory tower president spending lots of time attending teas is certainly gone. Just as we no longer have freshmen wearing 'dinks' on their heads, the image and the role of the president has undoubtedly changed," Spanier said. "Presidents are -- or should be -- more accessible to faculty, students and the public."