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

  1. Berry, Margaret C. University of Texas at Austin from the Handbook of Texas Online. Accessed 19 March 2006.
  2. Past Presidents. Office of the President. The University of Texas at Austin. Accessed 19 March 2143.
  3. Berry, Margaret C. The University of Texas: A Pictorial Account of its First Century. University of Texas Press, 1980.
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