Harry W. Chase '04 Appointed New Head of New York University
NEWS of the appointment of Harry Woodburn Chase 'O4 as Chancellor of New York University came on January 24, just too late for the February issue of the MAGAZINE. One of the very first comments printed in New York and Boston papers came from President Hopkins. It was as follows:
I believe that the appointment of Dr.Chase is an excellent one in every respect.Having known him since we were in college together, I can say, without qualification, that he is an extremely able man withsplendid capabilities for the position. Another interview (with the Herald-Tribune) credited the president with expressing his admiration of his old friend, Harry Chase, saying: "A swell guy."
It is a quite notable fact in the career of Dr. Chase that he has risen from post to post in rapid order. After being graduated from Dartmouth he finished his graduate work at Clark University and went to the University of North Carolina in 1910. Here as professor of the philosophy of education he worked under Dr. Graham, the president, a noted educator, and served successively in the administrative offices of dean and chairman of the faculty. After the death of Dr. Graham he was chosen president, and under him North Carolina experienced its greatest decade of growth. During this time the university achieved unique distinction. It was because of his record there that the trustees of the University of Illinois chose him as their chief executive officer in 1930. The method of selection from among several score possible candidates was described in the ALUMNI MAGAZINE in an article that year.
In going to New York University with its huge plant and enormous scope, Dr. Chase will find an added interest in the fact that the man under whom he did his chief work at Dartmouth is pursuing a distinguished career at this same university. The man is Dr. Herman H. Home, known to all Dartmouth men of the period between 1899 and 1909. Dr. Home, a graduate of North Carolina, was professor of philosophy here when Chase was beginning his work and it was under him that he won the Story Prize. While at Dartmouth Chase was a member of an undergraduate organization which attempted to revive some of the literary traditions of the fraternal societies, this group including the late Eliot Frost '05, poet and teacher, the late John Dunlap '05, once national secretary of the Society of American Engineers, and Charles Goodrich of the American Bridge Company.
At Illinois, in his brief tenure of three college seasons, he added two schools to the University, the school of fine and applied arts and the school of physical welfare. He recently announced that the legislature of Illinois would be asked to donate $1,000,000 less for the support of the institution for the next two years than was asked two years ago. Of his work at North Carolina, the following excerpt from the Herald-Tribune, by George Gordon Battle, distinguished lawyer and former assistant district attorney, gives an inkling:
As I am a native of North Carolina andan alumnus of its university, which is theoldest of all the state universities, I havepersonal knowledge of the remarkable anddistinguished success with which Dr. Chaseas president administered the affairs of theold institution at Chapel Hill. Under hisactive and enlightened leadership therewas a notable extension in the scope andeffectiveness of its scholastic program, witha corresponding increase in the numberof both its professors and its students. During his term as president many new buildings were constructed which were consistent in appearance and atmosphere withthe picturesque structures of earlier daysand at the same time contained all thecomforts and improvements of the presenttime. Even more important and remarkable was the spirit of accurate scholarshipand of bold and truth-seeking investigation which he inspired and fostered withinthose ancient walls.
"A Swell Guy"
