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Oregon State University Alumni Association |
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Carry Me Back |
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George Edmonston Jr., former editor of Beaver Eclips and the Oregon Stater, has retired and assumed the title of History and Traditions Editor of the Oregon Stater. He has closed out his involvement with Eclips by sharing a list of the 20 historical events he considers to be the most important in school history. The effort culminates this week with his choice for the most important moment in OSU history. #1 The Presidency of William Jasper Kerr The event that would do more to shape the future of Oregon State than any other happened in the spring of 1907 with the arrival of William Jasper Kerr to succeed Thomas Gatch as president of Oregon Agricultural College. Having already held the same position at two colleges in his home state of Utah (BYU and Utah State), the 43-year old college administrator would go on to serve OSU in the top job longer than any other president in school history. When he retired in 1932, he was hired as Oregon’s first chancellor of higher education. Nationally, Kerr's leadership led the way in changing the role of land-grant colleges from a secondary "vocational" status to one of "service" to business, industry and agriculture.
A strong competitor for state funding, Kerr doubled the size of the campus by adding over 25 buildings, about one a year. These include the Memorial Union, Weatherford Hall, Strand Ag Hall, Milam Hall, Moreland Hall and the Women's Building. The value of the physical plant soared from $229,000 to over $7.5 million. He also established the colleges (or schools) of Agriculture, Engineering, Home Economics, Commerce, Mines, Forestry, Pharmacy, Education, and Health and Physical Education. Kerr had an amazing gift for identifying academic talent and used it to bring to OSU many who are now considered to be among the university's legendary faculty, including: Ava Milam, E. B. Lemon, Edwin T. Reed, U. G. McAlexander, "Mother" Ida Kidder, C. B. McCullough, Helen Gilkey, "Dean" Dan W. Poling, George Peavy, Grant Covell, John Bexell, Willibald Weniger, and Ernest Wiegand. He also established the "look" of OSU, which is sometimes described as "Prairie School." Two campus plans, one by the Olmsted firm in 1909, the other in the 1920s by A. D. Taylor, established architectural and landscaping benchmarks still in use...red brick buildings with white trim built along tree-lined pathways, quads, the park-like setting of the lower campus, and a heavy emphasis given to pedestrian traffic. If Jasper Kerr were to suddenly appear today in front of the MU, he would feel right at home. His position as Oregon's first chancellor of the state system of higher education would prove to be the toughest assignment of his long and distinguished career. Guiding the six schools that made up the system through the worst years of The Great Depression, he stayed on until the summer of 1935, when he resigned at age 72 after 49 years as an educator...40 of them as a college president. Kerr moved to Portland after his retirement and spent the rest of his days presiding over his family and scrupulously avoiding any further involvement in the affairs of higher education. He died in Portland in 1947 at the age of 83. He would have been proud to see his name placed on Oregon State's library building in 1962 (now The Valley Library). That same year, Kerr's son, Robert M. Kerr, became one of three founders of the OSU Foundation.
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