Abram Winegardner Harris (November 7, 1858 – February 21, 1935) was the fourteenth president of

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

, serving from 1906 to 1916. He was also the first President of the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universities, flagshi ...

from 1896 to 1906.

Biography

Abram W. Harris was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

on November 7, 1858. A graduate of

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...

(B.A. 1880, M.A. 1883), he came to Northwestern after a time as President of Maine State College ( 1893–1896), where he oversaw the transformation of the school into the University of Maine in 1896. At Northwestern, he helped develop the School of Commerce (now the

Kellogg School of Management The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (also known as Kellogg) is the business school of Northwestern University, a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1908, Kellogg is one of the oldest and most p ...

) in 1908. He retired from Northwestern after 10 years to take a position with the

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. In ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Harris was also one of the founders and first president of the Honor Society

Phi Kappa Phi The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi (or simply Phi Kappa Phi or ) is an honor society established in 1897 to recognize and encourage superior scholarship without restriction as to area of study, and to promote the "unity and democracy of education ...

and founder of Alpha Delta Tau. He died in Philadelphia on February 21, 1935, while visiting his son, Abram W. Harris Jr.

References

* Wesleyan University alumni 1858 births 1935 deaths Presidents of Northwestern University Presidents of the University of Maine College fraternity founders {{Chicago-stub