Clark Titus Hinman (August 3, 1819 – October 21, 1854) was the first 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 ...

. Hinman was born in

Delaware County, New York Delaware County is a county located in the US state of New York. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 44,308. The county seat is Delhi. The county is named after the Delaware River, which was named in honor of Thomas West, ...

into a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

family. He attended

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 ...

, and after graduation served as an instructor at a seminary in Newbury, Vermont. In 1846, Hinman left Newbury and went to the Wesleyan seminary in

Albion, Michigan Albion is a city in Calhoun County in the south central region of the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 8,616 at the 2010 census and is part of the Battle Creek Metropolitan Statistical Area. The earliest English-s ...

(which later became

Albion College Albion College is a private liberal arts college in Albion, Michigan. The college was founded in 1835 and its undergraduate population was approximately 1,500 students in 2014. They participate in NCAA Division III and the Michigan Intercolle ...

, where he served as president from 1846 – 1853). While at Albion, Hinman met Erastus O. Haven (a future president of NU), and they discussed the formation of a new University. Hinman was unanimously elected president of Northwestern University by the

board of trustees A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

on August 23, 1853. Hinman also was one of the co-founders of the Eclectic Society, originally a college fraternity at Wesleyan. The Eclectic Society was founded in 1838, making it one of older fraternal college organizations in the United States.

References

* ''Northwestern University: A History, 1855-1905'' By Arthur Herbert Wilde, pp. 172–189 (available in full text a
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) 1819 births 1854 deaths People from Delaware County, New York Wesleyan University alumni Presidents of Northwestern University Albion College faculty {{Illinois-stub