Deane Waldo Malott (July 10, 1898 – September 11, 1996) was an American

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

and administrator.

Biography

The son of a banker, Malott was born in

Abilene, Kansas Abilene (pronounced ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Dickinson County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 6,460. It is home of The Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum and the G ...

and went on to study at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

. While at school there, he wrote for the ''

University Daily Kansan The ''University Daily Kansan'' is an editorially independent student newspaper serving the University of Kansas. It was founded in 1904. Its print distribution was only within the university's campus, as well as student apartment complexes throu ...

'' and was a brother in the Alpha Nu Chapter of the

Beta Theta Pi Beta Theta Pi (), commonly known as Beta, is a North American social fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. One of North America's oldest fraternities, as of 2022 it consists of 144 active chapters in the Unite ...

fraternity and the Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity. He graduated in 1921 with a degree in economics, and he went on to the

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

. After his 1923 graduation, he worked as an administrator at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

until 1929 when he was hired by the Hawaiian Pineapple Company. He returned to Harvard in 1933 as a

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

and then in 1939 he returned to his alma mater to become

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

.Deane Malott, 98, Educator Who Ran Two Universities
by Robert M Thomas Jr

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

; September 13, 1996 While serving as Chancellor of the university, he helped oversee the transition of a peacetime campus to a wartime one, and enabled KU to train thousands of military personnel. In 1951, Malott accepted the position of 6th president of

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

. His 12-year term as president brought about the era of ' Big Science' at Cornell: in 1961 sponsored research funding came to over $39 million. His term also saw the construction of new campuses for the School of Labor Relations and the Colleges of

Engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

and

Veterinary Medicine Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

as well as other major facilities, including the

Arecibo Observatory The Arecibo Observatory, also known as the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC) and formerly known as the Arecibo Ionosphere Observatory, is an observatory in Barrio Esperanza, Arecibo, Puerto Rico owned by the US National Science F ...

and

Lynah Rink Lynah Rink (pronounced LIE-nuh) is a 4,267-seat hockey arena at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, that opened in 1957. Named after James Lynah, Class of 1905, who was the director of Cornell athletics from 1935 to 1943, it is home to the ...

. Though a social conservative, Malott was publicly very critical of

McCarthyism McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner. The term origin ...

; he saw it as a major threat to

academic freedom Academic freedom is a moral and legal concept expressing the conviction that the freedom of inquiry by faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy as well as the principles of academia, and that scholars should have freedom to teac ...

. After his retirement from Cornell, he would go on to serve on the boards of B.F. Goodrich,

Owens-Corning Owens Corning is an American company that develops and produces insulation, roofing, and fiberglass composites and related materials and products. It is the world's largest manufacturer of fiberglass composites. It was formed in 1935 as a partn ...

, and

General Mills General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company orig ...

References

Sources

Archives and records
Deane Waldo Malott papers
at Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School.

External links

Cornell Presidency: Deane Waldo Malott
* Cornell University Library Presidents Exhibition: Deane Waldo Malott
PresidencyInauguration

1898 births 1996 deaths People from Abilene, Kansas University of Kansas alumni Harvard Business School alumni Harvard University faculty University of Kansas faculty Presidents of Cornell University Malott, Deane Waldo 20th-century American academics {{US-academic-administrator-stub