Edward J. Sparling (1896-1981) was an educator who was the founder of

Roosevelt University Roosevelt University is a private university with campuses in Chicago and Schaumburg, Illinois. Founded in 1945, the university was named in honor of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The unive ...

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Edward Sparling was born in

Panoche, California The unincorporated community of Panoche is located along Panoche Road in the southern, rural part of San Benito County, California, United States. The community is about 2.7 driving miles east of County Route J1. The county seat, Hollister, is ...

in 1896. Sparling received a B.A. from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

and his Master's and Ph.D. from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

where he lived in the

International House of New York International House New York, also known as I-House, is a private, independent, non-profit residence and program center for postgraduate students, research scholars, trainees, and interns, located at 500 Riverside Drive in Morningside Heights, Ma ...

. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Sparling served in the U.S. Army as a flying instructor. In 1936 to 1945 Sparling became president of

Central YMCA College Central YMCA College was a college operated by the YMCA in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It was founded prior to or in 1922. and was accredited in 1924. It was closed in 1945 after the university president and a large majority of the faculty and ...

in Chicago and served there until 1945 when he incorporated Roosevelt College, which would admit students regardless of race or religion. The college became a university in 1954 and Sparling stepped down as president in 1963. He retired to Pleasanton, California where he died in 1981. He was one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a

world constitution A world constitution refers to a proposed framework or document aimed at establishing a system of global governance. It seeks to provide a set of principles, structures, and laws to govern the relationships between states and address global iss ...

. As a result, for the first time in human history, a

World Constituent Assembly The World Constitutional Convention (WCC), also known as the World Constituent Assembly (WCA) or the First World Constituent Assembly, took place in Interlaken, Switzerland and Wolfach, Germany, 1968. The convention aimed to foster global coopera ...

convened to draft and adopt the

Constitution for the Federation of Earth A world constitution refers to a proposed framework or document aimed at establishing a system of global governance. It seeks to provide a set of principles, structures, and laws to govern the relationships between states and address global iss ...

. He authored several works including "Do College Students Choose Vocations Wisely?""Pioneering Social Justice: Established after a mass faculty resignation, Roosevelt College became a model of democracy in higher education" in ''Chicago history'' · November 2019

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sparling, Edward 1896 births 1981 deaths University and college founders Columbia University alumni Writers from Chicago People from San Benito County, California Stanford University alumni World Constitutional Convention call signatories