William Aloysius Boylan (January 6, 1869 – July 8, 1940) was the first President of

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

Career

Boylan was born 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 ...

, to Arthur and Anne Boylan. He attended St. Francis Xavier College (B.A. and M.A.),

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

(Master of Pedagogy), and

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

(

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

). In his career, he was District Superintendent of Schools (beginning in 1913) and Associate Superintendent of Schools, with the

New York City Board of Education The Panel for Educational Policy of the Department of Education of the City School District of the City of New York, abbreviated as the Panel for Educational Policy and also known as the New York City Board of Education, is the governing body of ...

(beginning in 1927).

Jimmy Walker James John Walker (June 19, 1881November 18, 1946), known colloquially as Beau James, was mayor of New York City from 1926 to 1932. A flamboyant politician, he was a liberal Democrat and part of the powerful Tammany Hall machine. He was forced t ...

, the Mayor of New York City, appointed Boylan the first President of

in May 1930. Boylan resigned as President and retired in September 1938 due to illness, as he was suffering from

neuritis Neuritis () is inflammation of a nerve or the general inflammation of the peripheral nervous system. Inflammation, and frequently concomitant demyelination, cause impaired transmission of neural signals and leads to aberrant nerve function. Neurit ...

, and died on July 8, 1940, at 71 years of age. He wrote textbooks on reading, writing, and mathematics. Boylan co-authored ''City Arithmetics'', Charles E. Merrill Company (1916), ''Correct Spelling for Graded Schools'', Laurel Book Company (1929), and ''Graded Drill Exercises in Corrective English'', Noble and Noble, Incorporated (1939). Boylan Hall, on the campus of Brooklyn College, was originally called the “Academic Building,” and was later named after Boylan.

References

External links

*William A. Boylan
"A New Brooklyn College Is Rising,"
''The New York Times'', December 8, 1935 {{DEFAULTSORT:Boylan, William 1869 births Xavier High School (New York City) alumni New York University alumni Fordham University alumni People from New York City School superintendents in New York (state) Presidents of Brooklyn College 1940 deaths New York City Department of Education