Asa Dodge Smith
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Asa Dodge Smith
OR:
Asa Dodge Smith on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

Asa Dodge Smith (September 21, 1804 – August 16, 1877) was an American
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
preacher who served as the 7th president of
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...
from 1863 until his death in 1877.


Dartmouth Presidency

After the forced resignation of Nathan Lord in 1863 over his support for slavery, the Trustees wanted a more conservative president to take his place. As a preacher for 29 years at the 14th Street Presbyterian Church in New York City, Asa Dodge had developed a reputation as a religious man with abolitionist beliefs. Smith's presidency was a period of great growth for the College, including the establishment of two new schools within Dartmouth. The
New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts (NHC) was founded and incorporated in 1866, as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College. In 1893, NHC moved to Durham, where it became the University of New Ha ...
, later moved to Durham, New Hampshire and renamed the
University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, m ...
, was founded in
Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
in 1866. One year later, the
Thayer School of Engineering Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth (Dartmouth Engineering) offers graduate and undergraduate education in engineering sciences at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The school was established in 1867 with funds from C ...
was founded. Over the course of his presidency, enrollment at the College was more than doubled, the number of scholarships increased from 42 to 103, and Dartmouth benefited from several important bequests. Both schools grew during his dual Presidency.


Personal life

Smith graduated from Dartmouth in 1830. Then he went on to graduate from the
Andover Theological Seminary Andover Theological Seminary (1807–1965) was a Congregationalist seminary founded in 1807 and originally located in Andover, Massachusetts on the campus of Phillips Academy. From 1908 to 1931, it was located at Harvard University in Cambridge. ...
in 1834. He married Sarah Ann Adams and the two had seven children.


Legacy

Asa Dodge's son
William Thayer Smith William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
(1839–1909) served as Dean of the Medical School from 1896 until his death in 1909 and was the first dean to give the name "
Dartmouth Medical School The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth is the graduate medical school of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The fourth oldest medical school in the United States, it was founded in 1797 by New England physician Nathan Smith. It is o ...
" to the organization which had until then never had a consistent name. He was also the first person to perform a surgery in the
Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
. He was a Dartmouth Medical School class of 1879 and received an honorary LL.D. from Dartmouth in 1897.


See also

* Wheelock Succession


References


External links


Dartmouth Wheelock SuccessionDartmouth CollegeInauguration SpeechFarewell Sermon to 14th Street Presbyterian ChurchFull list of University Presidents (including interim Presidents)
University of New Hampshire Library * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Asa Dodge 1804 births 1877 deaths Andover Theological Seminary alumni Dartmouth College alumni Presidents of Dartmouth College Presidents of the University of New Hampshire