Dignity, Discourse, And Destiny: The Life of Courtney C. Smith - Hardcover

Stapleton, Darwin; Stapleton, Donna

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0874138337 ISBN 13: 9780874138337

Publisher: University of Delaware Press, 2003

Synopsis

Courtney C. Smith, an educator of high standards and vision who led Swarthmore College from 1953 to 1969, was an outstanding figure in twentieth-century American higher education. A native of Iowa, Smith graduated from Harvard University in 1938 summa cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He won a Rhodes Scholarship and went to Merton College, Oxford, England, and then returned to Harvard for doctoral studies, receiving a Ph.D. in English literature. Appointed president of Swarthmore College in April 1953, at the age of 36, Smith - an articulate, strong leader - soon was actively developing relationships with the college's alumni, engaging with the Philadelphia and Quaker communities, fundraising, appointing new faculty, raising faculty salaries, and building new facilities. Smith cultivated a network of contacts in education, philanthropy, and government, including an ever-growing group of well-placed Rhodes scholars. He became a trustee of the Markle Foundation in 1953, was elected to Harvard University's Board of Overseers in 1955, and served on other nonprofit and corporate boards. In the fall of 1968 Smith encountered an increasingly contentious disagreement over the role of African-American students at the college. Despite negotiations the situation intensified early in January 1969 when students began an Admissions office sit-in. On the morning of 16 January, without having reached a resolution of the college's crisis, he collapsed and died in his office of a heart attack. Thirty years later we can look at Smith's convictions, commitment, and values, and see how they preserved liberal arts at Swarthmore and shaped institutions that continue to promote discourse, human dignity, and civil society.

About this title

About the Author

Darwin H. Stapleton has been the executive director of the Rockefeller Archive Center since 1986. Previously he was on the faculty of Case Western Reserve University, and was an associate editor of The Papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe. Donna Heckman Stapleton is a social worker for the City School District of New Rochelle, New York. She has taught graduate courses and supervised graduate students at Columbia, Fordham, and Rutgers Universities and Iona College.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Delaware Press
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0874138337
• ISBN 13: 9780874138337
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256