Vernon Roger Alden, M.B.A., LL.D., L.H.D., 1923-
Fifteenth President of Ohio University, 1962-1969
Dr. Alden was educated at Brown and Harvard universities.
He came to Ohio University at age 38 from his position of
associate dean at the Harvard Business School. His
administration saw a doubling of enrollment and faculty, a great
expansion of the campus area through urban renewal, and the
continuation of a construction program that included a new
regional airport. There was a great expansion of research,
symbolized by the acquisition of a tandem accelerator, and a
broadening of academic and related programs as evidenced by the
Honors College, the Cutler Program of Individualized Study,
sabbatical leaves, the Ohio University Press, and area studies
including funding a Black Studies Institute. There were new
endowed chairs, and increased emphasis on voluntary support.
Increased rights for faculty and students were evidenced by a
Faculty Senate and Student-Faculty Mediation Board. The
University assumed an activist role in regional development and
expanded its international programs. Significant progress was
made in adjusting to the demands of students for participation in
governance and for self-regulation of their lives, the demands of
minorities for rights and equal opportunity, and the demands by
employees for union representation.
Dr. Alden left the University to assume a position with the
Boston Company from 1969-1978, has served on several other
corporate boards, and has worked extensively in Japan.
| Dick Piccard revised this file (http://www.ohiou.edu/athens/history/people/alden.html) on January 25, 2006. |
