Fun Facts About Reed’s Interim Presidents
Continuing from last week’s fun facts about each of Reed’s presidents, here are some more fun facts for each of Reed’s interim presidents!
Frank Loxley Griffin, 1954–56: Was hired as Reed’s first faculty member by Reed’s first president, William Trufant Foster, in 1911. In addition to being an interim president of Reed, he was also vice president of the Mathematical Association of America from 1952–53, governor of the City Club of Portland, fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and active within the American Association of University Professors. He was the head of Reed’s mathematics department and an author of widely used math textbooks. His first book, Introduction to Mathematical Analysis, was lauded by Scientific American: “If we had our way, every teacher of mathematics would be obliged to read this book, and every person with responsibility for laying out mathematics instruction in any of our colleges would be obliged to read a chapter from it every morning before breakfast.” Nickname: “Grif” or “F.L.”
Byron L. Youtz, 1967–68: Hosted weekly workshops on campus that were funded by the National Science Foundation for high school educators, who “convened at Reed for lectures and labs presented by faculty.” Prior to becoming interim president, he studied radiation at California Institute of Technology and UC Berkeley. In 1953, he taught at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, where he served as chairman of the physics department.
Ross B. Thompson, summer of 1968 and 1970–71: Served in the U.S. Navy from 1955 to 1958 and worked to “protect Oregon’s wildlife in the Columbia River Gorge and in the state’s northeastern high desert areas”. During Thompson’s presidency, “Reed students rented billboard space along McLoughlin Boulevard to post a photo of Thompson with the tagline, ‘Would you buy a used college from this man?’ The students claimed to be protesting conservative control of the college, and called themselves ‘College in Exile.’ Thompson took the joke in stride.”
George A. Hay, 1980–81: Worked at Reed for 27 years, starting out as an assistant professor of economics and then going on to serve as the director of admission from 1958–64, as vice president-treasurer from 1973–79, as executive vice president from 1979–80, and as special assistant to the president from 1981–83. He was also an active participant in campus choral groups. Mount St. Helens erupted during his term and disrupted graduation!
William R. Haden, 1991–92: Helped establish the Cooley Gallery and oversaw the start of construction of the chemistry building and the Blue Bridge. Before he became interim president, he was the vice president of public affairs at Reed starting in 1987, and before that, he had been vice president for development in alumni relations at the University of Chicago and “had lived in Portland for over a year while serving in a military intelligence unit.”
Peter J. Steinberger, 2001–02: A political philosopher, the author of several books, and a regular contributor of “op-ed pieces to newspapers such as the New York Times and the Washington Post”.
Hugh Porter, 2018–19: An “accomplished cellist” with a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in music history from Yale. He led the largest fundraising effort in Reed’s history, which concluded in December 2012 with more than $203 million raised.