- Ezra Brainerd
Ezra Brainerd (
December 17 ,1844 –December 8 ,1924 ) was president ofMiddlebury College from 1885 until 1908.Born in
St. Albans, Vermont , Brainerd was a graduate of the college in 1864. Brainerd assumed the presidency at a time when the college was recovering from an extended period of hardship. Brainerd remained president for 23 years, during which time the student body doubled, Starr Library and Warner Hall were constructed, and the college changed from an almost exclusively local college into a more regionally oriented institution. [ [http://www.middlebury.edu/campuslife/commons/brainerd/default.htm Brainerd Commons ] at www.middlebury.edu] Brainerd was an educator with diverse interests, teaching in almost every subject, fromphysics tomathematics , to English andrhetoric . [ [http://www.middlebury.edu/campuslife/commons/brainerd/default.htm Brainerd Commons ] at www.middlebury.edu] He was especially interested inbotany ; his papers and letters are in severalherbariums and libraries throughoutNew England and the East., [ [http://www.huh.harvard.edu/libraries/archives/KENNEDY.html Library of the Gray Herbarium ] at www.huh.harvard.edu] [http://www.uvm.edu/~plantbio/pringle/] [http://www.lloydlibrary.com/archives/macfarlane_reprint_collection.pdf] [http://www.jstor.org/view/00030147/di005725/00p0214t/0] Brainerd's diverse talents and interests also informed his educational philosophy. Brainerd focused his efforts on strengthening and broadening the education offered by Middlebury rather than enforcing discipline and religion. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0028-4866%28193803%2911%3A1%3C209%3AFWTCTS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Y]In 1995, when Middlebury initiated a system of residential commons, Brainerd Commons was named in his honor.
References
External links
* http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0040-9618(192802)55%3A2%3C91%3AEB%3E2.0.CO%3B2-J "JSTOR"
* [http://www.middlebury.edu/about/president/past/ Past Middlebury Presidents ] at www.middlebury.edu
* [http://www.middlebury.edu/campuslife/commons/brainerd/ Brainerd Commons ] at www.middlebury.edu
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