G. Alexander Heard
George Alexander Heard | |
---|---|
5th Chancellor of Vanderbilt University | |
In office 1963–1982 | |
Preceded by | Harvie Branscomb |
Succeeded by | Joe B. Wyatt |
Personal details | |
Born | Savannah, Georgia | March 14, 1917
Died | July 24, 2009 Nashville, Tennessee | (aged 92)
Alma mater | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (BA) Columbia University (MA, PhD) |
George Alexander Heard (March 14, 1917 - July 24, 2009) was
Biography
Early years and education
George Alexander Heard was born on March 14, 1917, in
Academic career
Heard was appointed as Chancellor of Vanderbilt University in 1963 during a time when many university administrators were confronting much internal strife and division in their respective institutions. He held quite frequent meetings with student leaders, even some of the university's most radical elements.[3]
Heard was a staunch defender of the open forum, in a period of great social and political discontent, earning the respect of the students. He defended what he saw as the "students' and faculty's [right] to invite to the campus speakers of all political persuasions in an effort to better understand their views".[3] As a result of this view many figures considered controversial spoke at Vanderbilt, most notably the civil rights movement activist Martin Luther King Jr. and an advocate of black power, Stokely Carmichael.[3] Controversy engulfed Heard for Carmichael's invitation, yet he remained calm and staunchly supportive of his action, saying that "the university’s obligation is not to protect students from ideas, but rather to expose them to ideas, and to help make them capable of handling and, hopefully, having ideas."[3] In particular, Heard was blamed for the racially charged riot that ensued by Vanderbilt trustee James G. Stahlman.[5]
Heard increased the curricular options through the acquisition of the George Peabody College and the establishments of the
Scholarly contributions
Among his scholarly contributions, Heard in 1952 published A Two-Party South?, in which he predicted the transformation of the Southern United States from one-party Democratic allegiance to two-party Democratic-Republican rivalry. At the time the Republican Party was virtually nonexistent in much of the South.[6]
On May 8, 1970, Heard was appointed Special Adviser on the Academic Community and the Young by President Nixon.[7] Heard also served as chairman of the Ford Foundation when McGeorge Bundy was president. During his career at Vanderbilt, Heard was offered the presidency of other institutions including Columbia University, but consistently declined, returning to Vanderbilt.[8]
Death and legacy
Heard died July 24, 2009, in Nashville, Tennessee. Along with his wife Jean, Alexander Heard is the eponym of Vanderbilt's Jean and Alexander Heard Library, and the university, annually since 1982, has given a faculty member who has demonstrated exceptional understanding of contemporary society the Alexander Heard Distinguished Service Professor Award.[9]
Bibliography
- Southern Primaries and Elections: 1920-1949 (1950)
- A Two-Party South? (1952)
- Made in America: Improving the Nomination and Election of Presidents (co-authored with Scarlett G. Graham, Kay L. Hancock, 1990)
- Speaking of the University: Two Decades at Vanderbilt (1995)
References
- ^ Birthplace and date from online database of Marquis Who's Who
- ^ Billy Ray Caldwell, Heard Obituary[permanent dead link] on the Vanderbilt Alumni Association site, 2009 July 27 (accessed 2009 July 28).
- ^ a b c d e f Vanderbilt University’s News Network. Vanderbilt University, July 25, 2005. Web. January 28, 2010., "Alexander Heard, Vanderbilt’s fifth chancellor, dies." Archived July 28, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Yackety Yack. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina. 1938. p. 91.
- OCLC 940632744.
- ^ Alexander Heard, A Two-Party South? (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1952); available on [1] Archived June 4, 2011, at the Wayback Machine[ISBN missing] The 1952 book was a revision of his 1950 Ph.D. dissertation at Columbia University.
- ^ John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters, The American Presidency Project [online]. Santa Barbara, CA: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database), "143 - Statement Announcing the Appointment of a Special Adviser on the Academic Community and the Young". May 8, 1970. Retrieved August 30, 2007.
- ^ "Bridge over troubled waters: Alexander Heard embraced the world's irresistible compulsion to change". Vanderbilt Magazine. Fall 2009. p. 40. Retrieved December 20, 2009.
- ^ Elizabeth Latt, Alexander Heard, Vanderbilt's fifth chancellor, dies: Champion of the open forum, he led university through turbulent times Archived July 28, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, 2009 July 25 (accessed 2009 July 28).