List of Presidents of Ohio State University
This List of Presidents of Ohio State University includes all who have served as university presidents of Ohio State University since its founding in 1870. Ohio State University is a public research university in Columbus, Ohio. Founded in 1870, as a land-grant university and ninth university in Ohio with the Morrill Act of 1862, the university was originally known as the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College. In 1878, in light of its expanded focus, the college permanently changed its name to The Ohio State University.
History of Ohio State University
Of fundamental importance in this period was the role of former President Rutherford B. Hayes who, a decade earlier, had lobbied strenuously as Governor for the university's founding. Upon returning to Ohio in 1881, the former President spent the next decade using his considerable political influence to lobby for the university's interests. In 1887 he formally joined the university's board of trustees where, until his death in early 1893, he essentially acted as the university's de facto president. By 1891, Ohio State had grown to a degree that Governor James E. Campbell recommended a permanent levy on the tax duplicate to support its continued growth. The significant role that the fledgling university had begun to play within the state, as well as the peace that Hayes had brokered with the state's agricultural interests, was underscored by the fact that the proposal passed without opposition despite the insistence of Ohio State's board of trustees that neither Miami nor Ohio universities be included in the bill.