Office of the President Records

The Office of the President at Arizona State University was formally established with the promotion of Arthur John Matthews from principal to president in 1904. From 1886-1900 Arizona Territorial Normal School, Arizona Normal School and Normal School of Arizona at Tempe were served by six principals before Dr. Matthews' appointment in 1900.

Hiram Bradford Farmer (1843-1912) was educated at St. Lawrence Academy and Union College. He filled a dual role as the first principal and instructor of the Arizona Territorial Normal School. A Victorian schoolmaster and classical scholar, he established the school's core curriculum, which was heavily oriented toward classical studies such as Latin and forensics. During Farmer's administration there was one classroom building, and his adobe residence on Farmer Avenue served as a boarding house for female students. His beginning annual salary of $2,300 was cut to $2,000 the second year because of reduced tax revenues.

Robert Lindley Long (1852-1928) was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He attended Millersville Normal and Dickinson College at Carlisle in Pennsylvania until his junior year. Prior to his arrival in Arizona in 1879 he dabbled in educational administration, prospecting and diamond mining in South Africa. From 1882-1884 Long served as judge of probate court and then was appointed Territorial Superintendent of Public Instruction from 1885-1886.

Long became the second principal of the Arizona Territorial Normal School at Tempe in 1888 when funds and enrollment were critically deficient. In 1890 he accepted a position as Superintendent of Schools in Phoenix and was reappointed as Territorial Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1899. Long retired in 1910 to travel in Europe and South America, finally settling in Washington D.C.

Dayton Alonzo Reed (1841-1894) was born in Millbrook, Ohio, where he learned the millwright's craft from his father and engaged himself in farming and teaching. He served as principal of Belleville (Ohio) Union High School from 1866-1873 and taught for twelve years in the Los Angeles Public Schools. He became principal of Phoenix Public School in 1885 and also established real estate, insurance and conveyance businesses.

Reed became the third principal of the Arizona Territorial Normal School in 1890, where he also taught language, mathematics and pedagogy. He was compensated at $200/month for ten months. Reed supervised efforts to improve the physical appearance of the campus by installing fencing, trees and shrubbery, painting the school building and installing plumbing. Reed retired because of poor health and died in Phoenix of consumption in 1894.

Edgar L. Storment (1865-1898) graduated from Southern Illinois State Normal at Carbondale in 1886, completing the equivalent of four years of secondary education and two years of collegiate studies. After teaching in an Illinois elementary school he came to Arizona to invest in a farm colony on the Gila River that failed shortly thereafter. Storment then taught school in Agua Caliente in 1887.

In 1890 Storment was hired as an assistant to Territorial Normal School principal Dayton Alonzo Reed. As the first faculty member to share instructional duties with the principal he taught languages and liberal arts classes. Upon the retirement of Dayton Alonzo Reed, Storment became the fourth principal of the Normal School in 1892. Storment hired the first two women instructors, initiated a course in journalism, established student activity programs and started athletic activities and intramural sports. He was the founder of the school's alumni association and drafted the initial plans for Old Main, the second campus building.

Storment left the Normal School to enter the University of Illinois and also worked as an instructor in the science department of Streeter Township High School. He died in Prescott, Arizona in 1898.

James A. McNaughton (1837-1908)was born in Chatauqua, New York and was educated at Ellington Academy, Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. He received his masters degree from Illinois Wesleyan at Bloomington and a Ph.D. from Allengheny College in 1887.

McNaughton became the fifth principal of the Normal School in 1895. During his tenure the faculty was expanded from four to seven instructors, the Blome Training School was absorbed into the Normal School and Old Main was completed in 1898. Student organizations and activities flourished under McNaughton as student government, the military cadet corps, the Zetetic an Hesperian literary societies and the first Boarding Club were formed. The first intercollegiate football game was played during this period. At the end of his presidency the school curriculum was extended from two to three years and the admission requirements were raised. McNaughton resigned to become principal of San Jose Normal in 1899. He died in Pasadena, California in 1908.

Joseph Warren Smith (1853-1923) received his Master of Arts degree from the University of Michigan in 1880. He served as Superintendent of Schools at Bay City and County Commissioner of Schools and had also been admitted to the Bay City bar.

Smith became the sixth Normal School principal in 1899 and proceeded to reorganize the entire curriculum, introducing a course in music. In 1900 he left teaching to pursue a career in business. In 1904 he was employed by the Fidelity Building and Loan Association of Los Angeles. He organized the Home Investment Association at Redlands and was recognized for establishing the educational movement within national building and loan associations.

Arthur John Matthews (1859-1942) attended Cazenovia Seminary and Syracuse University where he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1916. He served as principal of schools at Eaton and Adam, New York and became Superintendent of Schools at Rock Springs, Wyoming in 1890. In 1898 Matthews was appointed Superintendent of City Schools at Prescott, Arizona.

Matthews became the first to hold the title of president at the Tempe Normal School although he is officially consider the seventh president. He served as the administrative head of the institution, performing the duties of registrar and business manager while teaching school law, education and mathematics. The Matthew years were notable for expansion of the physical plant, enrollment, and faculty. As a result of his interest in botany he supervised plantings of many exotic varieties of trees and shrubs that can still be seen on the campus today.

In addition to his administrative and educational duties Matthews was active in professional organizations. He served as president of the State Teacher's Association of Arizona, state director and Executive Council member of the National Education Association, and as a member of the Committee on Standardization of Normal Schools of the United States. Matthews continued to serve Arizona State Teacher's College as president emeritus beginning in 1930, when he retired to a cottage on the northern part of campus. He died in Long Beach, California in 1942.

Ralph W. Swetman (1886-1957) received a Bachelor of Philosophy degree in 1907 from Hamilton College in New York. He completed a Master's degree at Columbia in 1907 and a Ph.D. at Stanford in 1928. From 1907-1917 he served as principal at schools in Mills, Groton, Camden and Palmyra, New York. Swetman was director of the training and extension service at Ellensburg, Washington from 1917-1922 and president of Humboldt State Teacher's College in Arcata, California for six years.

Swetman became the eighth president of Arizona State Teacher's College in 1930. He established a self supporting summer session program and secured accreditation by the North Central Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges. He is remembered for replacing many faculty members lacking advanced degrees with faculty possessing the Ph.D, an action required for institutional accreditation. In 1933 Swetman resigned to become principal of Oswego State Normal School in New York.

Grady Gammage (1892-1959) was born in Prescott, Arkansas. He earned his Bachelors degree in 1916 and his Masters degree in education in 1922 at the University of Arizona. Gammage served as principal of Winslow High School and later Superintendent of Schools at that city. In 1925 he became vice president and director of the Training School at Northern Arizona State Teacher's College. He became president of that institution the following year.

On July 1, 1933 Gammage became the ninth president of Arizona State Teacher's College. He secured substantial quantities of WPA funds to construct campus buildings during the Depression years. In 1940 he received his doctorate in Education from New York University. During World War II Gammage served as president and chairman of the United War Fund campaign committee and chairman of United China Relief. He served as adviser to the Allied Military Government in Germany (American Zone) and was awarded the Legion of Merit (Denmark) and Certificate of Merit (China).

Gammage was active in a number of civic and professional organizations. He served lengthy terms on the State Board of Education and State Board of Vocational Education. He was also president of the American Association of Teachers colleges, vice-president of the Western College Association and a member of the Association for Applied Solar Energy. His greatest achievement as president is generally recognized as the successful passage of the initiative to change the name of Arizona State College to Arizona State University in 1959. The successful name change movement reflected substantial expansions of curriculum and educational programming that occurred throughout his tenure and recognition that continued expansion of the Phoenix metropolitan area required accessibility to the resources of a nearby university. Grady Gammage died in his campus home in 1959.

Harold D. Richardson (1902-1993) successfully completed the principals course at Whiteriver (Wisconsin) State Normal School. He received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees (1929) from the University of Wisconsin. In 1937 he completed his Ph.D. in secondary education, guidance and educational psychology at Northwestern University.

In 1940 Richardson came to Arizona State College at Tempe as professor of education and director of graduate study. He also served as registrar, dean of instruction, and dean of the college. He became academic vice president in 1953. Richardson served as acting president from December 24, 1959 to September 30, 1960. He then returned to his position as academic vice president and in 1963 resumed full-time teaching duties as professor of education. Richardson died at Tempe on March 2, 1993.

George Homer Durham (1911-1985) was born February 4, 1911 at Parowan, Utah. He received his Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from the University of Utah in 1932 and his Ph.D. in Political Science from UCLA in 1939. He served as director of the Institute of Government and as chair of the Political Science Department at the University of Utah until his appointment as vice president in 1953.

Durham has also served as a past president of the American Society of Public Administration, founder and first president of the Western Political Science Association, member of the board of editors of Public Administration Review, and publisher of the Western Political Quarterly. He was also executive director of the Historical Department of the LDS Church.

Durham served as president of Arizona State University from 1960-1969. He is remembered for establishing the College of Fine Arts and the College of Nursing, and he divided the former College of Applied Arts and Sciences into the College of Engineering Sciences and the College of Architecture. The engineering, architecture and nursing programs were accredited during Durham's tenure and doctorates of Philosophy and Business Administration were granted for the first time.

Early registration programs were initiated at ASU during the Durham years, and broadcasts of public television station KAET began in this period. University enrollment expanded from 10,000 to 23,000 and faculty size doubled during his presidency. More than thirty campus buildings were completed from 1960-1969.

Dr. Durham became a member of the Mormon First Quorum of Seventy in 1977, and was named president in 1981. George Homer Durham died in Salt Lake City on January 10, 1985.

Harry K. Newburn (1906-1974) received his bachelor's degree in education from Western Illinois State University at Macomb, Illinois in 1928. He completed his masters and doctoral degrees at the State University of Iowa. After teaching and serving as an administrator at various Illinois public schools Newburn returned to Iowa State to teach graduate courses in education and serve as Dean of the College of Liberal Arts from 1941-1945. He was appointed president of the University of Oregon in 1945 and then served as president of the Educational Television and Radio Center from 1953-1958. From 1959-1963 Newburn was president of the University of Montana at Missoula.

In 1963 Newburn accepted an appointment as director of the Arizona State University Center for Higher Education, and he became dean of the College of Education in 1968. On August 23, 1969 he succeeded Homer Durham as president of Arizona State University. Newburn stepped down from the presidency June 30, 1971 to return to teaching duties in the Center for Higher Education and later the College of Education. He died suddenly of a heart attack on August 25, 1974.

John William Schwada (1919-1990) was born September 23, 1919 at Tyrone, Oklahoma. He graduated from Northeast Missouri State Teacher's College at Kirksville in 1941, and received his masters degree from the University of Missouri in 1947. His doctorate in Political Science was earned at the University of Texas in 1951.

Schwada returned to the University of Missouri in 1951 to accept an appointment as instructor in Political Science. He was also comptroller and budget director for the State of Missouri from 1958-1961. He attained his promotion to full professor in 1960, and was elevated to dean of faculties in 1961, while serving as acting dean of the School of Business and Public Administration in 1961 and 1962. Schwada was appointed chancellor of the University of Missouri in 1964, and served in that capacity until he accepted the presidency of Arizona State University in 1971.

Schwada's term as president was marked by massive growth in the physical facilities and the campus population. Student enrollment increased from 26,500 to almost 40,000 during this period, and twenty-five new buildings were completed. He is remembered for maintaining productive and cordial relationships with the Arizona Board of Regents and the state legislature, as state funding grew from $28 million to $93.6 million during his tenure. John W. Schwada retired in 1981. He settled in Phoenix and passed away there on April 19, 1990.