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Description
In 1917, fifty-two years after its founding, the University of Kentucky faced stagnation, financial troubles, and disturbing reports of nepotism, resulting in a leadership crisis. A special committee investigated the institution and issued a report calling for a massive transformation of the university, including the hiring of a new president who could execute the report's suggested initiatives. The Board of Trustees hired Frank L. McVey. McVey labored tirelessly for more than two decades to establish Kentucky as one of the nation's most respected institutions of higher learning, which brought him recognition as one of the leading progressive educators in the South. This book chronicles McVey's triumphs and challenges as the president sought to transform the university from a small state college into the state's flagship institution. McVey recruited an exceptional faculty, expanded graduate programs, promoted research, oversaw booming enrollments and campus construction, and defended academic freedom during the nation's first major antievolution controversy. Yet he faced challenges related to the development of modern collegiate athletics, a populace suspicious of his remarkable new conception of a state university, and the Great Depression.
Publication Date
2011
Publisher
The University Press of Kentucky
Place of Publication
Lexington, KY
ISBN
978-0-8131-2983-9
eISBN
978-0-8131-2993-8 (pdf version)
eISBN
978-0-8131-4015-5 (epub version)
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5810/kentucky/9780813129839.001.0001
Keywords
University of Kentucky, Nepotism, Leadership crisis, Financial crisis, South, Frank L. McVey, Great Depression
Disciplines
Higher Education | United States History
Recommended Citation
Moyen, Eric A., "Frank L. McVey and the University of Kentucky: A Progressive President and the Modernization of a Southern University" (2011). United States History. 185.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_united_states_history/185
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