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William Arthur Ganfield

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American pastor, educator, and academic administrator

William Arthur Ganfield
Ganfield c. 1921
6th President of Carroll College
In office
July 1921 – July 1, 1939
Preceded byHerbert Pierpont Houghton
Succeeded byGerrit T. Vander Lugt
11th President of Centre College
In office
June 1, 1915 – July 1921
Preceded byFrederick W. Hinitt
Succeeded byR. Ames Montgomery
Personal details
Born(1873-09-03)September 3, 1873
Cascade, Iowa
DiedOctober 18, 1940(1940-10-18) (aged 67)
Chicago, Illinois
Political partyRepublican
Spouse Clara Boardman ​(m. 1901)​
EducationSt. Mary's Seminary
Cornell College
McCormick Theological Seminary
University of Chicago

William Arthur Ganfield (September 3, 1873 – October 18, 1940) was an American pastor, educator, and academic administrator who was president of Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, from 1915 to 1921 and later president of Carroll College (now called Carroll University) in Waukesha, Wisconsin, from 1921 until his retirement in 1939.

Early life and education

William Arthur Ganfield was born on September 3, 1873, in Cascade, Iowa. He graduated from St. Mary's Seminary in Epworth, Iowa, in 1894. He attended Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1898 and a Master of Arts in 1901. Afterwards, he attended McCormick Theological Seminary and completed graduate work at the University of Chicago.

Career

Green Bay and Waukesha, 1900–1915

Ganfield was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Cedar Rapids in 1900 and ordained by the Presbytery of Winnebago in 1901. He began his ministerial career as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on May 5, 1901. He spent four years in Green Bay before resigning on July 31, 1904, to become a professor of history and political science at Carroll College—now Carroll University—in Waukesha, Wisconsin. This move came at a time when Carroll was transitioning from a two-year junior college to a four-year college. Ganfield departed Green Bay for Waukesha on August 31, 1904.

In late 1911, Ganfield became interim pastor of the Congregational Church in Menomonie, Wisconsin, following the resignation of that church's pastor. The church offered him the pastorate in full in February 1912; he declined, but agreed to remain on in an interim capacity until at least June of that year. He ultimately remained as pastor until 1914. During part of his time in Waukesha, Ganfield was fire and police commissioner, a position he resigned upon leaving for Central.

Presidency in Danville, 1915–1921

Ganfield was unanimously elected president of Central University of Kentucky in Danville, Kentucky, on May 5, 1915. He accepted the position at the following month's board meeting, and his presidency was made effective June 1, 1915. He inherited a college with declining enrollment, partially as a result of decisions made by his predecessor, Frederick W. Hinitt, to sever formal ties with the Presbyterian Church for the first time. Those changes were made in order to gain Central admittance into the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, which required member schools be "non-sectarian", in 1908. Many of Ganfield's major decisions worked to reverse this in an effort to get the school's enrollment and endowment back up, though he did conduct a fundraiser which was planned for completion in 1919, in time for the college's centennial, prior to such a reversal. The fundraiser was successful, though not until after the centennial; by 1922, the total amount raised had reached $400,000 (equivalent to $7,280,000 in 2023) and had raised the school's endowment past $1 million for the first time.

Gradually, the school's ties to the church were reinstated; it received funding for teaching of the Bible from the board of education of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA; the "Northern Presbyterian Church") in 1919 before fully reinstating the church connection in 1921. This change was not without opposition, especially from some of the younger members of the school's board of trustees, but the change went further in specifying that future presidents of the school would be required to be Presbyterian. Almost immediately, enrollment rebounded; from a low of 80 students in 1915, the school hit 287 in 1921, the first year after church ties were reinstated. Another major change took place when the school reverted to the "Centre College" name on December 17, 1918. It had used the name "Central University of Kentucky" since its merger with Central University, in Richmond, Kentucky, in 1901.

Athletics, particularly football, were emphasized during Ganfield's time at Centre. The "Praying Colonels" football team was experiencing national prominence. Ganfield recruited Charley Moran to take over as head coach starting in 1917, and the hiring of Texas high school football coach Robert L. Myers as athletic director meant that his star players Bo McMillin, Red Weaver, and Red Roberts joined him in Danville as members of the football team. The team saw success almost immediately; the 1917 squad lost only one game, the 1918 team went undefeated in a flu-shortened season, and the 1919 team finished undefeated—allowing no more than seven points in any game—and were retroactively recognized as national champions by the Sagarin ratings. The team's success and fame peaked after their October 29, 1921, victory over Harvard, generally viewed as one of the largest upsets in college football history. This athletic success came at the price of declining academic standards; Centre was dropped from the Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools of Southern States in 1920 and was not restored until 1923.

Return to Carroll, 1921–1939

Ganfield took the presidency of Carroll College in July 1921. He had been Carroll's first choice to replace Wilbur Oscar Carrier when he resigned the presidency in 1917, but Ganfield declined because he was less than two years into his term at Central. Despite this, he was not Carroll's first choice this time; he was offered the job after George McCune, a pastor from New York, declined it. Ganfield's return to Centre restored a minister to their presidency, as his predecessor, Herbert Pierpont Houghton, had been the school's first lay president. Ganfield worked to restore Carroll's Christian identity and re-integrated religion as a key part of the student experience.

Shortly after returning to Carroll, Ganfield entered the Republican primary for Wisconsin's Class 1 U.S. Senate seat being contested in the 1922 elections. He was defeated by incumbent senator Robert M. La Follette after earning just 27.8% of the vote to La Follette's 72.2%; La Follette went on to win the general election in a landslide over the Democratic candidate Jessie Jack Hooper. That same year, Ganfield was elected moderator of the Presbyterian Synod of Wisconsin. He remained involved in politics and was part of Wendell Willkie's platform committee during his run for president of the United States in 1940.

As part of an effort to raise funds and increase Carroll's endowment, Ganfield sought to increase emphasis on athletics in a similar fashion as had been done at Centre. A new gymnasium was constructed at Carroll starting in 1923, though a collapse of the steel framework in November of that year delayed its completion. It was dedicated on June 12, 1924. His interest in sports included a prediction that the school's football team would be beating the team from the University of Wisconsin–Madison within a few years, though this game ultimately never happened. In 1923, Norris Armstrong, a member of the 1921 Centre team, was hired to be Carroll's head coach, and the team went on to win three consecutive conference championships from 1925 to 1927. Armstrong also coached the Carroll basketball team to league titles in 1924, 1925, and 1927.

Pensions, a fixed salary scale, and tenure for faculty members were major issues during Ganfield's administration, especially against the backdrop of growing faculty numbers. The salary scale was established in 1928, with the maximum salary for a full professor set at $3,200 (equivalent to $57,000 in 2023) per year. Solutions to the pension and tenure problems were only addressed after the Great Depression, the former only as a result of government regulation. Greek life enjoyed prominence at Carroll during Ganfield's tenure; the school hosted four fraternities (Phi Theta Pi, Beta Pi Epsilon, Tau Kappa Epsilon, and Gamma Phi Delta) and four sororities (Beta Chi Theta, Kappa Gamma Phi, Theta Pi Delta, and Alpha Kappa).

By 1927, the school's endowment reached upwards of $650,000 (equivalent to $11.4 million in 2023), and enrollment had grown to 430 students two years later. Around that time, the school added several buildings to its campus, including an infirmary, a music building, and a library, in addition to a new wing of the womens' dormitory. During the Great Depression, Ganfield wore a red tie during years where the school was in debt ("in the red") and a black tie when the school ran a budget surplus ("in the black"). Despite the economic hardship nationwide, Carroll experienced relative prosperity during this time; with tuition costs at $200 (equivalent to $4,000 in 2023) per student, the college finished with surpluses on multiple occasions, received a record number of applications, and maintained steady enrollment.

Ganfield retired on July 1, 1939.

Personal life and death

Ganfield married Clara Boardman on August 27, 1901, and the couple had five children. He died on October 18, 1940, at Presbyterian Hospital in Chicago.

During his career, Ganfield was a member of the board of trustees of the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, the YMCA of Kentucky executive committee, the Kentucky Sunday School Association state board, and the International Sunday School Association. Ganfield's name is given to one part of Cooper Ganfield Hall, a dormitory building at Centre, and Ganfield Gymnasium, a recreation center at Carroll. Carroll's first-year William A. Ganfield Fellow Scholarship is also named for him.

Ganfield was a member of the Knights Templar and was elected grand commander of the Wisconsin chapter in 1931.

Notes

  1. It is not clear when Ganfield entered into this position, but contemporary newspaper reporting notes that he resigned as commissioner effective September 7, 1915.
  2. The necessity of the president to be Presbyterian had, according to Centre historian William Weston, been "only custom" before, though every president until Michael F. Adams was Presbyterian and only one president before Ganfield, Ormond Beatty, had not been a Presbyterian minister despite the lack of a formal requirement.

References

  1. ^ "Ganfield, William Arthur, 1873–1940". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved December 28, 2024.
  2. ^ Hubbard 1907, p. 192.
  3. "Old Centre 1917". Old Centre. Danville, Kentucky: Central University of Kentucky. 1917. p. 14. Retrieved December 28, 2024.
  4. ^ Weston 2019, p. 65.
  5. "Begins pastorate tomorrow". Green Bay Press-Gazette. Green Bay, Wisconsin. May 4, 1901. p. 9. Retrieved December 28, 2024 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  6. "Will accept chair Carroll College [sic]". Green Bay Press-Gazette. Green Bay, Wisconsin. August 1, 1904. p. 5. Retrieved December 28, 2024 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  7. "Reception at close of successful pastorate". Green Bay Press-Gazette. Green Bay, Wisconsin. August 31, 1904. p. 5. Retrieved December 28, 2024 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  8. "Will continue acting pastor; Rev. W. A. Ganfield promises to serve Congregational Church until June 1912". Waukesha Freeman. Waukesha, Wisconsin. February 1, 1912. p. 1. Retrieved December 28, 2024 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  9. ^ "Ganfield, once head of Centre, succumbs". Courier Journal. Louisville, Kentucky. October 19, 1940. p. 4. Retrieved December 28, 2024 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  10. "Zimmerman is commissioner; mayor appoints real estate man to succeed Dr. W. A. Ganfield". Waukesha Freeman. Waukesha, Wisconsin. September 9, 1915. p. 1. Retrieved December 28, 2024 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  11. "Presidency for Ganfield". The Dunn County News. Menomonie, Wisconsin. May 20, 1915. p. 1. Retrieved December 28, 2024 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  12. Board of Trustees Minutes 1915, pp. 112–113.
  13. "Accepts college presidency". The Dunn County News. Menomonie, Wisconsin. June 3, 1915. p. 5. Retrieved December 28, 2024 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  14. Board of Trustees Minutes 1915, p. 113.
  15. ^ Weston 2019, p. 64.
  16. Weston 2019, pp. 63–64.
  17. ^ Weston 2019, p. 66.
  18. Weston 2019, p. 119.
  19. Weston 2019, p. 42.
  20. Weston 2019, p. 67.
  21. Board of Trustees Minutes 1918, p. 5.
  22. Weston 2019, p. 57.
  23. Weston 2019, pp. 71–72.
  24. "Centre College football record (1910–1919)". Centre College Special Collections: Digital Archives. Centre College. May 20, 2009. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved December 28, 2024.
  25. Weston 2019, p. 71.
  26. "National Poll Rankings" (PDF). Football Bowl Subdivision Records. National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2015. pp. 105–108. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 6, 2022. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
  27. Doyle 2017, p. 471.
  28. Weston 2019, p. 73.
  29. ^ Langill 1980, p. 150.
  30. Langill 1980, p. 140.
  31. Langill 1980, pp. 150–151.
  32. Weston 2019, p. 69.
  33. Wisconsin Blue Book 1922, p. 500.
  34. Wisconsin Blue Book 1922, p. 564.
  35. ^ Langill 1980, p. 160.
  36. Langill 1980, p. 152.
  37. "Steel framework on Carroll gymnasium falls, completion now delayed until summer". Waukesha Freeman. Waukesha, Wisconsin. November 1, 1923. p. 5. Retrieved December 28, 2024 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  38. "Commencement week program is completed". Waukesha Freeman. Waukesha, Wisconsin. June 5, 1924. p. 5. Retrieved December 28, 2024.
  39. Langill 1980, p. 153.
  40. Langill 1980, p. 154.
  41. Langill 1980, pp. 157–158.
  42. Langill 1980, pp. 158–159.
  43. Langill 1980, p. 163.
  44. Langill 1980, p. 166.
  45. Langill 1980, pp. 166–167.
  46. "Ganfield-Boardman wedding". Evening Times-Republican. Marshalltown, Iowa. August 28, 1901. p. 7. Retrieved December 28, 2024 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  47. ^ "William A. Ganfield Fellow Scholarship". Carroll University. Retrieved December 28, 2024.
  48. "William A. Ganfield, Centre College President (1915–1921)". CentreCyclopedia. Centre College. Retrieved December 28, 2024.
  49. "Residence halls: the Quad". Centre College. Retrieved December 28, 2024.
  50. "Ganfield Gymnasium". Carroll Pioneers athletics. Carroll University. Retrieved December 28, 2024.
  51. "Carroll University - Ganfield Gym". Core4 Engineering. Retrieved December 28, 2024.

Bibliography

Offices and distinctions
Academic offices
Preceded byFrederick W. Hinitt
John W. Redd (interim) 		President of Centre College
1915 — 1921 		Succeeded byR. Ames Montgomery
Preceded byHerbert Pierpont Houghton President of Carroll College
1921 — 1939 		Succeeded byGerrit T. Vander Lugt
Presidents of Carroll University
Presidents of Centre College
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