Howard Ayers

Ayers graduated from Harvard University in 1883, and from the University of Freiburg in 1885; he also studied at the University of Strasburg and the University of Heidelberg. He then spent a year in the Department of Zoology at the University of Michigan.[http://um2017.org/History_of_Zoology.html History of the University of Michigan Department of Zoology], by Aaron Franklin Shull; in The University of Michigan: An Encyclopedic Survey, p. 38-750; published 1942; edited by Wilfred Byron Shaw; archived at UM2017.org He also taught zoology at Harvard and Radcliffe College, and ran the Department of Zoology at the University of Missouri.[https://www.artsci.uc.edu/departments/biology/about/history.html History], at the Department of Biological Sciences of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Cincinnati; retrieved May 8, 2002 As well, he served as director of Edward Phelps Allis's Lake Laboratory,[https://www.jstor.org/stable/2452291?seq=3 Scientific News], in The American Naturalist, vol. 27, no. 318, 1893, pp. 592–98; retrieved 8 May 2022 and as an investigator at the Marine Biological Laboratory.

In 1899, Ayers was recruited to serve as the president of the University of Cincinnati. In January 1900, he fired the majority of the university's faculty.

Philip van Ness Myers, one of the few members of the faculty who Ayers had not fired, called the mass firing a "professional assassination" that "violated every principle of humanity and justice", and resigned.[https://www.cincinnatimagazine.com/citywiseblog/howard-ayers-turmoil-university-cincinnati/ Howard Ayers Brought A Reign Of Turmoil To The University Of Cincinnati], by Greg Hand, in Cincinnati; published May 29, 2018; retrieved May 8, 2022 The Journal of Education described it as an example of "autocracy run mad".[http://www.jstor.org/stable/44063302 Editorial: Notes], in The Journal of Education, vol. 55, no. 4 (1363), 1902, pp. 56–57. Retrieved May 8, 2022.

File:Bushnell cartoon about Howard Ayers at the University of Cincinnati.jpg, from the Cincinnati Post, about Ayers and the mass firing]]

In November 1903, the university's board of trustees declared Ayers' position vacant, adding that he would remain in office until a replacement could be found.Cincinnati Presidency Vacant, in The New York Times; published November 15, 1903; p. 13 Charles William Dabney was selected to replace Ayers beginning in July 1904; however, due to continued conflict, Ayers was fired in April 1904.

Later that month, William Howard Taft and Horace Lurton recommended that Ayers be chosen to replace Dabney as the president of the University of Tennessee, with Taft sending a letter to the board of trustees on behalf of "Dr. Ayers of Cincinnati". The board's reply acknowledged that they had received Taft's recommendation of "Dr. Ayres", and they subsequently elected Brown Ayres;[https://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=utk_libarcvol Volunteer Moments: Vignettes of the History of the University of Tennessee, 1794-1994], p. 13-14, by Milton M. Klein; published 1996 by the Office of the University Historian of the University of Tennessee however, University of Tennessee Knoxville Vice Chancellor Betsey Creekmoore has called the notion that the board meant to hire Ayers instead of Ayres a "myth", pointing out that Taft's recommendation of Ayers was in April, and the selection of Ayres was in August — and only came after the board first tried, and failed, to hire C. Alphonso Smith in June.[https://volopedia.lib.utk.edu/entries/myth-board-of-trustees-meant-to-elect-howard-ayers-of-cincinnati-president-rather-than-brown-ayres-of-tulane/ Myth—Board of trustees meant to elect Howard Ayers of Cincinnati president rather than Brown Ayres of Tulane], by Betsey B. Creekmoore; at Volopedia; published by the University of Tennessee; first published September 25, 2018; last updated October 9, 2018; retrieved January 8, 2025

Ayers was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the American Society of Naturalists and the American Morphological Society.

In 1886, Ayers married Pauline F.A. Shafer. They had seven daughters, including performer Paula Lind Ayers, and one son, who falsified his age so that he could enlist in the US Army when he was 14, but died of pneumonia before he could be sent into combat in the First World War.[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25316916/ Paula Lind Ayers: "Song-Physician" for Troops with Shell Shock during World War I], by Alaine E Reschke-Hernandez, in Journal of Music Therapy; vol. 51, no. 3 (Fall 2014); p. 276-291

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Category:1861 births

Category:1933 deaths

Category:19th-century American biologists

Category:Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Category:Presidents of the University of Cincinnati

Category:Harvard University faculty

Category:Radcliffe College faculty

Category:University of Missouri faculty

Category:Harvard University alumni

Category:University of Freiburg alumni

Category:People from Olympia, Washington

Category:People from Washington Territory

Category:20th-century American biologists