William Pratt Graham
{{Short description|American university president (1871–1962)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = William Pratt Graham
| image =
| caption =
| order = 6th
| title = Chancellor of Syracuse University
| term_start = May 1937
| term_end = September 1942
| predecessor = Charles Wesley Flint
| successor = William P. Tolley
| birth_date = {{birth date|1871|11|24}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1962|01|10|1871|11|24}}
| death_place =
| alma_mater = Syracuse University
| spouse = {{marriage |Cora M. Dodson |1899 |1958 |end=d}}{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/profile/Anonymous/clipnumber/68084/ |title=Mrs. William Graham |work=Syracuse Herald-Journal |date=October 25, 1958 |via=Newspaperarchive.com}}
}}
William Pratt Graham (November 24, 1871 – January 10, 1962) was an electrical engineering professor and the sixth chancellor of Syracuse University. Graham was the first alumnus of Syracuse as well as the first non-clergyman to hold that position.{{cite book |title=The Hill: An Illustrated Biography of Syracuse University, 1870–present |first=John Robert |last=Greene |date=2000 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=978-0815606482 |page=20}}{{cite book |title=Syracuse University, Vol. 4: The Tolley years, 1942–1969 |first=John Robert |last=Greene |date=1996 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=978-0815627012 |page=8}}
Biography
Graham was born to Jerome Bonaparte Graham, a veteran of the Civil War, and Sylvia Aurelia Graham in Oswego, New York.{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Biography of New York |first=Charles Elliott |last=Fitch |volume=5 |date=1916 |publisher=American Historical Society, Incorporated |place=New York |page=109 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8CoEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA113}} Graham entered Syracuse University as an undergraduate in 1889 and graduated in 1893 before pursuing postgraduate work at the University of Berlin, graduating with a Doctor of Philosophy in 1897. He joined the faculty of Syracuse as an electrical engineering professor in 1898, after spending the intervening period studying the subject at Technische Universität Darmstadt, and he was made dean of the College of Applied Science in 1912.{{cite web |url=http://archives.syr.edu/history/chancellors.html |title=Syracuse University History: Chancellors of Syracuse University |publisher=Syracuse University |work=Syracuse University Archives |accessdate=December 13, 2015}} Graham served as the vice-chancellor to Charles Wesley Flint before succeeding him as chancellor in 1937, a position Graham intended to hold only until a successor was found.{{cite book |title=Hendricks Chapel: Seventy-five Years of Service to Syracuse University |first=Richard |last=Phillips |date=2005 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=978-0815608271 |page=71}} Graham retired from the university in 1942 when William Pearson Tolley was elected chancellor.{{cite book |title=Syracuse University |first1=Edward L. |last1=Galvin |first2=Margaret A. |last2=Mason |first3=Mary M. |last3=O'Brien |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |date=2013 |isbn=978-0738599311 |pages=51, 57}} He died in Syracuse, New York in 1962.{{cite journal |title=Memory and Our Mystic Shrine |journal=The Beta Theta Pi |volume=89 |issue=5 |date=May 1962 |page=459}}{{cite news |title=Dr. William Pratt Graham Dies; Ex-Chancellor of Syracuse U. |work=The New York Times |date=January 12, 1962 |page=35 |url=http://nyti.ms/2aSk7hY |url-access=subscription }}
Bibliography
- {{cite journal |title=The Classics from the Standpoint of an Engineer |journal=The Classical Weekly |volume=11 |number=13 |date=January 21, 1918 |page=104 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |jstor=4387585}}
References
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{{s-aca}}
{{s-bef | before = Charles Wesley Flint}}
{{s-ttl | title = Chancellor of Syracuse University |years=1937–1942}}
{{s-aft | after = William P. Tolley}}
{{s-end}}
{{Syracuse University chancellors}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, William Pratt}}