Albert N. Jorgensen

Albert Nels Jorgensen (1899 – 1978) was an American academic administrator who served as the seventh president of the University of Connecticut (1935–1962).[1] Its longest-serving president and its youngest at age 36 at the time of his appointment, Jorgensen led UConn's transformation from a sleepy, unaccredited agricultural college to a major modern university.[2] UConn came into existence via the renaming of Connecticut State College in 1939.[2] Student enrollment rose from 844 in 1935 to 11,877 in 1962—an increase of over 1400%.[3] Opened in 1955, the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts on the university's Storrs campus was named in Jorgensen's honor. The Harriet Jorgensen Theatre is named after his wife.[4]

Albert N. Jorgensen
7th President of the University of Connecticut
In office
September 1935 – 1962
Preceded byCharles C. McCracken
Succeeded byHomer D. Babbidge Jr.
Personal details
Born(1899-03-20)March 20, 1899
Lanark, Illinois
DiedFebruary 11, 1978(1978-02-11) (aged 78)
Scottsdale, Arizona
NationalityAmerican
Spouse(s)Harriet S. Jorgensen
Alma materCoe College (B.A.)
University of Iowa (M.A.)
Iowa State University (Ph.D.)
ProfessionAcademic administration

Born in Lanark, Illinois, in 1899 to Danish immigrant parents, Jorgensen was raised in Sabula, Iowa. He earned a bachelor's degree in English from Coe College in 1921 and served as a school principal in Sabula and superintendent in Arlington, Iowa. He earned an M.A. in psychology from the University of Iowa in 1925 and a Ph.D in educational administration from Iowa State University in 1929. He held positions at Iowa State, Michigan State University, and the University of Buffalo (1931–1935) before assuming office as UConn's seventh president in 1935.[5]

Jorgensen quickly proved a visionary advocate for state higher education, delivering speeches to hundreds of groups around the state and obtaining $3 million of new funding from the state legislature within three years of his appointment.[2] In 1943, UConn took over the running of the Hartford College of Law, which became the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1948.[6] UConn began awarding doctoral degrees by 1950 and launched a medical school (now part of UConn Health) in 1961. Among the buildings erected during Jorgensen's tenure were the iconic Wilbur Cross Library with its golden dome, the Edwina Whitney and Walter Childs Wood residence halls, a concert hall, student union, engineering and home economics buildings, the Social Sciences (Henry Ruthven Monteith) and Humanities (Jamie Homero Arjona) Buildings, and the Physical Education Building and Memorial Stadium to support surging interest in college athletics and the new Yankee Conference.[7] A Fort Trumbull campus was established for returning World War II veterans; it ultimately became UConn's Avery Point regional campus. New university branches were also opened in Stamford and Torrington. In 1935, only one national honorary society was represented at UConn. By 1960, twenty-six national honorary societies had established chapters there, including Phi Beta Kappa in 1956.[7] Such was Jorgensen's impact on UConn's trajectory that his presidency was termed "the Jorgensen Transformation" by university historian Bruce M. Stave.[8]

Jorgensen's presidency was also marked by controversies over academic freedom. The president defended a German-American professor accused of disloyalty during World War II, though the professor was ultimately stripped of his citizenship and deported. During the McCarthy era, a UConn physics professor and former Communist Party member refused to betray the names of other party members to the House Un-American Activities Committee. Jorgensen resisted political pressure to fire him, though the faculty member ultimately resigned. Toward the end of his presidency, Jorgensen clashed with the faculty over issues of compensation, shared governance, and academic standards.[3]

Jorgensen served as president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and on the boards of the American Council of Education and the National Commission on Accrediting. He was a member of the president's council of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He also held honorary doctorates from Coe College, the University of Maine, the University of Massachusetts, the University of Rhode Island, and Rhode Island College.[9]

After his retirement from UConn in 1962, Jorgensen served as director of the Washington office of the Institute of International Education for five years.[1] He died in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1978. He was survived by his wife, Harriet Spring Jorgensen, and their two children.[1]

References
  1. "Albert N. Jorgensen, 78, Leader Behind Rise of U. of Connecticut". The New York Times. 1978-02-14. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-01.
  2. "UConn's Second Rebirth". The Hartford Courant. 2006-06-21. Retrieved 2020-07-01.
  3. Stave, Bruce M (2006). Red brick in the land of steady habits: creating the University of Connecticut, 1881-2006. Hanover: University of Connecticut. pp. 265–267. ISBN 978-1-58465-569-5. OCLC 917293142.
  4. Smith, Laura (2018-07-19). "Albert Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts". Archives and Special Collections Blog. Retrieved 2020-07-02.
  5. Stave, Bruce M (2006). Red brick in the land of steady habits: creating the University of Connecticut, 1881-2006. Hanover: University of Connecticut. pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-1-58465-569-5. OCLC 917293142.
  6. "UConn Law History". UConn School of Law. 2013-07-19. Retrieved 2020-07-01.
  7. University of Connecticut, Archives & Special Collections (1980). "A Guide to the University of Connecticut, President's Office Records [Albert N. Jorgensen, 1935-1962]". Retrieved 2020-07-01.
  8. Stave, Bruce M. (2018-09-28). "UConn and the Evolution of a Public University". Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project. Retrieved 2020-07-02.
  9. "Bar Assn. Will Honor UofC Head". The Hartford Courant. 1956-10-09. Retrieved 2020-07-01 – via ProQuest.
Academic offices
Preceded by
Charles C. McCracken		 7th President of the University of Connecticut
1935-1962		 Succeeded by
Homer D. Babbidge Jr.
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