1st President of the University of North Dakota, 1884-1885

Blackburn, William

On April 9, 1884, William Maxwell Blackburn accepted the presidency of the University of North Dakota. Blackburn graduated from Princeton Seminary in 1854 and came to UND as its first president after thirty years of pastoral and ecclesiastical academic positions; his last two at the Theological Seminary of the Northwest, Chicago, and Central Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, Ohio. Blackburn had established a solid reputation for his scholarly work and in addition served UND as a professor of Mental, Moral, and Political Science.

President Blackburn faced numerous challenges in organizing and administrating the new university, particularly in establishing the academic curriculum. Blackburn favored a more practical curriculum open to all, including mechanics and agriculture, while his colleagues, professors Webster Merrifield and Henry Montgomery, favored a classical liberal arts curriculum. UND Regents supported Merrifield and Montgomery and Blackburn was dismissed. After his one year presidency at UND, Blackburn became president of Pierre University in South Dakota.

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University of North Dakota - Presidents