John Alfred Hannah (October 9, 1902 – February 23, 1991) was president of

Michigan State College Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

(later Michigan State University) for 28 years (1941–1969), making him the longest serving of MSU's presidents. He is credited with transforming the school from a regional undergraduate college into a large national research institution. After his resignation from the university, Hannah became head of the

United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 b ...

(USAID).

Biography

A native of Grand Rapids, Hannah was most noted for expanding Michigan State from a respected regional undergraduate-oriented institution into a comprehensive national

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kn ...

, and for helping to get Michigan State into the

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. He was also the first chairman of the

United States Commission on Civil Rights The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (CCR) is a bipartisan, independent commission of the United States federal government, created by the Civil Rights Act of 1957 during the Eisenhower administration, that is charged with the responsibility fo ...

. Hannah became president of Michigan State College in 1941. He thus began the largest expansion in the school's history, with the help of the 1945

G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

, which helped

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s get an education. During this time the university grew by leaps and bounds to accommodate an ever-growing influx of students. One of Hannah's strategies was to build a new

residence hall A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...

, enroll enough students to fill it, and use the income to start construction on a new dormitory. Under Hannah's plan, enrollment increased from 15,000 in 1950 to 38,000 in 1965. Hannah Administration Building

While he worked on increasing the size of M.S.C.'s student body, Hannah also expanded the institution from a college of regional reputation into a nationally recognized

. When the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

eliminated its

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and resigned from what is now the

in 1946, Hannah lobbied hard to take its place. The Big Ten finally admitted M.S.C. in 1950. Five years later, on the College's

centennial {{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation) A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years. Notable events Notable centennial events at ...

year of 1955, the State of Michigan made it a

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. In 1957 he continued M.S.U.'s expansion co-founding Michigan State University–Oakland (now Oakland University) with

Matilda Dodge Wilson Matilda Dodge Wilson (née Rausch; October 19, 1883 – September 19, 1967), was born Matilda Rausch in Walkerton, Ontario, Canada. Ranked as one of the wealthiest women in the world, Dodge-Wilson was the widow of John Francis Dodge, who co-foun ...

. The Hannah Hall of Science on Oakland University's campus is named for him. Michigan State University continued to expand throughout the 1960s, completing its newest dormitory in 1967. None have been built since. By 1969,

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

-era protests had completely reshaped the university. Much of the controversy surrounded Hannah and the University's involvement in Vietnam with the Michigan State University Group (MSUG). Hannah was accused of being responsible for allowing the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

to involve itself in MSUG. Hannah resigned to become the head of

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...

Legacy

The John A. Hannah Distinguished Professorship at Michigan State University was established in 1966. As part of its

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celebration, MSU erected a 7-foot bronze statue of Hannah in front of his namesake administration building on September 17, 2004, sculpted by California artist

Bruce Wolfe Bruce Wolfe (born 1941 in Santa Monica, California), is a sculptor, artist, illustrator, and designer, known for producing sculptures of and for many notable figures. The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' described him as "the top sculptor for hire in th ...

. Additionally, the football team retired the number 46 in honor of 46 years of service to the university.

References

External links

'' International developmental assistance : a statement by the Task Force on International Developmental Assistance and International Education, National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges'', John A. Hannah, Ira L. Baldwin, et al., International Programs Office, National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC), January 1969
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hannah, John A. Michigan State University alumni 1902 births 1991 deaths United States Commission on Civil Rights members Presidents of Michigan State University Administrators of the United States Agency for International Development Grand Rapids Community College alumni 20th-century American academics