James Lewis Morrill (September 24, 1891 – July 1979) was a professor and academic administrator who served as the president of the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming, United States. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, ...

and the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

. He attended

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

for his undergraduate education and, after a brief career as a journalist, he returned there for a career in teaching and administration. In 1942 he left to accept the position of president at the University of Wyoming. After only three years he was recruited to become the eighth president of the University of Minnesota. During his time at the University of Minnesota he oversaw a period of immense growth; enrollment at the school more than doubled in a single year due in large part to returning servicemen using the

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

to pursue a college education. Morrill put forward a plan to expand the campus across the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

to ensure the university would have room to accommodate the coming generation of

baby boomers Baby boomers, often shortened to boomers, are the demographic cohort preceded by the Silent Generation and followed by Generation X. The generation is often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964 during the mid-20th century baby boom that ...

. After retiring in 1960 he moved to Ohio. He died in 1979.

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When Morrill was a vice president at Ohio State he was closely involved in the financing for the construction of

Ohio Stadium Ohio Stadium is an American football stadium in Columbus, Ohio, on the campus of Ohio State University. It primarily serves as the home venue of the Ohio State Buckeyes football team and is also the site for the university's Spring Commencemen ...

. But by the time Morrill became president at Minnesota he was convinced

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

had become too professional and actively worked to keep Minnesota and the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

from professionalizing further. Under his leadership, Minnesota was the only school to vote against the 3 most important Big Ten votes in the immediate post-World War II years: the 1946 and 1950

Rose Bowl Game The Rose Bowl Game is an annual American college football bowl game, traditionally played on January 1 (New Year's Day) at the Rose Bowl (stadium), Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on ...

agreements, and the 1949 legalization of the

athletic scholarship An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private school, private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on their ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the U ...

References

1891 births 1979 deaths Presidents of the University of Minnesota Presidents of the University of Wyoming 20th-century American academics {{US-academic-administrator-1890s-stub

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See also

References