John Work Scott, son of Andrew Scott and Mary Dinsmore, was the sixth and last

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

Washington College Washington College is a private liberal arts college in Chestertown, Maryland. Maryland granted Washington College its charter in 1782. George Washington supported the founding of the college by consenting to have the "College at Chester" na ...

before its merger with Jefferson College to form

Washington & Jefferson College Washington & Jefferson College (W&J College or W&J) is a private liberal arts college in Washington, Pennsylvania. The college traces its origin to three log cabin colleges in Washington County established by three Presbyterian missionaries to ...

. A native of

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located almost entirely in Ohio County, of which it is the county seat, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and also contains a tiny portion extendin ...

, Scott graduated from Jefferson College in 1827 and worked as a Presbyterian minister. He was elected president of Washington College on November 10, 1852 and was inaugurated in 1853. He earned a salary of $1000 per year and received a raise to $1500 per year in 1859. In 1860, he was elected president of the

Maryland Agricultural College Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to it ...

, but was unavailable to serve. By 1862, Washington College's enrollment dropped by about two-thirds, as 90 students joined the armed services to fight in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

. Scott retired from the presidency in August 1865, ostensibly to smooth the merger between Washington College and Jefferrson College. He continued his career in academia by teaching at

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...

, where he also served as acting president 1876-1877.

References

4. The History of Education in West Virginia; State Institutions - West Virginia University, Waitman Rabre, Litt. D., 1909, West Virginia State Department of History, p. 57. {{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, John 1807 births 1879 deaths 19th-century American educators 19th-century Presbyterian ministers American Presbyterian ministers Educators from Wheeling, West Virginia Religious leaders from Wheeling, West Virginia Presbyterians from West Virginia Presidents of the University of Maryland, College Park Presidents of Washington & Jefferson College Washington & Jefferson College alumni West Virginia University faculty 19th-century American clergy

See also

References