Richard Wall Lyman (October 18, 1923 – May 27, 2012) was an American educator, historian, and professor who served as the seventh president of
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
from 1970 to 1980.
Biography
An historian of the
British Labour Party, Lyman spent two years at the
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...
in 1951 and 1952, researching for his PhD on the
first Labour Government. He spent the period 1954-1958 teaching at
Washington University in St. Louis. In 1957 his PhD was published as a book, entitled ''The First Labour Government, 1924''. He joined Stanford in 1958.
He served as the provost of
Stanford between 1967 and 1970. He then served as president of the university from 1970 to 1980. During his tenure as provost and president, he confronted campus dissidents involved in protests against the Vietnam war and other social issues of the 1960s. In the spring of 1969, he called in law enforcement authorities to evict and arrest students who were occupying campus buildings and removing administrative files.
[bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...]
. He was a
from 1951 to 1952. He came to Stanford in 1958 as a professor in history.
in honor of Lyman. He posthumously won the 2011 Alumni Achievement Award from
.
He married Jing (1925–2013) in 1947 and they have four children. Jing Lyman was herself very active in the university and supported the founding of the Center for Research on Women (now the
) in 1974.
She was a "leading national figure in initiatives promoting fairer housing, community development and women’s economic empowerment." His granddaughter is radio producer
.
The Lyman Graduate Residence built in 1997 on the west side of campus is named for Richard Lyman and the Jing Lyman Commons Building within it for his wife.
, aged 88.