John James Tigert IV (February 11, 1882 – January 21, 1965) was an American university president, university professor and administrator, college sports coach and the U.S. Commissioner of Education. Tigert was a native of Tennessee and the son and grandson of Methodistbishops. After receiving his bachelor's degree, he earned his master's degree as a Rhodes Scholar.
Tigert gained his greatest national prominence as the U.S. Commissioner of Education from 1921 to 1928, and the third president of the University of Florida, from 1928 to 1947. He is remembered as a forceful advocate for American public education, intercollegiate sports and university curriculum reform.
Tigert graduated from Vanderbilt with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1904; he was selected for Phi Beta Kappa, and was chosen as a Rhodes Scholar, the first from the state of Tennessee,[5] along with teammate Bob Blake. While at Oxford University in Oxford, England, he completed his Master of Arts degree at Pembroke College in 1907,[3] and he continued to participate in competitive university sports, including cricket, rowing and tennis.[7]
President Warren G. Harding appointed Tigert as the U.S. Commissioner of Education in 1921, and he served for seven years during the administrations of Harding and Calvin Coolidge. As commissioner, he was an energetic advocate of education reform and greater educational opportunities for all classes of Americans, and he traveled widely and spoke often to virtually any group interested in education.[14] In particular, he took an interest in rural education, and advocated innovative ways to impart public education to a wider audience, including the use of radio.[15] During his time in Washington, D.C., he also served a term as the national president of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity.[16]
The common thread of the nineteen years of Tigert's administration was doing more with less.[17] Faculty salary cuts were common; Tigert himself never drew his full authorized annual salary of $10,000.[17] Among Tigert's many significant reforms, he decentralized the university budget to the level of the individual academic colleges, allowing them to set their own spending priorities.[18] The University Council, composed of the president, the registrar and the college deans, retained final approval authority.[18] Tigert also established the faculty senate, the Institute of Inter-American Affairs and the Bureau of Economic and Business Research.[17]
One of his most influential reforms as president was the founding of the new University College as an academic division within the University of Florida in 1935.[19] The college was modeled on the general education college at the University of Chicago, and administered the freshman and sophomore-year liberal arts education of undergraduates before they were accepted to the university schools or colleges that administered their academic majors.[19] The college's stated purpose was to "stimulate intellectual curiosity" and "encourage independent work", with new liberal arts requirements in biology, English language and literature, the humanities, logic, mathematics, physical sciences and social sciences, and thereby counter the growing trend toward "trade school" education at the university level.[19][20]
As a former university athlete and coach, Tigert took a particular interest in athletics-related policy issues while he was president and was an enthusiastic supporter of the Florida Gators sports program generally, and football in particular.[21] He was responsible for the construction of the university's first and only permanent football stadium, Florida Field, in 1930.[22] He borrowed $10,000 to begin construction of the stadium, and then raised $118,000 to pay the construction costs of the 22,800-seat facility.[22] Tigert also hired Blake R. Van Leer as Dean to expand the engineering program and manage all applications for federal funding. Van Leer also chaired the advanced planning committee setup by Tigert.[23] Tigert was also instrumental in the organization of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), which the University of Florida joined as one of the thirteen founding institutions in December 1932.[21] Tigert subsequently served two terms as SEC president (1934–1936 and 1945–1947).[17] As a key leader within the SEC, he worked to impose a uniform set of rules and standards for academic eligibility for SEC athletes.[21] Appalled by the under-the-table payments to amateur college athletes that were prevalent at the time, he advocated the grant of scholarships to athletes which would become the grant-in-aid of other university athletic programs and as mandated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the years to follow.[24]
Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, students began to withdraw from the university in large numbers to enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces.[26] The financial impact on the university had the potential to be devastating, but Tigert navigated the war years by making the university campus, dormitories and class rooms available for the training of U.S. Army Air Forceflight crews.[26] Veterans began to return to school with support from the GI Bill, and by the fall term of 1946, over seventy percent of the University of Florida's 7,000 students were returning World War II veterans.[27] Contributing to the shortage of facility space was the influx of new female students when the Florida Legislature reinstituted co-education in 1947.[28] The university suddenly had more students than its available housing and classroom space could serve.[29]
Tigert Hall, the main administration building of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, was completed in 1950, and renamed for John J. Tigert, the third president of the university (1928–1947), in 1960.
Tigert resigned as university president in 1947, worked as an educational consultant to the government of India as a member of its University Education Commission, and taught philosophy at the University of Miami until 1959.[28]
Legacy
Tigert served as president of the University of Florida for nineteen years, longer than any of the other presidents of the university.[30] During his term, the university awarded its first doctoral degrees in 1934, a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa was installed in 1938, and total student enrollment grew from 2,162 in 1928 to over 7,500 in 1947.[31] As university president, he was responsible for significant and lasting academic, athletic and administrative reforms.[32]
In recognition of Tigert's long service as its president through depression and war, the University of Florida awarded him an honorary degree, a doctor of letters, during its 1953 centennial celebration,[33][34] and renamed its main administrative building, Tigert Hall, for him in 1960.[35] Tigert died in Gainesville, Florida on January 21, 1965;[35] he was 82 years old.[36] He was survived by his wife Edith, their son and daughter, and five grandchildren.[36]
^E. Polk Johnson, A History of Kentucky and Kentuckians: The Leaders and Representative Men in Commerce, Industry and Modern Activities, Vol. II, Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, pp. 827–830 (1912). Retrieved October 24, 2012. Tigert's father later became a professor and a Methodist bishop. See also "Bishop J.J. Tigert dead: Head of the Methodist Episcopal Church South dies in Indian Territory", The New York Times, p. 9 (November 22, 1906). Tigert was also the grandson of Methodist bishop Holland McTyeire, the founder of Vanderbilt University. Samuel Proctor & Wright Langley, Gator History: A Pictorial History of the University of Florida, South Star Publishing, Gainesville, Florida, p. 34 (1987).
^ abcJohnson, A History of Kentucky and Kentuckians, p. 827.
^UK Athletics, Men's Basketball, All-Time UK CoachesArchived September 18, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 30, 2010. Tigert compiled a record of 17–15 during three seasons as the Kentucky men's basketball coach.
^UK Hoops 2008–09 Women's Basketball Media Guide, The Early EraArchived January 27, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, University of Kentucky Athletic Department, Lexington, Kentucky, p. 152 (2008). Retrieved March 30, 2010. Tigert's Lady Wildcats posted a 23–4 record in five seasons.
^College Football Data Warehouse, All-Time Coaching Records, John J. Tigert Records by YearArchived June 20, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 14, 2010. Tigert compiled a record of 10–2–3 in two seasons as Kentucky's head football coach.
^Lee Lamar Robinson, "Head of United States Educators", Kentucky in Washington: A History in Brief of Participation of Kentucky through Kentuckians in Affairs at Washington 1792 to 1928, publisher unknown, p. 44 (1928). Retrieved February 14, 2010.
^ abcPleasants, Gator Tales, pp. 29–30. University College was first known as General College.
^University College was disbanded, and its role in administering the liberal arts education of underclassmen was assumed by the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences in 1978. Proctor & Langley, Gator History, p. 58.
^University of Kentucky Alumni Association, Hall of Distinguished Alumni, John James TigertArchived July 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 14, 2010.
^The highest academic degree Tigert completed was a master of arts degree, but he was the recipient of at least five other honorary doctorates before his appointment as president of the University of Florida. See University of Kentucky Alumni Association, Hall of Distinguished Alumni, John James TigertArchived July 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 14, 2010.
^ abUniversity of Florida Foundation, Named UF Facilities, John J. Tigert Hall. Retrieved February 14, 2010.
^ abAssociated Press, "John J. Tigert, 82, Educator, Is Dead: Ex-head of U. of Florida and Federal Commissioner", The New York Times (January 22, 1965).
Osborn, George Coleman, John James Tigert: American Educator, The University Presses of Florida, Gainesville, Florida (1974). ISBN0-8130-0498-5.
Pleasants, Julian M., Gator Tales: An Oral History of the University of Florida, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida (2006). ISBN0-8130-3054-4.
Proctor, Samuel, & Wright Langley, Gator History: A Pictorial History of the University of Florida, South Star Publishing Company, Gainesville, Florida (1986). ISBN0-938637-00-2.
Van Ness, Carl, & Kevin McCarthy, Honoring the Past, Shaping the Future: The University of Florida, 1853–2003, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida (2003).
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