Carl Raymond Woodward, the fifth president of the then Rhode Island State College, was born on a farm in rural New Jersey in 1890. An educational career that culminated in the presidency of Rhode Island's land grant college began in a one-room schoolhouse near his home. After graduation from Rutgers University in 1914, Woodward joined the staff of his alma mater a year later, serving in a variety of capacities over the next twenty-six years. In the interim, he earned a Ph.D. in rural education from Cornell University.
After a year of negotiations, Woodward assumed the presidency of Rhode Island State College in November, 1941. His tenure began at a trying time for both the College and the nation. The nation was on the brink of a war that would begin five weeks after Woodward assumed office, and the College had just endured an often bitter confrontation between the Board of Trustees and former President Bressler that ended only with Bressler's loss of a court suit to regain his job. Woodward led the College through the difficult war and post-war years of the forties when enrollment bottomed out at 363 in early 1944 and peaked at 3200 in early 1946. Under his direction the academic program expanded and the physical plant grew to accomodate the new offerings. In 1951, Rhode Island State College achieved university status as it became the University of Rhode Island by legislative enactment.
Woodward retired from the presidency in June, 1958 after nearly seventeen years at the helm, the second longest tenure of any Rhode Island president. He built a home in Kingston and remained active in community and University affiars until his death from a heart attack in 1974 at the age of eighty-four.
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President's Office Carl R. Woodward Papers, Rec. Gr. 1.8, University of Rhode Island.
Carl R. Woodward was the fifth president of Rhode Island State College, serving in that capacity fro November, 1941 to June, 1958. He came to Rhode Island from Rutgers University where he had served in a variety of administrative positions, including Secretary of the University. Woodward was appointed president of Rhode Island State College on August 8, 1941 and assumed his duties on November 1 after a long and acrimonious dispute between the Board of Trustees and his predecessor, Raymond G. Bressler.
The years of Woodward's administration encompassed a period of general transition and growth for land grant colleges. The transformation of Rhode Island State College, a small agricultural college in 1941, to the University of Rhode Island, a comprehensive state university by 1958, reflected the development of land grant colleges nationwide. The Woodward years also witnessed the unprecedented problems and opportunities presented by World War II and the post-war education boom. College administrators had to cope with wild swings in enrollment such as that experience by Rhode Island which reached a low of 363 students in 1944 and a 1940s high of 3200 student in the spring of 1946.
In his "From College to University," Woodward divided his tenure into three distinct periods: the war years, 1941-1945; the post-war period, 1946-1951; and the period of University development, 1951-1958. In the first of these periods, the Colelge's entire resources were focused on coping with the unprecedented emergency brought home by the war. The administration in 1942 inaugurated a year-round accelerated program which allowed students to complete their studes in less than three eyars rather than the traditional four. In 1943, the Army Specialized Training Program came to campus, bringing with it a total of 800 inductees over the next ten months. They were trained to fill specialized needs in the military service. The trainees lived in dormitories converted to barracks, while civilian students moved into fraternities for the duration of the war. Despite these efforts, however, enrollment dropped from a pre-war high of 1216 in 1940 to a war-time low of 363 in the spring of 1944.
Rhode Island State College survived the war, but found itself immediately confronted with a host of new problems. In the post-war era, favorable economic conditions, the growing demands of business and industry, and the G.I> Bill combined to bring an overwhelming influx of students to Kingston. By tthe spring of 1946 enrollment had ballooned to 3200 students who needed more programs, more faculty, and more space. With a special appropration made available by the Genreal Assembly, the College was able to obtain war surplus buildings, includent Quonset Huts, for use of dormitories, dining rooms, and classrooms. A "Quonset Village" appeared on the campus in early 1946 to house returned veterans and their families.
This post-war growth had slowed by 1950, but it continued at a more modest pace throughout the 1950s. With the aceclerated growth came an expanded curriculum and increased academic stature. The increased stature brought with it the crowning achievement of Woodward's administration, as Rhode Island State College became the University of Rhode Island by legislative enactment on March 23, 1951.
The period from 1951 to 1958 was characterized by continued steady development and administrative reorganization. With university status, the various schools became colleges and program offerings were expanded. Following the 1949 Mast Plan for campus development, the building program quickened with the construction of the Pastroe Chemical Laboratory, Keaney Gymnasium, the Memorial Union and faculty and student housing.
Woodward retired from the presidencey in 1958 and spent the remaining sixteen years of his life in Kingston, where he worked on various research projects and remained active in university and community affairs. He died on October 2, 1974 at the age of eighty-four.
The records in this group consist of the administrative files maintained by Woodward while he was president. The records provide a detailed and comprehensive administrative history of the College's growth and development during the nearly seventeen years of Woodward's presidency.
The records are arranged in four series as follows:
The papers of Presidence Carl Woodward were transferred to Special Collections from the president's office in 1980.
The Subject Series, the largest and most comprehensive of the four, covers all aspects of the administration, organization, and operation of the University. The series consists of correspondence, telegrams, memoranda, reports, administrative letters, budget reports, and various other records maintained in the president's office. The records relate to such matters and organizations as the Association of Land Grant Colleges and State Universities, administrative policies, campus events and controversies, the attempt of the College to cope with the war years and the post-war boom, and the academic expansion, including the initiation of the Bachelor of Arts program and the achievement of university status.
Among the more interesting subjects is the question of academic freedom, covered briefly in this series. It demonstrates a different attitude toward the whole concept of academic freedom than that accepted today. Also of interest are the materials relating to the Deans of Men and Women, materials which clearly indicate the seriousness with which the administration assumed its role of in loco parentis. Finally, the materials on Religion in College demonstrates the deeply religious Woodward's commitment to establishing a non-denominational chapel on campus. He considered his failure to achieve that objective one of the major disappointments of his administration.
The folders are arranged alphabetically by subject and material is arranged chronologically within folders.
The College and University Series consists of correspondence between President Woodward and presidents and top administrators of colleges and universities, printed matter, and newspaper clippings. The material relates to academic programs, curriculum, proposals, conferences, commencements, and other matters of mutual concern to college administrators.
Most of the material included in this series concern other colleges in Rhode Island and the five other land grant universities in new England, but a fair cross section of colleges and universties from other parts of the nation is also represented. Included in this latter group are many personal letters of congratulations from Woodward to newly appointed presidents.
The series is arranged alphabetically by name of the institution and chronologically by date within folders.
The Correspondence Series contains Woodward's correspondence with faculty, professional friends, alumni, national and state political leaders, commencement speakers, and honorary degree recipients. Among the nationally known figures represented are Eleanor Roosevelt, Milton Eisenhower, and Ralph Bunche. State and local political leaders include Representative John Fogarty, Senators Theodore Francis Green and John O. Pastore, and Governor, later U.S. Attorney General, J. Howard McGrath. Other correspondents of interest include Robert Frost, Igor Sikorsky, inventor of the helicopter, and Caroline Hazard, member of a prominent South County family and former president of Wellesley College.
The materials are arranged alphabetically by name and chronologically by date within folders.
The Committee Series contains the records of the various commitees established during Woodward's tenure as president. Since Woodward's administration pre-dated the creation of the Faculty Senate, all of the committees were university-wide and appointed by the president. As such, they provide insights into the methods of presidential appointments and the procedures of university governance in the 1940s and 50s.
The records consist of correspondence, administrative letters, letters of appointment, minutes of meetings, printed matter, and newspaper clippings. Among the more interesting committee files are those of the Policy Committee, the Board of Review which considered faculty requests for sabbatical leave, and the Research Committee which considered faculty requests for research grants. Among the more mundane committees was the Letterhead Committee. The Committee Series is arranged alphabetically by the name of the committee and chronologically by date within folders.