John J. Tigert
Encyclopedia
John James Tigert, IV 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 Methodist bishop
s. After receiving his bachelor's degree
, he earned his master's degree
as a Rhodes Scholar.
After completing his education, Tigert taught at Central College
; served as the president of Kentucky Wesleyan College
; and worked as a professor, sports coach and administrator at the University of Kentucky
.
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 the improvement of American public education
, intercollegiate sports
and university curriculum
reform.
, in 1882, the third son of a Methodist Episcopal minister, John James Tigert, III, and his wife, Amelia McTyeire Tigert. Tigert received his primary education
in the public schools of Kansas City, Missouri
, and Nashville, and earned his high school
diploma, with honors, from the Webb School
in Bell Buckle, Tennessee
. He was admitted to Vanderbilt University
in Nashville, where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta
Fraternity
(Tennessee Alpha Chapter) and a standout athlete in baseball
, basketball
, football
and track
. As as senior
, he was honored as an All-Southern
halfback
for the Vanderbilt Commodores football
team. 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. While at Oxford University in Oxford, England, he completed his master of arts
degree at Pembroke College
in 1907, and he continued to participate in competitive university sports, including cricket
, rowing
and tennis
.
, and, at the age of 27, was appointed president of Kentucky Wesleyan College in Owensboro, Kentucky
in 1909. That same year, he married the former Edith Jackson Bristol. He later received an appointment as a professor of psychology
and philosophy
at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky
. While there, Tigert also served as the athletic director
from 1913 to 1917, the Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
coach in 1913, 1916 and 1917, the Wildcats women's basketball
coach from 1911 to 1915 and again from 1916 to 1917, and the Wildcats football
coach in 1915 and 1916.
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. 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. During his time in Washington, D.C.
, he also served a term as the national president of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity.
The Florida Board of Control
selected Tigert as the third president of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida
in 1928. He assumed leadership of the university during an extended period of economic crisis in the state of Florida. When the Great Depression
began with the Wall Street Crash of 1929
, Florida was already suffering from the after-effects of the 1920s land boom and bust
, as well the devastating aftermath of two major hurricanes in 1926 and 1928.
The common thread of the nineteen years of Tigert's administration was doing more with less. Faculty
salary cuts were common; Tigert himself never drew his full authorized annual salary of $10,000. 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. The University Council, composed of the president, the registrar
and the college dean
s, retained final approval authority. Tigert also established the faculty senate, the Institute of Inter-American Affairs and the Bureau of Economic and Business Research.
One of his most influential reforms as president was the creation of the new University College as an academic division within the University of Florida in 1935. 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 major
s. 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.
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. He was responsible for the construction of the university's first and only permanent football stadium, Florida Field
, in 1930. 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. 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. Tigert subsequently served two terms as SEC president (1934–1936 and 1945–1947). As a key leader within the SEC, he worked to impose a uniform set of rules and standards for academic eligibility for SEC athletes. Appalled by the under-the-table payments to amateur college athletes that were prevalent at the time, he advocated the grant of scholarship
s 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.
Like his predecessor, Albert A. Murphree
, Tigert was elected president of the National Association of State Universities
, serving from 1939 to 1940.
Following the Japan
ese 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. 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 Force flight crews
. Tigert kept the lights on, and the bills paid. 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. Contributing to the shortage of facility space was the influx of new female students when the Florida Legislature
reinstituted co-education in 1947. The university suddenly had more students than its available housing and classroom space could serve.
Tigert resigned as university president in 1947, worked as an educational consultant to the government of India
as a member of the Indian Higher Education Commission, and taught philosophy at the University of Miami
until 1959.
grew from 2,162 in 1928 to over 7,500 in 1947. As university president, he was responsible for significant and lasting academic, athletic and administrative reforms.
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, and renamed its main administrative building, Tigert Hall
, for him in 1960. Tigert died in Gainesville, Florida on January 21, 1965; he was 82 years old. He was survived by his wife Edith, their son and daughter, and five grandchildren.
As a fitting final tribute to a professor, education reformer and administrator, who also fervently supported college sports, Tigert was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as an "Honorary Letter Winner," and was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame
as a player in 1970.
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
and administrator, college sports coach and the U.S. Commissioner of Education
Commissioner of Education
The Commissioner of Education was the title given to the head of the National Bureau of Education, a former unit within the Department of the Interior in the United States...
. Tigert was a native of Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
and the son and grandson of Methodist bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
s. After receiving his bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
, he earned his master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
as a Rhodes Scholar.
After completing his education, Tigert taught at Central College
Central Methodist University
Central Methodist University is a private, coeducational, liberal arts university located in Fayette, Missouri. CMU is an accredited four year institution of higher education and offers masters, bachelors, and associates degrees...
; served as the president of Kentucky Wesleyan College
Kentucky Wesleyan College
Kentucky Wesleyan College is a private Methodist college in Owensboro, Kentucky, a city on the Ohio River. KWC is just 40 minutes east of Evansville, Indiana, 2 hours north of Nashville, Tennessee, 2 hours west of Louisville, Kentucky, and 4 hours east of St. Louis, Missouri...
; and worked as a professor, sports coach and administrator at the University of Kentucky
University of Kentucky
The University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...
.
Tigert gained his greatest national prominence as the U.S. Commissioner of Education
Commissioner of Education
The Commissioner of Education was the title given to the head of the National Bureau of Education, a former unit within the Department of the Interior in the United States...
from 1921 to 1928, and the third president of the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
, from 1928 to 1947. He is remembered as a forceful advocate for the improvement of American public education
Public education
State schools, also known in the United States and Canada as public schools,In much of the Commonwealth, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, the terms 'public education', 'public school' and 'independent school' are used for private schools, that is, schools...
, intercollegiate sports
College athletics
College athletics refers primarily to sports and athletic competition organized and funded by institutions of tertiary education . In the United States, college athletics is a two-tiered system. The first tier includes the sports that are sanctioned by one of the collegiate sport governing bodies...
and university curriculum
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
reform.
Early life and education
Tigert was born in Nashville, TennesseeNashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, in 1882, the third son of a Methodist Episcopal minister, John James Tigert, III, and his wife, Amelia McTyeire Tigert. Tigert received his primary education
Primary education
A primary school is an institution in which children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational,...
in the public schools of Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, and Nashville, and earned his high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
diploma, with honors, from the Webb School
Webb School (Bell Buckle, Tennessee)
The Webb School is a private coeducational college preparatory boarding and day school in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, founded in 1870. It has been called the oldest, continuously operating boarding school in the South...
in Bell Buckle, Tennessee
Bell Buckle, Tennessee
Bell Buckle is a town in Bedford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 500 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Bell Buckle is located at ....
. He was admitted to Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
in Nashville, where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta , also known as Phi Delt, is an international fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, Beta Theta Pi, and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad. The fraternity has about 169 active chapters and colonies in over 43 U.S...
Fraternity
Fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
(Tennessee Alpha Chapter) and a standout athlete in baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
and track
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
. As as senior
Senior (education)
Senior is a term used in the United States to describe a student in the 4th year of study .-High school:...
, he was honored as an All-Southern
Southern Conference
The Southern Conference is a Division I college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision . Member institutions are located in the states of Alabama, Georgia, North...
halfback
Halfback (American football)
A halfback, sometimes referred to as a tailback, is an offensive position in American football, which lines up in the backfield and generally is responsible for carrying the ball on run plays. Historically, from the 1870s through the 1950s, the halfback position was both an offensive and defensive...
for the Vanderbilt Commodores football
Vanderbilt Commodores football
The Vanderbilt Commodores football program is a college football team that represents Vanderbilt University. The team currently competes in NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the Southeastern Conference...
team. Tigert graduated from Vanderbilt with a bachelor of arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
in 1904; he was selected for Phi Beta Kappa, and was chosen as a Rhodes Scholar
Rhodes Scholarship
The Rhodes Scholarship, named after Cecil Rhodes, is an international postgraduate award for study at the University of Oxford. It was the first large-scale programme of international scholarships, and is widely considered the "world's most prestigious scholarship" by many public sources such as...
, the first from the state of Tennessee. While at Oxford University in Oxford, England, he completed his master of arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
degree at Pembroke College
Pembroke College, Oxford
Pembroke College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located in Pembroke Square. As of 2009, Pembroke had an estimated financial endowment of £44.9 million.-History:...
in 1907, and he continued to participate in competitive university sports, including cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, rowing
Rowing (sport)
Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
and tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
.
Educator, administrator, reformer
After returning to the United States, Tigert taught at the Methodist-affiliated Central College in Fayette, MissouriFayette, Missouri
Fayette is a city in Howard County, Missouri, United States. The population was 2,793 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Howard County. It is in the Columbia, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
, and, at the age of 27, was appointed president of Kentucky Wesleyan College in Owensboro, Kentucky
Owensboro, Kentucky
Owensboro is the fourth largest city by population in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is the county seat of Daviess County. It is located on U.S. Route 60 about southeast of Evansville, Indiana, and is the principal city of the Owensboro, Kentucky, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's...
in 1909. That same year, he married the former Edith Jackson Bristol. He later received an appointment as a professor of psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
and philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
. While there, Tigert also served as the athletic director
Athletic director
An athletic director is an administrator at many American colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and related staff involved in intercollegiate or interscholastic athletic programs...
from 1913 to 1917, the Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
The Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team, representing the University of Kentucky, is the winningest in the history of college basketball, both in all-time wins and all-time winning percentage. Kentucky's all-time record currently stands at 2058–647...
coach in 1913, 1916 and 1917, the Wildcats women's basketball
Kentucky Wildcats women's basketball
The Kentucky Wildcats women's basketball team represent the University of Kentucky in the Southeastern Conference, which has historically been the most dominant conference in women's basketball. However, despite reaching national rankings as high as #4, the team has never reached the national...
coach from 1911 to 1915 and again from 1916 to 1917, and the Wildcats football
Kentucky Wildcats football
The Kentucky Wildcats football team is a college football program that competes in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and the East Division of the Southeastern Conference.-History:Paul "Bear" Bryant Era...
coach in 1915 and 1916.
President Warren G. Harding
Warren G. Harding
Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...
appointed Tigert as the U.S. Commissioner of Education
Commissioner of Education
The Commissioner of Education was the title given to the head of the National Bureau of Education, a former unit within the Department of the Interior in the United States...
in 1921, and he served for seven years during the administrations of Harding and Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
. 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. 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. During his time in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, he also served a term as the national president of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity.
The Florida Board of Control
Florida Board of Control
The Florida Board of Control was the statewide governing body for the State University System of Florida, which included all public universities in the state of Florida. It was replaced by the Florida Board of Regents in 1965.- History :...
selected Tigert as the third president of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
in 1928. He assumed leadership of the university during an extended period of economic crisis in the state of Florida. When the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
began with the Wall Street Crash of 1929
Wall Street Crash of 1929
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 , also known as the Great Crash, and the Stock Market Crash of 1929, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout...
, Florida was already suffering from the after-effects of the 1920s land boom and bust
Florida land boom of the 1920s
The Florida land boom of the 1920s was Florida's first real estate bubble, which burst in 1925, leaving behind entire new cities and the remains of failed development projects such as Aladdin City in south Miami-Dade County and Isola di Lolando in north Biscayne Bay...
, as well the devastating aftermath of two major hurricanes in 1926 and 1928.
The common thread of the nineteen years of Tigert's administration was doing more with less. Faculty
Faculty (university)
A faculty is a division within a university comprising one subject area, or a number of related subject areas...
salary cuts were common; Tigert himself never drew his full authorized annual salary of $10,000. 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. The University Council, composed of the president, the registrar
Registrar (academic)
In education outside the United Kingdom, a registrar or registrary is an official in an academic institution who handles student records. Typically, a registrar processes registration requests, schedules classes and maintains class lists, enforces the rules for entering or leaving classes, and...
and the college dean
Dean (education)
In academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...
s, retained final approval authority. Tigert also established the faculty senate, the Institute of Inter-American Affairs and the Bureau of Economic and Business Research.
One of his most influential reforms as president was the creation of the new University College as an academic division within the University of Florida in 1935. The college was modeled on the general education college at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, and administered the freshman
Freshman
A freshman or fresher is a first-year student in secondary school, high school, or college. The term first year can also be used as a noun, to describe the students themselves A freshman (US) or fresher (UK, India) (or sometimes fish, freshie, fresher; slang plural frosh or freshmeat) is a...
and sophomore
Sophomore
Sophomore is a term used in the United States to describe a student in the second year of study at high school or university.The word is also used as a synonym for "second", for the second album or EP released by a musician or group, the second movie of a director, or the second season of a...
-year liberal arts
Liberal arts
The term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...
education of undergraduates before they were accepted to the university schools or colleges that administered their academic major
Academic major
In the United States and Canada, an academic major or major concentration is the academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits....
s. The college's stated purpose was to "stimulate intellectual curiosity" and "encourage independent work," with new liberal arts requirements in biology, English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
, the humanities
Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
, logic
Logic
In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...
, mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, physical sciences and social sciences
Social sciences
Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...
, and thereby counter the growing trend toward "trade school" education at the university level.
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
Florida Gators
The Florida Gators are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Florida located in Gainesville, Florida. The "Lady Gators" is an alternative nickname sometimes used by the Gators women's teams...
sports program generally, and football in particular. He was responsible for the construction of the university's first and only permanent football stadium, Florida Field
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field is the football stadium for the University of Florida and the home field of the university's Florida Gators football team. It is located on the university's Gainesville, Florida campus. The stadium was originally built in 1930, and has been regularly...
, in 1930. 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. Tigert was also instrumental in the organization of the Southeastern Conference
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
(SEC), which the University of Florida joined as one of the thirteen founding institutions in December 1932. Tigert subsequently served two terms as SEC president (1934–1936 and 1945–1947). As a key leader within the SEC, he worked to impose a uniform set of rules and standards for academic eligibility for SEC athletes. Appalled by the under-the-table payments to amateur college athletes that were prevalent at the time, he advocated the grant of scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
s to athletes which would become the grant-in-aid of other university athletic programs and as mandated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
(NCAA) in the years to follow.
Like his predecessor, Albert A. Murphree
Albert A. Murphree
Albert Alexander Murphree was an American college professor and university president. Murphree was a native of Alabama, and became a mathematics instructor after earning his bachelor's degree...
, Tigert was elected president of the National Association of State Universities
Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities
The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities is an American voluntary, non-profit association of public research universities, land-grant institutions, and state university systems. It has member campuses in all 50 states and the U.S. territories...
, serving from 1939 to 1940.
Following the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
on December 7, 1941, students began to withdraw from the university in large numbers to enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces. 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 Force flight crews
Aircrew
Aircrew are the personnel who operate an aircraft while in flight. The composition of the crew depends on the type of aircraft as well as the purpose of the flight.-Civilian:*Aviator** Pilot-in-command** First officer** Second officer** Third officer...
. Tigert kept the lights on, and the bills paid. 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
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
veterans. Contributing to the shortage of facility space was the influx of new female students when the Florida Legislature
Florida Legislature
The Florida State Legislature is the term often used to refer to the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The Florida Constitution states that "The legislative power of the state shall be vested in a legislature of the State of Florida," composed of a Senate...
reinstituted co-education in 1947. The university suddenly had more students than its available housing and classroom space could serve.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
as a member of the Indian Higher Education Commission, and taught philosophy at the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
until 1959.
Legacy
Tigert served as president of the University of Florida for nineteen years, longer than any of the other presidents of the university. 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 enrollmentEnrollment
Enrollment or enrolment may refer to:* Matriculation, the process of initiating attendance to a school...
grew from 2,162 in 1928 to over 7,500 in 1947. As university president, he was responsible for significant and lasting academic, athletic and administrative reforms.
In recognition of Tigert's long service as its president through depression
Depression (economics)
In economics, a depression is a sustained, long-term downturn in economic activity in one or more economies. It is a more severe downturn than a recession, which is seen by some economists as part of the modern business cycle....
and war, the University of Florida awarded him an honorary degree
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
, a doctor of letters
Doctor of Letters
Doctor of Letters is a university academic degree, often a higher doctorate which is frequently awarded as an honorary degree in recognition of outstanding scholarship or other merits.-Commonwealth:...
, during its 1953 centennial celebration, and renamed its main administrative building, Tigert Hall
Tigert Hall
Tigert Hall, built in the late 1940s and early 1950s, is a historic administrative building located on the eastern edge of the University of Florida campus in Gainesville, Florida. It was designed by architect Jefferson Hamilton in a modified Collegiate Gothic style to function as the university's...
, for him in 1960. Tigert died in Gainesville, Florida on January 21, 1965; he was 82 years old. He was survived by his wife Edith, their son and daughter, and five grandchildren.
As a fitting final tribute to a professor, education reformer and administrator, who also fervently supported college sports, Tigert was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as an "Honorary Letter Winner," and was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...
as a player in 1970.
Men's basketball
Football
Women's basketball
See also
- History of FloridaHistory of FloridaThe history of Florida can be traced back to when the first Native Americans began to inhabit the peninsula as early as 14,000 years ago. Recorded history begins with the arrival of Europeans to Florida, beginning with the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León, who explored the area in 1513...
- History of the University of FloridaHistory of the University of FloridaThe history of the University of Florida is firmly tied to the history of public education in the state of Florida. The University of Florida, colloquially known as "Florida" or "UF," originated as several distinct institutions that were merged to create a single state-supported university by the...
- List of College Football Hall of Fame inductees (players, A–K)
- List of College Football Hall of Fame inductees (players, L–Z)
- List of Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball head coaches
- List of Oxford University people
- List of Phi Beta Kappa members
- List of Phi Delta Theta members
- List of Presidents of the University of Florida
- List of Rhodes Scholars
- List of University of Florida honorary degree recipients
- List of Vanderbilt University people
- State University System of FloridaState University System of FloridaThe State University System of Florida is a system of eleven public universities in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2011, over 320,000 students were enrolled in Florida's state universities...
External links
- Kentucky Wesleyan College – Official website of Kentucky Wesleyan College.
- Phi Beta Kappa – Official website of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
- Photos of John J. Tigert and Tigert Hall from the University of Florida Digital CollectionsUniversity of Florida Digital CollectionsThe University of Florida Digital Collections are supported by the University of Florida Digital Library Center in the George A. Smathers Libraries at the University of Florida. The University of Florida Digital Collections comprise a constantly growing collection of digital resources from the...
. - The Rhodes Trust – The official website of The Rhodes Trust.
- University of Florida – Official website of the University of Florida.
- University of Kentucky – Official website of the University of Kentucky.
- Vanderbilt University – Official website of Vanderbilt University.