Frederick James Eugene Woodbridge
Frederick James Eugene Woodbridge (1867 - 1940) was a professor of philosophy. He also studied at the Union Theological Seminary, graduating in 1892, and served as the dean of the Columbia faculties of political science, philosophy, and pure science, from 1912 to 1929.
Woodbridge was also the designer of a "war issues" course for student soldiers during the First World War, the idea for which spawned the initial concept for the Columbia College Core Curriculum's Contemporary Civilization course. Among his influential students were Jacques Barzun, who would go on to be a core pioneer himself.
Woodbridge Hall, and a chair in the Philosophy Department, are named after him.
Anecdote
While strolling through the Columbia campus with a student one day, Woodbridge suddenly remarked: "The Cathedral of Chartres was built by the spirit of the Virgin; the University of Virginia was built by the vision of Thomas Jefferson; Columbia was built by... McKim, Mead, and White."[1]
This clearly sounded more pathetic and/or ironic then than it does today.
External links
- Frederick James Eugene Woodbridge biography
- Woodbridge, Frederick James Eugene in the Columbia Encyclopedia
- Works on F. J. E. Woodbridge
