Herbert E. Hawkes
Herbert Edwin Hawkes had truly awesome hair. He was also Dean of Columbia College for a long, long time, helping pass through many of the reforms which helped build the Core Curriculum. A defender of the liberal arts, he opposed University President Nicholas Murray Butler's "Columbia plan" to create pre-professional tracks for undergraduates which would have allowed College students to graduate in less than four years. Hawkes also went on the offense and was instrumental in fostering the first Core Curriculum courses, including Contemporary Civilization and what became Lit Hum.
A mathematician by training, he joined the faculty in 1910, becoming acting dean in 1917 and ascending to the full deanship a year later.
He possibly may or may not have made remarks that may or may not be later interpreted as anti-Semitic.
According to Wikipedia, his long tenure as Dean of Columbia College earned him the title "the dean of American college deans".
External links
| Preceded by Frederick P. Keppel |
Dean of Columbia College 1918-1943 |
Succeeded by Harry J. Carman |
