Timothy Dwight (1828–1916)

American theologian, educator and, from 1886 to 1899, the innovative president of Yale University who transformed the then-small college into a major, world-renowned university. Grandson of the first TIMOTHY DWIGHT to be Yale president, Dwight was born in Norwich, Connecticut, and educated at the Hopkins Grammar School in New Haven, before getting his B.A. and M.A. degrees at Yale. He tutored at Yale while studying theology at Yale Divinity School from 1850 to 1853. He was ordained in 1861 and became professor of sacred literature at Yale Divinity School. Dwight promoted closer contacts between faculty and students and encouraged students to take more responsibility for their own education by introducing course electives. During the first year of his presidency, YALE COLLEGE was renamed Yale University, and Dwight henceforth presided over a vast expansion of Yale’s physical plant.