First President - UAF - Statues of Historic Figures on Waymarking.com

Alaska Governor J.F.A. Strong had appointed a Board of Trustees* for the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines (University of Alaska). The executive committee of the board hired the architect and awarded the contracts for the construction of the first building in 1918. Now the board had to select a president for the new college. They selected the Honorable Charles E. Bunnell, for the past seven years judge of the U.S. District Court in Fairbanks, a position he assumed after his 1914 defeat as Alaska's delegate to Congress. The choice was made on August 11, 1921, and he assumed his duties on December 7, in spite of a last-ditch stand by Wickersham and his supporters to have the board rescind the appointment.

For the next nine months President Bunnell worked tirelessly – organizing a faculty, designing curricula, ordering supplies and textbooks, getting the building and campus in readiness, and doing the hundreds of chores which had to be done to open a new college. On opening day, September 18, 1922, six faculty members, in addition to President Bunnell and his secretary, were on hand to greet the six students who enrolled. Late arrivals brought the total to 12 for the first semester.

This information copied from educational info spot of UAF history at www.alaska.edu

URL of the statue: Not listed

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