Carroll, Thomas Henry
From GWUEncyc
President
Thirteenth President of George Washington University
1961-1964
Dr. Thomas Henry Carroll (1914-1964) was a specialist in economics and business administration, and served seven years as Vice President of the Ford Foundation before assuming the Presidency of the University. Carroll was a descendent of the Carrolls of Maryland, one of colonial America’s founding families. He was born May 12, 1914 in San Francisco, and earned a B.S. degree from the University of California (1934). Dr. Carroll earned M.B.A. (1936) and Doctor of Commercial Science (1939) degrees from Harvard University. From 1939-1942 he was a faculty member and assistant dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, the latter at the age of twenty-six.
After serving in World War II, he was dean of the University of North Carolina’s School of Business Administration from 1950-1954. Dr. Carroll began work with the Ford Foundation in 1946, when he agreed to serve on an advisory committee on policy and programs. He later became director of economic development and administration before taking over as vice president of the Foundation in 1954. President John F. Kennedy spoke at his inauguration, receiving an honorary degree from the alma mater of his wife Jacqueline, class of 1951. In his remarks President Kennedy said, “My wife beat me to this honor by eight or nine years. It took her two years to get a degree, and it took me two minutes; but in any case, we are both grateful.”
GW Tenure Information: Before his sudden death July 27, 1964, President Carroll had overseen the beginning of work on the new wing of the University Hospital and the University's participation in a new consortium of local universities to strengthen graduate studies. He emphasized the centrality of the liberal arts in the curriculum of the University and recommended the merger of the Junior College with Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. He gave increased emphasis to international affairs and established the Institute for Sino-Soviet Studies. He inaugurated a music program and provided new teaching facilities for the fine arts. During his tenure, the University increased the annual operating budget from $18 million to $25 million, invested $5 million in the acquisition of additional land and buildings, and student enrollment increased 17%, from 9,595 to 11,246.
Document Information
Images: 1
Photographic Credit: GW University Historical Photographs Collection
Author or Source: University Archives subject and personnel files/38; GW Hatchet student newspaper; Bricks Without Straw
Document Location: University Archives
Date Added to Encyclopedia: December 21, 2006
Prepared by: G. David Anderson, University Archivist and Historian; Lyle Slovick, Assistant University Archivist
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