An Era of Progression:
The College Transformation, ECTC 1921-1951
Items from exhibit case 3: The Presidents
See also:
Robert Wright's Last Speech
"While Death Waited," Dr. Wright's last speech, April 1934.East Carolina's first president, Dr. Robert H. Wright, died April 25, 1934, just days after he suffered a heart attack while working at his desk. Dr. Wright was highly respected and very popular with both faculty and students during his twenty-five years of service. It was through his leadership and dedication that the small training school quickly grew into a college.
The speech is the last one written by Dr. Wright. It arrived at the News and Observer office the morning of his attack, discussing the future of education. Perhaps one of his most profound statements, as well as his vision for East Carolina, is the last line of this speech. While discussing "the education of tomorrow," he wrote --
"It [education] must carry with it character, intelligence, and a realization of our human obligations one to another."
Robert Wright Funeral
This photo was taken on the day of Dr. Wright's funeral. He lay in state in the Campus Building (now Wright Auditorium), and an honor guard of representatives from student body organizations was changed every twenty minutes.
Robert Wright Memorial
Leon Meadows
In the summer of 1910, Leon Renfroe Meadows joined the faculty, where he remained for thirty-four years, except for occasional leaves for military duty during World War I and doctoral studies during the twenties. Born in Alabama and reared in Louisiana, he studied at Peabody College in Tennessee, and Baylor University, in Texas, before journeying eastward to earn bachelor's and master's degrees at Yale in the field of English literature. He also earned a Ph.D. from Columbia University.Until 1919 when he married Lida Hill, a colleague on the music faculty, he enjoyed the distinction of being the only eligible bachelor among a faculty and student body of more than three hundred eligible females. The couple had three children, Leon, Jr., Elizabeth and Mae. Mrs. Meadows died in 1925. In 1927, Meadows remarried Frances Louise Goggin, a member of the East Carolina education faculty and critic teacher.
Beginning in 1922, Robert Wright named Leon Meadows, director of the English Department, as summer school director; Meadows also inherited Claude Wilson's duties as secretary of the faculty and secretary of the board of trustees.
Upon the death of Robert Wright in 1934, the Board of Trustees convened to approve the emergency action of the Executive Committee, they passed the following resolution:
Resolved, pending further action by the Board of Trustees, Dr. L.R. Meadows be authorized to perform all administrative and executive duties heretofore performed by the President of the College."
On October 5, 1934, the fifty-one-year-old Meadows was chosen as president to succeed Robert H. Wright on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the opening of classes. Meadows' system of administration differed significantly from that of his predecessor. Wright had delegated authority to a number of his faculty, who were all answerable directly to him in carrying out specific responsibilities. Meadows, however, preferred to rely more heavily on the committee system, where the channel of authority was diffused.During Leon Meadows' administration many of Robert Wright's long term goals were reached. Because of the improving New Deal economy, the state was able to gradually increase East Carolina's budget. This permitted the college to initiate the departments of Commerce, Inustrial Arts, and Library Science as well as to reorganize and expand the departments of Home Economics, Music and Physical Education. The steady groth in enrollment from a depression era low of 970 in 1933 to 1,340 in 1941 provided an increase of twenty faculty positions, from sixty to eighty.
Meadows was forced to retire in 1944 after a three year investigation into the mishandling of student loan funds which led to the dismissal of several teachers.
[From Bratton, Mary Jo. ECU: The Formative Years]
Howard McGinnis
Howard Justus McGinnis (1882-1971), a native of West Virginia received his early schooling in a one-room log school house near Glenville. The second of nine children, McGinnis worked as a telephone lineman, coal miner, railroad fireman and in glass factory to put himself through college. He attened the Glenville State College and the University of West Virginia where he majored in science.After college he taught in rural and city elementary schools and at Fairmont State Teachers College and West Liberty State Teachers College in West Virginia. McGinnis obtained a Ph.D. From George Peabody College in 1927 and was hired as a psycology professor at East Carolina Teachers College. In 1928 he took the role of registrar. McGinnis was named acting president in 1944 upon Leon Meadows' retirement and served until August 1946.
Stepping down as president, Howard McGinnis organized the division of field services, a post responsible for extension work and public relations. He reamined at this post, visiting high schools and handling extension courses until his retirement in 1950. His retirement activities are documented in "No Rocking Chair Life for This Retired Educator."
Dr. McGinnis was married to Nellie Weisman and had two daughters.
Dennis Cooke
Dennis Cooke was born in Maiden, North Carolina, on February 23, 1904, the son of Avery and Alice (Keener) Cooke. He married Gertrude Murray in December 1925 and they had two sons, Dennis H. and Avery M. Cooke. Cooke served the elementary school in his community as principal in 1922-23. He was principal of the high school in Aberdeen, 1925-26, and held a principalship at Masonic High School, Oxford Orphanage, 1926-28.
Dr. Cooke received the A.B. degree from Duke University in 1925, and the M.A. degree from the institution in 1928. He was a teaching fellow at Duke University in 1928-29, and a teaching fellow at Peabody College in 1929-30.
When he became president of East Carolina Teachers College, Dr. Cooke was chairman of the Department of Educational Administration at Peabody College. He joined the faculty at Peabody College as an associate professor of education after receiving his doctorate from the institution in 1930. Later he became associated with the school of administration.
Cooke assumed his duties at ECTC on August 1, 1946 and announced his resignation in May of 1947. He was never officially installed as president of the college.
John Messick
A native of South Creek near Aurora in Beaufort County, John Messick was named president of East Carolina Teachers College in 1947 and served until 1959. Under his leadership the college expanded in enrollment, curriculum, faculty strength and physical size. Enrollment increased from 1,300 in 1947 to nearly 5,000 in 1960 not counting an additional 2,000 students in extension centers across eastern North Carolina. During this time the school became truly co-educational. It was Messick who proposed that the institution should become East Carolina College.
[Information taken from Bratton, Mary Jo. ECU: The Formative Years]
