Education Yale University | Role Poet Name Cyrus Northrop | |
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Born September 30, 1834
Ridgefield, Connecticut ( 1834-09-30 ) Died April 3, 1922, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States | ||
Preceded by William Watts Folwell Succeeded by George Edgar Vincent | ||
Cyrus Northrop (September 30, 1834 – April 3, 1922) was an American university president.
He was born in Ridgefield, Connecticut. He graduated from Yale University in 1857 where he was a member of Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity and of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity Northrop graduated from the Yale Law School in 1859. Two years later he was appointed clerk of the Connecticut House of Representatives and in 1862 clerk of the Connecticut State Senate. He was Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature at Yale from 1863 to 1884, before being hired as the president of the University of Minnesota, a post he held from 1884 to 1911.
During Northrop's presidency, the University came to rank as one of the most prestigious of the state universities. Northrop published Addresses, Educational and Patriotic (1910). He encouraged poet Arthur Upson to revise the song, "Hail! Minnesota."
For his leadership and vision, the Minnesota Geological Survey honored Dr. Northrop by naming a mountain after him: Mount Northrop is located in Lake County, in the range of the Sawtooth Mountains. He is also the namesake of the city of Northrop, Minnesota.