Brown University President's Office Reference files (OF.1CA.5)

Administrative history

As Chief Executive Officer, the President of Brown University, reports to the Corporation, oversees all divisions of Brown’s administration, and is chief ambassador for the university. The President is a member of the Board of Fellows, as prescribed by the Charter of 1764. Since its founding there have been nineteen presidents:

• James Manning from 1765 to 1791
• Jonathan Maxcy from 1792 to 1802
• Asa Messer from 1802 to 1826
• Francis Wayland from 1827 to 1855
• Barnas Sears from 1855 to 1867
• Alexis Caswell from 1868 to 1872
• Ezekiel Gilman Robinson from 1872 to 1889
• Elisha Benjamin Andrews from 1889 to 1898
• William Herbert Perry Faunce from 1899 to 1929
• Clarence Augustus Barbour from 1929 to 1937
• Henry Merritt Wriston from 1937 to 1955
• Barnaby Conrad Keeney from 1955 to 1966
• Ray Lorenzo Heffner from 1966 to 1969
• Donald Frederick Hornig from 1970 to 1976
• Howard Robert Swearer from 1977 to 1988
• Vartan Gregorian from 1989 to 1997
• E. Gordon Gee from 1998 to 2000
• Ruth Jean Simmons from 2001 to 2012
• Christina Paxson