Presidential Addresses
University presidents during the ninteenth century were required to discuss matters not only related to their universities or to education, but also called on to discuss important issues at the time. This collection of speeches given while Andrew Wylie and Theophilus A. Wylie were president help to represent the kinds of ideas university presidents expressed in a period in which Indiana University was still establishing its place in the community.
President Andrew Wylie gave this address on the importance of education in law. Law schools and professional education were still developing during this time period, and this address reflects an important change within nineteenth-century higher education.
This talk by Andrew Wylie given in 1848 to the graduating class. Wylie focused on the differences between education and social life in Europe and in the United States at a time when the U.S. was still forming its national character as distinct from that of the Old World in Europe.
In 1829 Andrew Wylie discussed the purpose of education, and particularly the balance between general and professional education.
In 1835 Andrew Wylie commemorated the death of the Revolutionary War hero, the Marquis de Lafayette in 1835. Then, as now, presidents served as commentators on issues of national importance. This address shows Wylie's reflections on the state of the nation as many of the "founding fathers" of the United States were no longer active as politicians.
Andrew Wylie
Andrew Wylie served as president of Indiana University from 1829 until 1851. In these speeches, Andrew demonstrates a concern with the purpose of education and the idea of what it meant to be an American, a particularly important issue at a time when many of the United States' founding fathers were either dead or no longer active in politics. These addresses also reflect Andrew's concern with the general purpose of education, particularly professional education. Andrew Wylie sought to integrate education within the larger national life of the United States during the mid-ninteenth century.
Theophilus A. Wylie gave this address to the graduating students of Indiana University while he was serving as the interim president in 1859. It shows a concern with the importance of moral education.
Theophilus A. Wylie
Theophilus Wylie served as interim president of Indiana University three times: 1859, 1860, and 1875. This address, given to the undergraduates of Indiana University, emphasizes the moral aspect of education and the need for students to integrate their learning with character and wisdom that come from understanding of Christian theology.