John Milton Gregory
John Milton Gregory (July 6, 1822 – October 19, 1898) was an American educator and the first president (regent was his official title) of the University of Illinois, then known as Illinois Industrial University. Early lifeJohn Milton Gregory was born on July 16, 1822, in Sand Lake, New York.[1] He graduated from Union College in 1846. He then spent two years studying law, but ultimately entered the ministry and became a Baptist clergyman.[1] CareerIn 1852, Gregory was appointed principal of a school in Detroit.[1] Gregory was elected Superintendent of Public Instruction in Michigan in 1858,[1] after several years spent as editor of the Michigan Journal of Education. After leaving office in 1864 he became the second president of Kalamazoo College from 1864 until 1867. Gregory served as the regent of Illinois Industrial University, now the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, from the university's founding in 1867 until his resignation in 1880.[1] While Gregory credited Jonathan Baldwin Turner as the central figure in the university's establishment, Gregory, during his tenure as University of Illinois's first president, helped determine the direction of the university by advocating the presence of a classically based liberal arts curriculum in addition to the industrial and agricultural curriculum desired by the Illinois Industrial League and many state residents and lawmakers of the time. One of Gregory's most important contributions to the development of the University of Illinois was his commitment to the education of women. In 1870 Gregory cast the deciding vote to admit women to the university, making Illinois the first university after the Civil War to admit women. In his 1872 University Report he wrote, "No industry is more important to human happiness and well being than that which makes the home. And this industry involves principles of science as many and as profound as those which control any other human employment" [2] To keep this commitment to the education of women he hired Louisa C. Allen in 1874 to develop a program in domestic science. Although the experiment in domestic science would only last six years (1874-1880), it was the first domestic science degree program in higher education.[3] From 1882 to 1885, Gregory served as a member of the U.S. Civil Service Commission.[1] The Seven Laws of TeachingIn 1886 Gregory authored his most well-known work The Seven Laws of Teaching, [4] which asserted that a teacher should:
Personal lifeGregory married twice. He had five children: three daughters and two sons.[1] His first wife died in a sanitarium in Michigan after an illness.[1] Gregory married Louisa Catherine Allen, the woman he hired to be the chair of domestic science at the University of Illinois, on June 18, 1879.[1][5] Death and legacyGregory died on October 19, 1898, in Washington, D.C.[1] Gregory is buried just to the south of Altgeld Hall near the Main Quadrangle on the UIUC campus. John Milton Gregory Math and Science Academy of the Chicago Public Schools was originally established in 1923 as John Milton Gregory Elementary School and is located in the historic North Lawndale, Chicago community. Other publications
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