Arthur Hollis Edens

Who was Arthur Hollis Edens?

Arthur Hollins Edens served as President of Duke University from 1949 to 1960. Duke's third president after the school's expansion from college to university, Edens was first president hired from outside the university since 1894, when John C. Kilgo was hired away from Wofford College. An executive with the Rockefeller Foundation and a native Southerner, Edens launched a capital gifts program and a national development campaign. The success of these efforts allowed Duke University to strengthen its endowment and experience a period of great growth during his presidency with the Duke University Union opening, academic units emerging, and the establishment of endowed professorships.