Myers was born in Copley, Ohio and graduated from Carleton College in 1968. He earned masters and doctorate degrees in political philosophy, philosophy, and politics from Princeton University. The author of eight books and a musical play, Myers was an avid scholar, encouraging students to pursue their passions at Illinois Wesleyan and beyond.
Before arriving at IWU, Myers was Provost, Dean of Faculty, and Professor of Political Science at Hobart and William Smith Colleges for five years.
Anderson was a graduate of the University of Minnesota and received a Master’s from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School before receiving a Ph.D. from Georgetown University. He had been on the staff of the Association of American Colleges and Assistant to the President of John Hopkins for nine years. He was then President and Professor of Political Science at Maryville College. He served as IWU’s 16th President, with a term running from 1986-1988.
Eckley grew up in Peoria, IL, graduated from Bradley University in 1942 with a B.A. in economics and completed an M.B.A. at the University of Minnesota, before serving for three years in the Coast Guard on the U.S.S. Davenport.
After WWII, he attended Harvard and earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics in 1948 and 1949, respectively. Following two years as an Assistant Professor at Kansas, Eckley served an appointment as an industrial economist at the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City. From there, he became the manager of the Business-Economics Department of Caterpillar.
Robert S. Eckley was elected the 15th IWU President in 1968 and served until 1986.
Bertholf was a native of rural Kansas, attended Friends University, and graduated from Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas. He served in the coast artillery in World War I (stationed at Fort Monroe, Virginia). Bertholf undertook graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in 1921 and began his career teaching biology at North Carolina College for Women. For 15 years, he supplemented his teaching income with summer work performing research for the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine. He also taught at Western Maryland College for 25 years, where he was also Dean of Freshman and Dean of Faculty. In 1930, Bertholf received a postdoctoral fellowship to study in Munich on a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, and in 1948 moved to the West Coast to teach at the College of the Pacific, as a Professor of Biology and Academic Vice-President. In 1958, Lloyd M. Bertholf became the 14th President of IWU and he served until 1968.
Holmes was the 13th IWU President, 1947 – 1958. Holmes, like many of his predecessors, was a Methodist minister, and also had been an Army Chaplain in the 165th Infantry, which became the famous 69th Infantry in World War I. He taught for three years at Garrett Biblical Institute and later became the Professor of Religion and Philosophy and Dean at Dakota Wesleyan University. For two years, he was the Secretary of Institutes in the Epworth League Department of the Methodist Board of Education, and before coming to IWU, he was the Secretary of the Department of Educational Institutions for African Americans for 14 years.
Shaw was born in Minnesota in 1869. He graduated from Moores Hill College in Indiana in 1889. He taught in Kentucky for four years and then entered Garrett Biblical Institute where he was given the S.T.B. degree in 1896. Shaw was the corresponding secretary of the Methodist Board of Foreign Missions in New York, as well as a Trustee of IWU for more than three decades, and served on the Board of Trustees before he was made the 12th President of IWU in 1939. His term as President of the University lasted until 1947.
Brooks was from Burlington, Iowa, and he was the first president of Wesleyan who was not an ordained minister of the Methodist church. Brooks received his A.B. from York College, his M.A. from Columbia University, and his Ph.D. from the State University of Iowa. He was also the superintendent of the Burlington Junior College, president of the Iowa Teachers association. He was IWU’s 11th president and served from 1937-1939.
McPherson grew up on an Illinois Farm, attended school and later taught in Cumberland County. He entered the Academy at IWU in 1901 and during his four years in the College of Liberal Arts, he was active in a wide variety of student activities: a member of the Track Team, the Male Quartet, the Glee Club, Oratorical Society, the Oxford Club, Y.M.C.A. Cabinet, Student Council, and Editor-in-Chief of both the Argus and Wesleyana. He graduated in 1906.
McPherson was a student pastor during his last three years at IWU, and after graduation earned his S.T.B. in the school of theology at Boston University. He held several pastorships across the state of Illinois, and was Superintendent of the Springfield School District for three years. He was a member of the Joint Board of Trustees and Visitors for 16 years and at the end of that term of service, IWU conferred upon him a D.D. He was then inaugurated the tenth IWU President in 1932 and served until 1937. He is credited with establishing a unique tuition exchange program that helped keep students enrolled during the Great Depression.
Davidson was born on a farm near Carthage, Illinois. He received his B.S. degree from Chaddock College in 1893, his B.A. from Wesleyan in 1894, and his S.T.B. from Garrett Biblical Institute in 1897. He later returned to Garrett as a professor of religious education for ten years. He served as president of the Board of Trustees for two years and was then executive secretary of the Commission on Life Service of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was also the Chancellor of Nebraska Wesleyan University. He assumed office in September 1922, making him the ninth President of IWU, and the second alumnus President. His term ended in 1932.
Kemp was the serving pastor of the Grace M.E. Church in Bloomington before being elected the 8th president of IWU in 1908. He was born near Rising Sun, Indiana on April 16th, 1868 and moved to Illinois with his parents in 1883. He graduated from DePauw University in 1893. He was an instructor at Wesleyan for a year before becoming president. His presidency ended in 1922.
