Founded by Friends : the Quaker heritage of fifteen - Scarecrow Press

Haverford College 19
student at Haverford on leave as a member of the first group of Peace Corps
volunteers in India. Following graduation, he received a PhD from the University
of Chicago, writing his doctoral dissertation on social and economic
movements in nineteenth- and twentieth-century India. This led to teaching
posts at the University of Virginia and the University of Pennsylvania.
Kessinger strongly supported liberal arts education. The Kessinger
years were marked by an increase in the endowment and new buildings,
including plans for an integrated natural sciences center. New recognition
for the strength of sciences at Haverford came in 1993 when Joseph Taylor,
class of 1963, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.
THOMAS R. TRITTON (1947– ),
THE ELEVENTH PRESIDENT, 1997–2007
Thomas Tritton came to Haverford from the University of Vermont, where
he taught pharmacology and was later vice provost. He brought a strong
research background and ability as a fund-raiser as well as skills in computing,
information technology, and arts and museum programs.
President Tritton also brought an interest in community and the Quaker
character of Haverford, drawing on Haverford values of respect, consensus
decision making, and the honor code. In terms of cooperation with Bryn
Mawr College, he proposed “full consultation with each other at all appropriate
faculty, student and administrative levels before any decision is made
concerning policies which will have a significant effect on the other college.”
Two of the innovative projects that have taken shape since his arrival
are the Hurford Humanities Center established in 2000 and the Center for
Peace and Global Citizenship (CPGC), which arose in 1999. The former
was envisioned to spur faculty and students to new levels of intellectual,
artistic, and ethical engagement through a number of programs outside
the curriculum with faculty fellowships and student internships. The latter
was instituted to prepare students to connect with communities beyond
Haverford. The CPGC’s aim is to foster social justice through a combination
of research, interdisciplinary education, and action.
In addition, in 2002, the Koshland Integrated Natural Sciences Center
opened, where astronomy, biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, computer
science, and psychology are taught, to accommodate a need for integrated
science instruction and to promote research in rising fields. Technology,
moreover, connects the campus and the campus to the world, with
computer-equipped classrooms and digital projects that allow professors
and students access to the universe of knowledge. Haverford College’s
newest (2005) and largest building, the Douglas Gardner ’83 Integrated
Athletic Center, serves athletic options to greater numbers of students