Meeting the Challenge: - The Council of Independent Colleges

John R. Thelin
at the age of 40 so he could become a college president.
As president of Wabash College in Indiana from 1941 to
1956, he combined a commitment to his own campus
with attention to the larger sphere of higher education
philanthropy in the business community.
After World War II, Sparks led an ambitious plan
to create a “Greater Wabash.” It became a model for selfrevitalization
at small colleges. As a college president, Sparks
emphasized multiple initiatives. These included healing the
schisms between college officials and old-guard alumni;
reconstructing the board of trustees as a powerful body
of prominent, wealthy individuals; recruiting nationally
distinguished professors to the small college; renovating and
expanding the campus and physical plant; and attracting
sustained, large-scale financial support. The convergence of
these initiatives gave Wabash College national visibility as
a “pillar of strength” in the private sector. Sparks’ aim was
to associate his college—and all private colleges—with the
philosophy of independence and self-reliance characteristic of
the American private business sector.
President Sparks’ visionary leadership at Wabash
College provided a platform for his larger commitment to the
character and health of all independent colleges in Indiana
and nationwide. The commitment sprang from his concern
after World War II that the recent growth of state and
President Frank
Sparks’ visionary
leadership at
Wabash College
in Indiana
provided a
platform for
his larger
commitment to
the character
and health of
all independent
colleges. (Sparks
is pictured on
the left.)
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