Theodore Dwight Woolsey (31 October 1801 – 1 July 1889) was an American academic, author and President of Yale College from 1846 through 1871.
Contents
Biography
Theodore Dwight Woolsey was born 31 October 1801 in New York City. His mother was Elizabeth Dwight (1772–1813) and father was William Walton Woolsey (1766–1839).
At Yale, he served as President of the literary and discussion society Brothers in Unity, and then graduated as valedictorian of his class from Yale College in 1820. He spent a year in legal study in Philadelphia, and two years of the study of theology at Princeton. For some time, Woolsey was a tutor at Yale, then went abroad to study Greek in Leipzig, Bonn, and Berlin. From 1831 to 1846, he was professor of Greek at Yale.
Woolsey's mother's brother Timothy Dwight (1752–1817) had been president of Yale 1795–1817. Jeremiah Day was the only president Yale had in between the family members.
Woolsey was elected an Associate Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1845. After being chosen as president of Yale, he instructed students of history, political economy, political science, and especially international law.
He resigned as president of Yale in 1871. After Noah Porter served as president, the office was back in the family as his cousin once removed Timothy Dwight V (1828–1916), was selected in 1886. In 1871, he was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society.