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175 Makers of History: Arthur Hollis Edens

Arthur Hollis Edens 28C 38G 49H
President, Duke University

Arthur Hollins Edens served as president of Duke University from 1949 to 1960.

Edens attended Emory, earning an undergraduate and a master's degree, and he continued his graduate education at Harvard. Early in his career, Edens worked as a teacher and administrator at the Cumberland Mountain School and at Emory where he was dean of administration. In 1947, he became vice chancellor of the University System of Georgia and a year later was appointed associate director of the General Education Board of the Rockefeller Foundation.

During this presidency at Duke, Edens launched a capital gifts program and development campaign, allowing Duke to strengthen its endowment and experience a period of great growth: the Duke University Union opened, academic units emerged, and endowed professorships were established.