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Brown Home Brown Home Office of the President

Past Presidents

The president of Brown University is in charge of the immediate government of the University and reports to the Corporation.

The eighteen presidents have been:

James Manning

1765 – 1791

 

Jonathan Maxcy

1792 – 1802

 

Asa Messer

1792 – 1802

 

Francis Wayland

1827 – 1855

 

Barnas Sears

1855 – 1867

 

Alexis Caswell

1868 – 1872

 

Ezekiel Gilman Robinson

1872 – 1889

 

Elisha Benjamin Andrews

1889 – 1898

 

William Herbert Perry Faunce

1899 – 1929

 

Clarence Augustus Barbour

1929 – 1937

 

Henry Merritt Wriston

1937 – 1955

 

Barnaby Conrad Keeney

1955 – 1966

 

Ray Lorenzo Heffner

1966 – 1969

 

Donald Frederick Hornig

1970 – 1976

 

Howard Robert Swearer

1977 – 1988

 

Vartan Gregorian

1989 – 1997

 

E. Gordon Gee

1998 – 2000

 

Ruth J. Simmons

2001 –

Ruth J. Simmons was inaugurated October 14, 2001

President@Brown.edu