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From The Archives: Did You Know... A Wooster Alum Was President of Harvard?

From The Archives: Did You Know... A Wooster Alum Was President of Harvard?
Gus Aspillaga '25

Did you know… that a Wooster alum was the president of Harvard?

Wooster Alum Neil Rudenstine, class of 1952, would attend Princeton after graduating from Wooster. He would then join the army and after returning go to the “New College” a part of Oxford University. When he came back he would then teach at Harvard from 1964-1968 and then join the administration team of Princeton as the Dean of Students from 1968-1972, Dean of the College from 1972-1977, and then he would be the Provost from 1977-1988. 


For the next three years, he would be the VP of the Andrew W. Milton Foundation, and in 1991, Rudenstine would become the President of Harvard and stay as the president for 10 years, until 2001.

Interesting facts about Neil Rudenstine:
He moved to Danbury at the age of 6, in 1940, after his dad took a job with the “new” Federal Correctional Institute.
He was the first in his family to graduate from college.
He was a Rhodes Scholar.
He attended Wooster from 9th-12th grades. Twice, he had the highest average GPA of any student, played baseball, basketball and football, and worked on the student newspaper. 

Rudenstine not only earned a scholarship to Wooster, but, according to the News-Times (March 25, 1991), he “turned down a $1,100 scholarship to Harvard. Instead, he accepted a $1,150 scholarship to Princeton University, where he graduated with highest honors.” Wooster School has a “Rudenstine Scholarship,” which is provided to students who exemplify the principles of Wooster (gentle, generous, truthful, kind, and brave) and have special talents and skills that are valuable to our community. 
 
 

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