Jacob Gould Schurman

Jacob Gould Schurman (May 2, 1854 – August 12, 1942) was a Canadian-American educator and diplomat, who served as President of Cornell University and United States Ambassador to Germany.

Early life and education

Schurman was born at Freetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, on May 2, 1854 the son of Robert and Lydia Schurman. Schurman lived on his parents' farm as a child, then in 1867 took a job at a store near his home, which he held for two years.

At the age of fifteen, Schurman entered the Summerside Grammar School on Prince Edward Island, and in 1870 he won a scholarship to study at Prince of Wales College for two years. After Prince of Wales College, he studied for a year and a half at Acadia College in Nova Scotia.

In 1874, while a student at Acadia College in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, he won the Canadian Gilchrist scholarship to study at the University of London, from which he received a BA degree in 1877 and an MA in 1878. Schurman also studied in Paris, Edinburgh, Heidelberg, Berlin, Göttingen, and Italy.

Career

He was professor of English literature, political economy and psychology at Acadia College from 1880 to 1882, of metaphysics and English literature at Dalhousie College, Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1882–86, and the Sage professor of philosophy (Sage professor) at Cornell University from 1886 to 1892, and Dean of the Sage School of Philosophy from 1891 to 1892, during which edited The Philosophical Review.

In 1892, he became the third president of Cornell University, a position he held until 1920. He received an LL.D (honoris causa) from the University of Edinburgh in March 1902.