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Biography: IU Chancellor Herman B Wells
Oct. 16, 2000
NOTE: Photographs and more information about the Wells sculpture are available on a special Web site at http://newsinfo.iu.edu/OCM/wells.htm. Digital images suitable for publication also are available at http://newsinfo.iu.edu/OCM/wellsphotos/index.html. For more information, contact the IU Office of Communications and Marketing at 812-855-3911.
BLOOMINGTON -- Herman B Wells was an educational visionary who helped transform Indiana University into an internationally recognized center of research and scholarship. He was the only person its 179-year history to lead it three times.
Wells, who died quietly at his campus home in Bloomington on March 18 at the age of 97, served the university as its president for a quarter century and remained a vital contributor as its chancellor for another 37 years. Under Wells, the university experienced its greatest growth and widened its scope to encompass the globe.
As chancellor, Wells remained active on the campus where he resided and was much beloved, frequently attending university events. Last year, Wells was named by the Indiana Historical Society as one of 13 Hoosier "living legends," just one indication of the recognition he humbly received during his lifetime. IU also recognized him as its "Man of the Century."
Wells initially served as IU's acting president in 1937-38, as IU president between 1938 and 1962, and as interim president for three months in 1968. Since 1962, Wells served as the university's chancellor.
Born in Jamestown, Ind., on June 7, 1902, Wells was the only child of a banker, Joseph Granville Wells, and his wife, Anna Bernice Harting Wells, a former teacher. His mother came from a family of nine children, all of whom had middle names beginning with B.
"This tradition, though somewhat diminished by my parents' inability to agree on a name, resulted in the B that is the whole of my middle name," Wells explained in his autobiography, Being Lucky.
In his memoir, Wells recalled his childhood years in Jamestown as simple, peaceful and happy. He played alto horn in the Jamestown Boys' Band, took his mother shopping in his pony-drawn cart, and shucked corn and milked the cow on the family farm. The family later moved to Lebanon, Ind., where Wells was very active in high school and graduated in the top 10 percent of his class. After school and on Saturdays, he worked in his father's bank.
Wells attended the University of Illinois (1920-21), but transferred to IU after one year.
In his memoir, Wells wrote of having to overcome his father's objections to the transfer and described what happened to him when he moved to Bloomington. "From the beginning I fell in love with Indiana University," Wells wrote. "It was a simple place in those days, with not yet three thousand students, but it had great charm and appeal for me."
As an IU senior, Wells led his fraternity, Sigma Nu. His other campus activities included playing in the IU band and hanging out at the historic Book Nook on Indiana Avenue, which Wells described as "a remarkably fertile cultural and political breeding place in the manner of the famous English coffee houses."
Wells planned to follow in his father's footsteps in banking, and earned a bachelor of science degree in business administration in 1924. He then spent a year working as assistant cashier at a Lebanon, Ind., bank, which was followed by graduate study at the University of Wisconsin and IU. He completed a master of arts degree in economics at IU in 1927.
Afterwards, Wells accepted a position as field secretary with the Indiana Bankers Association, and he worked for the organization to strengthen and professionalize financial institutions during 1928-31, the early and turbulent years of the Great Depression.
In 1930, Wells accepted an instructorship in economics at IU, and commuted from Bloomington to Indianapolis for a year while completing research for the association. From 1931 to 1933, he was secretary and research director of the Study Commission for Indiana Financial Institutions and played a major role in the rewriting of Indiana's state banking laws.
Three years later, he accepted a post as assistant professor of economics at IU, but went on leave to work as supervisor of the state's Division of Banks and Trust Companies and the Division of Research and Statistics in the Department of Financial Institutions.
In 1935, Wells faced what ultimately was the crossroads decision of his life, whether to succeed William A. Rawles, who was retiring as dean of the IU School of Business (now the Kelley School of Business). After much soul-searching, Wells accepted and began a career in academic administration that spanned four decades.
"It seemed to me a fanciful idea. I finally concluded that if it were the wish of the faculty, the president and the trustees, I would assume the post -- foolhardy as that decision might seem," Wells wrote.
Two years later, during a midnight phone call, Wells was offered the job of acting IU president, after the retirement of William Lowe Bryan in 1937. Wells told Ora Wildermuth, then chairman of the IU board of trustees, that he would agree to accept the post on one condition -- that he not be considered for the presidency. Nevertheless, Wells excelled in the role and agreed a year later to become IU's 12th president in its then 118-year history.
Prior to World War II, one of Wells' ambitions had been to travel in Europe, but the challenges of his job always seemed to get in the way. In his new role as IU president, Wells brought European influence to southern Indiana by attracting scholars from the region when their countries were overrun by invading armies. Wells encouraged many scholars to take refuge in Bloomington, and they not only enriched the faculty community, but enlarged the university's horizons.
Under Wells' leadership, the size of IU's student body grew enormously, from about 11,000 in 1938 to more than 31,000 in 1962. Keeping his finger on the pulse of what was going on with students was a hallmark of his presidential style. He greeted students during frequent walks around campus and regularly conferred with student leaders.
Wells gained national recognition early in his academic career with major appointments to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the American Council on Education, the Association of Land Grant Colleges and Universities, and the National Association of State Universities.
His opportunity for international service came at the end of World War II, when he was appointed a special adviser on liberated areas for the U.S. Department of State and a minister of the Allied missions observing the Greek elections. In 1957, he was chosen as a U.S. delegate to the 12th General Assembly of the United Nations.
Wells' other international activities included advisory roles with UNESCO, as head of the U.S. delegation to Bangkok for the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization Preparatory Commission on University Problems, and as a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations in 1969.
He was named university chancellor upon his retirement from the presidency in 1962, at which time he also was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree. Other honorary degrees were awarded by the universities of Notre Dame, Columbia, Ohio State and California, to name a few.
Wells received the B'nai B'rith Great American Traditions Award; the first Excellence in Education Lifetime Achievement Award from the Sons of the American Revolution; the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce; and six prestigious Sagamore of the Wabash designations from Hoosier governors. On Dec. 11, 1998, Indiana Gov. Frank O'Bannon honored Wells as a "Hoosier Millennium Treasure" during Indiana's 182nd birthday celebration.
Not content to rest on his academic laurels, Wells continued to work for the university in the capacity of mentor and advocate of its welfare. Reflecting on his life and career, he wrote in his memoir, "With full knowledge of the trauma, travail, blood, sweat and tears the office demands, I would eagerly undertake the glorious chore again. For me no other career could have been so satisfying. I have been lucky and happy in my life work."
(George Vlahakis, 812-855-0846, gvlahaki@indiana.edu)