The Birth of the American Research University with Michael T. Benson

Former EKU and current Coastal Carolina University president, Michael T. Benson will discuss his book on Daniel Coit Gilman. Gilman may not be a household name, but under his leadership as the first president of Johns Hopkins University in 1876, many of the university elements that he instituted—graduate fellowships, an emphasis on primary investigations and discovery, funding for laboratory and research spaces, scholarly journals, etc.—are now the standard. His trailblazing efforts also influenced the work of Louisvillian Abraham Flexner, and Transylvania graduate Dr. Hugh Toland, who founded the medical school that is now UC San Francisco.