Albion College Principals & Presidents
 LOUIS
W. NORRIS graduated from Boston Theological School with a Bachelor of
Sacred Theology degree in 1931. Three years later he was ordained into
the Methodist ministry. He served several pastoral charges while he
pursued his graduate studies at the University of Berlin, Harvard
University, and Boston University. In 1937 he received his Ph.D. from
Boston University.
He was immediately appointed professor of
philosophy and religion at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. After
only two years as a highly successful teacher, he was offered the
vice-presidency at Baldwin-Wallace, a position he held for the next
eight years. After World War II, Dr. Norris went back to the classroom
as chairman of the Department of Philosophy and Religion at DePauw
University in Greencastle, Indiana. Within months, however, he stepped
in as dean of the university as well.
In 1952 he was inaugurated president of
MacMurray College, Jacksonville, Illinois. The entire Board hoped he
would remain there throughout the remainder of his career. Norris,
however, had different ideas about the proper span of a presidential
term of office. In 1959 he declared that "the best service a president
can render any institution comes in a tenure of approximately ten
years." In 1961, his ten year tenure at MacMurray was over, leaving him
free to start anew as president of Albion College.
Innovations of the Norris administration
included the Basic Ideas program, begun in 1965, in which fundamental
concepts essential to liberal education would be offered on an
experimental basis through the implementation of a four-course series
based upon man and his relationships to self, the natural environment,
social environment, and values; the Summer Honors College, which in a
tangential way led to the dissolution of the relationship between Albion
and the Liberal Arts College of Bay View in 1969; the Summer Study Tour;
the inclusion of the fine arts, philosophy, and intercultural or
non-Western affairs into graduation requirements; the four-course
student load; the Lecture/Concert series (later, the Fine Arts Program)
which brought to campus such eminent figures such as Eleanor Roosevelt
and Martin Luther King, Jr.; Ventures in Meaning Week (which replaced
Whitehouse's Religious Emphasis Week); and the push to eliminate the
need for off-campus housing.
The campus changed as a result of Norris'
efforts as well. 1964 introduced Whitehouse Hall. 1966 brought in the
Bobbitt Visual Arts Building, the fraternity complex, and Twin Towers
(now, Mitchell Towers). In 1970 the science complex was completed. 1971
saw the final building to be erected during Norris' tenure, the Rollin
W. Gerstacker International House. Haven Hills Home (renamed Bellemont
Manor) was also acquired during the Norris years, in 1962. There was
also an eastward expansion of Alumni Field.
In May of 1969, Dr. Norris announced his
intention to retire from the "Decade of Dissent," with student unrest
over the fight for civil rights, the Vietnam War and the draft,
increasing campus drug and alcohol use, and changes in societal
perceptions of morality. Like his predecessor, Norris gave the board
plenty of notice, retiring at the end of the 1967-1970 academic year.
From "The Dynamics of Excellence" and "Revolt
on Campus," Albion College Sesquicentennial History, 1835-1985,
by Keith J. Fennimore. Albion, MI: Albion College, 1985.
Publications by Louis W. Norris
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Norris, L.W. (1939, October). The Neo-Realistic criticism of substance.
New Scholasticism, 13(4).
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Norris, L.W. (1940, September 28). Curricular courses in religion.
School & Society, 52(1344), 266-68.
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Norris, L.W. (1944, June 10). "They without us": Otterbein College
Founder's Day Address. Religious Telescope.
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Norris, L.W. (ed.). (1947, July-August). Proceedings: The Ohio
Conference on Character Education, September, 1946. Sponsored by
Baldwin-Wallace College, commemorating 100 years of educational service,
Berea, Ohio. Journal of Religious Education, 42(4), 217-248.
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Norris, L. W. (1949, October). Teaching and the philosophy of history.
The Journal of Bible and Religion, 17(4).
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Norris, L.W. (1950, January-February). Values and the non-spiritual.
Religious Education.
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Norris, L.W. (1950, February 16). Comments and criticism.
The Journal
of Philosophy, 47(4).
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Norris, L.W. (1953, January 31). Teaching for fun.
School & Society,
77(1989), 65-68.
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Norris, L.W. (1954, November-December). What you will find at a church
college. Church and Campus.
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Norris, L.W. (1954, November 27). How to educate a woman.
Saturday
Review.
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Norris, L.W. (1955, February 3). How to educate a woman.
St. Louis Post
Dispatch.
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Norris, L.W. (1955, March). How to educate a woman.
Gadfly, 6(8),
5.
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Norris, L.W. (1956, February 18). In praise of maladjustment.
School &
Society, 83(2079), 55-58.
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Norris, L.W. (1956, March). The role of women in American economic life.
Association of American Colleges Bulletin, 42(1), 51-60.
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Norris, L.W. (1956, November 15). On mixing ethics with business: Throwing
your moral weight around. Vital Speeches of the Day, 23(3), 90+.
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Norris, L.W. (1957, May). How to educate a woman's husband.
Association
of American Colleges Bulletin, 43(2), 274-285.
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Norris, L.W. (1957, October). The rights to life, liberty and -- learning.
Teachers College Record, 59(1).
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Garrett, L., & Norris, L.W. (1958, Winter). MacMurray College and
Jacksonville (Illinois) High School collaborate in program for superior
students. The Gifted Child Quarterly, 2(1).
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Norris, L.W. (1959, April). How to educate a man. Educational Theory,
IX(2).
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Norris, L.W. (1960, March). A major order of business.
The Church Woman,
10-14.
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Albion's president visits Dr. Albert Schweitzer. (1961, January 5).
Advocate.
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Norris, L.W. (1961, April 15). We know in part: The unmistakable
partiality in knowledge. Vital Speeches of the Day, 27(13), 408+.
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Norris, L.W. (1962, April 21). Education and the new frontiers.
School
& Society, 90(2009), 191-93.
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Norris, L.W. (1962, May 8). Through a glass darkly: Address before the
Albion-Lansing District Conference.
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Norris, L.W. (1962). Welcome to the house of excellence.
Orientation.
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Norris, L.W. (1963, December 12-14). Hidden pervaders.
Proceedings of
the Third Annual Meeting. Council of Graduate Schools in the United
States.
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Albion school head to speak at E. Lansing. (1964, August 8).
Lansing
State Journal.
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Norris, L.W. (1964, Fall). Moral weight of the administrator.
Hospital Administration, 9(4).
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Norris, L.W. (1964, October 3). Culture at college.
School & Society,
92(2246), 263-64.
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Norris, L.W. (ca.1964). Teachers shall shine as the firmament. The
fourth in a series of pamphlets on Christian perspectives and problems in
higher education.
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Albion head speaks here. (1965, March 27). Grand Rapids Press.
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Dr. Norris to address Rotarians. (1965, March 27).
Benton Harbor
News-Palladium.
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Albion College president tells of student changes. (1965, March 30).
The St. Joseph Herald-Press.
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Norris, L.W. (1965, May). Scholarship can cause trouble.
Liberal
Education, LI(3).
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Dr. Norris attending conference overseas. (1965, July 1).
Marshall
Evening Chronicle.
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Dr. Louis W. Norris. (1965, July 22). Advocate.
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Dr. Norris will speak to Albion College alumni. (1965, July 27).
Petoskey News-Review.
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Albion College local alumni plan meeting. (1965, July 30).
Charlevoix
Courier.
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Norris, L.W. (1965, December). College administrator must ask "What's the
big idea?" of his job. College and University Business, 39(6), 39.
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Norris, L.W. (1965). The case for the liberal arts college.
The Small
College Annual, 2.
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Norris, L.W. (1966, January ). Crevices in our culture.
Social Science,
41(1).
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Norris, L.W. (1967, May 15). It's the idea of the thing: The search for
truth. Vital Speeches of the Day, 33(15), 468+.
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Norris, L.W. (1967, June 15). What's good about it?
Michigan Christian
Advocate, 94(241), 3-4.
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Norris, L.W. (1968, Third Quarter). Who goes where?
The Albion College
Magazine.
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Norris, L.W. [ca. 1968] Gaudeamus igitur, Let us therefore rejoice.
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Norris, L.W. (1979). The legitimacy of a scholar. Liberal Education,
65, 422-435.
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Norris, L. W. (1984, June 1). Learning to play second fiddle.
Vital
Speeches of the Day, L(16), 497+.
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Norris, L.W. [n.d.] From mixture to mastery. Problems in Christian
Higher Education.
Links to More Documents About Louis W.
Norris
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