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As the second president of Smith College, Northampton, Mass., Marion LeRoy Burton, took office in 1910. President Burton, a graduate of Yale Divinity School, was a gifted public speaker with an especially acute business sense. He used these talents to help the college raise the amazing sum of $1,000,000--a huge endowment campaign for any college at that time. With the college's increased endowment, President Burton was able to increase faculty salaries substantially and improve the faculty-to-student ratio. President Burton's fund drive also invigorated the alumnae, bringing them closer to the college than ever before and increasing their representation on the board of trustees.
Along with improving the financial state and business methods of the college, President Burton also contributed to a revision of the curriculum and initiated college honors programs to recognize outstanding students. He also helped to organize a cooperative admission system among Smith, Mount Holyoke, Wellesley and Vassar, the finest women's colleges of the day. President Burton's accomplishments are commemorated today by Burton Hall, the science building that his fund drive helped to finance.
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Marion LeRoy Burton. Educator, was born at Brooklyn, IA in 1874. He graduated from Carleton College, MN, 1900; Yale Divinity School, 1906; Ph. D. Yale, 1907. After teaching, preaching, and traveling in Europe, 1907-10 he became the
president of Smith College. He is the author of "The Secret of Achievement" and various other works.
On July 1, 1920, Marion Leroy Burton, president of the University of Minnesota (1917 - 1920), became the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, fifth president. Tall, red-headed, with a commanding presence and a persuasive voice, he could captivate students and legislators alike. His talent for organization and vision of an expanding university exactly fit the needs and spirit of the post-war age. His tenure was tragically short, however, as he died in February 1925 following a heart attack. He had doubled the university's annual income and secured more than $10 million in appropriations and $2 million in gifts for new buildings
