Looking Back at Geneva’s Presidents

(Beaver Falls, PA)   As Geneva College prepares to welcome its twentieth president, the institution looks back on the leaders who helped shape its 168-year history of providing an academically excellent, Christ-centered and affordable education. Geneva was founded on Thursday, April 20, 1848. But the origins of the college extend more than a decade earlier, to the work of Reverend John Black Johnston, who would go on to be named Geneva’s first president.

The foundation for Geneva was laid in the small town of Northwood, Ohio, during the winter of 1837. Johnston, the pastor of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Miami, OH at the time, began a Latin class in his study. Seven young men formed that first group of students, and when  enrollment soon opened to women and the class size quickly grew, it had to move to the church and then to a log school in town. In 1847, the Lakes Presbytery of the Reformed Presbyterian Church authorized Johnston to build a college. Within five months, he had built a five-room brick building and opened Geneva College.

Over the course of the Geneva’s history, the Lord blessed it with presidents who maintained its Reformed Christian heritage and commitment to leadership in Christian higher education for all people.

Some presidential points of interest include:

• The third President, Dr. James Renwick Willson Sloane, earned a national reputation as an anti-slavery advocate.
• The youngest person to lead Geneva was Reverend Dr. John Calvin Knox Milligan, who was only 19 years old when he joined the faculty and 27 when he became the fourth president.
• The first president to be a graduate of Geneva was the eighth, Reverend Henry Hosick George; the college moved to Beaver Falls, PA, during his tenure.
• The tenth president, Reverend Dr. William Henry George, later joined the Ambulance Corps in France and Italy, where he received the Italian War Cross for bravery under fire.
• Thirteenth president Dr. McLeod Milligan Pearce served during Geneva’s centennial; during his tenure Reeves Field and McCartney Library were built, Science Hall was enlarged, and Fern Cliffe and Alumni Hall were purchased.
• Dr. Charles Marston Lee, fourteenth president, was the first non-clergyman to serve as president.
• Under fifteenth president Dr. Edwin Cameron Clarke the college experienced tremendous physical expansion and adopted the “Foundational Concepts of Christian Education.”
• Before coming to Geneva, seventeenth president Dr. William Joseph McFarland was Director of Academic Affairs for the Kansas Board of Regents, responsible for planning and oversight for the state’s system of education.
• Reverend John H. White, eighteenth president, was instrumental in the development of a number of interdenominational cooperative projects such as the Coalition for Christian Outreach headquartered in Pittsburgh, and the founding of Beaver County Christian School in Beaver Falls.
• Nineteenth president Dr. Kenneth A. Smith is currently the Dean of the McLane College of Business at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.
• Current interim president Dr. William J. Edgar conducted his doctoral dissertation research in history in Athens, Greece, with the help of a Fulbright Dissertation Grant.

Past Presidents of Geneva College include:

First	Reverend Dr. John Black Johnston	1848-1850
Second	Reverend William Finney George	1850-1852
Third	Dr. James Renwick Willson Sloane	1852-1856
Fourth	Reverend Dr. John Calvin Knox Milligan	1856-1858
Fifth	Reverend John Calvin Smith	1858-1860
Sixth	Reverend Dr. Nathan Robinson Johnston	1865-1867
Seventh	Dr. Samuel John Crowe	1867-1871
Interim	Reverend William Milroy	1871-1872
Eighth	Reverend Henry Hosick George	1872-1890
Ninth	Reverend William Pollock Johnston	1890-1907
Tenth	Reverend Dr. William Henry George	1907-1916
Eleventh	Reverend Dr. Renwick Harper Martin	1916-1920
Twelfth	Reverend Dr. Archibald Anderson Johnston	1920-1923
Thirteenth	Dr. McLeod Milligan Pearce	1923-1948
Fourteenth	Dr. Charles Marston Lee	1948-1956
Fifteenth	Dr. Edwin Cameron Clarke	1956-1980
Sixteenth	Dr. Donald William Felker	1980-1983
Interim	Dr. Edwin Cameron Clarke	1983-1984
Seventeenth	Dr. William Joseph McFarland	1984-1992
Eighteenth	Reverend Dr. John H. White	1992-2004
Nineteenth	Dr. Kenneth A. Smith	2004-2015
Interim	Reverend Dr. William J. Edgar	2015-2016

Geneva College invites students to step forward with an academically excellent, Christ-centered and affordable education. It offers more than 40 traditional undergraduate majors, Adult Degree Programs (ADP) with online and campus-based options, and master’s degrees. U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks Geneva as a Top 10 Regional Best Value, with its undergraduate engineering programs as one of the Top 100 in the nation. Adhering to the inerrancy of Scripture, a Geneva education is grounded in the Reformed Christian faith. Its core curriculum and liberal arts majors are designed to prepare students to think, write and communicate well in today’s world; its professional programs prepare students for immediate entry to well-paying jobs.