The Princeton Graduate School: A History

The Princeton Graduate School was born of controversy, first between President James McCosh and his opponents, who doubted the wisdom of attaching a graduate school to a small college with a religious complexion, and then between President Woodrow Wilson and the formidable Dean Andrew Fleming West. Dean West, who won every point at issue between them, went on to establish a graduate school that has increasingly been identified with excellence in all the fields in which it offers training. Succeeding deans, notably Hugh Stott Taylor, shaped Princeton’s particular approach to graduate study with its central focus on research. Especially through the professors trained in the graduate school, Princeton has profoundly influenced education at many colleges and universities nationwide. Outside the academy, Princeton graduate alumni have been leaders in the arts, religion, industry, and government here and abroad, carrying with them a deep commitment to learning fostered by their time in the shadow of Cleveland Tower. The history of the Graduate School at Princeton thus reveals a great deal about the explosion of knowledge that has radically changed American society in the twentieth century.


First published in 1978, The Princeton Graduate School: A History has been revised and expanded, with new chapters recounting the dramatic growth of graduate education since World War II. The updated edition celebrates the centennial of the Graduate School’s founding and looks forward to its continued importance in the twenty-first century.