Dwight B. Waldo

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Dr. Dwight Bryant Waldo (Born: June 13, 1864 in Arcade, New York - Died: October 29, 1939) was the first President of Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI and a native of Plainwell, Michigan. Waldo was elected Principal of WMU on April 1, 1904. He would serve as president from 1904 to 1936. When the school first opened, it was known as the Western State Normal School or Western State Teacher School. One of Waldo's first moves cemented WMU as a teaching college, he created a rural school department, it was the first such department in the nation and prepared teachers to effectively educate students in rural parts of America. Waldo also firmly believed in diversity on campus, and during his tenure many females and minorities were given the opportunity to attend and succeed at Western.

In the beginning it served as a two year normal school, but under Waldo's guidance it was soon structured into a four-year teachers college. He also served as one of the first instructors of history at WMU. Waldo is credited with keeping WMU open when many government officials wanted to shut it down during the Great Depression. The school's football stadium, Waldo Stadium, and library, Dwight B. Waldo Library, are named in his honor. In 1912, Kalamazoo College awarded Waldo an LL. D (Legum Doctor) or Doctor of Laws as an honorary degree for his accomplishments at WMU.

Waldo was born during the final year of the civil war, and was noted for his interest and research into the life of Abraham Lincoln. Dwight Waldo's personal collection of Lincoln memorabilia is one of many displays at the Dwight B Waldo library. A WMU librarian and Dwight Waldo Historian has stated, Waldo's 'vision, "tough love" leadership style, and unique combination of pragmatism and idealism are legendary around campus and Kalamazoo'. He also was known to walk around campus with a talking parrot on his shoulder.

Prior to assuming his leadership role at Western, Waldo also was the first Principal at Northern State Normal School (now Northern Michigan University) where he served from 1899 to 1904, and additionally served as the Department Chair of the History Department. Interestingly, 100 years after Waldo came to Western Michigan University another Northern Michigan president, Judith I. Bailey, would follow in Dwight Waldo's footsteps to help Western Michigan kick off its highly successful "Centennial Campaign" after arriving in 2003. Waldo was also a history and economics teacher at Albion College before becoming Principal at Northern State.