Eagleton Institute of Politics

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Florence Peshine Eagleton (1870-1953)

The Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University was established in 1956 with an endowment from Florence Peshine Eagleton (1870-1953), and it focuses on state and national politics through education, and public service.

Florence Peshine Eagleton was a leader in the woman suffrage movement and advocated women's higher education. She was one of the first women to serve as a Trustee of Rutgers University. She willed more than $1,000,000 to establish the Wells Phillips Eagleton and Florence Peshine Eagleton Foundation, now the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University.

Eagleton's will said:

... for the advancement of learning in the field of practical political affairs and government [so] that a knowledge of the meaning of democracy may be increased through the education of young women and men in democratic government. ... It is my settled conviction that the cultivation of civic responsibility and leadership among the American people in the field of practical political affairs is of vital and increasing importance to our state and nation ... I make this gift especially for the development of and education for responsible leadership in civic and governmental affairs and the solution of their political problems.

Ruth B. Mandel is the current Director.