Kenneth G. Matheson was president of the Drexel Institute of Art, Science, and Industry from 1922 to 1931. He was born in Cheraw, South Carolina, in 1864 and educated at the South Carolina Military Academy (better known as the Citadel), Leland Stanford University, the University of Chicago, and Columbia University. He served as a commandant of cadets and as a professor of English at several military schools before becoming president of the Georgia School of Technology in 1906.

Matheson is credited with Georgia School of Technology’s development into a full-fledged university. During his tenure, he focused on expanding programs and services that would enhance Georgia Tech’s already superb technical curriculum. This included the purchase of an athletic field, the expansion of the curriculum to include an architecture program, and the establishment of a library. With support from Andrew Carnegie, what began as a collection of books in Matheson’s office grew in a few short years into a collection housed in an Italian Renaissance-style building designed to hold upwards of 40,000 volumes. Matheson’s success at building the Georgia School of Technology into one of the preeminent academic institutions in the South made him an ideal candidate to lead the struggling Drexel Institute.

The Drexel Institute in 1921 faced numerous challenges including declining enrollments, a corresponding decrease in income, tension among the faculty, poor relations with alumni, understaffed departments, outmoded equipment and facilities and underdeveloped relationships with area schools and businesses. A difficult set of problems certainly, but not unlike those Matheson faced upon his arrival at Georgia Tech. Matheson quickly established a plan of improvement and embarked upon it even before he officially took his post at Drexel. He reached out personally and publicly to the University of Pennsylvania and to Temple University, indicating his wish to work in cooperation, as opposed to competition, with the two schools. He visited area high schools personally to offer scholarships to offset declining enrollments. Administratively, he turned his attention to fiscal responsibility, focusing on running the school within its means and formulating plans to increase income. He surveyed faculty to assess staffing and equipment needs in their departments. He decided, in support of alumni requests, to reinstate the Library School, perhaps his first step in cultivating increased student loyalty to the Institute.

After entering office, Matheson reorganized the administrative and faculty structure of the institute. He appointed R.C. Disque as Academic Dean, W.R. Wagenseller as Comptroller of the Institute and Dean of the School of Business Administration, and kept Frances E. MacIntyre as Registrar. J. Peterson Ryder was appointed to the newly created position of Dean of Men and Ruth A.L. Dorsey was appointed to the expanded position of Dean of Women. The Dean of Men and Dean of Women were key posts in supporting student organizations and in garnering student participation in athletic and other extracurricular activities. Student outreach was not limited to current students; Matheson’s secretary Harriett Worrell was charged with the task of improving alumni relations. Shortly thereafter the first alumnus, Horace P. Liversidge, was elected to serve on the Board of Trustees. Faculty, too, were given a voice and an active role in the new administration, as Matheson not only created a Faculty Council comprised of deans, directors, department heads and, later, various committed heads that met on a weekly basis; he also instituted a faculty council on publicity to improve visibility for the Institute as a whole.

Amidst all of these changes came Matheson’s biggest plan: to increase the Institute’s endowment through a $1 million capital campaign. Before Matheson’s arrival, the Institute had been operating at a deficit, which Matheson managed to offset thanks to donations from members and friends of the Drexel family. However, in order to make the Institute competitive, to attract and retain the best faculty and to offer state-of-the-art facilities that would attract the best students, a bigger plan was needed. Matheson made an application to the General Education Board of the Rockefeller Foundation and announced in the April 19, 1923 meeting of the Board of Trustees that the General Education Board would contribute $100,000 if $900,000 in public contributions could be raised by Drexel. The board voted favorably on this resolution and on May 7, 1924, it was announced to the alumni that the fund drive would begin. This capital campaign benefitted the Drexel Institute not only because of the funds it would raise but also because of the publicity it brought the Institute. Extensive news coverage of the campaign appeared in the local papers, including the Public Ledger and the Evening Ledger. The campaign was ultimately successful. $900,000 was donated or pledged by autumn of 1928 and Matheson announced on September 18, 1930 that the full $1 million had been received by the Institute.

Cooperative education was another of Matheson’s successes during his tenure as president of the Institute. The Drexel Institute was the only school in Philadelphia to offer cooperative education, a program begun by president Godfrey in 1918 and revised by Bringhurst in 1919. Matheson worked with C.A. Kapp, who came with Matheson from Georgia Tech, to direct the program. Together they made the necessary business contacts that allowed students of the School of Engineering and School of Business Administration to work for wages throughout the school year, as opposed to working just during college breaks. The expansion of the cooperative education program, with more than 800 firms participating, nearly tripled the enrollment of the day school within a decade of Matheson’s administration.

The Institute also saw impressive physical as well as academic expansion during Matheson’s tenure. Curtis Hall was dedicated May 29, 1929 as the new engineering building, and in 1931, the Drexel Lodge was renovated and the Sarah Drexel Van Rensselaer Dormitory for Women opened, providing much-needed housing for female students. Changes to the requirements for many of Drexel’s academic programs required the charter to be amended twice during Matheson’s administration. Entrance standards were raised for the day school and the several junior and two-year programs were merged into degree granting programs. Matheson personally oversaw the accreditation process of the engineering program as it was expanded into a five-year degree-granting program. The Department of Education and Psychology was established. The reinstated Library School received a Carnegie Grant of $10,000 to improve its programs. Students and faculty alike were encouraged to engage in research, and the faculty especially were encouraged to pursue advanced study in their subject areas either within Drexel or at other universities.

However, such great development, expansion and improvement came at a price. In May 1931, the Board of Trustees voted Matheson a leave of absence because he was not in the best of health. Matheson, however, with his incredible drive to move the Institute further forward, postponed this leave and died of a heart attack on November 29, 1931. A sampling of the achievements from his final report for the last year of his administration includes increased enrollments, even despite the general economic hard times caused by the Depression, increased spending on facilities and equipment, numerous faculty achievements and scholarly successes, cooperative placement at nearly 100%, programs accredited by all major national accrediting bodies, growing alumni interest, and athletic success, not to mention a surplus of $50,000. Even in spite of his unfortunate and untimely death, Kenneth G. Matheson left the Drexel Institute a remarkable legacy.

Reference Works McDonald, E.D. and Hinton, E.M. (1942). Drexel Institute of Technology 1891-1941: A memorial history. Camden, NJ: Haddon Craftsmen, Inc. pp. 70-97.

Agnew, Grace. (1999). A thousand wheels are set in motion - Georgia Tech Library and Information Center (The Matheson early years - 1905-1908). Accessed on 2/18/2008 at: http://www.library.gatech.edu/gtbuildings/matheson.htm