Dates

• Existence: 1890-1966

Biography

Rufus Henry Fitzgerald was born on November 22, 1890, in Pelham, North Carolina. He received his B.A. degree in 1911 from Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina. He took his M.A. degree from the University of Tennessee in 1919. Fitzgerald completed graduate work in Egypt and Syria. During his career, he was awarded honorary degrees from eight colleges and universities.   Fitzgerald's first appointment at the State University of Iowa was in 1919 as general secretary of the YMCA. In 1923 he was named director of student services. This position involved fund-raising for the construction of the Iowa Memorial Union. He was named director of the IMU in December 1925. In addition to these duties, he was named director of the School of Fine Arts in 1929. This appointment occurred two years after professor Charles A. Cumming retired as director of the Department of Graphic and Plastic Arts. Cumming established and directed that department since 1908. According to Charles Edward Calmer, Ph.D., Fitzgerald selected the west bank of the Iowa River for the location of the arts campus and organized the fund-raising for the art building. A third title was given to Fitzgerald in 1934, that of head of the Department of History and Appreciation of Fine Arts. Working in this capacity allowed him to appoint artist Grant Wood to the faculty in 1934 and Lester D. Longman as head of the Department of Graphic and Plastic Artsin 1936. Fitzgerald resigned in February 1938 to accept the position of provost at the University of Pittsburgh. He served as chancellor at that university from 1945 to 1955.   According to the memorial prepared by M. Willard Lampe, Fitzgerald learned of a charming church and measured it to create a replica on the SUI campus, the Danforth Chapel.   Fitzgerald married Damie M. Cornell and the couple had two daughters, Helen and Mildred. He later married Elizabeth Hay. Rufus H. Fitzgerald died on April 11, 1966.

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