Dr. Charles Ernest Bunnell, Father of the University of Alaska

From UA Journey - University of Alaska

http://www.alaska.edu/uajourney/presidents/1921-1949-charles-bunnell/

1921-1949 Charles Bunnell: Fitting Tribute to a Great Alaskan, An Editorial

Future history undoubtedly will record that completion of the beautiful new Bunnell building on the University of Alaska campus marks one of the most significant forward steps in the growth of the university. This new building, with facilities and architectural aspects as fine as any university structure in the country, is a fitting tribute to a man rightfully known as "the father of the university," Dr. Charles E. Bunnell.

In 1921, Dr. Bunnell was named president of the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines, the name by which our university was then known. When school opened on Sept. 18, 1922, there were a total of six students. Today enrollment is close to the 1,000 mark and continuing to grow.

Dr. Bunnell was a man of vision who backed his dreams of building a great university in Alaska with faith and hard work. He came to Alaska in 1900 as a teacher after graduating summa cum laude and earning his masters degree in law from Bucknell University.

He later passed the Alaska bar and became a practicing attorney in Valdez. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson appointed him U.S. District Judge of the Fourth Division. At 37, he was the youngest man ever to be appointed to such a high judicial position in Alaska.

Dr. Bunnell held the position of president of the University from 1921 until 1949, when he resigned to become president emeritus. Dr. Bunnell's motto was "courage and fidelity." He worked courageously to build the university against a multitude of obstacles which beset him in those early days. He was dedicated to this task and faithful to his objectives as long as he lived. Shortly after his retirement, he told a friend: "There were many rough times -but I wouldn't have changed anything, even if I could have. It has been a rich and challenging life for me."

Dr. Bunnell took a keen interest in the welfare of university students and followed with interest their destinies beyond school, in their chosen fields and careers. To all university students he was known as a friend and councillor, a man of humanity, kindness and wisdom. He died in 1957. In the magnificent new Bunnell Memorial Building, the name, memory and works of Dr. Charles E. Bunnell will be kept alive. There could be no finer monument to a great Alaskan.

Terris Moore succeeded Dr. Bunnell in 1949.

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From the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, from Monday, Nov. 5, 1956:

Dr. Bunnell's work cited

Tributes to the late Dr. Charles E. Bunnell began arriving here today from other parts of the territory and the United States. Funeral services for Doctor Bunnell, president emeritus of the University of Alaska, are scheduled tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. in the university gymnasium.

In a telegram from Washington, DC, former Gov. Ernest N. Gruening credited the late education leader for keeping alive the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines, forerunner of the University of Alaska. He referred to the institution today as a "citadel of the spirit which will ever memorialize the life-long dedication" of the former president.

The Rev. Richard T. Lambert, rector of the St. Matthew's Episcopal church, will conduct the funeral services tomorrow. Brief addresses will be given by John Boswell, representing the university alumni; Ted Loftus, representing the Pioneers of Alaska, Al Polet, on behalf of the Elks Lodge, and Mrs. Donald Eyinck, as a member of the board of regents. Doctor Ernest N. Patty, president of the university, will deliver the eulogy.

University Chorus

The university chorus under the direction of Miss Lorraine Donahue will sing.

Doctor Bunnell's body is due to arrive here tomorrow morning from Burlingame, Calif. On the same plane will be his daughter, Miss Jean Bunnell, with whom he had been staying during an illness of more than a month.

The text of Governor Gruening's telegram, which arrived here today read:

Enduring Monument

"Charles Ernest Bunnell has left an enduring monument - the University of Alaska.

"While to James Wickersham, probably Alaska's foremost citizen in the first quarter of this century, principally belongs the credit of establishing the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines, which later became the University of Alaska, it was Charlie Bunnell who kept it alive through the quarter century of his presidency.

"That was not an easy task.

"for years, the federal grants to which a land-grant college was entitled were withheld by Congress or belatedly doled out in drastically reduced amounts - one of the numerous discriminations which Alaska has suffered as a territory. In Alaska, too, there was many years a widespread lack of enthusiasm for the University. The view that it was an unnecessary luxury was reflected in successive Alaska legislatures with the expressions that it would be 'cheaper' to send those who wanted a college education 'outside'.

"In consequence, for many years, the legislative appropriations were inexcusably niggardly, and the invariably modest and minimal request of President Bunnell and of the board of regents denied or pared down action at times, surprising as it may seem, actually supported by the Fourth division delegation.

Great Goal

"Dr. Bunnell would often return from a legislative session, his 'head bloody but unbowed,' his spirit unflagging, his determination to achieve that great goal of his, an institution of higher learning for the boys and girls of Alaska, undiminished. It was then Dr. Bunnell further resolved that no youngster who wanted such an education and was willing to work his way, should be denied that opportunity.

"How he helped many of these boys and girls through the university would constitute a moving narrative. It should be compiled from its beneficiaries as a part of the history of the university and of Alaska.

"There was much else that Charlie Bunnell did unostentatiously that merits permanent recording. So the University of Alaska is today a living, growing plant, but no less important a citadel of the spirit, which will ever memorialize the life-long dedication of Charlie Bunnell.

"Let us be thankful that he lived to see a complete change of attitude toward the University by the people of Alaska and their legislative representatives; and that he finally saw his beloved university the scene of the most important chapter of Alaska's history of self-expression and self-determination to date, the Constitutional Convention. That was a fitting God-speed to a life that embodied and materialized the convention that education and democracy are one and inseparable." - Ernest Gruening.

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From the Daily Sitka Sentinel of Thursday, Nov. 1, 1956

Dr. Bunnell dies

Fairbanks (AP) - One of Alaska's sole surviving "grand old men of higher education," Dr. Charles E. Bunnell, died this morning in Burlingame, California, after an illness of several months. He was 76 years old.

Dr. Bunnell, president emeritus of the University of Alaska, left his small campus home here more than a month ago for Burlingame, home of his only daughter, Miss Jean Bunnell.

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From Excerpts from Marin Sciots' Newsletters 1928-1932

http://millvalleymasons.com/marin_sciots.htm

"To Erect Memorial to Noted Aviator Fairbanks Alaska - The first donation of $1,000 toward the erection of a permanent memorial in honor of Carl Ben Eielson, aviator, who lost his life in the Arctic last year [1929] while attempting to rescue the crew from an icebound ship, has been made by Charles Bunnell, member of the Masonic fraternity and president of the college in this city. The proposed structure will be erected on the campus of the school, and be known as the Carl Ben Eielson Memorial Building of Aeronautical Engineering (Ben M. Angel notes: the planned design for the building was much more extensive than the end result, according to blueprints that were once on file at the UAF Physical Plant, today it's just known as Eielson Hall, one of the administrative buildings at the UAF campus). The Dorman Baker Post No. 11, American Legion, has been asked to take charge of the entire project. Eielson's body was found about three months after his death near the wreckage of his plane and he was buried in Hatton, N.D. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity, having been raised in Garfield Lodge No. 105, Hatton, in 1921. " Marin Sciots Monthly BolOgnA, Vol. IV, No. 1, October 1930.

Member of Tanana Lodge No. 162, F&AM Grand Lodge of Washington (today, No. 3, F&AM Grand Lodge of Alaska).