Norman F. Coleman presidential records

Norman F. Coleman served as president of Reed College from 1925 to 1939. Coleman was born in Canada in 1874. He received a Bachelors from the University of Toronto in 1900 and a Masters from Harvard in 1906. He taught in Reed’s English Department from 1912 to 1920, and was inaugurated as Reed’s president in 1925. As president, Coleman helped to rewrite Reed’s faculty constitution. The constitution upheld academic freedom and granted the faculty a voice in the democratic governing of the college. During his presidency, the college library was built, and the endowment reached $450,000. Coleman retired from Reed in 1939. He also served as president of the Oregon Social Hygiene Society, the Portland Americanization Council, the Japan Society of Portland, and the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumberman. Coleman died on August 11, 1960. [Information from the “Presidents of Reed” page on Reed’s website.]