Charles Middleton was officially installed last week as President of Roosevelt University in Chicago, after serving in the capacity for several months. He thus became the first out gay man to be appointed president of a large U.S. university.
Middleton, 58, was most recently second in command at the 135,000-student University System of Maryland, the nation’s 12th largest university system.
Middleton, a British history scholar and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society in Britain, was appointed the fifth president of Roosevelt University, on April 2, 2002.
In addition to serving as the president of Roosevelt, Dr. Middleton is a professor of history at the University.
From 1996 until 1999, Dr. Middleton was provost and vice president of academic affairs at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
Prior to joining Bowling Green, Middleton was dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado in Boulder for eight years. He was responsible for 750 faculty members, 35 departments and a $100 million budget. During his tenure as dean, he spearheaded the college’s efforts in a capital campaign, raising $42 million, while creating and funding recruitment programs for talented minority students.
Dr. Middleton has written more than 60 papers, essays and reviews on British history, American higher education and the history of sport in the 20th Century. He is the author of the 1977 book The Administration of British Foreign Policy, 1782-1846.
A magna cum laude graduate with honors in history from Florida State University, Dr. Middleton earned his M.A. and Ph.D. from Duke University. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and holds life memberships in the North American Conference on British Studies, Southern Conference on British Studies, American Historical Association Committee on Gay and Lesbian History and Phi Kappa Phi.
Following are excerpts from Middleton’s Presidential Installation Address March 10.
‘This ceremony marks the culmination of a period of celebration of Roosevelt University’s successes. … All my family is here for this occasion and it has been wonderful to spend time with them over the past few days. They know how much I cherish each and every one of them. … Allow me to introduce four extra special people:
‘John [Geary’s] parents, Kenneth and Josephine Geary, who traveled from California and who have been unfailingly kind to me ever since we met nearly a quarter a century ago;
‘My mother, Dorothy, who really is from Kansas! Mom came here from our family home in Georgia to see how it has finally turned out after 58 years of watching me grow up! All I can tell you, Mom, is to keep watching as I’m still a work in progress; and My life partner, John Geary.
‘What a privilege it is to be standing here on the stage of the Auditorium Theatre—a special place by any definition of the word ‘special.’ It is awe inspiring to know that this building, designed by two of the greatest architects of all time, Louis Sullivan [who was gay] and Dankmar Adler, is as impressive and functional today as it was in 1889 when it opened and when its electric lights and air conditioning were novel ideas.
‘This is the most magnificent university-owned theatre in the world, and a treasure that Roosevelt University will always preserve and protect.
‘In this theatre Baryshnikov danced, Marian Anderson sang, Sarah Bernhardt acted, and Theodore Roosevelt was nominated for president.
‘More importantly, it’s where we hold our commencements and celebrate the accomplishments of those who earn their degrees at Roosevelt University. … Since the University’s founding in 1945, more than 60,000 women and men have become alumni. More will do so in the future as we accelerate graduation rates through enhanced retention and student success.
‘Our graduates have gone on to successful careers in business, law, politics, performing arts, education, community service, advertising and many other areas. And some, like General Jacques Paul Klein, Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and Coordinator of the United Nations Operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, are currently serving our country and working to maintain international peace. Everyday these alumni serve as a reminder of the University’s global reach.
‘Roosevelt University’s founding was an event that attracted international attention because courageous women and men stood tall for a set of principles they believed in. Following several years of debate, in April of 1945, Edward J. Sparling, President of Chicago’s Central YMCA College, wrote a letter to his board chairman in which he said, in part: ‘During the past year, the college board took action seeking to limit academic freedom, and members of the board, individually, tried limiting [the enrollment of] certain minority groups, particularly Negroes. Realizing that the college cannot further develop under these auspices, and [that] under these circumstances can no longer remain true to its pledge of academic freedom and equal educational opportunities for all, and being personally unwilling to compromise on these principles, I hereby submit my resignation as President … under protest.’
‘Remarkably, 98% of the faculty and students stood behind their president and left the YMCA College to form a new college, originally to be named after Thomas Jefferson. However, as Anne Roosevelt has pointed out, when Franklin Roosevelt died … the school was renamed Roosevelt College.
‘ … Our challenge is to see to it that Roosevelt is always on everybody’s list of institutions known for the quality of higher education available in Chicago—that we are as distinguished in that regard as other universities here are leading examples of nationally prominent research universities.’