Andrew Fleming West

Andrew Fleming West (May 17, 1853 - December 27, 1943) was an American classicist and the first dean of Princeton University Graduate School. West was born in Allegheny, PA on May 17, 1853. He studied at Princeton University from 1870 to 1874. In his final year at Princeton, he founded the Princeton Glee Club. After graduation, he taught Latin at a high school in Cincinnati for six years. He then traveled to Europe for academic studies before taking up the position of director of the Morris Academy in Morristown, New Jersey. In 1883, West accepted the position of professor of Latin at Princeton University, where he served as professor of Latin Giger for forty-five years until his retirement in 1928. In December 1900, West was appointed the first dean of the recently founded High School at Princeton University. As dean, he played an important role in creating Princeton University Graduate College, a residential college for graduate students. After a series of setbacks and disagreements with Woodrow Wilson (President of Princeton University, 1902-1910) regarding the placement of the proposed graduation college, it finally became a reality with the death of Isaac S. Wyman in 1910, who bequeathed $ 800,000 for purposes founding a college graduate. A college graduate was dedicated on October 22, 1913. West was president of the American Philological Association in 1902. He received an honorary doctorate in literature (D.Litt.) From the University of Oxford in October 1902 in connection with the bicentennial of the Bodleian Library. Cast bronze statue of the West, made by R. Tate Mackenzie in 1928, is located on the territory of the Princeton University Graduate School.