The Modern Research University

Daniel Coit Gilman is one of the Gilded Age's most important university presidents, and finally we have a book about his influence at Berkeley and Johns Hopkins universities and the Carnegie Institute. His biographer is a university president, too. Michael T. Benson, president of Carolina Coastal University joins the show to talk about Gilman and the start of modern universities in America.

Essential Reading:

Michael T. Benson, Daniel Coit Gilman and the Modern University (2023).

Recommended Reading:

John Thelin, A History of American Higher Education (2019, third edition).

Jonathan Cole, The Great American University: Its Rise to Preeminence, Its Indispensable National Role, Why It Must Be Protected (2012).

Hal Boyd and Michael Benson, "The Public University: Recalling Higher Education’s Democratic Purpose," NEA Journal (2015).

Daniel Coit Gilman’s inaugural speech (1876 at Johns Hopkins).