John Davidson Letcher (died 1938) was an American academic and an acting president of Oregon State University. He served as the acting president for 4 months in 1892, upon the death of the second president Benjamin Lee Arnold.
Oregon State University (OSU) is a public research university in Corvallis, Oregon. The university offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It is also the largest university in the state, with a total enrollment exceeding 28,000. More than 230,000 students have graduated from OSU since its founding. The Carnegie Foundation designates Oregon State University as a "Community Engagement" university and classifies it as a doctoral university with a status of "Highest research activity".
Benjamin Lee Arnold was an American academic and the second president of Oregon State University.
As a son of Virginia's Confederate governor John Letcher, John Davidson Letcher was born in Virginia and attended Virginia Military Institute, where he obtained a degree in civil engineering. With jobs in the field, he also taught mathematics in several colleges. It was in 1888 that he became a professor at Oregon State University (then "State Agricultural College of the State of Oregon") in Corvallis, Oregon, as the Professor both of Mathematics and Engineering and of Military Science and Tactics.
John Letcher was an American lawyer, journalist, and politician. He served as a Representative in the United States Congress, was the 34th Governor of Virginia during the American Civil War, and later served in the Virginia General Assembly. He was also active on the Board of Visitors of Virginia Military Institute.
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States located between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" due to its status as the first English colonial possession established in mainland North America and "Mother of Presidents" because eight U.S. presidents were born there, more than any other state. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, which provide habitat for much of its flora and fauna. The capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond; Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealth's estimated population as of 2018 is over 8.5 million.
Founded 11 November 1839 in Lexington, Virginia, the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is the oldest state-supported military college and the first public Senior Military College in the United States. In keeping with its founding principles and unlike any other Senior Military College in the United States, VMI enrolls cadets only and awards baccalaureate degrees exclusively. VMI offers its students, all of whom are cadets, strict military discipline combined with a physically and academically demanding environment. The Institute grants degrees in 14 disciplines in engineering, the sciences and liberal arts, and all VMI students are required to participate in one of the four ROTC programs.
After OSU's third president Benjamin Lee Arnold suddenly died in January 1892, Letcher was elected unanimously by the Board of Regents as the acting president of the college. His presidency lasted until early June of the year, when John M. Bloss became the third permanent president of OSU. Letcher left the school in 1894 and then served as a mathematics professor of the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon until 1896. He returned to Virginia in 1896.
John McKnight Bloss was an American Civil War soldier who had an influence on the Battle of Antietam and was later President of Oregon Agricultural College from 1892 until 1896.
The University of Oregon is a public flagship research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution's 295-acre campus is along the Willamette River. Since July 2014, UO has been governed by the Board of Trustees of the University of Oregon. The university has a Carnegie Classification of "highest research activity" and has 19 research centers and institutes. UO was admitted to the Association of American Universities in 1969.
Eugene is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is at the southern end of the verdant Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette Rivers, about 50 miles (80 km) east of the Oregon Coast.
