Rufus Halsey

Rufus Halsey was born in Bloomington Grove, New York in March 1856. He graduated from Williams College 1877 and became a teacher. He moved to Oshkosh in 1883 and served as the city’s high school principal. In 1892, he became the superintendent of Oshkosh’s Board of Education, a position he held for four years. After returning to New York, he was offered the position of President of the Oshkosh Normal School, a role he held from 1899 to 1907.

While President, Halsey established faculty committees that would assist both the administration and the student body. He also introduced the concept of student advisement, having each faculty member advise a group of twenty students each term. These personal relationships between the faculty and students promoted cooperation and student growth, as the faculty advisor offered not only academic guidance, but social and moral as well. Social life on campus blossomed, as the number of athletic, academic, and social organizations, for both men and women, increased during Halsey’s presidency. Students were allowed to organize formerly forbidden dances on campus. On October 6, 1906, after a game against Stevens Point, the Normal School held its first official dance. In 1907, the senior men’s basketball team challenged the Normal School faculty to a game. Halsey, an active participant in campus life, played center for the faculty team which lost by one basket.

Halsey supported the Normal School in its mission to produce professional educators, but he valued a liberal arts education as well. As a graduate of a liberal arts college, he encouraged flexibility in the programs of study, allowing students to pursue areas of personal academic interest. Greater academic specialization enhanced the instruction of secondary education which had often been left to the University of Wisconsin. Halsey also helped create classes in business and the industrial arts, two fields that expanded into the high school’s academics.

Halsey’s presidency unexpectedly ended on July 25, 1907, while he was on vacation in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Suffering from an accidental shooting and far from medical help in the remote area, Halsey succumbed to his injuries. The death of President Halsey shocked and saddened the campus and community.

President Rufus Halsey is memorialized on campus as the namesake of the Halsey Science Center, dedicated in 1964. The Halsey Memorial Scholarship was established in 1968.