WYLIE, ANDREW: 1789-1851.
" Andrew Wylie (Apr. 12, 1789-Nov. 11, 1851), educator, first president of Indiana University, was born at Washington, Pa., the son of Adam Wylie who emigrated from Antrim, Ireland. about 1776 and became a farmer in Fayette County, Pa. He was educated at home and in local schools until the age of fifteen, when he entered Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pa., supporting himself by tutoring and odd jobs until his graduation, with first honors, in 1810. For the next two years he was a tutor and at twenty-three succeeded to the principalship of the college. This office he ably administered for four years, resigning only as the result of dissatisfaction over his approval of plans for the consolidation of Jefferson College with Washington College, Washington, Pa. Soon after his resignation, April, 1816, he was named president of Washington College. He resigned, Dec. 9, 1828, to become the first president of Indiana College, which had been established by act of legislature, Jan. 24, 1828, as successor to the Indiana Seminary at Bloomington. He held this office until his death. When Wylie assumed office the faculty consisted of himself (as professor of moral and mental philosophy, political economy, and polite literature), two instructors, and sixty students. In 1838 the college became Indiana University and in 1842 a school of law was opened. Wylie's work as an educator was distinguished by the introduction of a system of study called 'specialization by rotation,' in which the student devoted himself to one subject at a time, mastering it before going to the next. His administration was marked by a slow but steady growth.
"In early life Wylie embraced the tenets of Presbyterianism, was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Ohio , Oct. 12, 1812, and was pastor of a church at Millers Run, Pa., for several years after 1813. But the Presbyterian doctrine became unsatisfactory to him because of its extreme 'sectarianism,' and in 1841 he united with the Protestant Episcopal Church. In December he was ordained deacon and in May 1842 priest. He was described as 'tolerant and patient to a fault of everything but meanness and duplicity,' for the most part affable but occasionally brusque in manner … He was married in May 1813 to Margaret Ritchie, who survived him …"
Condensed from P. D. J., Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. XX.
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Indianapolis, 1829.
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… January 3, 1837. Indianapolis,
1837.
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Senior Class on the Sabbath Previous to Commencement, … Indiana
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Moral Faculties Delivered before the
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Education Convention of Indiana, December 26, 1837.
Indianapolis, 1838.
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Wabash College … July 10, 1838. Published by the Society.
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University … September 25, 1839. Bloomington,
Ind., 1839.
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Nichols. Bloomington, Ind., 1839.
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Ind., 1840.
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Bloomington, 1840.
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University, at the Late Commencement, September, 1841.
Bloomington, Ind., 1841.
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Commencement, 1843. Bloomington, Ind., 1843.
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University, at the Late Commencement, September, 1845.
Bloomington, Ind., 1845.
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Indiana University. Bloomington, Ind., 1846.
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Pupils and Teachers of St. Mary's Seminary, Indianapolis
… Indianapolis, 1846.
- Baccalaureate, Addressed to the Senior Class of Indiana
University, at the Late Commencement, September, 1847.
Bloomington, Ind., 1847.
- Baccalaureate, Addressed to the Senior Class…
September, 1848. Bloomington, Ind., 1848.
- Baccalaureate, Addressed to the Senior Class of Indiana
University, at the Late Commencement, August, 1850.
Bloomington, Ind., 1850.
- Justice: a Discourse to the Students of the Law Department of
the Indiana University … February 26, 1850.
Bloomington, Ind., 1850.
- The Individual: a Baccalaureate Delivered to the Class of
Seniors at the Commencement of the Indiana University, Aug. 13,
1851. Indianapolis, 1851.
