Frederick L. Hovde

Frederick Lawson Hovde (1908-1983) was an American chemical engineer, researcher, educator and president of Purdue University.

Born in Erie, Pennsylvania, Hovde received his Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota, where he played on the football team. Elected to a Rhodes Scholarship, he spent three years at Oxford University where he received two degrees in chemistry. While at Oxford, he was a member of the varsity rugby football team and in 1931 he became the third American in history to win his Oxford blue in the annual Oxford-Cambridge rugby union match.

Returning to the United States in 1932, Hovde was appointed Assistant Director of the newly established General College of the University of Minnesota. In 1936, he went to the University of Rochester in New York, serving as Assistant to the President and Lecturer in Chemistry.

In 1941, following the outbreak of World War II, Hovde joined the newly established National Defense Research Committee, which later became a part of the war-time Office of Scientific Research and Development. His first assignment was as head of the London Mission of the OSRD, an opportunity which he took to obtain a Master’s degree from Oxford University. In 1942, he returned to the National Defense Research Committee as Executive Assistant to James Bryant Conant, its chairman. In 1943, Hovde was made Chief of Rocket Ordnance Research, of the National Defense Research Committee.

In January 1946, he began his tenure as President of Purdue University, a position which he held until his retirement in 1971.

During the time of Hovde's presidency, over 80,000 men and women graduated from the university. Enrollment at Purdue more than quadrupled from 5,628 to 25,582 students. Its annual budget increased from $12.7 million to $136 million.

It was also during this time that Purdue established the schools of industrial engineering, materials engineering, technology, and veterinary medicine.

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