George Tayloe Winston
| George T. Winston | |
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Winston pictured in The Agromeck 1903, North Carolina State yearbook
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| President of the University of North Carolina |
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In office 1891–1896 |
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| Preceded by | Kemp Plummer Battle |
| Succeeded by | Edwin Alderman |
| Chancellor of North Carolina State University |
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In office 1899–1908 |
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| President of the University of Texas at Austin |
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In office 1896–1899 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
October 12, 1852 Windsor, North Carolina |
| Died | August 26, 1932 (aged 79) Durham, North Carolina |
| Spouse(s) | Caroline S. Taylor |
| Alma mater |
University of North Carolina United States Naval Academy Cornell University |
| Profession | Educator |
George Tayloe Winston (October 12, 1852 – August 26, 1932) was an American educator and university administrator.
Winston was born at Windsor, North Carolina, to Patrick Henry Winston and Martha Elizabeth Byrd, and the brother of Francis D. Winston. Winston entered the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at the age of thirteen, where he was a member of the Chi Phi Fraternity and the Philanthropic Society. He then studied at the United States Naval Academy from 1868 to 1870, standing at the head of his class of seventy. He could not overcome violent nausea at sea and resigned. In 1870 he went to Cornell University, where he received a bachelor's in literature in 1874 and won membership in Phi Beta Kappa. Later honorary degrees included an A.M. from Davidson College in 1877 and LL.D. degrees from both Duke University and the University of North Carolina in 1911.
When the University of North Carolina was reopened after the Civil War, Winston, although only twenty-three years old, was elected adjunct professor of Latin and German. Promoted to professor the next year, he taught Latin and German and served as secretary of the faculty until 1891, when he was elected president of the university at the age of thirty-nine. He went to work with great energy and ability to make the state conscious of the university. He had a difficult task for North Carolina was still miserably poor from the effects of the war, but in five years the university's income was doubled, and its enrollment was almost tripled.
Winston was invited to deliver the commencement address at the University of Texas at Austin in June 1896. Discussing the influence of universities and public schools on national life and character, he spoke so effectively that the board of regents shortly elected him the university's first regular president. Leslie Waggener had been president ad interim. Winston entered on his work in Texas with the same vigor that he had shown in North Carolina. He made speeches, wrote articles, attended conventions, and labored with all classes of people to make them look upon the university as their own. The curriculum was revised, able instructors were brought to the faculty, the University Record was inaugurated, B. Hall and the Main Building were enlarged, but Winston was unhappy over slowness in improvements and accepted the presidency of the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in 1899.
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