Victor Pierpont Morris

Victor P. Morris
University of Oregon -- professor, business school dean, and acting president; Northwest Christian College -- twice interim president, Eugene, Oregon
Born	November 24, 1891 Sioux City, Iowa, USA
Died	June 21, 1974 Eugene, Oregon, USA
Education	BA and MA University of Oregon PhD Columbia University
Occupation	Professor, Dean, President, Minister

Dr. Victor P. Morris was a highly respected University of Oregon (UO) professor (1926 to 1959), dean (1936 to 1957), and interim president (1953 to 1954). In addition, he served twice as acting president of Northwest Christian College (NCC) (1934 to 1936 and 1943 to 1944) as well as serving on the NCC Board of Trustees (1936 to 1961), over 20 years as Chair. NCC is now known as Northwest Christian University.

Dr. Morris was born in Sioux City, Iowa on November 24, 1891 but moved to Oregon in 1905. His father, James M. Morris, was a regional minister in the Christian Church and a faculty member at Eugene Divinity School (precursor to Northwest Christian University) for several years. Dr. Morris was married to Grace Parker of Monmouth, Oregon; they celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary a week before he died.

His academic background included Bachelor of Arts (BA, 1915) and Master of Arts (MA, 1920) degrees from the University of Oregon and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, 1930) in economics from Columbia University in New York City. He authored a book titled Oregon’s Experience with Minimum Wage Legislation, which was published in 1930 by Columbia University Press in New York.

In his eulogy at Dr. Morris’ funeral, UO President Robert D. Clark said “Above all else he was a teacher.” Dr. Morris began teaching at the UO in 1926. Prior to that he taught in several Oregon high schools (1920 to 1922), at Grinnell College in Iowa (1922 to 1924), and at Oregon State College in Corvallis (1924 to 1926). At UO, he taught a course in economic principles, even when he was Dean of the College of Business. This course was remembered by many of his students as making economics understandable. After serving as Dean, the longest of any in the College's history, he returned to the classroom, holding the College's first endowed chair as the H.T. Miner Professor of Business, before retiring.

While serving on the NCC Board of Trustees, Dr. Morris twice stepped in to serve as Acting President, from 1934 to 1936 and again from 1943 to 1944. While he was on the board from 1934 to 1961 he served as Chair of the Board from 1934 to 1936 and again from 1942 to 1961. He oversaw the recovery of the college from its financial difficulties during the Great Depression. In addition, he shepherded the college through World War II. He worked with two of NCC's presidents: Kendall E. Burke (1936 to 1943) and Ross J. Griffeth (1944 to 1965). During his time at NCC, a new heating plant was installed in 1947, the Burke Hall dormitory was built in 1951, and the Library Building was constructed in 1957. Also during this time, ten buildings were removed or demolished. In addition, 12 properties were purchased.