William Penn Brooks
| William Penn Brooks | |
|---|---|
William P. Brooks, circa 1905.
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| President of the Sapporo Agricultural College (now Hokkaido University) | |
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In office 1880 – 1883, 1886 – 1887 |
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| President of the Massachusetts Agricultural College (now the University of Massachusetts Amherst) | |
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In office 1905–1906 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
November 19, 1851 Scituate, Massachusetts, United States |
| Died | March 8, 1938 (aged 86) Amherst, Massachusetts, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse(s) | Eva Bancroft Hall (1882-1924) Grace L. Holden (1927-1938) |
| Alma mater | Massachusetts Agricultural College |
| Occupation | Agronomist, botanist, professor of agriculture |
| Signature |  |
William Penn Brooks (November 19, 1851 – March 8, 1938) was an American agricultural scientist, who worked as a foreign advisor in Meiji period Japan during the colonization project for Hokkaidō. He was the eighth president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College. Brooks is remembered as one of six Founders of Phi Sigma Kappa Fraternity in 1873.
Brooks was born in South Scituate, Massachusetts, United States to Nathaniel Brooks and Rebecca Partridge (Cushing), the tenth of a family of eleven children, and born when his father was well past fifty. His father's ancestors came to North America in 1635, and his mother's belonged to the Cushings of England. He had studied in the public schools, at Assinippi Institute and at the Hanover Academy. He taught school in Hanover and Rockland, then entered college at the beginning of the third term of his freshman year.
Brooks' collegiate activities are notable because of his role in founding Phi Sigma Kappa Fraternity along with five fellow students. While at "Aggie," Brooks was a member of the Washington Irving Literary Society, a popular pastime among the undergraduates. He was a member of the Gymnastic Association, held the military rank of captain in the College's Battalion, and was an editor of the 1875 version of the college yearbook. His peers honored Brooks by election as permanent historian of the class. He was valedictorian of the Massachusetts Agricultural College class of 1875, where he had specialized in agricultural chemistry. Yet among all these, it was his role as a Founder of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity in his Sophomore year by which his name is best remembered today.
After a year of graduate study, Brooks was hired as a teacher for Sapporo Agricultural College (SAC), in Japan, whose head teacher at that time was Brooks' former professor, William Smith Clark. Brooks arrived in Sapporo in January 1877, shortly before Clark left the school and only a few months before the Japanese government crushed the Satsuma rebellion, the last opposition to its policy of modernization.
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