Office of the President, Thomas Hedley Reynolds records

Thomas Hedley Reynolds was inaugurated as the fifth President of Bates College in 1967. He graduated from Williams College in 1942, afterwards attending Office Candidate School and enlisting in the United States Army. He served for two and a half years as a tank commander in North Africa and Italy and was decorated by both the United States and France.

After the war, Reynolds returned to school in New York City, where he worked for his doctorate at Columbia University, while simultaneously teaching at Hunter College. From 1948 to 1949 he worked as a historian for the American Red Cross. In 1949 he accepted a position in the history department at Middlebury College, becoming head of the department and Dean of Men in 1957, and Dean of the College in 1964.

Reynolds came to Bates in 1967 and remained until his retirement in 1989. Over these twenty-two years, Bates College grew immeasurably on many levels, and under his leadership the College was transformed into essentially the institution it is today. During his tenure, the College's buildings and resources underwent a tremendous expansion. During Reynolds' time, the Ladd Library, Merrill Gymnasium, Olin Arts Center, Muskie Archives, and the Lindholm House (admissions) were created, in addition to a significant expansion of Carnegie Science Hall.

Under Reynolds, student enrollment increased from 1,000 to 1,500, while the faculty grew from 61 to 150. The College's endowment rose from $8 million to over $50 million, and the alumni annual giving rate jumped from $100,000 to $1 million. Under his guidance, the Freshman Seminar Program and Freshman Centers were established, as well as the first endowed professorship, the Charles Franklin Phillips Professorship in Economics. When Reynolds retired in 1989, Bates had become one of the premier liberal arts colleges in the nation.