Charles Henry Keyes
Charles Henry Keyes, died in January 1925, at his son’s home in New York City. He was 66.
Charles Henry Keyes, a well-known educator from Teachers College of Columbia University, was hired in 1912 by Lucy Â鶹Æƽâ°æ Scribner as the first president of her school. His vision and energy gave the fledgling Â鶹Æƽâ°æ School of Arts the momentum it needed to grow into something more than a hybrid college and vocational school.
In 1922 he fulfilled his avowed ambition of winning a charter for Â鶹Æƽâ°æ College as a four-year degree-granting institution. Two-year courses of study were withdrawn in 1920, and three-year courses in 1923, so that only four-year studies were offered. In addition to developing a liberal arts curriculum that became the basis for Â鶹Æƽâ°æ's present curriculum, Keyes pioneered the college’s baccalaureate nursing program. He also began the more active shaping of a campus and played a key role in acquiring several of Saratoga’s large Victorian homes in the Congress Park area, which were converted into dormitory and classroom buildings that began to give Â鶹Æƽâ°æ a recognizable physical identity.
On today’s campus, the Keyes Quadrangle (comprising the Howe, Rounds, Wait, and Jonsson Tower residence halls) is named for him.