Wessell, Nils Yngve

Dates

• Existence: 1910-04-13 -- 2003-03-03 - 2003-03-03

Biography

Abstract:

Nils Yngve Wessell (1914-2007) was the eighth president of Tufts College, serving from 1953-1966.

Nils Yngve Wessell (1914-2007) was born in Warren, Pennsylvania, on April 14, 1914. to Nils Johan Wessell and Esther Walquist Wessell, a Congregationalist minister and nurse, respectively.

He earned a bachelor's of science degree from Lafeyette College in 1934, a master of science from Brown University in 1935, and his Ph. D. from the University of Rochester in 1938. He was awarded honorary degrees from Lafeyette College, Lesley College, Boston University, Boston College, Northeastern University, Brown University, and Brandeis University.

His professional career began as the resident psychologist at the Bradley Home in Providence, Rhode Island, from 1936 to 1937. From 1938 to 1939, he served as the director of the Mobile Child Guidance Center at the University of Michigan. He was a professor of psychology at Tufts University from 1939 to 1947. He was a lecturer in psychology at Harvard University in 1943. Wessell served as the Dean of Liberal Arts at Tufts from 1939 to 1953. From 1951 to 1953, he was the vice president. On January 1, 1953 he became acting president and in October of that year he became president.,/p>

He resigned in 1966, citing his belief that the office should change every 10 to 15 years. From 1965 to 1968 he served as president of the Institute for Educational Development and from 1968 to 1979, Wessell was president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Under Wessell's presidency, Tufts College was renamed Tufts University in 1955. He oversaw the physical expansion of the university's facilities: New dormitories, biology and chemistry laboratories, and Wessell Library--the new library building housing the Eaton Library holdings and named for Wessell--and an engineering building were erected.

In 1938, Wessell married Marian Sigler and they had two children a son and daughter. Sigler died in 1997.

Found in 72 Collections and/or Records: