Presidents of UofL and Predecessor Institutions

Jefferson Seminary

(Chartered 1798, began operation 1813, ceased 1829)

• Mann Butler (1813-1816)
• William Tompkins (1816-1821 ?)
• Charles M. M'Crohan (1821-1825)
• Mann Butler & Francis E. Goddard (1826 - 1829 ?)

Louisville Collegiate Institute (1837 - 1840)

• Benjamin F. Farnsworth (1837-1838)
• John Hopkins Harney (1838-1840)

Louisville College (1840-1846)

• John Hopkins Harney (1840-1844)

Louisville Medical Institute (1837-1846)

• John Rowan (1837-1842)
• William Garvin (1842-1843)
• James Guthrie (1843-1846)

University of Louisville (1846- )

[merger of Louisville Medical Institute and Louisville College,
addition of law school]

• (1) Samuel Smith Nicholas (1846-1847)
• (2) James Guthrie (1847-1869)
• (3) Isaac Caldwell (1869-1886)
• (4) James Speed Pirtle (1886-1905)
• (5) Theodore L. Burnett (1905-1911)
• (6) David William Fairleigh (1911-1914)
• (7) Arthur Younger Ford (1914-1926)
• (8) George Colvin (1926-1928)
• (*) John Letcher Patterson (1928-1929) (acting)
• (9) Raymond Asa Kent (1929-1943)
• (10) Einar William Jacobsen (1943-1946)
• (*) Frederick William Stamm (1946-1947) (acting)
• (11) John Wilkinson Taylor (1947-1950)
• (*) Eli Huston Brown III (1950-1951) (acting)
• (12) Philip Grant Davidson (1951-1968)
• (13) Woodrow Mann Strickler (1968-1972)
• (*) William Ferdinand Ekstrom (1972-1973) (acting)
• (14) James Grier Miller (1973-1980)
• (*) William Ferdinand Ekstrom (1980-1981) (acting)
• (15) Donald C. Swain (1981-1995)
• (16) John W. Shumaker (1995-2002)
• (*) Carol Z. Garrison (2002) (acting)
• (17) James R. Ramsey (2002- )