Dr. William Le Roy Broun , compiled by Thomas L. Broun , assisted by Bessie Lee Broun and Sally F. Ordway. (New York: The Neale Publishing Company, 1912. Pp. 247.)

William Le Roy Broun, was the first professor of mathematics in the University of Texas, and was one of the eight distinguished men who formed the first faculty of the University, 1883-84. Upon the resignation of Professor Mallet, the first Chairman of the Faculty (the University had no president until 1896), Professor Broun was elected Chairman, but owing to the death of his wife and because of friends and relatives in Alabama, he resigned to become, as the event proved, the highly successful president of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute (A. and M. College) from 1884 to his death in 1902. This account of him compiled by three of his children is therefore of interest to Texans, particularly to the older alumni and ex-students of the University.

This compilation contains a brief summary of Dr. Broun's life, a number of letters and memoranda of his concerning the lives of his family and of himself, some seventy pages of letters and articles by friends written before and after his death, and about one hundred and forty pages of extracts from his numerous addresses on various subjects.

The volume reveals Dr. Broun as a wise and gentle, witty and friendly man who was one of the South's great educators during the period between the War and 1900. Like nearly all Southerners of his generation he served through the war, which began when he was 34 years of age. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the ordnance department, and like Lee, retired from the army to become a teacher. He was a Master of Arts of the University of Virginia and was professor of natural philosophy in the University of Georgia, 1866-72; president of the Georgia A. and M. 1872-75; professor of Mathematics, Vanderbilt, 1875-82. Alabama Polytechnic, against great difficulties, he made into a worthy institution. Dr. Mallet and Dr. Humphreys each accord him much weight in the formative policies of the infant University of Texas. Among other things he successfully opposed the giving of “honors” upon competition, and he was largely concerned in drawing up the first requirements for the various degrees. Previously Dr. Broun had been a member of the early Vanderbilt University faculty and had performed similar services for that institution. Professor Joynes of South Carolina College, after an acquaintance of fifty years describes him as “the foremost representative ... of his generation of the Southern gentleman, scholar and teacher,” and his last pastor writes that he believed in the “Patriotism of Efficiency.”

H. Y. B.

How to cite:
"Dr. William Le Roy Broun", Volume 017, Number 1, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, Page 96 - 97. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v017/n1/review_26.html
[Accessed Sun Nov 23 2:56:51 CST 2008]