A. Grant Evans

Arthur Grant Evans (September 9, 1858 – November 30, 1928) was the third president of University of Tulsa (then Henry Kendall College) and then the second president of the University of Oklahoma. (According to Pittman's article, Evans met Robert L.) Owen in the summer of 1884. Owen offered Evans a position at the Cherokee Male Seminary near Tahlequah, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory. The Mills article states that in 1887, he was ordained as a Presbyterian minister, and began pastoring at a church in Oswego, Kansas and later at churches in Pendleton, Oregon and Leadville, Colorado. Neither source mentions a connection to the Cherokee Male Seminary or Robert L. Owen, nor do they indicate a rationale for Evans showing up in Muskogee in time to either be appointed to Kendall College or to marry his wife.

Evans Hall anchors the southern end of the North Oval and is one of the oldest buildings on campus. Evans' tenure as university president was marked by some notable achievements, including the construction of the third administration building. That administration building built during his tenure, which is a classic example of the Collegiate Gothic architectural style of campus, was later renamed in Evans' honor. The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture called his reorganization of the university into colleges and schools as perhaps his most important accomplishment. After retiring, Evans once again became a pastor, this time in El Montecito Presbyterian Church in Santa Barbara, California. Evans remained there until he died on November 30, 1928, of a "stroke of apoplexy. "