Dana P. Vaughan

Dana Prescott Vaughan (June 20, 1899 – March 21, 1983) was an American educator and academic administrator. He was the dean of art and architecture Cooper Union, the dean of Rhode Island School of Design, and director of the Trenton School of Industrial Arts.

Early life Vaughan was born on June 20, 1899 in Middleboro, Massachusetts. His parents were Laura G. (née Stickney) and Albert H. Vaughan. He then served in the United States Army during World War I.

Around 1920, he enrolled in the Philadelphia Museum School of Art and graduated in 1924. He was then an art instructor and the assistant principal at the Shady Hill Country Day School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1925 to 1927. He also taught at the University of Pennsylvania.

He was then dean of the School of Art and Architecture at Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. In 1948, he was the founding treasurer of the National Association of Schools of Design, representing Cooper Union. He was also a member of the Providence Art Club and the Progressive Education Association.

Honors Vaughan received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the Moore Institute in 1957. They had two sons: Dana P. Vaughan Jr. and Alden T. Vaughan His wife died in November 1948.

Vaughan was a trustee of the New York School for the Deaf and a board member of the Federal Hill House and the Institute for Trend Research. He was a member of Rotary International, and the Brown University War Information Committee.

In the 1940s, Vaughan restored a Revolutionary War era home in Concord, New Hampshire. In 1982, he purchased and renovated a cabin in Orford, New Hampshire, located on the Connecticut River. He also had a home in Clearwater, Florida.

Vaughan died from cancer on March 21, 1983, in Clearwater, Florida.