Ernest O. Holland

Ernest Otto Holland (February 4, 1874 – May 30, 1950) was an American academic, the superintendent of public schools for Louisville, Kentucky, and the fourth and longest-serving president of Washington State University, leading the institution from 1915 until 1945.

Early life and education

Ernest Otto Holland was born February 4, 1874, in Bennington, Switzerland County, Indiana, the son of Philip Calphy Holland and Ann Atlanta Chittenden Holland. Philip and Ann had three sons and a daughter. In 1891, the Holland family moved from southeast Indiana to Bloomington, Indiana, where Philip practiced medicine.

Ernest attended rural and town schools as a young man, graduating in 1890 from high school in Vevay, the county seat of Switzerland County. He was a student at Indiana University during 1891–1895, and earned a B.A. degree in English from IU in 1895. He was a member of the Lambda chapter of Sigma Chi fraternity there and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest academic honor society.

In 1911, Holland became superintendent of schools at Louisville, Kentucky, a position he held until 1915 when the Board of Regents selected him to be the fourth president of the State College of Washington, now called Washington State University. He succeeded Enoch A. Bryan who retired.