Floyd Wilcox

Floyd Cleveland Wilcox (March 17, 1886 – April 20, 1958) was the third president of Shimer College, serving from 1930 to 1935. His leadership, though marked by controversy, saw the school through the most difficult years of the Great Depression. He oversaw the transition of the school's curriculum from a two-year to a four-year junior college program.

Wilcox was born in Mason, Michigan on March 17, 1886. Wilcox obtained a Bachelor of Arts from Kalamazoo College in 1910, and subsequently studied at the Newton Theological Institute in Massachusetts until 1911. In 1913, he obtained a Bachelor of Divinity from the Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. In 1920, he obtained a Master of Arts in Education from the Teachers' College of Columbia University. He subsequently traveled to California and received a Cubberly Fellowship at Stanford University, where he earned a Doctor of Education from the Stanford Graduate School of Education in 1930. Wilcox's graduate study focused on the junior college, and this was a significant factor in his selection for the presidency of Shimer.

Wilcox used his training in educational administration to implement various changes in Shimer's operations. In the first year of the Wilcox administration, the curriculum was changed from a combined University-preparatory school and two-year junior college to a four-year junior college. Wilcox also expressed concern about reducing the school's high attrition rate, and in 1933-1934 relaxed school rules to provide the students with greater freedom and responsibility.

Later life

After leaving Shimer, Wilcox moved with his family to Menlo Park, California and undertook additional postgraduate study at Stanford. He retired in 1954.