James Alfred Perkins

James Alfred Perkins (October 11, 1911 – August 19, 1998) was an American academic administrator who was the seventh president of Cornell University, from 1963 to 1969.

Early life and education Perkins was born on October 11, 1911, in Philadelphia. He attended Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, and graduated with honors in 1934. At Swarthmore, Perkins joined the Delta Upsilon fraternity and played college football alongside his classmate, DU brother and future 1972 Nobel Prize laureate Christian B. Anfinsen.

In 1937, he received a doctorate in political science from Princeton University.

Career From 1937 to 1941, he was a faculty member at Princeton University. After service in the Office of Price Administration and the Foreign Economic Administration during World War II, he was appointed vice president of Swarthmore University in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, where he served from 1945 to 1950.

Organizational leadership and publications He was a member of the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education from 1967 to 1973,

Perkins' publications include The University in Transition (1966), He died in Burlington, Vermont, of complications after a fall while in the Adirondacks. of The Office, Andy Bernard mentions Perkins while conducting an admissions interview of his co-worker.