William Lowe Bryan

William Lowe Bryan (November 11, 1860 – November 21, 1955) was the 10th president of Indiana University, serving from 1902 to 1937.

Career After graduating with his undergraduate degree in 1884, Bryan was appointed English instructor in the Preparatory Department at Indiana University. Within a few months, he was invited to join the faculty of the Greek Department. In 1885, he was named Associate Professor of Philosophy. When he returned from studying at the University of Berlin, Bryan was named full professor and granted money to conduct research on human reaction times. In January 1888, he opened the Indiana University Psychological Laboratory. Bryan went on to become a leader in the movement for the scientific study of children. In 1892, Bryan helped organize the American Psychological Association and became one of its charter members. The city's waterworks existing in the early 20th century being utterly inadequate, Bryan commissioned a team of IU researchers, led by the geologist E.R. Cumings, to investigate the campus' water situation. On March 8, 1910, the Cumings commission recommended a site for the new reservoir, a couple miles northeast of the campus; the reservoir, which became known as the University Lake, was constructed in 1910–1914. Although no longer used for water supply, the reservoir remains, and is the centerpiece of Indiana University's Research and Teaching Preserve (Griffy Woods).

Marriage Bryan married Charlotte Lowe in July 1889. They took one another's last names, so thereafter Bryan was known as William Lowe Bryan. Charlotte had a Bachelor's degree in Greek and continued to study on her own after their marriage. Bryan and Charlotte collaborated on two volumes of selections from Plato for teachers. Charlotte was often ill throughout her life, and Bryan often turned down social invitations so he could stay with his wife. She died in 1948. He was buried next to his wife at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.

Books Studies in Platoʼs Republic, 1898 On the psychology of learning a life occupation, 1941 The measured and the not-yet-measured, 1947