Background
Virgil Hancher was born on September 4, 1896, in Rolfe, Iowa, United States; the son of Priscilla N. Hanlon Hancher and Melvin Park Hancher.
Ames, IA 50011, USA
In 1918 Hancher Virgil earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the State University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, United States.
1 Walton St, Oxford OX1 2HB, UK
Hancher Virgil earned another Bachelor of Arts degree from Worcester College in Oxford, United Kingdom, in 1922.
Oxford OX1 2JD, UK
In 1927 Virgil became a Master of Arts degree from Oxford University in Oxford, United Kingdom.
Iowa City, IA 52242, United States
In 1965 Virgil was a professor of law at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, United States.
Virgil Hancher was born on September 4, 1896, in Rolfe, Iowa, United States; the son of Priscilla N. Hanlon Hancher and Melvin Park Hancher.
In 1918 Hancher Virgil earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the State University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University in 1919. He earned another Bachelor of Arts degree from Worcester College in Oxford, United Kingdom, in 1922.
In 1924 Virgil received a Juris Doctor degree from the State University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. In 1927 he became a Master of Arts degree from Oxford University in Oxford, United Kingdom.
Hancher received honorary degrees from 13 colleges and universities, including such institutions as the University of Illinois, Northwestern University, University of California at Los Angeles, University of Florida, and Michigan State University.
Hancher was admitted to the bar in Iowa in 1924, and in Illinois in 1925. From 1927 until 1940 he was associated with a law firm in Chicago, where he specialized in corporation law. In 1940 he became the 13th president of the State University of Iowa, and served until his retirement in 1964. That year he was named an educational consultant for the Ford Foundation in India, where he died. Hancher was to have returned to the University of Iowa in 1965 as a professor of law. During his nearly quarter-century as president, Hancher worked closely to create harmony between the university and the community, and he often referred to the amicable town, gown relations in his annual State of the University addresses.
Hancher’s impact on the State University of Iowa was significant. During his tenure at the university, its enrollment increased from 6,667 to 14,480 students, and its physical plant required and achieved major improve-ments and expansion. Hancher organized the university’s academic calendar on a 12-month schedule. He was an eloquent spokesman for the university with the state legislature, and consistently won increased appropriations for capital construction and faculty salary increases.
Hancher held numerous positions of national and international importance. He was one of the men President Eisenhower appointed in 1954 to select the site of the U.S. Air Force Academy, and served on the academy’s first board of visitors. From 1957 to 1959 he served on the Ford Foundation Commission on Government and Higher Education. In 1959 he was appointed the U.S. delegate to the United Nations General Assembly. From 1956 to 1964 Hancher served on the Permanent Committee of the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise, a committee that prepared a history of the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a banquet address, Virgil once mentioned that people might long to live in a more attractive period of history, but still every age had its darker side. He thought the best period of human development to live in was at the dawn of a conscience, when people learned to ask whether something was the right thing to do, instead of whether they had the power to do it.
Quotations: In his State of the University address in February 1961, Hancher said, “Education is an investment in the future. Iowa can afford it. It affords good roads. It affords anything it wants. Of all that is good, Iowa can afford the best. But it may be required to make some hard and wise decisions in order to do so.”
Virgil Hancher was a member of Rotary International, a vestry member and senior warden of Trinity Episcopal Church, Iowa City, and a delegate to the 1963 Anglican Congress in Toronto, Ontario.
State Universities Association
1944 - 1946
National Association of State Universities
1953 - 1954
Association of Universities of the British Commonwealth
Harry S. Truman Library Institute
1960
American Council on Education
1954 - 1955
Midwestern Interstate Committee on Higher Education
1955 - 1960
Association of American Universities
1960 - 1961
Danforth Foundation Commission on Church Colleges and Universities
1962
Alumni Association
1938 - 1939
Quotes from others about the person
Among the many tributes paid to Virgil Hancher during his lifetime was the following: “An educational statesman is not simply versed in the principles of art and government of an educational institution nor is he simply one who shows unusual wisdom in treating or directing public matters. Over and beyond these two estimable qualities is the right discipline he imposes upon himself to push forward with zeal the high and broad objectives he sees so clearly...Virgil Hancher is such a man.”
Virgil Hancher married Susan Jane Cannon Hancher. They had two daughters, Mary Susan Hancher Hockmuth and Priscilla Hancher.