Samuel P. Capen: University Man

Biography of Samuel Capen: Bureau of Education, 1914-1922

While at the Bureau of Education, Capen was asked to conduct numerous fact-gathering surveys on the administration of higher institutions. Very interested in this type of statistical data, Capen had previously surveyed universities and colleges on the methods for supervising university professors back in 1910 while still at Clark College. As Specialist in Higher Education, he surveyed a broad range of institutions and educational systems. Soon the Bureau became flooded with requests for Capen's statistical analyses derived from the surveys. Developing a reputation for being a clinical and objective advisor on the topic of educational reform, his methods for surveying became the standard in the industry.

In 1917 Capen was asked to serve as executive secretary of the recently formed Committee on Education established under the Council of National Defense. This new educational committee, formed at the onset of WWI, worked to coordinate the higher educational interests of the country to further various war-related projects. Capen's work at the Bureau of Education and on the Committee of Education formulated the policies that would eventually help to coalesce the country's higher educational associations.

In 1918 the American Council on Education (ACE) was established to unify the numerous educational associations and the nation's academic institutions for an improvement of higher education. Capen was named the first Director of the Council and was regarded as the "chief designing architect who not only built solidly upon the present but looked into the future... farther than he could see -- but only hope."

Because of his work at the Bureau of Education and the ACE, there were many universities around the country who courted Capen to lead their institutions and Samuel Capen could have had his pick of any of them. Then in early 1922, the Council of the University of Buffalo contacted him about their need for a Chancellor who could unify the University.