Elmer Ellis (July 27, 1901 – August 27, 1989) was an American educator and fourteenth president of the University of Missouri from 1955 to 1966, and first president of the University of Missouri System. He was instrumental in the expansion of the university to include the University of Missouri–Kansas City and University of Missouri–St. Louis.[1] Ellis Library was named in his honor.[2]
Elmer Ellis was born in Anamoose, North Dakota, to Thomas Ellis and Lillie Butterfield. He attended high school in Towner, North Dakota, graduating in the spring of 1920. During his sophomore year of high school he met Ruth Clapper, and by his senior year they were engaged to be married.[3]: 22 After working as a farmhand during the summer, he enrolled at Fargo College for the fall 1920 semester.[3]: 23 He spent one year at Fargo University, after which he began teaching two classes at a primary school in Bottineau County, North Dakota.[3]: 30 Ellis attended the University of North Dakota, where he earned his bachelor of arts in 1924 and his master of arts in 1925.[4] After a five year engagement, Ellis and Ruth married on August 14, 1925, in Fargo.[3]: 48 After graduating from the University of North Dakota, Ellis taught as a history professor at the North Dakota State Teachers College from 1925-1928. He enrolled at the University of Iowa in 1928 and taught in the history department until he graduated with his Ph.D. in 1930.[4]
Ellis was offered a position as an assistant professor of history by the University of Missouri in 1929. He accepted this position in 1930, and in June 1930, he and Ruth moved to Columbia, Missouri.[3]: 67–68 Ellis worked in this position until 1932 when he was promoted to an associate professor to which he held until 1945. In 1945 he was named the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.[2] Ellis took a sabbatical in 1951, and with a teaching grant through the Fulbright Program, he and Ruth moved to the Netherlands where Ellis taught for a year in the American Institute at the University of Amsterdam.[3]: 117–118 In 1955, Ellis was appointed as the temporary president of the University of Missouri, and after seven months, he formally accepted the position.[2] Prior to this promotion he served on the Department of the Army Historical Advisory Committee from 1954 to 1956. Shortly after he became the university president, he began work as the co-chairman on the Missouri Committee on Education Beyond High School. The committee suggested that the state government should establish a permanent statewide commission on higher education and a program to provide state aid to junior colleges.[3]: 184
Ellis was instrumental in the creation of the University of Missouri System, which was established in 1963. Prior to its creation, Ellis lobbied Missouri Governor John M. Dalton, working closely with the Missouri School of Mines, the University of Kansas City, and the city of St. Louis, Missouri, to establish the four-campus system.[3]: 213–215 Ellis served as the first president of the UM System, serving from 1963 until his retirement in 1966.[3]: 228
After Ellis' retirement in 1966, he was asked to provide consultation at the University of Valle in Cali, Colombia, to which he provided for six months. He served on the Stephens College Board of Curators, the Boone National Savings and Loan Association Board, as chairman of the Truman Library Board, and on the State Historical Society of Missouri Executive Committee.[3]: 229–230 Ellis died on August 27, 1989.
