Eliot, Charles William (1834-1926), an American educator, served as president of Harvard University for 40 years, from 1869 to 1909. He did much to shape the program and standards of liberal and professional education in the United States. Eliot brought outstanding scholars to Harvard as teachers and established elective courses there. He also reorganized the administration of the university and added a number of graduate and professional colleges.
Eliot served as chairman of the National Education Association’s Committee on Secondary School Studies (Committee of Ten). This committee recommended an academic rather than vocational program of study for all high school students. The recommendation strongly influenced secondary education in the United States.
Eliot was born in Boston and studied at Boston Latin Grammar School and Harvard University. He taught mathematics and chemistry at Harvard from 1858 to 1863 and then studied in Europe for two years. He taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for four years and then returned to Harvard as its president. Eliot was a member of the General Education Board and a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Carnegie Foundation. He wrote widely on educational subjects.
