University of Tennessee
Where was Eben Alexander (educator) educated from 1873 to 1886?
Eben Alexander ( educator ) Eben Alexander ( March 9 , 1851 – March 11 , 1910 ) was an American scholar , educator , dean , and diplomat . Life and career . Alexander was born in Knoxville , Tennessee , on March 9 , 1851 , to Judge Ebenezer Alexander and Margaret White McClung . Alexander attended the University of Tennessee ( then known as East Tennessee University ) for two years , then matriculated to Yale in 1869 where he graduated in 1873 with an A.B . He was initiated into Yales Skull and Bones in 1873 . After graduation , Alexander returned to Knoxville and taught Greek at the University of Tennessee , from 1873 to 1886 , first as an instructor and then as Professor . In 1886 , he moved to the University of North Carolina , in Chapel Hill , where from 1886 to 1893 he was Professor of Greek language and literature . In 1893 President Grover Cleveland appointed him Envoy Extraordinary , Minister Plenipotentiary , and Consul General to Greece , Roumania , and Servia [ sic ] . As ambassador to Greece , he helped in the revival of the Olympic Games , making the first cash contribution to the organizing committee , encouraging the participation of American athletes , and with his wife hosting numerous social events during the period of the games , which ran from April 6 to April 15 , 1896 . On his return from Greece , Alexander resumed teaching Greek at the University of North Carolina . He introduced modern Greek into the curriculum and served as academic dean from 1900 or 1901 until the time of his death . Perhaps more importantly , he worked , both before and after his time in Greece , to improve the Universitys library , serving as supervisor of the University library in 1891–1893 and again from 1901 onwards . During his tenure as supervisor , a new Carnegie library was built , and the University hired its first real librarian , Louis Round Wilson . That Carnegie library built under Alexanders tenure is now Hill Hall on the campus of the University of North Carolina . He received the degree of Ph.D . from Maryville College in 1886 , and that of LL.D . from the University of North Carolina in 1893 , and was an instructor in the Summer school of the South in June and July , 1902 . In 1905 Alexander was inducted into the Order of the Golden Fleece , an honor society at the University of North Carolina that was modeled on Yales Skull and Bones . During the academic year 1909–1910 Alexanders health began to fail . He took a leave of absence in the spring of 1910 , returned to Knoxville , and there died on March 11 , 1910 . The University of North Carolina 1911 annual yearbook , Yackety Yack , was dedicated in his memory . Family . Eben Alexanders father , Ebenezer Alexander , was a prominent judge in Tennessee , and his grandfather , Adam Rankin Alexander , was the founder of Alexandria , Tennessee and a member of the House of Representatives from 1823 to 1827 . Alexander married Marion Howard-Smith on October 15 , 1874 , and they had four children , two sons and two daughters . Descendants of the same name . Eben Alexander was the father , grandfather , great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather of four Eben Alexanders . He and his descendants use these generational suffixes : - Eben Alexander ( 1851–1910 ) , diplomat and scholar – progenitor - Eben Alexander Sr. , Knoxville , physician — son - Eben Alexander II ( or Jr. ) , Chief of Neurosurgery at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem , North Carolina — grandson - Eben Alexander III , born December 1953 , academic neurosurgeon , author of Proof of Heaven — great-grandson - Eben Alexander IV , born 1987 , studied neuroscience in college — great-great-grandson References . - Citations - Sources