page_title: Seth Low
section_title: President of Columbia University
hierarchical_section_title: Seth Low / President of Columbia University
caption_attribution_description: English: Seth Low Artist Eastman Johnson, 29 Jul 1824 - 5 Apr 1906 Sitter Seth Low, 1850 - 1916 Date c. 1890 Type Painting Medium Oil on canvas Dimensions 67.5 x 54.7cm (26 9/16 x 21 9/16") Credit Line Current Owner: Columbia University, Art Properties Website: library.columbia.edu/locations/avery/art-properties.html Object number COO.214 CU Data Source Catalog of American Portraits See more items in Catalog of American Portraits
context_page_description: Seth Low was an American educator and political figure who served as the 23rd Mayor of Brooklyn, President of Columbia University, diplomatic representative of the United States, and was the 92nd Mayor of New York City. He was a leading municipal reformer fighting for efficiency during the Progressive Era.
context_section_description: Following his tenure as mayor of Brooklyn, Low assumed the presidency of Columbia College, serving between 1890 and 1901. Not an educator in the specific meaning of the word, he succeeded by his administrative skill in transforming the institution. He led the move of the institution from Midtown Manhattan to Morningside Heights, and secured trustee approval to change its name to "Columbia University". The new campus matched Low's vision of a civic university fully integrated into the city; the original design subsequently reconceived, left it open to the street and surrounding neighborhoods.
  To forge a university, Low vitally united the various schools into one organization whose direction was moved from the separate faculties to a university council. Further reforms effected by him include the reorganization of the Law School, the addition of a faculty of pure science, the association of the University with the Teachers College, and the extension of the department of political and social study. In 1895, he gave one million dollars of his inheritance from his father for Low Memorial Library to be built at the new Columbia University campus. It was dedicated to his father and opened in 1897.
caption: Eastman Johnson's portrait of Seth Low, c. 1890
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