Andrew Davis Bruce - University of Houston

University of Houston

Bruce became the third president of the University of Houston in Houston, Texas on September 1, 1954, one month after retiring from military service. He succeeded interim president C. F. McElhinney. Shortly after arriving, Bruce noted that the university was missing something which he considered fundamental—a chapel for student use located on campus. He remarked to the Director of Religious Activities that if you "xclude religion entirely from education...you have no foundation upon which to build moral character."

A year after he took office, Bruce began investigating whether there would be interest in building a religious center and chapel complex at the school. After several years of negotiations with the various religious denominations which had operated on and off campus, Bruce engineered a consensus that the university would build a center based on the model of the Armed Forces Base Chapel. The new religious center would have a single chapel which would be shared by all of the groups, and office space for each group. The center opened in 1965 and was named for Bruce.

In 1956, Bruce was appointed the first chancellor of the university, in addition to his duties as president. The following year he organized a Board of Governors, consisting of the Board of Regents and other prominent Houstonians. In November 1959 this governing board sought state support for the university, which had grown rapidly under Bruce's leadership. During Bruce's tenure, the "University's curriculum standards and faculty both improved and the University became better-known." He retired from chancellorship in 1961.