Clark T. Hinman

Clark Titus Hinman (August 3, 1819 – October 21, 1854) was the first president of Northwestern University. Hinman was born in Delaware County, New York into a Methodist family. He attended Wesleyan University, and after graduation served as an instructor at a seminary in Newbury, Vermont. In 1846, Hinman left Newbury and went to the Wesleyan seminary in Albion, Michigan (which later became Albion College, where he served as president from 1846 – 1853). While at Albion, Hinman met Erastus O. Haven (a future president of NU), and they discussed the formation of a new University. Hinman was unanimously elected president of Northwestern University by the board of trustees on August 23, 1853.

Hinman also was one of the co-founders of the Eclectic Society, originally a college fraternity at Wesleyan. The Eclectic Society was founded in 1838, making it one of older fraternal college organizations in the United States.