Interview with former President E.K. Fretwell, Jr.

Elbert K. Fretwell Jr. was born on October 29, 1923. He earned a B.A. at Wesleyan University, M.A. degree at Harvard and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. From 1945 to 1947 E.K. Fretwell Jr. served as U.S. Vice Consul in Prague. After coming back to the states he began teaching. From 1953-1956, Dr. Fretwell was assistant professor and assistant to the dean of Teachers College at Columbia University. From 1956-1964 he was Assistant Commissioner for Higher Education in the New York State Education Department. In 1964, he became Dean for Academic Development at City University of New York. During the summer of 1967, he was Executive Director of the Committee on Education of the New York State Constitutional Convention. On September 1, 1967 Dr. Fretwell came to the State University College at Buffalo as President. It was his idea to create a college archives. In January 1979, he became Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Dr. Fretwell stayed there until 1989. He served as interim President of the University of Massachusetts from 1991-92 and at the University of North Florida in 1998. Dr. Fretwell passed away October 18, 2012.https://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/bsc_oral_history/1054/thumbnail.jp