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| Edward Miner Gallaudet |
On this date (Feb. 5, 1837) the man who would become the first president of Gallaudet University was born. Edward Miner Gallaudet lobbied the U.S. Congress to allow the Washington, DC school to give degrees and led it until 1910. He died Sept. 26, 1917. When plans were made to change the name of the school from the Columbia Institution for the instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, Edward Miner Gallaudet wanted the honor to go to his father, a a pioneer in deaf education, rather than himself. So the school was renamed Gallaudet College.
