Franklyn Bliss Snyder was the 18th President of Northwestern University

Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

 (1939–1949) and an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 scholar of Scottish literature

Scottish literature

Scottish literature is literature written in Scotland or by Scottish writers. It includes literature written in English, Scottish Gaelic, Scots, Brythonic, French, Latin and any other language in which a piece of literature was ever written within the boundaries of modern Scotland.The earliest...

. Snyder was the son of a Congregational minister, Peter Miles Snyder, from Connecticut and grew up in Rockford, Illinois

Rockford, Illinois

Rockford is a mid-sized city located on both banks of the Rock River in far northern Illinois. Often referred to as "The Forest City", Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County, Illinois, USA. As reported in the 2010 U.S. census, the city was home to 152,871 people, the third most populated...

. He received his undergraduate degree from Beloit College

Beloit College

Beloit College is a liberal arts college in Beloit, Wisconsin, USA. It is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, and has an enrollment of roughly 1,300 undergraduate students. Beloit is the oldest continuously operated college in Wisconsin, and has the oldest building of any college...

 and a Ph.D. in English from Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 in 1909. Snyder's dissertation was on Robert Burns

Robert Burns

Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...

 and was published as The Life of Robert Burns in 1932. Snyder joined the Northwestern faculty in 1909, became dean of the Graduate School in 1934, and was elected president of the University in 1939, succeeding Walter Dill Scott

Walter Dill Scott

Walter Dill Scott was one of the first applied psychologists. He applied psychology to various business practices such as personnel selection and advertising.-Life:...

. Snyder is remembered as being an ardent conservative and uncompromising administrator.