The administrative home of the University of Vermont College of Arts and Sciences at 438 College St. will be named after one of UVM’s longest serving and most successful presidents, Lattie F. Coor.
The UVM Board of Trustees passed a resolution on Friday naming the building, which houses the offices of the college’s dean, the Lattie F. Coor House. Trustees plan a formal dedication event when the board reconvenes in May over Commencement Weekend.
Coor served as UVM president from 1976 to 1989 and oversaw the University’s rise to prominence in American higher education, culminating in its inclusion in Richard Moll’s famous book of the time, The Public Ivies.
"Lattie Coor is one of the most influential presidents ever to have served UVM," said UVM Board of Trustees Chair Robert Cioffi. "In many ways, Lattie moved the University to national prominence, and he was a genuine mentor and colleague to many members of the University community. His continuing public service after leaving UVM has been very valuable to the citizens of Arizona as well. All who know him think of him with respect and admiration."
Current UVM President Tom Sullivan said, "In helping UVM achieve the status of a Public Ivy, he burnished the University’s reputation for decades to come and laid the groundwork for much of our work we’re doing today to build on UVM’s reputation for academic quality. Given that his academic appointment was in Political Science, it was appropriate to name the administrative home of the College of Arts and Sciences, our largest academic unit, after him.”
In addition to honoring him for "securing UVM’s place in the ranks of America’s finest national universities," the board resolution describes Coor, UVM’s 21st president, as “one of the most influential leaders in higher education."
After leaving UVM, Coor served as president of Arizona State University, in his home state, until his retirement in 2002. In 2002 he co-founded a think tank, the Center for the Future of Arizona, and serves as its chairman and CEO. He was a member of UVM’s Political Science Department and is currently Professor and Ernest W. McFarland Chair in Leadership and Public Policy at Arizona State’s School of Public Affairs.
438 College Street, built in 1908, is a significant historic structure within the Burlington and UVM communities. A major renovation of the structure, which modernized it but maintained is historic integrity, was completed in 2006.
