Past Presidents

Dr. Anne Skleder was the tenth president of Brenau University, and the first female president in the institution’s 145-year history.

President Skleder kept Brenau students – who she called “our reason for being” – at the forefront throughout her four-year tenure, and established a scholarship for first-generation students soon after beginning her presidency.

Ed Schrader, ninth president of Brenau University and current president emeritus, put the university on an aggressive growth trajectory during his 14-year tenure.

Brenau nearly doubled its endowment, increased enrollment and academic program offerings and grew the Permanent Art Collection. He also expanded the university’s footprint beyond the 55-acre historic campus and preserved the historic Women’s College while adding job-producing co-educational programs. He grew the programs in health science to offer doctoral degrees in nursing, occupational therapy and physical therapy in addition to a doctorate in education.

Among his many achievements as Brenau’s eighth president, Dr. John S. “Jack” Burd made the arts the centerpiece of Brenau and led the school to achieve university status.

Having a strong personal interest in the arts and understanding their value to an academic institution, Burd inaugurated the Brenau Permanent Art Collection in 1986. He also negotiated one of the first-ever collaborations in higher education between a public institution, University of North Georgia, and a private institution, Brenau, to create the Gainesville Theatre Alliance. Burd established the Weekend College – the state’s first – and the Online College at Brenau; he also built and renovated a number of campus buildings.

Dr. James T. “Jim” Rogers, the seventh president of Brenau, presided over some of the greatest social and academic changes in Brenau’s history, including the establishment of co-educational studies.

Rogers created the Professional College, bringing adult and male students to Brenau to pursue master’s degree programs. He also oversaw the merger of the Hall School of Nursing with Brenau and built an amphitheater that remains today as well as a natatorium.

Dr. William Kenley Clark was the university’s sixth president.

Clark joined Brenau as vice president after spending 15 years teaching and chairing the biology department at Sam Houston State College in Texas. He became Brenau’s sixth president in 1967 upon the retirement of his predecessor, Josiah Crudup.

Dr. Josiah Crudup spent more than two decades as the fifth president of Brenau.

During his tenure, Crudup helped expand and beautify the campus by adding a larger dormitory that later was named after him, the Mary Tallulah Jewel Home Economics Building, the Science Building and the Student Union.

As the fourth president of Brenau, Thomas Jackson “T.J.” Simmons began building a foundation for teaching and appreciation of the arts that continues as a vital part of
Brenau’s mission today.

Simmons’ tenure as president spanned three years while Pearce took a leave of absence to study in Chicago and Europe. Simmons’ impact during that time included building Yonah Hall, Bailey Hall and the Simmons Visual Arts Center. He established the Simmons Visual Art Gallery when he and his wife began to collect art from their various travels across the world.

Dr. Haywood Jefferson, “H.J.” Pearce, third president of Brenau, left a lasting legacy by creating the identity of today’s institution.

Under his influence, Brenau came into being, both in name and in nature. The name was created by using a syllable from the German word brennen (to burn) and another from aurum (gold), forming the word Brenau, meaning as gold refined by fire. He also created the Brenau Ideal, which is still the university’s guiding light.

Dr. Azor Warner Van Hoose was the second president of Brenau University.

When Gainesville’s governing body put the then-Georgia Baptist Female Seminary up for sale in 1886 upon the death of its founder and president Rev. W.C. Wilkes, 26-year-old Van Hoose purchased the school. As president, Van Hoose purchased the building known as Wilkes Hall, which was used as a dormitory by 1893, and added Bailey Hall.