Horace Evans

Valparaiso University President, 1923-1926

Horace M. Evans was a Valparaiso University alumnus who had worked in business and taught on the faculty for 10 years when he became the University’s president and faced the nearly insurmountable task of leading an almost bankrupt, unaccredited university with falling enrollment. Facing a debt of $375,000, Evans resolved to sell the University in order to save it.

In 1925, various members of the National Lutheran Education Alliance (NLEA) and the American Luther League (ALL) interested in establishing a Lutheran university converged to form the Lutheran University Association with the specific intent of purchasing Valparaiso University. President Evans helped oversee the transition of Valpo as it became a Lutheran institution, and he resigned in January 1926.