August 17, 2016

Parke R. Kolbe begins his presidency at Drexel in 1932. Previously, he served as president of the University of Akron from 1913 to 1925 and of the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn from 1925 to 1932. Kolbe decentralized Drexel's administration and developed educational programs to support national defense as the threat of U.S. involvement in World War II loomed. He dies suddenly from heart disease in 1942 at age 60.