Hutchins, Robert Maynard (1899–1977)

US university president. He made a name as one of the country's foremost – and youthful – educational innovators. He rejuvenated Yale Law School as dean 1927–29 and at the University of Chicago (president 1929–45, chancellor 1945–51), he introduced the ‘Chicago Plan’, which included the Great Books programme, the admission of high school students, and the abolition of course credits and compulsory attendance. Hutchins was associated with the Ford Foundation's Fund for the Republic and Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions 1954–74. His many books include The Higher Learning in America 1936 and The University of Utopia 1953.

Born in New York City, he earned BA and LLB degrees from Yale. His concentration on bolstering Chicago's undergraduate education was profoundly controversial at the primarily graduate institution.