Alva Woods (1794–1887) was an American minister, university professor and university president. He was interim President of Brown University, 1826–28 and President of Transylvania University, 1828-31. Of most historical significance, he served as the first President of the University of Alabama from 1831 to 1837.
Biography
Early life Alva Woods was born on August 13, 1794, in Shoreham, Vermont. He was raised as a Baptist. He studied at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, graduating in 1813. He graduated from Harvard in 1817 and entered the Andover Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in September 1821. He was ordained in October 1821.
Career Woods became a professor at the new Columbian College in Washington, D.C. In 1824, he became professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Brown, where he was interim President (1826–27). In 1828 he became president of Transylvania University."Woods, Alva" at Encyclopedia Brunoniana
In 1831 Woods accepted the presidency of the University of Alabama.Alfred L. Brophy, "'The Law of Descent of Thought': Law, History, and Civilization in Antebellum Literary Addresses," Law and Literature 20 (2008): 343, 347-52 (discussing Alva Woods' tenure at the University of Alabama and literary addresses delivered by him and others). He resigned from the University of Alabama in 1837, becoming a prison minister. He died in Providence, Rhode Island, on September 6, 1887.
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