George A. Drake :::
George Drake
Graduated in 1952
Inducted in 1994
George Drake, a 1952 graduate, is a Professor of History and past President of Grinnell College in Iowa, and has been recognized as one of the leading 100 American College Presidents. During his presidency from 1979 to 1991, Drake saw Grinnell consistently rated within or near the top ten national liberal arts colleges and its endowment grow from $45 million to $300 million. He served six years as Dean of Faculty and fifteen years as Professor of History at Colorado College before going to Grinnell, where he had graduated in 1956. Drake was also a Fulbright and Rhodes Scholar and studied at the University of Paris and Oxford University. He earned a bachelor's of divinity, a master's, and a doctorate from the University of Chicago. He has received four honorary degrees and published more than a dozen articles on church history. As a Peace Corps volunteer, he taught English for two years at a southern African mountain mission school in Lesotho. A long-standing member of numerous professional boards, including the Associated Colleges of the Midwest and the Association of Iowa College Presidents, he is very active in the Grinnell community.