Dr. Harold Walter Stoke was the third President of Queens College, serving from Fall 1958 through November 1964.
“Dr. Harold Walter Stoke is the new President of Queens College. His appointment was announced on Wednesday afternoon at a special meeting of the Board of Higher Education. He will take office September 1, 1958.
The present Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at New York University, Dr. Stoke has been President of the University of New Hampshire and President of Louisiana State University. He was also Dean of the Graduate School of the University of Nebraska.
...Dr. Stoke received his bachelor’s degree from Marion College, Indiana, in 1924, a master of arts degree from the University of Southern California in 1925 and a doctor of philosophy degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1930. He holds honorary degrees from four universities.
A professor in political science, Dr. Stoke has had several assignments in government service. He has been supervisor of training in public administration for T.V.A. Since 1952, he has served as a member of the commission on Scientific Personnel and Education of the National Science Foundation, where he represented the Foundation and the International Cooperation Administration in Europe at international manpower meetings.
He was President of the National Association of Graduate Schools of the Association of American Universities and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of Phi Beta Kappa.”
“Dr. Harold W. Stoke has resigned after six years as president of Queens College, the Board of Higher Education announced yesterday.
Dr. Stoke said that a complex combination of ‘personal and institutional consideration’ had led to his decision to resign. He said that he had no immediate plans, but hoped to retain some association with higher education.
A long-standing controversy over charges of bias against Roman Catholic faculty members at the college ‘added to the complexity of administration at Queens,’ Dr. Stoke declared. He explained, however, that it was not a decisive factor in his action.
‘For personal reasons, I should like to change the character and reduce the magnitude of administrative responsibilities,’ Dr. Stoke said. ‘This is at variance with the needs of the college and of the university system which currently require a continuance and even an increase in administrative devotion.’”