Charles Henry Keyes

Charles Henry Keyes, a well-known educator from Teachers College, Columbia University, became Skidmore's first president in 1912. His vision and energy gave the school the momentum it needed to grow into something more than a hybrid college and vocational school. In 1922 Keyes fulfilled his avowed ambition of having the Skidmore School of Arts chartered as Skidmore College, a four-year degree-granting institution.

In addition to developing a liberal arts curriculum that became the basis for Skidmore's present curriculum, Keyes pioneered the formation of a baccalaureate nursing program and began the more active shaping of a campus. By the time of his death in 1925, he had played a key role in acquiring several of the large Victorian homes overlooking Congress Park, which began to give the college a recognizable physical identity.

The Keyes Quadrangle (Howe, Rounds, and Wait halls and Jonsson Tower) is named for him.