Bard College began initially as a seminary training school called St. Stephen's. During the intervening years, the administrative head of the college has variously been called Warden, Dean, and President. The title Dean was used during the years 1927-1944, when the college merged with Columbia University with President Murray Butler as head. Consecutively, these men are Warden George Franklin Seymour, 1860-1861; Warden Thomas Richey, 1861-1863; Warden Robert Brinckerhoff Fairbairn, 1863-1898; Warden Lawrence T. Cole, 1899-1903; Warden Thomas R. Harris, 1904-1907; President William Cunningham Rodgers, 1909-1919; President (later Warden and Dean) Bernard Iddings Bell, 1919-1933; Dean Donald George Tewksbury, 1933-1937; Dean Harold Mestre, 1938-1939; President Charles Harold Gray, 1940-1946; President Edward C. Fuller, 1940-1946; President James Herbert Case Jr., 1950-1960; President Reamer Kline, 1960-1974; and President Leon Botstein, 1975 to present. Two acting presidents were Robert Leigh, who served as dean under Columbia's president from 1939 to 1940, and George Bailey Hopson who served three terms as acting warden; 1898-1899, 1903-1904, and 1907-1909.
