Theodore Woolsey graduated from Yale College in 1820 and eventually returned to the school as Professor of Greek. He served as president of Yale from 1846 to 1871. Sculptor John Ferguson Weir created this bronze statue on Yale's campus in 1896. He posed Woolsey in long robes, seated on a Greek Revival klismos chair with a Greek inscription on the back reading, the most excellent, the most wise, the most just.
Born in 1801, Theodore Dwight Woolsey graduated from Yale in 1820, spent several years traveling and studying abroad, and then accepted a job as professor of Greek in 1831. He was chosen to be president of Yale in 1846. Under his tenure (1846-1871), the university expanded considerably. The Scientific School and the School of Fine Arts were established during this time, and in 1861, the first ever American PhD degree was granted.