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Ralph Prator

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Ralph Prator
1st President of San Fernando Valley State College
In office
1958–1968
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byJames W. Cleary
2nd President of Bakersfield College
In office
August 1950 – 1958
Preceded byGrace Van Dyke Bird
Succeeded byEd Simonsen
Personal details
Born(1907-11-16)November 16, 1907
La Veta, Colorado
DiedJuly 25, 2005(2005-07-25) (aged 97)
Camarillo, California
SpouseLois (d. 1996)
Children3
Alma materUniversity of Colorado Boulder (BA, MA)
University of California, Berkeley (EdD)
ProfessionCollege administrator

Ralph Prator (November 16, 1907 – July 25, 2005)[1] was an American college administrator. He served as the first president of San Fernando Valley State College—now known as California State University, Northridge—from 1958 to 1968.

Academic career

Prator received bachelor's and master's degrees in history from the University of Colorado Boulder, and his Ed.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.[1] He briefly played minor league professional baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals farm system.[2] He was a high school principal in Colorado and later became dean of men and athletic director at Mesa College (now Colorado Mesa University).[1] Prator served as an administrator at the University of Colorado beginning in 1940,[3] but interrupted his academic career to serve in the United States Navy during World War II.[1] He was hired as the President of Bakersfield College in 1950,[4] and in 1958 he became the inaugural President of California State University, Northridge (then San Fernando Valley State College).[5][6][7] Prator served in this role until stepping down from the presidency in 1968.,[1][8] teaching six more years as a professor of education until his retirement in 1974.[1] Prator was succeeded in his role as president by James W. Cleary.[9] In addition, he was involved in various community organizations in Los Angeles after he resigned from the San Fernando Valley State College presidency.[10]

Impact

Prator presided over tremendous growth while president at both Bakersfield College and San Fernando Valley State College.[11] He supervised the construction of more than a dozen buildings at Bakersfield College and nine buildings at San Fernando Valley State College.[1][12] Faculty increased from 100 to 600 during Prator's tenure, and student enrollment grew from 3,500 to 16,000,[1] although there were occasional barriers to campus growth.[13] Prator worked toward increasing the number of faculty[14]—and their salaries—but was frustrated in his efforts.[15][16] He was one of the few presidents in the California State College system who supported a statewide faculty senate in 1962.[17] As a former Director of Admissions at the University of Colorado, Prator was appointed to the California Master Plan for Higher Education Committee on Selection and Retention of Students, and it was in this role that he opposed a "college preparatory curriculum for the state colleges."[18] Toward the end of Prator's tenure as president, student activism greatly increased, and Prator began to find himself the target of public student protests,[12][19][20][21][22] the most extreme of which came after his resignation.[23][24][25] His initial response to student unrest was optimistic,[26][27] but the continuing unrest in the late 1960s eventually led him to retreat to the teaching ranks.[12]

Personal life

Prator was married to Lois Prator until her death in 1996. They had three children together. Prator died on July 25, 2005 in Camarillo, California.[1]

Bibliography

Prator authored one book:

  • Prator, Ralph (1963). The College President. New York: The Center for Applied Research in Education.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Stassel, Stephanie (27 July 2005). "Ralph Prator, 97; Founding President of Campus That Became Cal State Northridge".
  2. ^ "Valley State Prexy Started as Ballplayer". Los Angeles Times. pg. SF9. April 6, 1958.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  3. ^ "CSUN Founder Prator Dead". Daily News of Los Angeles. pg. N14. July 27, 2005.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  4. ^ Douglas, Theo (October 18, 2013). "BC at 100: Truly Bakersfield's College". Bakersfield Californian.
  5. ^ Callero, Chester (May 3, 1959). "Dr. Ralph Prator to Be Inaugurated as Valley State's First President: Valley State College to Be Formally Instituted". Los Angeles Times. pg. SF1.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  6. ^ "Dr. Prator Installed as President of College: San Fernando Valley State Institution Hailed as Potential Leader in Nation". Los Angeles Times. pg. SF1. May 8, 1959.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  7. ^ Gerth, Donald (2010). The People's University: A History of the California State University. Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Public Policy Press. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-87772-435-3.
  8. ^ "Prator, Valley State College Head, Will Resign Next Fall". Los Angeles Times. pg. SF1. December 5, 1967.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  9. ^ "Heads San Fernando State". New York Times. pg. 18. March 7, 1969.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  10. ^ "Dr. Prator Heads City Development Assn". Los Angeles Times. pg. J2. June 7, 1970.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  11. ^ Hinch, Charles (May 9, 1963). "College Prepares for Huge Student Influx: Enrollment of 30,000 Seen at Northridge by Mid-'70s". Los Angeles Times. pg. G1.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  12. ^ a b c Fanucchi, Ken (December 10, 1967). "Building College Campuses Ends for VSC Prexy". Los Angeles Times. pg. SF_A1.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  13. ^ "Defeat of Proposition Hits College's Growth". Los Angeles Times. pg. D8. June 9, 1962.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  14. ^ Chiang, Sharline (September 27, 1998). "CSUN Founders Together Again". Daily News of Los Angeles. pg. N4.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  15. ^ "VSC Prexy Urges Teachers Pay Rise: Prator Says Low Salary Level Causes Procurement Problems". Los Angeles Times. pg. SF1. July 21, 1963.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  16. ^ Estes, William (March 28, 1965). "Faculty Said Demoralized Over Salaries: President Claims Situation Critical at Valley State". Los Angeles Times. pg. SF_A1.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  17. ^ Gerth, Donald (2010). The People's University: A History of the California State University. Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Public Policy Press. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-87772-435-3.
  18. ^ Gerth, Donald (2010). The People's University: A History of the California State University. Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Public Policy Press. p. 325. ISBN 978-0-87772-435-3.
  19. ^ Fanucchi, Ken; Bernstein, Sid (May 29, 1967). "9 Students Await Antidraft Hearings". Los Angeles Times. pg. SF7.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  20. ^ Fanucchi, Ken (May 30, 1967). "Nine Suspended Students Permitted to Attend Class: Ruling Marks Major Change in VSC Policy". Los Angeles Times. pg. SF8.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  21. ^ deGuzman, Jean-Paul (2014). "And Make the San Fernando Valley My Home:" Contested Spaces, Identities, and Activism on the Edge of Los Angeles (PhD). University of California, Los Angeles.
  22. ^ Fanucchi, Ken (June 13, 1967). "Student Demonstrator Expelled: Valley State Expels One, Suspends Two". Los Angeles Times. pg. SF7.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  23. ^ Moreno, Joseph Gomez (2015). The Chicana/o studies movement on campus: Popular protest, radicalism, and activism, 1968-1980 (PhD). Michigan State University.
  24. ^ "Ex-Valley State President Likes New Role". Los Angeles Times. pg. SF_B1. November 17, 1968.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  25. ^ Greenwood, Leonard (February 15, 1969). "New Acting President Named at Valley State". Los Angeles Times. pg. B1.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  26. ^ Estes, William (June 2, 1965). "College Prexy Voices Optimism in Current Generation of Youth". Los Angeles Times. pg. SF8.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  27. ^ Garrigues, George (September 26, 1965). "VSC Striving for Harmony: President Acts to Give Students Bigger Role VSC President Acts to Avoid Future Trouble". Los Angeles Times. pg. SF_A1.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
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