Otto Kraushaar


Otto Frederick Krausharr was an American academic who served as the 6th president of Goucher College. Kraushaar was also a professor of philosophy at Smith College for 15 years.

Early life and education

Kraushaar was born on November 19, 1901, in Clinton, Iowa, to Otto Christian Kraushaar and Mary Elizabeth Staehling. Kraushaar attended the University of Iowa, from which he earned a bachelor's degree in 1923 and a master's degree in 1927. He continued his graduate studies at Harvard University, earning a doctorate in 1933. His dissertation was titled Lotze's Theory of Knowledge.

Career in academia

Professor at Smith College

While in graduate school, Kraushaar served as an instructor at Harvard and at the University of Kansas. Upon his graduation, he joined the faculty at Smith College, where he taught in the philosophy department for 15 years.

President of Goucher College

In 1948, Kraushaar left Smith to become president of Goucher College. Kraushaar led the school for 19 years and is credited with its emergence as a nationally recognized women's college. He was also responsible for overseeing the school's relocation from Baltimore to Towson, which was first initiated in the early 1920s by former Goucher president William W. Guth. While at Goucher, Kraushaar sought to increase racial and religious diversity at the school by lifting quotas on Jewish students that had been maintained under his predecessor and by supporting and encouraging African-American applicants.

Professional affiliations

Kraushaar served as a consultant to a Maryland commission on higher education and also with a gubernatorial task force on the public school system and race relations in the United States. He was a member of the United World Federalists, Americans for Democratic Action, and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Selected written works

In 1927, Kraushaar married Maxine MacDonald, with whom he had one daughter. He died at his home in Baltimore, Maryland, at the age of 87. Kraushaar was survived by his sister and five grandchildren.