Dr. Andrew Thomas Ford, the 14th President of Wabash College, led Wabash from 1993 through 2006.
President Ford oversaw an era of impressive growth for Wabash in enrollment, academic programs, fund-raising, and the endowment, while leading a massive overhaul of the physical campus.
Current Wabash College President Scott E. Feller (far left) with predecessors Greg Hess, Patrick White, and Andrew T. Ford at Feller's inauguration as the 17th President of the College in October 2021.
He often led with the word “audacious,” and challenged Wabash to be as audacious about its future as the pioneers were – those leaders who founded the College on the western frontier in 1832.
In order to achieve his audacious goals of stabilizing enrollment, recruiting excellent and engaging faculty, and raising funds, the College would need to see its alumni as a “strategic advantage.”
President Ford led the largest fund-raising campaign in the College’s history at the time, the Campaign for Leadership, which surpassed its original goal of $100 million to finish at $136 million.
Under President Ford’s leadership, Wabash constructed new buildings (Hays Hall, Trippet Hall, Malcolm X Institute of Black Studies, Allen Athletics and Recreation Center, and five fraternity chapter houses) and renovated others (Goodrich Hall and four fraternity chapter houses).
He also served as President when Professor Raymond Williams established the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, which was founded in 1995 and continues to flourish with ongoing funding from Lilly Endowment.
President Ford, who came to Wabash after serving as Provost at Allegheny College, ushered the College into the North Coast Athletic Conference around the turn of the century.
Other highlights from President Ford’s tenure at Wabash included the establishment of immersion learning programs, more robust internship and externship programs, an effort to integrate all administrative computing systems, and providing students with cutting-edge technology.
President Ford had a vision to place students at the center of every decision the College made, and they even played a key role of “ringing-in” the new president with replicas of the Caleb Mills Bell.
Ford worked with College Advancement to create more than 30 regional alumni associations around the country.
The National Association of Wabash Men named him an Honorary Alumnus in 2003.
President Ford was an historian by training, earning his undergraduate degree from Seton Hall when it was still a college for men, and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin.
President Ford is survived by his wife, Anne, daughter, Lauren, and grandchildren Andrew and Elsa.
The move to the NCAC positioned Wabash with excellent liberal arts colleges that were also partners in the Great Lakes Colleges Association.
In his inaugural address, President Ford said, ““We shall... stay the course of the traditional liberal arts education that has served, and will continue to serve this society so well.”
President Ford was so committed to the liberal arts that creating a national center to study liberal arts education was at the heart of his strategic plan. He later helped the College land the largest grant it has ever received, $20.5 million from Lilly Endowment Inc., to establish the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College.
Ford, center, with wife, Anne.
Wabash College Presidents and First Ladies: (from left) Lora and Greg Hess, Wendy and Scott Feller, Chris and Patrick White, and Anne and Andrew T. Ford at the October 2021 inauguration of Scott E. Feller.
Dr. Andrew Thomas Ford, the 14th President of Wabash College, passed away on Saturday, Feb. 19, in his home. “Andy” led Wabash from 1993 through 2006.
A memorial service will be held on Friday, May 20 at 4:00 p.m. in the Pioneer Chapel on the Wabash College campus. Friends are invited to greet Andy's family immediately after the service at a reception in Trippet Hall.
President Ford oversaw an era of impressive growth for Wabash in enrollment, academic programs, fund-raising, and the endowment, while leading a massive overhaul of the physical campus.
He became the College’s president shortly after the divisive coeducation study, and worked in his first few years to heal the campus and begin the process of developing a series of strategic plans. He often led with the word “audacious,” and challenged Wabash to be as audacious about its future as the pioneers were – those leaders who founded the College on the western frontier in 1832.
Andy and his wife, Anne, arrived for their on-campus interview at Wabash a day early so they could walk around and 
get a feel for the place. “We wandered around and our first impression was the friendliness of the students,” he said in a 2003 interview. “They would stop and look you in your eyes and gladly offer to help – it was that kind of friendliness.”
President Ford had a vision to place students at the center of every decision the College made, and they even played a key role of “ringing-in” the new president with replicas of the Caleb Mills Bell.
In order to achieve his audacious goals of stabilizing enrollment, recruiting excellent and engaging faculty, and raising funds, the College would need to see its alumni as a “strategic advantage.”
“It was clear from the coeducation study that the alumni were our strategic advantage,” he said. “The alumni care about the place passionately, they are supportive of the place, and indeed, if we could get them to become unpaid workers, as opposed to volunteers, then we could compensate for our small size. We don’t have all the administrators that other places do… and we don’t want to change that, but we do need to get things done.”
President Ford led the largest fund-raising campaign in the College’s history at the time, the Campaign for Leadership, which surpassed its original goal of $100 million to finish at $136 million. The College needed funds to modernize its campus, and under President Ford’s leadership, Wabash constructed new buildings (Hays Hall, Trippet Hall, Malcolm X Institute of Black Studies, Allen Athletics and Recreation Center, and five fraternity chapter houses) and renovated others (Goodrich Hall and four fraternity chapter houses).
In his inaugural address, President Ford said, “We shall... stay the course of the traditional liberal arts education that has served, and will continue to serve this society so well.” The President was so committed to the liberal arts that creating a national center to study liberal arts education was at the heart of his strategic plan. He later helped the College land the largest grant it has ever received, $20.5 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., to establish the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College. The Center of Inquiry would get a second eight-figure grant not long after.
He also served as President when Professor Raymond Williams established the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, which was founded in 1995 and continues to flourish with ongoing funding from Lilly Endowment.
President Ford, who came to Wabash after serving as Provost at Allegheny College, ushered the College into the North Coast Athletic Conference around the turn of the century. He had helped create the original league while at Allegheny and hoped the conference, formed to create gender equity in sports, would accept a single-gender college like Wabash. The move involved a lot more travel for student-athletes, but positioned Wabash with excellent liberal arts colleges – like Wooster, Denison, Kenyon, and Oberlin – that were also partners in the Great Lakes Colleges Association.
Other highlights from President Ford’s tenure at Wabash included the establishment of immersion learning programs, more robust internship and externship programs, an effort to integrate all administrative computing systems, and providing students with cutting-edge technology.
And – in keeping to his word about using alumni as the College’s strategic advantage – he worked with College Advancement to create more than 30 regional alumni associations around the country.
The National Association of Wabash Men named him an Honorary Alumnus in 2003.
The Board of Trustees paid tribute to him at the time of his retirement by granting him an Honorary Degree, saying: “You have raised our sights for the potential of this College to serve future generations. You have had the audacity to challenge all of us at Wabash to be our very best; the audacity to proclaim the value of the liberal arts; the audacity to stand firm on the rigor, candor, and trust you noticed when you first arrived on campus; and the audacity of our founders to suggest that a handful of Wabash men could—and would—save civilization.”
President Ford was an historian by training, earning his undergraduate degree from Seton Hall when it was still a college for men, and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin.
President Ford is survived by his wife, Anne, daughter, Lauren, and grandchildren Andrew and Elsa.
A private funeral service has been held for Andy's family; a memorial service is being planned for a future date. In lieu of flowers, friends may make a memorial donation to a charity of choice; the Wabash College Global Health Initiative (301 W. Wabash Avenue, Crawfordsville, IN 47933 or www.wabash.edu/giving); or the Montgomery County Free Clinic (816 Mill Street, Crawfordsville, IN 47933 or www.mcfreeclinic.org).