Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/197

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

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ley College, for seven years a teacher in the grammar school at Highspire, married Pro- fessor Walter G. Clippinger. an instructor in the Theological Seminary of Dayton, Ohio, and now president of Otterbein University, Westerville, Ohio; William Spencer, born October 18, 1877, a graduate of the Lebanon Valley College, a commercial traveler for a Pittsburgh firm ; Minerva Elizabeth, born July 6, 1882.

Rev. Hervin Ulysses Roop, eldest son and child of Henry J. and Justina M. (Backen- stoe) Roop. was born on the homestead at Highspire. Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, November 16, 1868. He obtained a primary and preparatory education in the public and high schools of Steelton. Pennsylvania. His higher education was secured in numerous of the best known institutions of the coun- try. After completing a classical course in Lebanon Valley College, receiving the de- gree of Bachelor of Arts, he took up the study of theology in the LInion Biblical Seminary, at Dayton, Ohio, there taking the degree of Bachelor of Divinity. This latter course was three years in duration, and he then spent a like time in the University of \\'ooster. this institution making him a Doctor of Philosophy. Pedagogy and phil- osophy were two branches in which he pur- sued advanced study in Cornell University. Clark University, and the University of Pennsylvania, passing a summer term at the two first named universities and two full years at the last. After one year at Yale University, taking up sociology, psychology and education. Dr. Roop made a tour of the foremost educational institutions of Europe, traveling in both Great Britain and Conti- nental Europe, visiting public, private and technical schools, as well as universities and colleges. For three years after his return he taught in the schools of his native county, then becoming professor of Eng- lish, history and pedagogy in the Cumber- land \'alley State Normal School, at Ship- pensburg, Pennsylvania, for one year there- after being an instructor in Rittenhouse Academy, Philadelphia. Upon the invita- tion of the Hon. John Wanamaker. at this time he became state superintendent of Sab- bath school normal work, his labors to be under the direction of the State Sabbath School Association, and during his incum- bency of this office organized teachers' training work in all the counties of the state, sixty-seven in number. This system

has since been greatly extended and has been a most potent factor in introducing practical and efficient methods into Sab- lath school work. Pennsylvania a leader in the movement to substitute teachers willing and trained for teachers merely willing. Ac- cepting a call to the presidency of the Leba- non Valley College, in June. 1907, Dr. Roop resigned from his position under the State Sabbath School Association and entered up- on the discharge of his new duties, which included the professorship of philosophy and pedagogy. The fruits of the nine years that he spent as the head of this institution are best expressed bv a testimonial of the board ot trustees, granted him at the completion of his years of service:

During Dr. Roop's administration, extending from 1897 until 1906, the standard of scholarship has been greatly advanced, the student body augmented almost fourfold, the assets of the .college more than quad- rupled, and a handsome group of modern univer- sity buildings completed and provided for financially, and the college is generally prosperous as never be- fore in its history. * * * That we affirm our im- plicit confidence in and our admiration for his busi- ness integrity * * * and that the life, growth and prosperity of the college have been chiefly due to the wise and aggressive policy, the careful and prudent management, untiring energy, and strong personality, of Dr. Roop.

June I. IQ04. Lebanon \'alley College con- ferred upon its president the degree of Doc- tor of Laws, naming the three-fold reason of high scholarship, service in the cause of higher education, and distinguished devo- tion to the college. For a time after leaving Lebanon Valley College, Dr. Roop was identified with the Indiana Central Univer- sity, in Indianapolis. Indiana, and is now president of Eastern College, Manassas, \'irginia. This latter is a co-educational in- stitution, one of the numerous high grade colleges for which Virginia is famous, the buildings of the college grouped in a semi- circle about a spacious and beautiful camp- us. The college affords a wide range of courses, instruction in which is given by a faculty numbered among the graduates of the leading institutions of the country, is splendidly and modernly equipped, and pos- sesses the advantages of a large university with none of its concomitant disadvantages. Dr. Roop is the author of many articles on educational and pedagogic topics, subjects with which he is eminently qualified to deal, and is regarded as an authority upon matters within this province. In the past