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Winter 2016
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TOWER
9
SESQUICENTENNIAL
STORIES OF KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY
BECK HALL
BRIGHT W. BECK ’12
(1882—1970)
Beck was a 1912 graduate of Keystone State Normal
School (KSNS) and held degrees from Bucknell and
Columbia Universities. He was chair of the social studies
department at KSNS and Kutztown State Teachers
College (KSTC). He later became dean of men at the
school, retiring in 1951. He passed away in 1970. He is
buried in Fairview Cemetery adjacent to campus. Beck
Hall was dedicated in his name in May 1965.
The
NAMES BEHIND
The
BUILDINGS
SCHAEFFER AUDITORIUM
NATHAN C. SCHAEFFER
(1849—1919)
Born in 1849, Schaeffer was the first
student of the Maxatawny Seminary,
graduating in 1865, just one year before
the seminary became KSNS. He went on
to earn his bachelor’s degree from Frank-
lin and Marshall College. Schaeffer would
return to Kutztown as principal of KSNS
from 1877—1893 when he was appointed
state superintendent of public education,
an office he held until his death in 1919.
Schaeffer Auditorium was dedicated in
his name in 1941.
ROHRBACH LIBRARY
QUINCY A. W. ROHRBACH ’12
(1894—1988)
Born in 1934, Rohrbach ’12 graduated from KSNS in 1912 and then
went on to earn his bachelor’s degree from Franklin and Marshall
College in Lancaster. He then earned his master’s degree and doctorate
from the University of Pennsylvania. After teaching as a Harrison Fellow
at the University of Pennsylvania, he was professor of administration
at the University of Pittsburgh for 10 years before being named pres-
ident of KSTC in 1934. Rohrbach had the daunting task of guiding the
school through the Great Depression and World War II.
Rohrbach was a member of the Pinchot Educational Commission during
its 1931 and 1933 sessions. In 1959, the Pennsylvania General Assembly
adopted his report which urged changing the name and function of
Pennsylvania’s teachers colleges to the state college system used until 1983.
He retired from Kutztown in 1959 and the Rohrbach Library was
named in his honor in 1968. He died in 1988 at the age of 94.
Bright W. Beck ’12
Left: Quincy A. W. Rohrbach ’12