Hamilton Gazetteer / Entities / Duncan Rice

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person

Duncan Rice

Overview

C. Duncan Rice is a British historian and academic administrator who served as Dean of Hamilton College from 1979, having been recruited from Yale University where he was Dean of Saybrook College and Associate Professor of History and American Studies. He later became Vice Chancellor (Principal) of King’s College London (1990–2003) and founding president of NYU Abu Dhabi (2006–2011). His scholarly work focused on Anglo-American antislavery reform and the Scottish Enlightenment.

Relevance to Research

Rice appears prominently in the May 1979 Hamilton Spectator, which documented his candidacy and subsequent appointment as Dean of the College — a position he accepted at the end of an extensive national search that drew 231 applicants. The corpus provides extensive coverage of his views on Hamilton’s academic and social environment, making it a valuable primary source for understanding institutional priorities at Hamilton in the late 1970s.

Notes

Role: Dean of Hamilton College (1979–); historian of American slavery and reform Key events: - Born 1942, Scotland (British subject) - M.A. with 1st Class Honours in History, University of Aberdeen, 1964 - Ph.D., University of Edinburgh, 1969; dissertation: “The Scottish Factor in the Fight Against American Slavery, 1833–1861” - Faculty member and dean at Yale University (Dean of Saybrook College; Associate Professor of History and American Studies) prior to Hamilton appointment - Published The Rise and Fall of Black Slavery (1975) - Recipient of American Philosophical Society Research Grant and Yale Senior Faculty Fellowship - May 4–5, 1979: Visited Hamilton campus as a finalist for Dean of the College; met with students in the Dwight Lounge, Bristol Campus Center, and gave extensive Q&A on honor code, distribution requirements, fraternities, faculty diversity, and other topics (Spectator, May 4, 1979) - May 25, 1979: Announced as the new Dean of Hamilton College, selected from a field of 231 applicants; described by Search Committee Chair Frederick Wagner as “a very bright man” and “the very best person who was available” (Spectator extra edition, May 25, 1979) - Research interests at time of appointment: Anglo-American middle-class reform 1770–1860; response of the Scottish Enlightenment to slavery and savagery - Later career: Principal/Vice Chancellor, King’s College London (1990–2003); founding president, NYU Abu Dhabi (2006–2011)