Summit's Glory ― Sketches of Buchtel College and the University of Akron

Summit's Glory is George Knepper's eloquent personal history of The University of Akron. For more than 40 years Knepper has been associated with the University as student, faculty member, administrator, and University Historian. In this series of vignettes he draws on his vast knowledge of the institution and his personal experiences to discuss the University's evolution over a century and a quarter. Summit's Glory will appeal to readers with ties to The University of Akron and to others who enjoy the reflections of a mature scholar. "In nearly every visible way," Knepper writes, "The University of Akron appears to differ totally from old Buchtel College, but this perception captures only a portion of reality. The goal of the University---to produce educated men and women---is as clear as it ever was, even if our concept of what constitutes an educated person has changed. The central activity---learning---is no different, though it takes different forms."

George W. Knepper is an Akron native whose boyhood home was a scant two miles from Spicer Hill and The University of Akron campus. After service in the Navy during World War II, he graduated from the University in 1948 with a degree in history. As a graduate student at the University of Michigan, he specialized in American Colonial and revolutionary era history and received his PhD in 1954. Returning to Akron, Knepper taught American history, served as dean of the Buchtel College from 1962 to 1967, and became University Historian in 1965. Knepper has served as president of the Ohio Academy of History, the Ohio Historical Society, and the Summit County Historical Society. His many books include New Lamps for Old and Ohio and Its People. Knepper is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at The University of Akron.