Charles Edward Rugh, Education: Berkeley
1867-1938
Professor Emeritus
Charles Edward Rugh was born on January 27, 1867, in Lamartine, Pennsylvania. He received his early education at Pennsylvania State Normal School, Clarion, Pennsylvania. From Stanford he received the A.B. degree in 1903 and from the University of California the M.S. degree in 1907. In this same year he joined the faculty of the University of California as Assistant Professor of Education. A full professorship was awarded him in 1913. Professor Rugh assumed the principalship of the University High School in 1914 which he organized and developed into a nationally recognized institution. He was promoted to the directorship of practice teaching in 1926 and he remained in this post until 1932. From the age of sixty-five until his retirement in 1937 he acted as Associate Director of Practice Teaching. Recently he accepted the editorship of the California Journal of Secondary Education and was prepared to extend his services within the field of secondary education.
Professor Rugh's early classroom work at the University was in the field of secondary education. However, with the death of Dean Lange, he was given charge of the field of the theory and philosophy of education, and this important work he continued until his retirement. Probably no member of the School of Education in a period of thirty years of service ever touched as large and as appreciative a number of upper division and graduate students. He made himself one of the outstanding professors in the country in the theory and philosophy of education.
Professor Rugh's outstanding service to public education was his forceful teaching. In addition he was the author of two important manuscripts: the first, entitled "Moral Training in Public Schools," won the first award in the California Prize Essay contest; the second, entitled "The Essential Place of Religion in Education," won the first prize in the religious education contest offered through the National Education Association. His manuscript, "Self-Improvement of Teachers," received national recognition on its publication in 1919.
In 1923-24 he served the Institute of Social and Religious Research in New York City as director of an inquiry into the moral and religious influences and agencies in institutions of higher education. In the later years of his life he came to be known as one of the Nation's leaders in religious and character education. To his studies in these fields he brought a unique combination of philosophical and scientific approaches easily understood by those who have known of his early contacts and studies with David Starr Jordan, first at Indiana University and later at Stanford University.
Professor Rugh was married in 1895 to Jessie E. Mullen of Burgoon, Ohio. There were three children, Charles Vincent, Dwight DeKalb, and Jean Winifred. Mrs. Jessie Rugh died in 1919. In 1932 Rugh was married to Dora Ritchie of Berkeley.
Professor Rugh was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Association of University Professors and the Religious Educational Association. At one time he was a member of the National Council of the Y.M.C.A.
His wide interests and contacts made for a rich and wise personality. His teaching was challenging to his students, and his thinking exercised a powerful influence in the formulation of their philosophies.
The death of Professor Rugh, September 28, 1938, has been a real loss to the University of California and to public education in the State and in the Nation. The Academic Senate offers a tribute to the memory of a distinguished teacher and friend.
Link to this Memorial tribute by UCB Faculty:http://texts.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb0g50035s;NAAN=13030&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00010&toc.depth=1&toc.id=&brand=calisphere
Family links:
Parents:
Solomon Rugh (1840 - 1919)
Elizabeth Fowles Rugh (1838 - 1924)
Spouse:
Jessie Evangeline Mullen Rugh (1877 - 1919)
Children:
Charles Vincent Rugh (1896 - 1961)*
Dwight Dekalb Rugh (1899 - 1981)*
Jean Winifred Rugh Hurlbert (1907 - 2001)*
Siblings:
Charles Edward Rugh (1867 - 1938)
Ida Minnie Rugh Corbett (1869 - 1944)*
Harry Emanuel Rugh (1871 - 1939)*
Arthur Rugh (1873 - 1946)*
*Calculated relationship
