1887-1902 and 1910-1913

Millar was a native of McKeesport, Pennsylvania, a graduate of Central College in Fayette, Missouri and only 26 when he assumed the presidency of Central Collegiate Institute. He had taught Grove’s High School in Dallas, Texas, during the 1885-86 school year and served as president and professor of philosophy at Neosho Collegiate Institute in Missouri, the following year. In 1888, Millar made an extensive tour of eastern colleges and universities in an effort to broaden his conception of the purpose of higher education by exchanging ideas with professors and presidents. From 1887 to 1890, he reorganized the entire curriculum, increased the faculty, purchased needed books and equipment and raised the requirements for both admission and graduation. Millar was also instrumental in the relocation of the college to its present site in Conway, Arkansas. Under Millar’s tenure, CCI/Hendrix College came to represent the typical American small liberal arts college.