Presidents of Georgetown College

Robert Mills    1959-1978

    When Robert L. Mills assumed the reins as the twentieth president, emotions still ran high after the failed effort to move Georgetown College to Louisville, Kentucky. His character as a Christian gentleman, gave Mills the diplomatic skills that enabled faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of the college to move beyond the turmoil. The college united behind a progressive program to improve Georgetown academically, physically, and fiscally.  

    A native of Erlanger, Kentucky, Mills was born to John Clifford and Dixie Lee Mills on November 13, 1916. He received his early education from local schools, graduating from Lloyd High School in 1934. He went on to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Kentucky in 1938 and 1941 respectively. While working on his master’s degree, he taught algebra at Covington (Kentucky) High School. World War II interrupted his education in 1942. He married Mildred Sizer of Cincinnati and joined the Air Force Technical Training Command, where he became an aircraft hydraulics instructor at Chanute Field in Illinois and at Lincoln Air Base in Nebraska. After the war, Mills worked in Oakridge, Tennessee for two private companies—Tennessee Eastman Corporation and Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Corporation. He returned to the University of Kentucky in 1948 to work on his doctorate in Education, which he received in 1951. 

    As director of research of the Kentucky Department of Education’s Bureau of Administration and Finance, he took an active role in campaigning for the passage of two laws that significantly advanced education in Kentucky by permitting the legislature to distribute funds to public schools under broader criteria. Funding was generally equalized between poorer districts and wealthier districts. He continued his climb upward in educational administration in 1954 by becoming Registrar and Dean of Admissions at the University of Kentucky. After three years there he went to the University of Texas at Austin to chair the Department of Educational Administration.  

    In the spring of 1959, Mills was elected president of Georgetown College. Mills was the college’s third non-ministerial president. The two major initiatives of his presidency were to improve student housing and to upgrade working conditions for the faculty. Mills began in the 1960s and early 1970s by expanding the capacity for student housing. Wings were added to Anderson and Knight Halls, and a residential park, consisting of four dormitories for independents and eight dormitories for fraternities and sororities, was developed on the site of and in the area behind old Rucker Hall.  Much of the construction was financed by low-interest government financing, which was a controversial issue among Baptists at the time. The area was later named the Robert L. Mills Residential Park. Student life was further enhanced by the construction of a new student center, made possible by the donation of Louisville businessman Lee E. Cralle, in 1965. Enrollment peaked to 1,610 students in 1967.

    Mills led in the improvement of academics by giving faculty a voice in affairs of the college.  He formed faculty advisory committees, encouraged the organization of a American Association of University Professors chapter and used that organization’s guidelines in preparing the first Faculty Handbook, establishing tenure, and standardizing a salary schedule, which increased faculty salaries and benefits. Academics were further supported by building a new science center and by increasing the endowment. 

    In 1979, President Mills retired, holding the titles of Chancellor and President Emeritus of Georgetown College. He and Millie lived in Owen County, Kentucky. Dr. Mills died 16 January 2006, and Millie followed soon afterward on 10 September. They are survived by three children.