Presidents of Peabody College:
John E. Brewton

Reprinted from The Peabody Reflector v18 n1 (January 1945): 25.

Dr. John E. Brewton, director of the Division of Surveys and Field Studies at Peabody College and former dean of the Peabody Graduate School, has been named acting president of the college following the death on January 18 of President S. C. Garrison. Announcement was made by Vernon S. Tupper, chairman of the executive committee of the Peabody Board of Trustees.

The unanimous action of the executive committee in appointing Dr. Brewton was approved by Ben A. Morton, of Knoxville, chairman of the Peabody Board of Trustees.

Dr. Brewton will serve as president pending election of a new president by the board. The next meeting of the board will be held here in May.

Dr. Brewton, who also served as acting president of the college during the illness of Dr. Garrison last summer, will retain the directorship of the survey and field study division.

A graduate of Howard College with M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Peabody College, Dr. Brewton has served as head of the Department of English and principal of Leon High School, Tallahassee, Florida; superintendent of schools, Quincy, Florida; director of research for Louisville city schools; and a summer school instructor at Howard College, Florida State College for Women, Emory University and the University of Louisville.

In 1937 he came to Peabody as associate director of the Division of Surveys and Field Studies. He was named dean of the Graduate School and acting director of the survey and field division in 1942. On January 1, he was succeeded by Dr. W. C. Jones as dean of the graduate school when he gave up these duties to devote his full time as director of the expanded Division of Surveys and Field Studies.