Paul Olum

The U of O's 13th president, Paul Olum, became president in 1980, after serving nine months as acting president. His educational background was in mathematics: early in his career he worked as a theoretical physicist in Los Alamitos, NM for the Manhattan Project, the first atomic bomb. He was also an ardent antinuclear spokesman. He was retired by the State Board of Higher Education on June 30, 1989, because the board declared he was "antagonistic" and that he often challenged the judgment of those on the board who supported his work. A push both on-campus and off failed to reverse the board's decision.

President Olum established 20 new research institutes and academic programs, which helped double the university's income through grants and contracts. He also began the most significant construction program in university history, which included a $34.6 million science complex and a $27 million remodeling of Knight Library. President Olum also created the Riverfront Research Park to generate and involve students in new research.

President Olum was born August 16, 1918 in Binghamton, New York. He died January 19, 2001 in Natick, Massachusetts.