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Sheldon, Edward Austin

(Encyclopedia)Sheldon, Edward Austin, 1823–97, American educator, b. Wyoming co., N.Y., studied at Hamilton College. After illness forced him to cut short his own education, he held a variety of positions in the ...

Bell, John

(Encyclopedia)Bell, John, 1797–1869, American statesman, b. near Nashville, Tenn. A leading member of the Nashville bar, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1827–41), was speaker in 1834, and for a ...

Weinberger, Caspar Willard

(Encyclopedia)Weinberger, Caspar Willard wīnˈbûrgər [key], 1917–2006, U.S. government official, U.S. secretary of defense (1981–87), b. San Francisco, grad. Harvard (1938), Harvard Law School (1941). After ...

Missouri Compromise

(Encyclopedia)Missouri Compromise, 1820–21, measures passed by the U.S. Congress to end the first of a series of crises concerning the extension of slavery. By 1818, Missouri Territory had gained sufficient popul...

American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees

(Encyclopedia)American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), largest union of public employees in the United States. It began as a number of separate locals organized by a group of Wisconsi...

teacher training

(Encyclopedia)teacher training, professional preparation of teachers, usually through formal course work and practice teaching. Although the concept of teaching as a profession is fairly new, most teachers in indus...

Chaykovsky, Nikolai Vasilyevich

(Encyclopedia)Chaykovsky, Nikolai Vasilyevich nyĭkəlīˈ vəsēˈlyəvĭch chīkôfˈskē [key], 1850–1926, Russian socialist. As a student in St. Petersburg he joined (1869) a utopian socialist student group (...

Maryland, University of

(Encyclopedia)Maryland, University of, at College Park; coeducational; land-grant and state supported; chartered 1856 and opened 1859 as Maryland Agricultural College, renamed Maryland State College 1916, consolida...

New York, State University of

(Encyclopedia)New York, State University of, est. 1948 by the amalgamation under one board of trustees of 29 state-supported institutions. It now comprises all state-supported institutions of higher education, with...

Buchanan, James

(Encyclopedia)Buchanan, James, 1791–1868, 15th President of the United States (1857–61), b. near Mercersburg, Pa., grad. Dickinson College, 1809. Buchanan was nominated as a Democratic candidate for the pres...