The new president is 41, a former instructor in the English department at Indiana University who is serving as superintendent of schools in Louisville, Kentucky, when he is hired by the college.

Holland goes on to become the longest serving of WSU’s presidents. He reorganizes the administrative structure of the institution, establishing five colleges and four schools, a key step in the college’s pursuit of university status. He also encourages the recruitment of national fraternities and sororities to Pullman and signs an agreement with students to ease conservative social rules.

Holland serves as president until 1945. Holland Library is named in his honor after its construction in 1950.