# Ralph Prator

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{{Short description|American academic administrator (1907-2005)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
 | name               = Ralph Prator
 | image              = 
 | image_size         = 
 | image_upright      = 
 | alt                = 
 | caption            = 
 | office             = 1st President of [San Fernando Valley State College](/source/California_State_University%2C_Northridge)
 | term_start         = 1958
 | term_end           = 1968
 | predecessor        = ''Office established''
 | successor          = [James W. Cleary](/source/James_W._Cleary)
 | prior_term         = 
 | office2            = 2nd President of [Bakersfield College](/source/Bakersfield_College)
 | term_start2        = August 1950
 | term_end2          = 1958
 | predecessor2       = Grace Van Dyke Bird
 | successor2         = Ed Simonsen
 | alma_mater         = [University of Colorado Boulder](/source/University_of_Colorado_Boulder) ([BA](/source/Bachelor_of_Arts), [MA](/source/Master_of_Arts))<br>[University of California, Berkeley](/source/University_of_California%2C_Berkeley) ([EdD](/source/Doctor_of_Education))
 | profession         = [College administrator](/source/Academic_administration)
 | spouse             = Lois (d. 1996)
 | children           = 3
 | birth_date         = {{birth date|1907|11|16}}
 | birth_place        = [La Veta](/source/La_Veta%2C_Colorado), [Colorado](/source/Colorado), U.S.
 | death_date         = {{death date and age|2005|7|25|1907|11|16|mf=y}}
 | death_place        = [Camarillo](/source/Camarillo%2C_California), [California](/source/California), U.S.
}}
'''Ralph Prator''' (November 16, 1907 – July 25, 2005)<ref name=Prator2005>{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jul-27-me-prator27-story.html|title=Ralph Prator, 97; Founding President of Campus That Became Cal State Northridge|last=Stassel|first=Stephanie|website=[Los Angeles Times](/source/Los_Angeles_Times) |date=27 July 2005}}</ref> was an American college administrator. He served as the first president of San Fernando Valley State College (now known as [California State University, Northridge](/source/California_State_University%2C_Northridge)) from 1958 to 1968.

==Academic career==
Prator received bachelor's and master's degrees in history from the [University of Colorado Boulder](/source/University_of_Colorado_Boulder), and his Ed.D. from the [University of California, Berkeley](/source/University_of_California%2C_Berkeley).<ref name=Prator2005 />  He briefly played minor league professional baseball with the [St. Louis Cardinals](/source/St._Louis_Cardinals) farm system.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->| date=April 6, 1958 |title= Valley State Prexy Started as Ballplayer |work=Los Angeles Times |location=pg. SF9 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/167248893/ |access-date=November 18, 2024 }}</ref> He was a high school principal in Colorado and later became dean of men and athletic director at Mesa College (now [Colorado Mesa University](/source/Colorado_Mesa_University)).<ref name=Prator2005 />  Prator served as an administrator at the University of Colorado beginning in 1940,<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->| date=July 27, 2005 |title= CSUN Founder Prator Dead |work=Daily News of Los Angeles |location=pg. N14 }}</ref> but interrupted his academic career to serve in the [United States Navy](/source/United_States_Navy) during [World War II](/source/World_War_II).<ref name=Prator2005 />  He was hired as the President of [Bakersfield College](/source/Bakersfield_College) in 1950,<ref>{{cite news |last= Douglas |first=Theo |date=October 18, 2013 |title= BC at 100: Truly Bakersfield's College|work=Bakersfield Californian }}</ref> and in 1958 he became the inaugural President of [California State University, Northridge](/source/California_State_University%2C_Northridge) (then San Fernando Valley State College).<ref>{{cite news |last= Callero |first=Chester |date=May 3, 1959 |title= Dr. Ralph Prator to Be Inaugurated as Valley State's First President: Valley State College to Be Formally Instituted|work=Los Angeles Times |location=pg. SF1 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/167519402/ |access-date=November 18, 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->| date=May 8, 1959 |title= Dr. Prator Installed as President of College: San Fernando Valley State Institution Hailed as Potential Leader in Nation |work=Los Angeles Times |location=pg. SF1 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/167403283/ |access-date=November 18, 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Gerth |first=Donald |date=2010 |title=The People's University: A History of the California State University |location=Berkeley, CA |publisher=Berkeley Public Policy Press |page=57 |isbn=978-0-87772-435-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/peoplesuniversit0000gert |access-date=November 18, 2024}}</ref>  Prator served in this role until stepping down from the presidency in 1968,<ref name=Prator2005 /><ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|date=December 5, 1967 |title= Prator, Valley State College Head, Will Resign Next Fall|work=Los Angeles Times |location=pg. SF1 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/155760632/ |access-date=November 18, 2024 }}</ref> teaching six more years as a professor of education until his retirement in 1974.<ref name=Prator2005 /> Prator was succeeded in his role as president by [James W. Cleary](/source/James_W._Cleary).<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->| date=March 7, 1969 |title= Heads San Fernando State |work=New York Times|location=pg. 18 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/118696295/ |access-date=November 18, 2024 }}</ref> In addition, he was involved in various community organizations in Los Angeles after he resigned from the San Fernando Valley State College presidency.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->| date=June 7, 1970 |title= Dr. Prator Heads City Development Assn. |work=Los Angeles Times |location=pg. J2 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/156486230/ |access-date=November 18, 2024 }}</ref>

==Impact==

Prator presided over tremendous growth while president at both Bakersfield College and San Fernando Valley State College.<ref>{{cite news |last= Hinch |first=Charles |date=May 9, 1963 |title= College Prepares for Huge Student Influx: Enrollment of 30,000 Seen at Northridge by Mid-'70s|work=Los Angeles Times |location=pg. G1 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/168319079/ |access-date=November 18, 2024 }}</ref>  He supervised the construction of more than a dozen buildings at Bakersfield College and nine buildings at San Fernando Valley State College.<ref name=Prator2005 /><ref name=Fanucchi1967>{{cite news |last= Fanucchi |first=Ken |date=December 10, 1967 |title= Building College Campuses Ends for VSC Prexy |work=Los Angeles Times |location=pg. SF_A1 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/155783096/ |access-date=November 18, 2024 }}</ref>  Faculty increased from 100 to 600 during Prator's tenure, and student enrollment grew from 3,500 to 16,000,<ref name=Prator2005 /> although there were occasional barriers to campus growth.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->| date=June 9, 1962 |title=Defeat of Proposition Hits College's Growth |work=Los Angeles Times |location=pg. D8 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/168024751/ |access-date=November 18, 2024 }}</ref> Prator worked toward increasing the number of faculty<ref>{{cite news |last= Chiang |first=Sharline |date=September 27, 1998 |title= CSUN Founders Together Again|work=Daily News of Los Angeles|location=pg. N4 }}</ref>—and their salaries—but was frustrated in his efforts.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->| date=July 21, 1963 |title= VSC Prexy Urges Teachers Pay Rise: Prator Says Low Salary Level Causes Procurement Problems |work=Los Angeles Times |location=pg. SF1 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/168381134/ |access-date=November 20, 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Estes |first=William |date=March 28, 1965 |title=Faculty Said Demoralized Over Salaries: President Claims Situation Critical at Valley State|work=Los Angeles Times |location=pg. SF_A1  |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/155142039/ |access-date=November 20, 2024}}</ref> He was one of the few presidents in the California State College system who supported a statewide faculty senate in 1962.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gerth |first=Donald |date=2010 |title=The People's University: A History of the California State University |location=Berkeley, CA |publisher=Berkeley Public Policy Press |page=142 |isbn=978-0-87772-435-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/peoplesuniversit0000gert |access-date=November 20, 2024}}</ref>  As a former director of admissions at the University of Colorado, Prator was appointed to the [California Master Plan for Higher Education](/source/California_Master_Plan_for_Higher_Education) Committee on Selection and Retention of Students, and it was in this role that he opposed a "college preparatory curriculum for the state colleges."<ref>{{cite book |last=Gerth |first=Donald |date=2010 |title=The People's University: A History of the California State University |location=Berkeley, CA |publisher=Berkeley Public Policy Press |page=325 |isbn=978-0-87772-435-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/peoplesuniversit0000gert |access-date=November 20, 2024}}</ref> Toward the end of Prator's tenure as president, student activism greatly increased, and Prator began to find himself the target of public student protests,<ref name=Fanucchi1967 /><ref>{{cite news |last1= Fanucchi |first1=Ken |last2= Bernstein|first2=Sid |date=May 29, 1967 |title=9 Students Await Antidraft Hearings|work=Los Angeles Times |location=pg. SF7 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/155665904/ |access-date=November 20, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Fanucchi |first=Ken |date=May 30, 1967 |title= Nine Suspended Students Permitted to Attend Class: Ruling Marks Major Change in VSC Policy|work=Los Angeles Times |location=pg. SF8 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/155628555/ |access-date=November 20, 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis |type=PhD |last=deGuzman |first=Jean-Paul |date=2014 |title="And Make the San Fernando Valley My Home:" Contested Spaces, Identities, and Activism on the Edge of Los Angeles |publisher=University of California, Los Angeles |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2064f4fm |access-date=November 20, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Fanucchi |first=Ken |date=June 13, 1967 |title=Student Demonstrator Expelled: Valley State Expels One, Suspends Two|work=Los Angeles Times |location=pg. SF7 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/155716555/ |access-date=November 20, 2024 }}</ref> the most extreme of which came after his resignation.<ref>{{cite thesis |type=PhD |last=Moreno |first=Joseph Gomez |date=2015 |title=The Chicana/o studies movement on campus: Popular protest, radicalism, and activism, 1968-1980 |publisher=Michigan State University |url=https://d.lib.msu.edu/etd/3453 |access-date=November 20, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->| date=November 17, 1968 |title=Ex-Valley State President Likes New Role |work=Los Angeles Times |location=pg. SF_B1 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/156004637/ |access-date=November 20, 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Greenwood |first=Leonard |date=February 15, 1969 |title=New Acting President Named at Valley State|work=Los Angeles Times |location=pg. B1 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/156069277/ |access-date=November 20, 2024}}</ref> His initial response to student unrest was optimistic,<ref>{{cite news |last= Estes |first=William |date=June 2, 1965 |title= College Prexy Voices Optimism in Current Generation of Youth|work=Los Angeles Times |location=pg. SF8 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/155181004/ |access-date=November 20, 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Garrigues |first=George |date=September 26, 1965 |title=VSC Striving for Harmony: President Acts to Give Students Bigger Role VSC President Acts to Avoid Future Trouble|work=Los Angeles Times |location=pg. SF_A1 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/155288140/ |access-date=November 20, 2024 }}</ref> but the continuing unrest in the late 1960s eventually led him to retreat to the teaching ranks.<ref name=Fanucchi1967 />

==Personal life==
Prator was married to Lois Prator until her death in 1996.  They had three children together.  Prator died on July 25, 2005, in [Camarillo, California](/source/Camarillo%2C_California).<ref name=Prator2005 />

==Bibliography==
Prator authored one book:
* {{cite book |last=Prator |first=Ralph |date=1963 |title=The College President |location=New York |publisher=The Center for Applied Research in Education }}

==External links==
* [https://digital-library.csun.edu/csun-leaders/ralph-prator Interview with Ralph Prator in 1990 at California State University, Northridge]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Prator, Ralph}}
Category:1907 births
Category:2005 deaths
Category:American academic administrators
Category:Bakersfield College
Category:Colorado Mesa Mavericks athletic directors
Category:Mesa Mavericks football coaches
Category:Presidents of California State University, Northridge
Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni
Category:University of Colorado Boulder alumni
Category:People from Huerfano County, Colorado
Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II
Category:20th-century American academics

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Ralph Prator](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Prator) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Prator?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.