Dr. Ward graduated from Deerfield Academy and Amherst College and took both his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard. From 1935 to 1938 he was a member of Harvard’s Society of Fellows. During World War II, Dr. Ward served with the Office of Strategic Services and the Department of State. From 1946 to 1948 he was engaged in educational work in China and served at Huachung University in Wuchang. Dr. Ward also taught at Harvard, Radcliffe, Russell Sage, and Colby. Dr. Ward came to Sarah Lawrence College in 1960 from the Carnegie Institute of Technology, where he was professor of history and head of the History Department. While there, he won recognition for the part he played in the development of the liberal education program at Carnegie Tech and for helping initiate the Advancement Placement Program in Pittsburgh high schools.
While President of Sarah Lawrence College, Dr. Ward received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Amherst College and the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Bard College. He was a Fellow and Board Member of the Society for Religion in Higher Education and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the American Historical Association, the Mediaeval Academy of America, the Century Association, the American Association of University Professors, New York State Coordination Council on Foreign Area Studies, and the New York State Selection Committee for Fulbright Student Awards. From 1961-1965 he was a member of the Commission on International Understanding of the Association of American Colleges. He was also a trustee of the Emma Willard School, Troy, NY, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY.
He is the author of A Style of History for Beginners, published by the Service Center for Teachers of History of the American Historical Association, and co-editor of William Lambarde’s Archeion.
Dr. Ward was married to Catharine Frazee Wakefield and together they had four children.
Dr. Ward resigned his presidency at Sarah Lawrence College in January 1965 to take a position as Executive Secretary of the American Historical Association in Washington, D.C. The Board of Trustees of Sarah Lawrence College appointed Mrs. Esther Raushenbush as President of the College to succeed Dr. Ward on July 1, 1965.
The Paul Ward Papers include forty folders arranged alphabetically by subject heading. The collection consists of papers created and collected during Paul Ward’s term as president of Sarah Lawrence College with exception of a limited number of correspondences prior to his term. Other correspondence includes communications with faculty and other members of the administration, members of the board of trustees, and the neighboring community. The papers also include press clippings, speeches, programs, and planning information about President Ward’s inauguration. Of particular note are two folders of letters and memos between President Harold Taylor, the faculty, the Committee on Academic Freedom, President Ward, and others concerning the National Defense Education Fund and the college’s stance on excepting funds under condition of a loyalty oath and disclaimer affidavit. This collections also includes texts of speeches, talks, and papers delivered prior to and during his tenure.