Bruce Cole


Bruce Cole was a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., a member of the Eisenhower Memorial Commission, and the eighth Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Early life and education

Cole was born in 1938 in Cleveland, Ohio to a salesman. He attended Western Reserve University from which he graduated in 1962. Cole earned his master's and doctorate degrees from Oberlin College and Bryn Mawr College in art history, in 1964 and 1969 respectively. In 1966, while attending University of Florence, Cole participated in evacuation, during Arno river flooding. He received nine honorary doctorate degrees.
He and his wife Doreen lived in Virginia and had two children. Cole died on January 8, 2018.

NEH Chair

Cole's connection with the National Endowment for the Humanities began when, like thousands of others, he received an NEH fellowship. He subsequently served as peer-reviewer for NEH applications, and later as a member of the National Council on the Humanities.
From 2001 to 2009, Cole served as the eighth Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Cole was nominated twice by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate, once in 2001 and for a second term in 2005. Cole promoted some key initiatives at the Endowment, including We the People, a program designed to encourage the teaching, study, and understanding of American history and culture, and Picturing America, which used great American art to teach our nation's history and culture in 80,000 schools and public libraries nationwide. Cole also encouraged the expansion of support for digital projects by NEH, including grants specified for "digital humanities." Additionally, under his tenure, the NEH developed partnerships with several foreign countries, including Mexico and China.

Academic career

Before going to the NEH in December 2001, Cole taught at the University of Rochester and Indiana University in Bloomington, where he was a Distinguished Professor of Art History and Professor of Comparative Literature. In 2008, he received the University's President's Medal for "excellence in service, achievement and teaching." In 2006, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels awarded Cole the Sagamore of the Wabash, which recognizes individuals who have brought distinction to the state of Indiana.
For two years, Cole was the William E. Suida Fellow at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz. Cole held fellowships and grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Kress Foundation, the American Philosophical Society, and the UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. He was a corresponding member of the Accademia Senese degli Intronati, the oldest learned society in Europe, and a founder and former co-president of the Association for Art History. He has written 15 books and numerous articles.

Boards and honors

After leaving the NEH, Cole served as president and CEO of the Museum of the American Revolution in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, until 2011. He also served on many boards, including American Heritage Society, the Jack Miller Center, the Villa Firenze Foundation, and the National Civic Art Society. In 2010, Cole was appointed by Governor Mitch Daniels to Indiana University's Board of Trustees. Previously, Cole served on the U.S. National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, the board of the Woodrow Wilson Center, and held a Senate-appointed position on the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity.
In November 2008, President Bush awarded Cole the Presidential Citizens Medal "for his work to strengthen our national memory and ensure that our country's heritage is passed on to future generations." The medal is one of the highest honors the President can confer upon a civilian, second only to the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Earlier in 2008, Cole was decorated as a Knight of the Grand Cross, the highest honor in the Republic of Italy.
In August 2013, President Obama appointed Cole to the Eisenhower Memorial Commission, which was tasked with overseeing the creation of the National Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial. Cole had previously criticized the selected design by Frank Gehry in articles and congressional testimony. Cole serves on the board of advisors for the National Civic Art Society, which supports classical architecture and has been a chief critic of Gehry's memorial design.

Selected written works

Cole has written fourteen books, including: