educator, professor of mathematics, university administrator, and vice- president, b. Wyoming County, Pa. He attended Hamilton and Homer academies in New York, studied law, and graduated from Princeton Univ. (A.B., 1840). After serving for one year as principal of Wilkes-Barre Academy, Sterling entered Princeton Theological Seminary, graduated in 1844, and in 1846 moved to Wisconsin, settling in Waukesha, where he taught briefly at Carroll College, and in 1847 opened a private school in Waukesha. In 1849 he was appointed principal and first professor of the preparatory department at the Univ. of Wisconsin, and subsequently taught mathematics, natural philosophy (physics and chemistry), and astronomy. From Jan. to July, 1859, Sterling was acting chancellor of the university, and from 1860 to 1865 was dean of the faculty. He was university vice-chancellor (1865-1867), and in 1866 was the only member of the faculty to survive the reorganization of that year. Sterling also served as vice-president of the university (1869-1885), in 1874 was given the title of professor of mathematics, became professor emeritus in 1883, and retired from active teaching in 1884. In 1863 Sterling encouraged the first admittance of women to the Univ. of Wisconsin, and subsequently (1881) he and his wife presided over one of the first women's residence halls. Although not known as an innovator or scholar, Sterling was an excellent administrator and a guiding spirit at the early university. Sterling Hall on the Univ. of Wisconsin campus was dedicated in his honor (1921). Dict. Amer. Biog.; M. Curti and V. Carstensen, Univ. of Wis. (2 vols., Madison, 1949); Madison Wis. State Journal, Mar. 9, 1885; WPA field notes.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the John Whelen Sterling Miscellany for details.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]