An accomplished woman, she served as advisor and liaison to many campus groups during his tenure at Minnesota.

The Tomahawk retrospective continues: "...he continued to labor in the steadily broadening field of education for the next twenty-seven years, retiring [again] in April, 1911, from active work loved, honored, and respected by hosts of young men and women as "Prexy" and a firm and true friend to all."

In September 1915, Northrop was elected Grand Senior President of Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity, a position in which he served until 1919.

The Tomahawk closes their retrospective with: "President Northrop is affectionately remembered among the 'Sigs, and has spoken kindly of his associations with them when an active member of Alpha Chapter at Yale in 1855–6.

A glance at his picture will convince anyone that he is still a young man in spite of his many years of experience and great activity.

By the following year, Minnesota had risen in a spectacular commemoration plan, explained in a retrospective article in the 1924 Gopher yearbook of over 30 pages.