Harry Burns Hutchins (April 8, 1847 – January 25, 1930)[1][2] was the fourth president of the University of Michigan (1909–1920).

[7] December 28, 1872 Hutchins married Mary Louise Crocker, together they would adopt one son, Harry C.

[8] Hutchins suddenly become ill on January 22, 1930, and died three days later at his home in Ann Arbor at the age of 82.

Hutchins Hall, the main classroom and administrative building of the law school, is named after him.

As the first Michigan alumnus to serve as president of the university, Hutchins "wanted to reclaim them (alumni) by organization, to persuade them to maintain a continuing interest in the welfare of their university, to advertise in their communities so as to attract the best new students, and to contribute financially toward the University development"[13] The University saw great growth in his tenure as the student body grew from less than 5,000 to more than 9,000, the Alumni Association grew leaps and bounds, the faculty grew from 427 to 618, the formation of the graduate school, and with the help of the newly organized Alumni Association and their many wealthy donors, there was the addition of many new buildings.

[13] On January 19, 1910, Hutchins made a speech to the New York University of Michigan Club which was published in the New Yorker; it read, "many of these graduate schools work too hard to get students and too little for results.

Some of them are not a credit to the country, and Michigan is not without fault of her own in this respect, but we are working at Ann Arbor to remedy this condition, and we expect soon to have a graduate school in the true sense of the word.

Specifically the development of the Martha Cook Building was due in large part to the great relationship Hutchins had with William W. Cook, who provided the financial contribution for this all female housing facility in honor of his mother, Martha.

Hutchins felt at the outset that the University's unique function was to furnish trained leadership for the nation.

To make the University simply another military camp for privates was in his view a gross misuse of its potentials, and he resisted it.