Richard Edwards (December 23, 1822 – March 7, 1908) was a Welsh American educator from Ceredigion (Cardiganshire).

In October 1844, Edwards took a teaching job, and after one term he enrolled in the State Normal School in Bridgewater, Massachusetts.

[1] In 1848, he returned to the State Normal School in Bridgewater to teach astronomy, physics, map-drawing, and geography.

Edwards’ work on the curriculum of the university was a combination of elementary, secondary, and college-level education intended to hone the basic skills and knowledge of the teachers-in-training, turning the school into a “people’s university” as opposed to a “genuine normal school.

[3] Edwards was an abolitionist who, as early as 1863, was advocating for the inclusion of African-American children in the normal school.

[4] Edwards then became pastor of the Congregational Church of Princeton, Illinois; he had been ordained as a minister three years earlier.

He then accepted the presidency of Blackburn University, who bestowed an honorary Doctor of Divinity upon him the same year.