Willis Henry Bocock (January 4, 1865, in Halifax, Virginia[1] –1947) was a prominent administrator and professor of Classics at the University of Georgia.
One of the highlights of his career was his appointment as the first Dean of the newly formed University of Georgia Graduate School in 1910.
After his graduation from Hampden-Sydney he spent a year at the University of Virginia and obtained diplomas in Latin and Greek.
He was elected full professor when he was twenty-one.”[3] Bocock also attended the University of Berlin in the period 1892-93 and traveled throughout Europe.
With the formation of the University of Georgia Graduate School in 1910, and Bocock’s appointment as dean, he assumed demanding administrative duties as well as maintaining excellence in teaching.
Bocock’s career illustrates the problem with the lack of publications by nineteenth and early twentieth century faculty.
He was named Lecturer on International Relations by the University of Georgia Board of Trustees in 1931 and was a popular and prolific speaker on this subject.
The course description points out a problem with early graduate education at the University of Georgia that was common with many other institutions: “studied from sources so far as the library resources of the University permit.”[5] Bocock also taught, by himself, “An Introduction to New Testament Greek.” These classes were in addition to undergraduate teaching and his duties as Dean.
The depth and variety of his knowledge of literature, ancient and modern, and of world history and contemporary affairs was impressive; and he invariably expressed his views in perfect English.