William S. Denison pledged $10,000 toward the Granville College, which was a Baptist school. Honoring an earlier commitment, the trustees accordingly changed the name of the institution to Denison University. They also voted to move the college to land then available for purchase in the village of Granville. Denison died in 1880. William S. Denison William S. Denison (17941880) was a Baptist farmer who was a major benefactor and namesake of Denison University in Ohio. William S. Denison was born in Colrain, Massachusetts on November 13, 1794 as the youngest of eight children. His family was originally from Stonington, Connecticut. Denison migrated to
William S. Penn William S. Penn William S. Penn (born 1949) is a writer and English professor at Michigan State University. William S. Penn is an urban mixed-blood Nez Perce. Born and raised in the West, he has lived in many different regions of the United States, as well as in England. He was educated at the University of California at Davis and at Syracuse University. He previously taught at the State University of New York at Oswego and at Hostos Community College in the South Bronx. He teaches courses in the oral tradition, comedy and cultural survival, the literatures of the Americas,