John Erskine (1890-1951)

Professor of English at Columbia University (New York), but also a writer and musician, Erskine took over the direction of the American university created in Beaune (21) in 1919-20, and which had more than 9,500 student-soldiers. When the students left, Erskine, who was in contact with the University of Dijon, donated a large part of the 30,000 volumes owned by the American university. In 1949, he was awarded an honoris causa doctorate from the University of Dijon. A room in the BU Droit-Lettres is named after him.