George Alden was a man of the Industrial Revolution who was educated at Harvard's Lawrence School of Science and taught mechanical engineering for twenty-eight years at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He was a New Englander, born in Templeton, Massachusetts, who earned his money for college in the furniture factories of nearby Gardner. To quote one biographer, "serious himself, he expected everybody else to be, believing more in practice than in precept...."
As pioneer members of the faculty of the newly established WPI, George Alden and his colleague, Milton Higgins, achieved national recognition in the 1880s and 1890s for their skillful and compelling espousal of an engineering education that combined practice with theory. Their graduates, able to lead in the industrialization of America, were, in Mr. Alden's words, "entitled to be called gentlemen in the original and derivative sense of that word."
Both Mr. Alden and Mr. Higgins were early examples of creative academic innovators whose energies took them beyond the campus into the competitive world of industry. In 1885 they joined with several Worcester businessmen in establishing the Norton Emery Wheel Company. Mr. Alden became treasurer and Mr. Higgins president. Not until 1896 would they devote full time to the Norton Company which grew by leaps and bounds through good times and bad.
By then Mr. Alden had invented a dynamometer for measuring the power of all kinds of machines, the first hydraulic elevators had been invented and produced by him and Mr. Higgins, and he established and directed the second hydraulic laboratory in the United States. And all this time the graduates of WPI remembered him as a fine but demanding teacher.
After 1896, as the Norton Company prospered, Mr. Alden continued his interest in education that would help young people become effective contributors to society. Thus he became a trustee of WPI, a trustee of the newly formed Worcester Boys Trade School, and a leading member of the Worcester School Committee. As second president and later chairman of the board of the Norton Company, Mr. Alden initiated one of the first programs for helping employees to acquire further education.
George I. Alden was an experienced and successful teacher who wanted others like him to be aided in their efforts. He provided well for those as independent as he was in mind and spirit.
| Term | Chair | Clerk | |
| 1912-20 | George I. Alden | Edward T. Esty | Albert H. Stone |
| 1921-26 | George I. Alden | Edward T. Esty | Paul B. Morgan |
| 1926-42 | Edward T. Esty | Paul B. Morgan | Clara L. Alden |
| J. Herbert Johnson | |||
| 1942-45 | J. Herbert Johnson | Paul B. Morgan | Clara L. Alden |
| Charles W. Johnson | |||
| 1945-52 | J. Herbert Johnson | Wayne Sibley | Charles W. Johnson |
| Alden P. Johnson | |||
| 1952-53 | Charles W. Johnson | Wayne Sibley | Alden P. Johnson |
| Charles A. Allen, 2nd | |||
| 1953-58 | Charles W. Johnson | Paris Fletcher | Alden P. Johnson |
| Charles A. Allen, 2nd | |||
| 1958-70 | Alden P. Johnson | Paris Fletcher | Charles A. Allen, 2nd |
| Robert G. Hess | |||
| 1970-72 | Alden P. Johnson | Paris Fletcher | Robert G. Hess |
| Francis H. Dewey, 3rd | |||
| 1973-78 | Paris Fletcher | Robert G. Hess | Francis H. Dewey, 3rd |
| Natalie J. Allen | |||
| 1979-89 | Paris Fletcher | George W. Hazzard | Francis H. Dewey, 3rd |
| Robert G. Hess | |||
| 1989-93 | Francis H. Dewey, 3rd | Warner S. Fletcher | Robert G. Hess |
| Harry G. Bayliss | |||
| 1993-00 | Francis H. Dewey, 3rd | Warner S. Fletcher | Harry G. Bayliss |
| Susan B. Woodbury | |||
| 2001 | Francis H. Dewey, 3rd | Warner S. Fletcher | Susan B. Woodbury |
| Richard P. Traina | |||
| 2002-05 | Susan B. Woodbury | Warner S. Fletcher | Richard P. Traina |
| James E. Collins | |||
| 2006-08 | Susan B. Woodbury | Warner S. Fletcher | James E. Collins |
| Gail T. Randall |