Elbert Kincaid joined the University of Virginia faculty in 1922. He traveled from California, having been recommended to President Alderman. Born in Palouse, WA, Kincaid earned his bachelor’s degree from Washington State College in 1910, and then headed east to earn a master’s degree from Harvard in 1911.

After completing his master’s degree, Kincaid returned to Washington and served as the Deputy Auditor of Whitman City until 1912. He returned to academia as an Assistant Professor of Economics and History at Washington State College in 1913, and remained there until 1916, when he decided to pursue his Ph.D. in Economics at the University of California. He was an Instructor at California, earned his degree in 1922, and then began what was to be a lifelong tenure at the University of Virginia.

After joining McIntire as an Associate Professor of Finance, Kincaid was quickly promoted to Professor in 1926. He was greatly admired by the students he taught in money and banking and in corporate finance. Kincaid had a strenuous grading policy and a habit of giving below-average grades and long assignments, which forced students to do enormous amounts of work for his classes. This policy occasionally bothered his colleagues at the McIntire School and the Wilson School of Economics, as they would find these same students unprepared for their own classes.

While at the University, Kincaid served in a number of important positions for both the state and the University. For many years, he managed the University Commons, a dining hall for students who chose not to eat in fraternities or boarding houses, and was an important member of the Virginia Bankers Association. The relationship between McIntire and the Bankers Association is an important one that continues to thrive to this day. Kincaid also served as an Economist to the Federal Board in Richmond, and was a member of a number of professional organizations, including the Social Economics Association and the American Economics Association. After his long service to the University, Kincaid retired in 1954. He died in January of 1958.