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Edwin Bicknell Stevens was born on November 20, 1873 in North Livermore, Maine. Soon after, his family moved to Auburn, Maine where Edwin was raised. He went on to attend Bates College. He was only there for one year before transferring to Tufts College where Stevens joined a literary society called Eurosophian. Stevens graduated from Tufts in 1896 with a major in history. He then did a year of graduate school at Harvard before working a few jobs including serving as a representative for a textbook publishing company in Detroit. Other jobs included working as the principal and teacher at Lienenberg High School and the principal at Pennell Institute in Gray, Maine. In 1905, Stevens became the University Editor and Secretary of the Faculty at Ohio State University. Five years later, in 1910, Stevens moved to Seattle to serve as Secretary of the President for University of Washington's President Kane. He later became Executive Secretary in 1915, registrar in 1925, and a Professor of Education in 1936. During this time, he worked for University of Washington presidents Kane, Suzzallo, Thomson, Spencer, Wenkenwerder, and Sieg. Wenkenwerder appointed him to a committee analyzing the University's structure. This is one of many surveys Stevens conducted in instruction in higher education. He also investigated Oregon State Agriculture College, University of Pennsylvania, University of Kansas, University of Montana and Purdue University between 1923 and 1925. With his knowledge and experience analyzing universities, he worked on the accounting committee at UW and wrote "Costs in Higher Education." Outside of his administrative duties, Stevens taught courses on problems in higher education. He also joined the Town and Gown Club in Seattle to learn to dance and was the faculty adviser for Theta Delta Chi. He died at home in Seattle on February 1, 1968.