He was named tutor in the College in 1791, and served as librarian from 1792 to 1799. He was appointed professor of learned languages in 1796, and professor of natural philosophy in 1799. In 1802 he succeeded
Jonathan Maxcy as president
pro tempore for two years before being named president in 1804. In 1812 he received the degree of
LL.D. from the University of Vermont. Messer was elected a member of the
American Antiquarian Society in 1815. In 1818 he declined an appointment as justice of the
Rhode Island Supreme Court, finding the appointment incompatible with his college office. In 1820 he received the degree of
D.D. from
Harvard. Though as Brown's president Messer worked to make an education available to students of differing means, the student body became increasingly unruly during Messer's tenure, culminating in numerous incidents of
vandalism to the chapel and library in the 1820s. Messer resigned as president on September 23, 1826. Though ordained a Baptist minister in 1801, Messer did not serve as a church pastor. He
patented two
flumes in the 1820s and owned a farm in
Fishersfield,
New Hampshire, and part of a
cotton mill in
Wrentham,
Massachusetts. Messer ran as an unsuccessful candidate in the
1830 Rhode Island gubernatorial election. Asa Messer Elementary School in
Providence,
Rhode Island is named in his honor. ==References==