Born in Trumball County, Ohio in 1814, Cyrus Nutt held various educational positions and served as a Methodist minister before becoming the fifth president of Indiana University. He graduated from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, in 1831, and upon completing his studies served as the principal of the College's Preparatory Department. He later moved to a similar position at Indiana Asbury University (now DePauw), which he held until 1843 when he began pastoral work in the Indiana Conference at the Bloomington station. He then returned to Asbury before serving as president of the Fort Wayne Female College and Whitewater College. Between 1855 and 1860, he resumed his work in the ministry and served as both a mathematics professor and president at Asbury University.

In 1860, Nutt was elected president of Indiana University. During his presidency, the University attempted to create an agricultural and mechanical school under the terms of the Morrill Act, though by 1869 Purdue was established as the land grant college of Indiana. In 1867, the Board of Trustees voted to admit women to classes, and around the same time the university experienced the beginning of organized athletics with students embracing the game of baseball. The junior and senior-class-controlled newspaper The Student also was founded that year.

The final years of Nutt's presidency saw growing tensions with students, though the reasons are unknown. Students published a bogus newspaper in March 1873 titled The Dagger in which they attacked Nutt. In 1875 the Board of Trustees dismissed Nutt, likely over internal problems with the board and the students. Nutt died on August 23, 1875, approximately one month after his dismissal.