Steven S. Koblik

Steven S. Koblik served as President of The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical (2001-2015) and as President of Reed College (1992-2001). His tenures at these institutions led to renewed focus on their core missions, to marked improvements in their financial balance sheets, extensive building programs, and aggressive fund raising. Prior to his Presidential assignments, he was Dean of the Faculty at Scripps College (1989-1992) and Professor of History at Pomona College (1968-1989). HIs academic degrees include a B.A. from UC Berkeley (1963), an M.A. from Stockholm University (1964), and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University (1970) as well as honorary doctorates from Lunds University, Luther College, Occidental College, and Pomona College. A scholar of modern European diplomatic history, his books and articles focus on Scandinavia in the twentieth century. His pioneering study of Sweden's response to Germany's persecution of the Jews, 1933-1945, received wide spread public attention and critical acclaim. He also collaborated with Academy fellow Stephen R. Graubard to produce an edition of Daedalus (1999) on the condition of America's liberal arts colleges that subsequently became an edited book, Distinctly American: The Residential Liberal Arts Colleges. Mr. Koblik was elected a Fellow of the American Academy in 2012 and serves as a member the Academy's Trust as well as a member of its Committee on Development and Communications.