President's Biography

Robert A. Skotheim, former president of Whitman College and retired president of the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, was appointed president of Occidental College January 1, 2008. Skotheim is a historian of national reputation who, during his 13-year tenure at Whitman (1975-1988), led the largest capital campaign ever undertaken by any college or university in the Pacific Northwest up to that time.

During his 13 years of service (1988-2001) at the helm of the Huntington, Skotheim, 74, was instrumental in focusing that major cultural institution on a new mission – education – and broadening its vision to better reflect the Native American, Asian, Latino, and African American cultural materials in its collections. Under his leadership, the Huntington’s endowment more than doubled, budget deficits were eliminated, membership grew sixfold, and a major building program was launched.

Both institutions, Whitman and the Huntington, honored him and his wife by endowing chairs in their honor on his retirement: an endowed chair in history at the former and an endowed chair in education at the latter.

A native of Seattle, Skotheim received his bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees in history from the University of Washington. He was a Guggenheim Fellow and the recipient of Washington’s Distinguished Teaching Award and the Distinguished Achievement Award in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Moving through the ranks from instructor to full professor, he taught at UCLA, the University of Colorado, and Wayne State University in addition to the University of Washington, and served as provost and dean of faculty at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in the 1970s. His eight honorary doctorates include one from Occidental in 1989, when he was President John Slaughter’s first commencement speaker.

Over the years he has published a number of books, articles and reviews in the field of American intellectual history and social thought, among other topics. An authority on higher education and a passionate advocate for the liberal arts, Skotheim served on Whitman’s board of overseers for a decade following his tenure as president. He has served on many other boards, including the advisory council of the National Humanities Council at Yale University.

Skotheim and his wife Nadine have three grown sons and daughters and eight grandchildren.