Robert Skotheim

Last updated
Nadine Esther Vail
​
(m. 1953)​
Robert Skotheim
14thPresident of Occidental College
In office
2008–2009
Children3
Alma mater Princeton University
University of Washington (B.A., Ph.D.)
OccupationCollege professor and administrator
Known forHistorian of intellectual history

Robert Allen Skotheim (born January 31, 1933) [1] is an American educator who has served as president of several colleges and institutions.

Contents

Biography

In 1933, Skotheim was born to Sivert O., an emigrant from Norway, and Marjorie Skotheim, school teachers in West Seattle. [2] He attended Fauntleroy School and West Seattle High School. [3] He was educated at Princeton University, graduated with a B.A. in history from the University of Washington, and went on to obtain a Ph.D. from University of Washington Graduate School. [4] In 1966, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and spent a year in France. Afterwards, he taught history at the University of Colorado, Boulder and then became provost of Hobart and William Smith College in Geneva, New York. [5]

From 1975 to 1988, he served as the 10th president of Whitman College, where he led a $50 million capital campaign to increase the endowment and researched the history of the college. [6] [7] [8] [9] In 1988, after 12 years at Whitman, he became president at the Huntington Library. [10] In June 1992, he announced a $4.5 million gift to the library endowment. [11] On June 30, 2001, he stepped down from the Huntington. [12]

On January 1, 2008, Skotheim assumed the role of interim president of Occidental College, replacing president Susan Westerberg Prager, who announced her intention to resign in mid-November. [13] [14] During his tenure, Skotheim was one of the oldest college presidents in the nation. On July 1, 2009, Skotheim stepped down and Jonathan Veitch, formerly dean of Eugene Lang College, took the reins. [15]

Honors and legacy

The Nadine and Robert Skotheim Director of Education at The Huntington is endowed in his honor. [16] [17]

Personal life

On June 14, 1953, Skotheim married Nadine Esther Vail, in Seattle, Washington, and they had three children: Marjorie, Kris and Julie. [18]

Awards

In 2000, Skotheim was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D.) degree from Whittier College. [19]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Occidental College</span> Private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, California

Occidental College is a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887 as a coeducational college by clergy and members of the Presbyterian Church, it became non-sectarian in 1910. It is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges on the West Coast of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walla Walla, Washington</span> City in Washington, United States

Walla Walla is a city in and the county seat of Walla Walla County, Washington, United States. It had a population of 34,060 at the 2020 census, estimated to have decreased to 33,339 as of 2023. The combined population of the city and its two suburbs, the town of College Place and unincorporated Walla Walla East, is about 45,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitman College</span> Private college in Walla Walla, Washington, U.S.

Whitman College is a private liberal arts college in Walla Walla, Washington. The school offers 53 majors and 33 minors in the liberal arts and sciences, and it has a student-to-faculty ratio of 9:1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whittier College</span> Private liberal arts college in Whittier, California, US

Whittier College is a private liberal arts college in Whittier, California. It is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and, as of spring 2024, had 815 undergraduate and graduate students. It was founded in 1887. Whittier offers one graduate degree and a master's degree in education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcus Whitman</span> 19th-century American missionary

Marcus Whitman was an American physician and missionary. He is most well-known for leading American settlers across the Oregon Trail, unsuccessfully attempting to Christianize the Cayuse Indians, and was subsequently killed by the Cayuse Indians in a event known as the 1847 Whitman massacre, over a misunderstanding, resulting in the beginning of the Cayuse war (1847-1855).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitman massacre</span> 1847 murder of American missionaries by Cayuse Native Americans near Walla Walla, Washington

The Whitman massacre refers to the killing of American missionaries Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, along with eleven others, on November 29, 1847. They were killed by a small group of Cayuse men who accused Whitman of poisoning 200 Cayuse in his medical care during an outbreak of measles that included the Whitman household. The killings occurred at the Whitman Mission at the junction of the Walla Walla River and Mill Creek in what is now southeastern Washington near Walla Walla. The massacre became a decisive episode in the U.S. settlement of the Pacific Northwest, causing the United States Congress to take action declaring the territorial status of the Oregon Country. The Oregon Territory was established on August 14, 1848, to protect the white settlers.

Washington State Penitentiary is a Washington State Department of Corrections men's prison located in Walla Walla, Washington. With an operating capacity of 2,200, it is the largest prison in the state and is surrounded by wheat fields. It opened in 1886, three years before statehood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John and Donald Parkinson</span> American architectural firm

John and Donald Parkinson were a father-and-son architectural firm operating in the Los Angeles area in the early 20th century. They designed and built many of the city's iconic buildings, including Grand Central Market, the Memorial Coliseum, and City Hall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Allen (American football)</span> American football executive

Bruce Allen is an American former football executive. He served as general manager in the National Football League (NFL) for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2004 to 2008 and the Washington Redskins from 2010 to 2019. He first joined the NFL as a senior executive with the Oakland Raiders in 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myron Hunt</span> American architect (1868–1952)

Myron Hubbard Hunt was an American architect whose numerous projects include many noted landmarks in Southern California and Evanston, Illinois. Hunt was elected a Fellow in the American Institute of Architects in 1908.

LaVern Earl "Torgy" Torgeson was an American football player and coach. He played college football for Washington State from 1948 through 1950. Torgeson played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons, principally as a linebacker, for the Detroit Lions from 1951 to 1954 and for the Washington Redskins from 1955 to 1957.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miles Conway Moore</span> 14th Territorial Governor of Washington

Miles Conway Moore was an American politician who served as the 14th and last Territorial Governor of Washington Territory. He served seven months in office as governor, his two-year term ending prematurely when Washington attained statehood in November 1889.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glenn Dumke</span>

Glenn Schroeder Dumke was an American historian, educator, university president, and chancellor of the California State University system. Dumke was the 6th President of San Francisco State University, serving from 1957 to 1961. He served as the second chancellor of the California State University system from 1962 to 1982, for most of its first twenty years. He developed common standards for the colleges and universities in the system, supported affirmative action to recruit women and minority students, and assisted the establishment of four new campuses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Veitch</span>

Jonathan Veitch is an American college administrator, author and former professor. He was the 15th President of Occidental College in Los Angeles, California. He became president in July 2009, succeeding interim president Robert Skotheim and ended his term in June 2020, followed by president Harry J. Elam Jr. Veitch previously served as a professor at the University of Wisconsin and dean of The New School's Eugene Lang College. He authored American Superrealism: Nathanael West and the Politics of Representation in the 1930s in 1997.

Frances Shipman Penrose Owen was a community volunteer in Seattle, Washington, a 22-year member of the Seattle School Board and the first woman on the Board of Regents of Washington State University, the state's land-grant research institution, serving from 1957 to 1975.

Ray Allen Billington was an American historian who researched the history of the American frontier and the American West, becoming one of the leading defenders of Frederick Jackson Turner's "Frontier Thesis" from the 1950s to the 1970s, expanding the field of the history of the American West. He was a co-founder of the Western History Association in 1961.

Jo Lynn "Jody" Allen is an American businesswoman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. She is the sister of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, and served as the chief executive officer of his investment and project management company, Vulcan Inc., from its founding in 1986 until 2015. She is also the co-founder and president of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Sumner Bridges</span> American sociologist and university administrator

George Sumner Bridges is an American sociologist and academic administrator who served as the president of The Evergreen State College from October 2015 through June 2021.

<i>Soaring Stones</i> 1990 sculpture by John T. Young in Walla Walla, Washington

Soaring Stones, also known as Rouse Rocks, Soaring Rocks, and Stones on Sticks, is a 1990 granite-and-steel sculpture by John T. Young. It was first installed in the Transit Mall of Portland, Oregon, and was later sited as Soaring Stones #4 at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. The sculpture was commissioned for $100,000 to replace a fountain that was removed during construction of Pioneer Place.

The 1912 Oregon Agricultural Aggies football team was an American football team that represented Oregon Agricultural College as a member of the Northwest Conference (NWC) during the 1912 college football season. In their second and final season under head coach Sam Dolan, the Aggies compiled a 3–4 record, finished last in the NWC, and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 57 to 40.

References

  1. ↑ The International Who's Who 2004
  2. ↑ "In Memory". Columns Magazine. University of Washington. December 2002. Retrieved September 29, 2017. Marjorie Skotheim, '57, Seattle, age 90, died Aug. 9, 2002.
  3. ↑ "West Seattle High School and Fauntleroy Schoolhouse". LogHouseMuseum.org. West Seattle Historical Society. June 18, 2017. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  4. ↑ "100 Alumni of the Century". Columns Magazine. University of Washington. December 1999. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  5. ↑ "40 Years: Women's Studies". Pulteney Street Survey. Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Winter 2013. Retrieved September 29, 2017. it was the early 1970s when...Provost Robert Skotheim turned a critical eye on the Hobart and William Smith curriculum
  6. ↑ "History of the College". Whitman College. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  7. ↑ Weinman, Edward (June 19, 2013). "The Interview: Robert Skotheim". Whitman College. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  8. ↑ "Obituary: Edward E. Foster". Walla Walla Union-Bulletin. July 6, 2014. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  9. ↑ Eveland, Annie Charnley (August 14, 2016). "Research underway for third volume of Whitman College history". Walla Walla Union-Bulletin. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  10. ↑ Muchnic, Suzanne (January 30, 1988). "Skotheim to Direct Huntington Complex". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  11. ↑ Snow, Shauna (June 2, 1992). "Two Foundations Give $4.5 Million to Huntington". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  12. ↑ "Huntington Library Chief Announces Retirement". Los Angeles Times. June 29, 2000. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  13. ↑ Gordon, Larry (December 20, 2007). "Occidental names interim president". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  14. ↑ Gordon, Larry (February 11, 2008). "Hoping to span eras at Oxy". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  15. ↑ Schryver, Thomas (June 30, 2009). "From The Big Apple to The City of Angels". Occidental College. Occidental Weekly. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  16. ↑ Lee, Stacy (September 14, 2015). "San Marino Unified School District, The Huntington Collaborate on Humanities Class". San Marino Tribune. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  17. ↑ Rhine, Traude Gomez (February 23, 2016). "Meet Catherine Allgor, Ph.D." San Marino Tribune. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  18. ↑ "Whitman Installs 13th President" (PDF). Whitman College. Whitman Magazine. December 2005. p. 13. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  19. ↑ "Honorary Degrees | Whittier College". www.whittier.edu. Retrieved 2020-02-13.

Selected publications

Books

Articles

Video

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.