Hochstettler selected as new president

Founding chief academic officer for International University Bremen

Posted May 6, 2004

(Portland, Ore.)—Thomas J. Hochstettler, vice president for academic affairs at International University Bremen, will become the 23rd president of Lewis & Clark College, effective Aug. 16.

The selection, announced by John E. Bates, chair-designate of the Board of Trustees, came after the board voted in favor of the appointment. He will succeed Michael Mooney, who resigned his post in August 2003, after 14 years as president of Lewis & Clark. Paul E. Bragdon, interim president, will remain until Hochstettler’s term begins.

“We sought an individual who was committed to the liberal arts as the foundation for good citizenship, who could articulate a clear vision for the college, who could work with our diverse constituents to achieve a greater sense of community, and who understands this significant time in the college’s history—we’re poised to move to the next level,” said Bates. “Tom has impressed the board and the campus community as being the right person for Lewis & Clark.”

Fred Fields, board chair, acknowledged the efforts of the presidential search committee to identify and recommend Hochstettler. “I’m very grateful to the members of the search committee. Through their hard work, and through their collaboration with other members of our campus community, we’ve selected the right person to lead Lewis & Clark during the next chapter in the life of our college.”

Hochstettler (pronounced HOE-stet-lur) said he is eager to begin his presidency.

“In my encounters with the faculty, students, and staff at Lewis & Clark, I have been consistently impressed with the dedication and commitment that shines through at this institution,” said Hochstettler. “The quality that one sees in all elements of the college is simply extraordinary, and I feel most privileged to have been called to serve in this stimulating environment.”

Lewis & Clark College, founded in 1867, is a highly selective, independent college with a global reach. Its core is an undergraduate liberal arts college of approximately 1,700 students, representing 44 nations and 47 states. Its graduate school of education and law school offer professional programs to another 1,300 students.

Hochstettler, 56, is a founding chief academic officer of International University Bremen, an English-language, private German research university. Hochstettler, a scholar of German history, arrived in Bremen in 1999 to work with the city government to start a new academic institution. The university offers a liberal arts curriculum with 14 traditional and cross-disciplinary undergraduate majors and 28 professional or graduate degree programs. Hochstettler managed the development of the university’s academic and student life programs and was responsible for developing the infrastructure needed for a new institution, including student life, curriculum development, financial aid and student loan programs, and administrative, policy and budget development.

“I am a historian by training, and I am fascinated by the development of Germany as a major world power—for better or worse—over the last several hundred years,” Hochstettler said of his academic interests. “This interest in Germany was largely responsible for my willingness to participate in the planning and founding of International University Bremen. Many of the elements of liberal arts education—especially the personal attention of faculty to students’ intellectual growth and the emphasis on research as a primary tool of classroom teaching—came to the United States from German universities in the 19th century. Those same traits have in the meantime largely disappeared at the undergraduate level in Germany, however, and one of my main goals in the last several years of working in Bremen has been to reintroduce into the ‘home country’ many aspects of American liberal arts education. It has been a tremendous opportunity to be able to do so.”

Prior to IUB, Hochstettler spent six years at Rice University as associate provost and lecturer in history. At Rice, he codrafted the university’s five-year strategic implementation plan, managed university-wide peer review procedures, and administered institutional grants and faculty matching grants and startup funds for new faculty. From 1992 to 1996, as the director for academic planning for the University of Houston system, he developed comprehensive internal strategic plans to coordinate new degree programs and other initiatives for the system and coordinated systemwide academic initiatives to promote for legislative funding.

From 1987 to 1992, he was chief planning officer for Bowdoin College and developed and coordinated strategic plans for academic programs, student life, and new facilities. Hochstettler also served as Bowdoin’s chief information officer. As acting vice president for finance and treasurer, he worked to eliminate a structural budget deficit through benefit reform and cost management initiatives and refinanced institutional capital debt.

Hochstettler also worked as a senior staff officer in financial administration at Stanford University.

“Tom’s undergraduate experience at Earlham College has influenced his view of the liberal arts as a vehicle to help young people broaden their sense of connection to service, commitment and social responsibility,” said Greg Smith, professor of education and member of the presidential search committee. “He understands that in our campus community, we are committed to making society more just and equitable through the liberal arts.”

Hochstettler’s primary area of research is German social and political history in the early modern period. His current research focuses on the activities of the Rhineland military circles (Kreise) during the wars of Louis XIV of France. He taught European military and social history at Michigan, Stanford, and Bowdoin. Hochstettler also studied financial management at the University of California at Berkeley graduate school of business. He is a Woodrow Wilson National Fellow and a former Stipendiat of the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst.

He and his wife, Marcia Glas, have three sons: Will, 19; Taylor, 16; and Ben, 11. Hochstettler is a member of the Rotary Club Bremen’s executive committee. He enjoys gardening, running and playing the piano. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Earlham College and his master’s and doctoral degrees—all in history— from the University of Michigan.

“Tom listens well and listens carefully,” said Lyell Asher, associate professor of English and department chair and member of the presidential search committee. “He combines attention to detail with a persuasive, overarching sense of what a liberal arts education is about.”

U.S. District Judge Owen Panner, life trustee for Lewis & Clark and chair of the presidential search committee, said the committee had developed a short list of primary criteria for evaluating candidates. These included an understanding of the complex character of the college’s three schools (undergraduate, law school and graduate school of education), working with constituents to develop a shared vision for the institution’s next steps, fund-raising to achieve the college’s goals, and fostering a sense of shared purpose through openness and communication.

“I think that Tom Hochstettler will make an excellent president for Lewis & Clark College,” said Panner. “He is extremely talented, experienced and sensitive.”

Hochstettler’s appointment follows an extensive seven-month nationwide search. The search committee reviewed more than 150 nominations and interviewed a dozen candidates before recommending Hochstettler to the full Board of Trustees.

“One of Tom’s strengths is his passion for the values of a liberal arts education,” said Kim Hansink, president of the board of alumni and search committee member. “Everyone who has a connection with Lewis & Clark will resonate with how Tom talks about the enduring quality of the experience we share as alumni, students, faculty and staff. That will be healthy for the college.”

“Tom has a broad and profound understanding of every aspect of a liberal arts education, from staffing the bookstore to working with a board of trustees,” added Susan Mandiberg, professor of law and search committee member.

The presidential search committee included trustee members Judge Owen M. Panner, committee chair, U.S. District Court; John E. Bates, ex officio search committee member and board chair-designate, chairman and CEO of Bates Private Capital; Mary V. Bishop, community advocate; M. Carr Ferguson, senior counsel at Davis Polk & Wardwell; Christopher E. Jay, first vice president at Merrill Lynch & Co.; Cheryl Perrin, Executive Director of the Campaign for America; Ronald K. Ragen, attorney at Davis Wright Tremaine; and John S. Rogers, president of the Mary Stuart Rogers Foundation. Faculty representatives included Lyell Asher, associate professor of English and department chair; Paulette Bierzychudek, William Swindells Sr. Professor of Natural Sciences; Deborah Heath, associate professor of anthropology and department chair; Susan Mandiberg, professor of law; and Greg Smith, professor of education. Other committee members were Kimberly Hansink, alumni association president, and Khai East, president of the Associated Students of Lewis & Clark.

###

For more information, please contact:
Tania Thompson
Senior Communications Officer
503-768-7961
taniat@lclark.edu