Laura Skandera Trombley

Laura Skandera Trombley became the fifth president of Pitzer College in July 2002. Under her leadership, the College has experienced an unprecedented rise in worldwide recognition, moving up from #70 to #35 in U.S. News and World Report rankings. In 2012, Pitzer was named the 20th most selective higher education institution in the country. Nationally, the College has been the leader in Fulbright Fellowships per 1,000 students for nine of the last 10 years and is known as an innovator in academic programing, including the new Robert Redford Conservancy for Southern California Sustainability. Trombley has shepherded the transformation of the Pitzer College campus with the construction of eight mixed-use residential buildings that have earned LEED Platinum or Gold certification. In December 2012, President Barack Obama named Trombley to the 12-member J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. A noted Mark Twain scholar, Trombley is the author of five books, most recently, Mark Twain's Other Woman, published by Knopf in 2010. Trombley earned her BA and MA at Pepperdine University and her PhD from USC. In 2002, Pepperdine named her one of its Accomplished Alumni. Trombley received an honorary doctorate from Pepperdine and delivered the commencement address for the university's Graduate School of Education and Psychology in 2013.