No Timeline to Replace Huntington Library Director After Unexpected Resignation

The Board of Trustees of The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino is preparing to launch a nationwide search for a new president after Dr. Laura Skandera Trombley unexpectedly resigned in March to pursue a scholarship.

A statement from Anne Rothenberg, Chair of the Board of Trustees at Huntington, said Trombley, who has been president for just over a year, will start a book-length study of Mark Twain after receiving the Louis J. Budd Award for her outstanding contributions in the scholastic study of the 19th century writer, humorist, publisher and entrepreneur.

The award is named after another leading Mark Twain scholar and literary critic who died in 2011.

Dr. Steve Hindle, Director of Research for the W.M. Keck Foundation, has been named as acting President as the Board of Trustees prepares to organize a nationwide search for Trombley’s successor.

The statement said Trombley will continue to serve as an advisor to the Board of Trustees of The Huntington, and has also been engaged as a consultant to the Schiff Foundation and the Libra Foundation.

Speaking to the San Marino Tribune, Susan Turner-Lowe, Vice President for Communications and Marketing at The Huntington, said there is no specific timeline in the search for a replacement, and that Dr. Hindle has accepted the temporary role “with a great deal of enthusiasm.”

The Board of Trustees may engage the services of a search firm in the process, Turner-Lowe said.

Trombley was named President in July 2015 after having served as President of Pitzer College in Claremont for over 13 years. She obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Pepperdine University in Los Angeles and completed her PhD in English at the University of Southern California.

After completing her PhD, she accepted a teaching position at the State University of New York in Potsdam where she earned tenure in three years as an associate professor of English. She later became vice president of academic affairs and dean at Coe College, a private liberal arts school in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.