Outgoing Caltech President Joins Huntington Leader for Founders’ Day Talk on Century-Old Partnership

In one of his final public appearances as Caltech’s president, Thomas F. Rosenbaum will sit down Thursday with The Huntington President Karen R. Lawrence to discuss a partnership between their two institutions that dates to the early 20th century, when an astronomer helped shape them both.

The conversation, titled “The Huntington and Caltech: Science and the Humanities, Pasadena and Beyond,” is the centerpiece of The Huntington’s annual Founders’ Day program on February 12 from 7 to 8 p.m. in Rothenberg Hall. The event is free with reservation and will also be livestreamed, according to The Huntington’s event page.

Rosenbaum, a condensed matter physicist who has led Caltech since July 2014, announced last year that he will retire on June 30, 2026, after 12 years as the institute’s ninth president. He will remain on the Caltech faculty, according to the institute’s announcement. The Founders’ Day discussion will include a reflection on the defining moments of his tenure and how the sciences and humanities together can address contemporary challenges, according to The Huntington.

The two campuses sit less than a mile apart — Caltech in Pasadena, The Huntington just across the border in San Marino — and their intertwined history is central to Pasadena’s identity as a hub of research and culture. That relationship began more than a century ago, when astronomer George Ellery Hale, who was instrumental in transforming a Pasadena vocational school called Throop Institute into what became Caltech, encouraged railroad magnate Henry E. Huntington to turn his private library, art, and botanical collections into a research center.

In a 1916 letter to Huntington, Hale wrote that the region had “a great need of a strong institution of broad scope, uniting all the intellectual interests of this region in a common focus,” according to a 2019 account published by The Huntington’s Office of the President. Hale envisioned a humanities institution that would complement Caltech’s focus on science and engineering — and the two have been collaborating ever since.

In 2019, that collaboration took formal shape when Caltech and The Huntington launched the Caltech-Huntington Advanced Research Institute in the History of Science and Technology, a joint center designed to provide doctoral students with access to The Huntington’s collections — which include one of the largest history of science collections in North America, bolstered by the 2006 acquisition of the 67,000-volume Burndy Library, according to The Huntington. The institutions also share the Caltech-Huntington Humanities Collaborations, the Eleanor Searle Visiting Professorship in the History of Science, and a Mellon Foundation-funded program in visual culture, according to Caltech.

Rosenbaum, who previously served as provost at the University of Chicago, described his role as Caltech president in his retirement letter as having been “to sustain and enhance our culture, our values, our intimate environment, our commitment to primary sources and first principles, our defense of evidence-based inquiry, our devotion to learning and discovery,” according to Caltech’s announcement.

Lawrence, a scholar of English and Irish literature and a specialist on the work of James Joyce, has led The Huntington since September 2018. She previously served as president of Sarah Lawrence College and as dean of humanities at the University of California, Irvine, according to The Huntington. Under her leadership, the annual Founders’ Day program has expanded to honor Arabella Huntington alongside Henry for their joint roles in establishing the institution, according to The Huntington.

Past Founders’ Day programs have featured guests including artist Sandy Rodriguez in 2021, writer Charles Yu in 2022, and a panel on the legacy of Octavia E. Butler in 2025, according to The Huntington.

In-person attendance is limited, and The Huntington’s event page indicates tickets have limited availability. There is no waitlist, but additional tickets will be released as cancellations occur, and standby guests will be accommodated on a first-come, first-served basis, according to The Huntington. A livestream option is also available. For more information, call 626-405-2100 or visit huntington.org/founders-day.