List of presidents of Northwestern University

Northwestern University has had 22 different presidents throughout 25 presidential terms (including 8 interim/acting presidential terms) since it was founded in 1851.

List of presidents

ImagePresidentTerm startTerm end1Clark T. Hinman18531854interimHenry Sanborn Noyes185418562Randolph Sinks Foster18561860interimHenry Sanborn Noyes18601867interimDavid H. Wheeler186718693Erastus Otis Haven186918724Charles Henry Fowler18721876actingOliver Marcy187618815Joseph Cummings1881May 7, 1890actingOliver Marcy189018906Henry Wade Rogers18901900interimDaniel Bonbright190019027Edmund J. James19021904interimThomas F. Holgate190419068Abram W. Harris19061916interimThomas F. Holgate191619199Lynn H. HoughSeptember 1, 1919October 192010Walter Dill ScottOctober 1920August 31, 193911Franklyn Bliss SnyderSeptember 1, 1939August 31, 194912J. Roscoe MillerSeptember 1, 1949July 19, 197013Robert H. StrotzJuly 20, 1970February 3, 198514Arnold WeberFebruary 4, 1985December 31, 199415Henry BienenJanuary 1, 1995August 31, 200916Morton SchapiroSeptember 1, 2009September 11, 202217Michael SchillSeptember 12, 2022September 15, 2025interimHenry BienenSeptember 16, 2025June 30, 202618Mung ChiangJuly 1, 2026Present

Table notes:

In October 2021, Northwestern's Board of Trustees announced that Rebecca Blank was their choice to succeed Morton Schapiro as the 17th president of Northwestern University. Nine months later, Blank announced in July 2022 that she had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and will not be able to fulfill her role as the 17th president of Northwestern University. She ultimately succumb to the disease in February 2023.

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