The First Woman President of Humboldt State University in California

Lisa A. Rossbacher was selected as the next president of Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. The university, located near the city of Eureka in northern California, enrolls about 7,600 undergraduate students and 500 graduate students. Women make up 53 percent of the undergraduate student body.

When she takes office in July, Dr. Rossbacher will be the first woman to serve as president of Humboldt State in the university’s 100-year history. Currently, she is president of Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, Georgia. Earlier in her career, she served as dean at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty at Whittier College in California. She also taught and served as associate vice president for academic affairs at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona.

Dr. Rossbacher is a graduate of Dickinson College. She holds a master’s degree from Binghamton University of the State University of New York system and a second master’s degree and a Ph.D. in geological sciences from Princeton University.