The University of Bridgeport has named Laura Skandera Trombley as its tenth president, effective July 1. She will replace Neil A. Salonen, who is retiring after 18 years in office.
Trombley is president emerita of both Pitzer College in Claremont, California, and The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California. Previously, she served as vice president for academic affairs at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She also serves as a consultant for the Libra Foundation and the Harrington-Schiff Foundation. In 2016, she served as chairwoman of the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
Trombley is recognized as a prominent scholar on the life of Mark Twain, authoring the books “Mark Twain in the Company of Women” (1994) and “Mark Twain”™s Other Woman” (2011) and offering commentary on the subject in Ken Burns”™ PBS series on the celebrated author. Her scholarly articles have appeared in the Paris Review, Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post and The Chronicle of Higher Education.
