Carl J. Strikwerda | |
Occupation: | President of Elizabethtown College[1] |
Alma Mater: | University of Michigan, PhD, History University of Chicago, Masters, History Calvin College, History[2] |
Predecessor: | Theodore E. Long |
Successor: | Cecilia McCormick |
Birth Date: | 1952 |
Birth Place: | Grand Rapids, Michigan |
Carl J. Strikwerda (born 1952) is an American historian. He was the president of Elizabethtown College until 2019.[3] He currently lives in Washington, D.C.
Strikwerda is the former dean of the faculty of arts and sciences at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. He has also previously worked as an associate dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Kansas. On October 1, 2011, Strikwerda was inaugurated as Elizabethtown College's fourteenth president.[4] He stepped down as president after two four year terms on June 30, 2019.
Strikwerda earned a bachelor's degree in history at Calvin College, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a master's degree in history from the University of Chicago, and his Ph.D. in European history from the University of Michigan.
He served as an historical consultant to the National World War One Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. He also served as treasurer and member of the board of directors of the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences whose headquarters he brought to the College of William and Mary while he served there as dean.
Among the boards on which he has served are the executive committee of the Council for European Studies, as a member of the President's Trust of the American Association of Colleges and Universities, and as a member of the board of directors of public radio and TV station WITF.
His op-eds and essays have appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Huffington Post, Inside Higher Ed, and History News Network.
He is married to Gail M. Bossenga, who graduated from Calvin College, received her Ph.D. in history from the University of Michigan, and writes about eighteenth century France and the origins of the French Revolution. The couple have two children, Laurna Strikwerda, who lives in Ottawa, Canada and works as a development officer for the Green Building Council of Canada, and Tim Strikwerda, who lives in Oregon and is pursuing doctoral studies on Japan at the University of Oregon. Laurna is married to Ian Ward.
Articles, a selection: