President of Grinnell College

Since the college's founding in 1846, Grinnell College has had thirteen presidents and seven temporary acting presidents. A college president is responsible for all aspects of the institution's internal and external affairs, including administrative and academic decision-making.^[1]

While Iowa College, later renamed Grinnell College, did not have a president for the first years of its existence, after the Civil War, the trustees chose fellow trustee George Frederic Magoun to lead the institution as it matured. From his inauguration in 1865, Magoun served 19 years, the second-longest presidential tenure in the college's history.^[2]

The current Grinnell College president is Anne F. Harris, who replaced president Raynard S. Kington to become the 14th president of the College on July 14, 2020.^[3]

Presidents of the College

List of presidents of Grinnell College^[4]
President	Years	Notes
The Trustees of Iowa College	1846–1865
George Frederic Magoun	1865–1884
Samuel J. Buck	1884–1887	(acting)
George Augustus Gates	1887–1900
John Hanson Thomas Main	1900–1902	(acting)
Dan Freeman Bradley	1902–1905
John Hanson Thomas Main	1905–1931	(acting in first academic year)
John Scholte Nollen	1931–1940
Samuel Nowell Stevens	1940–1954
Rupert Adam Hawk	1954–1955	(acting)
Howard Rothmann Bowen	1955–1964
James Hartmann Stauss	1964–1965	(acting)
Glenn Leggett	1965–1975	also President Emeritus of the College 1979–2003
A. Richard Turner	1975–1979
George A. Drake	1979–1991	also President Emeritus of the College 2005–
Waldo S. Walker	1987	(acting)
Pamela A. Ferguson	1991–1997
Charles L. Duke	1998	(acting)
Russell K. Osgood	1998–2010
Raynard S. Kington	2010–2020
Anne F. Harris^[5]	2020–present