Philip A. Glotzbach

Philip A. Glotzbach – a philosopher, academic administrator, and spokesperson on issues of higher education – became the seventh President of Skidmore College on July 1, 2003.  He joined the College following eleven years at the University of Redlands in southern California, where he served as Vice President for Academic Affairs and, before that, as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.  Before arriving at Redlands, he was Associate Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Denison University, where he taught for fifteen years.  

In his first six years at Skidmore, President Glotzbach has overseen the development and implementation of the College’s Strategic Plan entitled Engaged Liberal Learning: The Plan for Skidmore College 2005-2015.  Using the Strategic Plan as a roadmap, President Glotzbach is leading campus initiatives to enhance student academic engagement, intercultural and global understanding, and responsible citizenship, while working to strengthen the College’s financial and human resources.  During this time, the College has implemented a new First-Year curriculum, completed apartment-style campus housing for 380 upperclass students, totally renovated the dining facility, substantially increased support for athletics, and launched the construction of the Arthur Zankel Music Center that will contain a 650-seat concert hall.  The new and renovated buildings incorporate significant “green” design features, most notably geo-thermal heating and cooling.  In addition to the Strategic Plan, Skidmore has completed a revised Campus Plan to guide building decisions for the foreseeable future and improve its stewardship of the Skidmore North Woods.  Applications for admission have risen 20%, with attendant gains in selectivity and significant increases in the diversity of the student body.  Nearly 60% of current graduates will have studied abroad.  The College is now working to address both scientific literacy and intercultural literacy through its curricular and co-curricular programs.  It also is placing increased emphasis on environmental responsibility, student research (including student-faculty research), student volunteerism, service learning, and student internships.  Supporting these efforts is Skidmore’s six-year, $200 million Creative Thought - Bold Promise comprehensive campaign.  Now in its final year, the Campaign has achieved over $190 million in support from trustees, alumni, parents, students, employees, and friends of the College.

President Glotzbach is active with a number of state and national organizations that support higher education, including the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU), the American Council on Education (ACE), the Council of Independent Colleges and Universities of New York (cIcu), and the Annapolis Group of colleges (where he currently serves as a member of the Executive Board).  He has written and presented widely on issues in higher education.  Those topics have ranged from the shaping of institutional mission and the importance of science in the liberal arts to faculty workloads to collaborative leadership, shared governance on college and university campuses, strategic planning for colleges and universities, and the meaning of both intercultural literacy and scientific literacy.  He also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Adirondack Trust Company of Saratoga Springs.

President Glotzbach earned a B.A. degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1972 (summa cum laude) and a Ph.D. from Yale University in 1979. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.  His areas of academic specialization are the philosophy of psychology and the philosophy of language, including research on philosophical issues in perception and artificial intelligence.  His personal interests include reading, film, theater, photography, physical fitness (including running, skiing, tennis, and golf), and acoustic folk guitar.

Marie B. Glotzbach

Marie Glotzbach, a theatre educator for more than 36 years and the wife of President Glotzbach, has been a steady presence and involved partner in his work.  Over the course of her professional career, Marie has been a teacher, administrator, and a theatrical director/producer; she is presently a lecturer in Skidmore’s Department of Theater.  For more than 21 years, she has been a member of the Educational Theatre Association (EdTA), serving on its Board of Trustees and in various leadership positions; she is currently the EdTA Leadership Coach for the northeast.  In 2001, Marie was inducted into the EdTA Hall of Fame. 

During the fall of 2006, Marie and Phil co-taught a Scribner Seminar for first-year students titled “The Liberally Educated Leader.”  Marie also has helped to enhance Skidmore’s presence in the local community by spearheading major collaborative efforts such as Saratoga Reads! (a community-wide single-book reading project), Skidmore Cares (a College-wide charitable giving campaign during the Holiday Season), and the SaratogaArtsFest (a celebration of the arts that was launched during the summer of 2007). She is a member of the Advisory Board of Children and Nature Saratoga and the Advisory Board of Leadership Saratoga. In addition to these and other community relations efforts, Marie works with President Glotzbach and the Advancement Office in fundraising for the College.  She has been involved in the conservation of Scribner House, the President’s house that originally was home to Lucy Skidmore Scribner, the College’s founder.  She has worked with the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum staff to install an art collection at Scribner House that reflects both the College’s heritage (many of the pieces were originally owned by Mrs. Scribner), as well as the strength of its current studio arts faculty.  The Glotzbachs regard Scribner House as the “living room” of the College, and Marie and Phil enjoy opening their home to members of the Skidmore and Saratoga Springs communities on many occasions throughout the year.

Marie Glotzbach holds a B.A. in theatre from Clarke College and an M.A. from the University of Redlands, with additional graduate study in music and theatre at the Hartt School of Music and Ohio University.

Jason and Elizabeth Glotzbach

The Glotzbachs have two adult children: Jason and Elizabeth.  Dr. Jason Glotzbach (Princeton ’99 and Tulane Medical School ’06) is a fifth-year medical resident in surgery, currently doing stem cell research on the regeneration of heart tissue at Stanford Medical School.  Jason’s wife, Dr. Kristi Lewis Glotzbach, is a Fellow in Pediatric Cardiology at the Stanford Medical School.  Elizabeth Glotzbach (Santa Clara University ’03) currently works in Los Angeles as a Creative Coordinator of Production at Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Summit

The final member of the Glotzbach family is Summit, an eight-year-old chocolate Labrador retriever who serves as the College’s “first dog” and delights in greeting students and other visitors at Scribner House and around campus.