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Provost Steven Knapp Tapped for GWU Presidency

By Angela Paik Schaeffer

Steven Knapp, Johns Hopkins’ provost and senior vice president, has been named the 16th president of the George Washington University. He will take office officially on Aug. 1, succeeding Stephen J. Trachtenberg, who had led the institution since 1988.

As chief academic officer for Johns Hopkins and its No. 2 official, Knapp, who was dean of the Krieger School from 1994 to 1997, has coordinated the work of the eight Hopkins schools and fostered collaborations among them. Prior to joining Hopkins, Knapp served for 16 years on the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was a member of the department of English. A 1973 graduate of Yale University, Knapp earned his doctorate from Cornell University and is a specialist in 18th- and 19th-century English literature and in literary theory.

Hopkins President William R. Brody congratulated Knapp on the “marvelous opportunity” in a broadcast message to the university community. “The trustees of George Washington have made an outstanding choice,” he said. “My happiness at gaining such an exceptional new presidential colleague is, of course, tempered by my regret at Steve’s departure from Johns Hopkins. We shall all be the poorer for his absence.”

A national search for the university’s next provost is expected.