President of Grinnell College


Since the college's founding in 1846, Grinnell College has had thirteen presidents and seven acting presidents. The College president is responsible for all aspects of the institution's internal and external affairs, including administrative and academic decision-making.
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 Frederick 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.
The current Grinnell College president is Raynard S. Kington, who replaced president Russell K. Osgood to become the 13th president of the College on August 1, 2010.

Presidents of the College

  1. The Trustees of Iowa College 1846-65
  2. George Frederick Magoun 1865-84
  3. Samuel J. Buck 1884-87
  4. George Augustus Gates 1887-1900
  5. John Hanson Thomas Main, 1900-02
  6. Dan Freeman Bradley 1902-05
  7. John Hanson Thomas Main 1905-31
  8. John Scholte Nollen 1931-40
  9. Samuel Nowell Stevens 1940-54
  10. Rupert Adam Hawk, 1954-55
  11. Howard Rothmann Bowen 1955-64
  12. James Hartmann Stauss 1964-65
  13. Glenn Leggett 1965-75, President Emeritus of the College 1979-2003
  14. A. Richard Turner 1975-79
  15. George A. Drake 1979-91, President Emeritus of the College 2005-
  16. Waldo S. Walker 1987
  17. Pamela A. Ferguson 1991-97
  18. Charles L. Duke 1998
  19. Russell K. Osgood 1998-2010
  20. Raynard S. Kington 2010-2020
  21. 2020-Present