Steven L. Solnick

SWANNANOA — Warren Wilson College recently named Steven L. Solnick as its seventh president, effective July 2012.

Solnick, appointed after an eight-month search, is a Ford Foundation representative and former Columbia University professor.

He is succeeding Sandy Pfeiffer, who is retiring in June after six years as president.

Regarding Solnick, WWC Board of Trustees Chairman Joel Adams said, “Steve has a wonderful coalescence of intellectual curiosity, ability and intregrity to lead Warren Wilson forward. We are delighted to welcome him and his family to the college and its greater community.”

Solnick, a Jersey City, N.J., native holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from the Massachuesetts Institute of Technology, where he was a Phi Beta Kappa. He also holds a doctorate in political science from Harvard University. He also has a bachenlor’s in politics and economics from Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar.

He was a National Fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University and a Fullbright-Hays Fellow at Moscow State University.

Solnick and his wife Maeve O’Connor have three children — Elinor, Naomi and Reuben.