Mauri A. Ditzler, Ph.D., a 1975 summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, graduate of Wabash College, majored in chemistry, with a minor in speech.

In 1979, he received his Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from Duke University and attained full professor status at the College of Holy Cross in 1987. Dr. Ditzler was the Dean of College of Arts and Sciences at Milliken University and returned to Wabash College in 1999. He was appointed the 13th President of Monmouth College in 2005. Dr. Ditzler discussed the differences and similarities between his qualitative and quantitative views of the world, the mission of today’s college, the challenges and forces that bear on delivery of a collegiate education, the future of education and his view of the future of the collegiate experience.

He discussed the themes expressed by Andrew Delbanco in his 2012 best seller, “College – What It Was, Is, And Should Be.” Monmouth College, located on 83 acres in Monmouth, Illinois, was founded on April 18, 1953; its enrollment approximates 1,360 students of which 54.5% are women and 44.5% are men. Monmouth employs 130 faculty of which 92 are full-time and 38 are part-time; and 78% of the faculty has Ph.D.s. The average class size approximates less than 19 students. It offers 10 varsity sports for men and 10 for women. It has a $38 million science and business complex with 51 off campus programs and 52 on campus programs. As of June 30, 2011, Monmouth’s endowment approximated $79 million as contrasted with the $1.26 billion endowment of Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa.