Biography of President Dr. Steven H. Kaplan

Steven H. Kaplan, Ph.D., became the 6TH president of the University of New Haven (UNH) on July 1, 2004. Dr. Kaplan joined a nearly 85-year-old institution dedicated to experiential education. With enrollment of over 4600 undergraduate and graduate students representing more than 35 states and some 45 countries, UNH has several nationally ranked programs in a number of majors in business, engineering, public safety, and the liberal arts and sciences.

Dr. Kaplan was presented to the community in March 2004 by then Board of Governors Chairman Robert Alvine, who characterized the president-designate as energetic, well-liked and respected, focused and remarkably effective in mobilizing an institution’s resources to achieve target results. His highest priorities are strengthening the University’s endowment, growing enrollment to optimum levels, and engendering an atmosphere for excellence among all constituencies. He has focused on establishing strong relationships with members and organizations within UNH’s circle of constituents – faculty, students, administrators, alumni, friends, campus neighbors and leaders of Connecticut’s business and public service communities.

As president, he oversees a faculty of nearly 400, 530 staff, and an annual budget of $84 million.

Previously, Dr. Kaplan was chancellor and professor of English at the University of Virginia's College at Wise, Virginia, the only four-year branch campus of the University of Virginia and one of the nation’s best public colleges, according to U. S. News & World Report.

Dr. Kaplan began his teaching career in 1982 as an Instructor of English at the University of Maryland, European Division. From 1985-1989, he served as Visiting Lecturer in American Studies at Eberhard-Karls Universitat, Tübingen, Germany – one of the oldest and most highly regarded universities in Europe. After completing his doctoral studies at Eberhard-Karls Universität, he returned to the U.S. to teach English at the University of Southern Colorado. Within three years, he was made department chair, serving in that capacity for two years before becoming Director of the Center for International Studies.

Dr. Kaplan also served as dean of Arts and Humanities at SUNY College at Buffalo, an institution with about 11,000 students; and as Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Butler University, an independent comprehensive institution of five colleges and 3,400 students, which is ranked by U. S. News & World Report as one of the top regional universities in the Midwest.

He completed his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature at Eberhard-Karls Universität in Germany and holds the Master of Arts degree (with a concentration in philosophy, German, and English), also from Eberhard-Karls Universitat. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Dr. Kaplan is the author of a book on American translations of the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, a number of scholarly essays, a book on Tim O'Brien's fiction with the University of South Carolina Press, and an anthology of international war stories with the University Press of Colorado.

Dr. Kaplan and his wife, Anemone Schweizer-Kaplan, are both ardent opera buffs and love to ballroom dance, hike, and downhill ski. They share a great love for the visual and performing arts and have traveled to over twenty-five countries in twenty-five years, including Tanzania where they hiked up Mt. Kilimanjaro. They have a son and three daughters

Dr. Kaplan grew up in Chicago, the son of a shoe store owner and an actress-comedienne. He said his stepfather, Irving Glovin, taught him to love ideas and appreciate the contributions we all need to make to good causes. He was a good friend of Oskar Schindler, was instrumental in getting the story out in book and film form (associate producer of the film), and is the President of the Oskar Schindler Humanitarian Foundation. Dr. Kaplan also serves on the board of the foundation.

His wife grew up in Southwest Germany. She holds the equivalent of an American M.A. in Secondary Education and taught at a German high school. She is a ceramics artist and taught German and pottery during their time in Wise.