In this episode of Office Hours Air, former Stanford University Archivist Roxanne Nilan discusses her new biography of former Stanford University President Wallace Sterling, who shepherded the university through a period of extraordinary growth in prominence from 1949 until 1968. Published in October 2023, Stanford’s Wallace Sterling: Portrait of a Presidency charts Sterling’s time at Stanford as well as the contributions of other figures. 

In conversation with Karen Bartholomew, the contributing editor to the book, and Larry Horton, the current president of the Stanford Historical Society, Nilan discusses the legacies from Sterling’s time that shape university life today. During Sterling's presidency, the medical school moved from San Francisco to campus during his presidency; ambitious new faculty raised the profile of the university; admissions became increasingly selective. 

Toward the end of the program, Nilan, Bartholomew, and Horton remark on their relationship to the university. Cumulatively, the three have lived and worked at Stanford for more than a century, and the memories of time past endure in their minds.