Stanford Historical Society co-publishes new book on Wallace Sterling

The Stanford Historical Society and the Society for the Promotion of Science and Scholarship are pleased to announce the forthcoming publication of Stanford’s Wallace Sterling: Portrait of a Presidency, 1949–1968, a thoroughly researched and lavishly illustrated account of Stanford’s transformational rise as a research university during the presidency of J. E. Wallace Sterling. Under Sterling’s leadership, Stanford evolved from a notable regional university into a leading national and eventually international institution. The book, distributed by Stanford University Press, will be released on October 3, 2023.

Co-authored by historian and former Stanford archivist Roxanne L. Nilan and the late Cassius L. Kirk Jr., Stanford’s Wallace Sterling: Portrait of a Presidency, 1949–1968 is not only about the man, but also the postwar era that enabled him to take advantage of an economic boom, as well as federal interest in university research and popular interest in higher education. Sterling relocated Stanford Medical School from outdated facilities in San Francisco to the home campus, where medical professionals could build relationships with faculty in the sciences, engineering, business, and other fields. He secured the federally funded Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, oversaw the growth of research facilities on campus, and established an industrial research park.

In 1955, Sterling chose Frederick Terman as provost to help him develop a strong faculty recruiting program—known in the Ivy League as “The Big Raid”—which, with unrestricted development income from Stanford lands, led to the emergence of Silicon Valley. Increased academic selectivity in student admissions was another joint goal and achievement of Sterling and Terman.

Among Sterling’s trials was the collapse of the Pacific Coast Conference, at the instigation of UCLA and USC, with recent echoes in the Pac–12. Growing student and faculty activism in the 1960s and changing public attitudes about higher education took a toll, as did serious health issues.

Reflecting the turmoil in his final year, Sterling’s campus office was destroyed by an arsonist two months before his age 62 retirement, after 19 years and 5 months at the helm.

Margaret O’Mara, author of The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America and the Scott and Dorothy Bullitt Professor of American History at the University of Washington, calls the book “an engrossing, moving portrait of a remarkable leader and his extraordinary times.”

The Stanford Historical Society fosters and supports the documentation, study, publication, dissemination, and preservation of Stanford history. The Society for the Promotion of Science and Scholarship is a nonprofit publisher of scholarly books founded in 1976 by a longtime Stanford chemistry professor.

Stanford’s Wallace Sterling: Portrait of a Presidency, 1949–1968Stanford Historical Society and Society for the Promotion of Science and ScholarshipHardcover with dustjacket; 696pp., 489 half-tones; $50. October 3, 2023.

Copies of the book are now available for purchase online and will be available at the Stanford Bookstore and local bookstores.