Archives West Finding Aid

William P. Gerberding served as the 27th president of the University of Washington from 1979 to 1995. His tenure began during a time of economic crisis for the State of Washington that saw the university’s budget reduced and many jobs lost. In an effort to build financial stability for the university, Gerberding initiated large-scale fundraising campaigns among private donors. Gerberding’s successful development of fundraising in the private sector was unmatched in the history of the university, and the UW rose as one of the top nationwide universities for private funding.

The UW also grew in academic prominence during Gerberding’s presidency, with four Nobel prizes awarded to faculty and hundreds of millions in federal grant money awarded to researchers. To the state’s budget makers, Gerberding emphasized the importance of faculty salaries as a strategy for attracting and retaining nationally-competitive faculty members. The UW’s undergraduate population also increased during his tenure, and Gerberding saw more than 125,000 students graduate.

A native of North Dakota, Gerberding earned his bachelor’s degree from Macalester College in 1951 and his master’s and doctorate at the University of Chicago in 1956 and 1959. Before coming to UW, he served in the administrations of Occidental College, the University of California Los Angeles, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He and his wife Ruth had four children together: Steve, John, Liza, and David. To date, he is the longest-serving president in University of Washington history.