Introduction
Steven Muller (November 22, 1927 – January 19, 2013) was the president of the Johns Hopkins University, serving from 1972 to 1990.
He was born in Hamburg, Germany, the son of Marianne (née Hartstein) and Werner A. Muller. He immigrated to the United States in 1940. He appeared in several films as a teenager. He became a naturalized citizen of the U.S. in 1949.
Muller graduated from UCLA in 1948 and received his Ph.D. in Government from Cornell University. From 1949 to 1951 he was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University. After serving in the Army Signal Corps during 1954-1955, he was an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Haverford College and Assistant Professor of Government at Cornell University. While serving as Vice President for Public Affairs of Cornell University, Muller played a leading role in negotiating the end to the occupation of Willard Straight Hall by African American students on April 20, 1969.
Tenure at Johns Hopkins
In 1971 Muller became Provost at JHU, and in 1972 went on to serve as the University’s 10th President, and was named president of Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was the first person to serve as head of both the University and the Hospital since Daniel Coit Gilman in 1889. Muller was the second longest serving president of JHU, serving until 1990. He was president of JHH until 1983.
During his 18-year tenure as president:
- The Peabody Institute began an affiliation agreement with Johns Hopkins (1978), and later became a division of the university (1986)
- An FM radio station, WJHU (88.1 FM) was established (1979)
- An agreement to locate the Space Telescope Science Institute on the JHU campus was concluded (and dedicated in 1983)
- The Hopkins–Nanjing Center was established with the Nanjing University in 1986.
Academic specialization and other work
Muller’s specialties were comparative government and international relations, with particular emphasis on political developments in Europe. He has authored a textbook and numerous articles in this field.
At the time of his death, Muller was co-chairman of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at JHU; trustee of the German Marshall Fund of the United States; member of the executive committee of the Atlantic Council of the United States.
He was also a trustee for many years on the Board of Trustees of St. Mary's College of Maryland where he played key roles in advancing the school to national prominence.
In June 1990, the main building of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore was named "Steven Muller Building" after him.
He died on January 19, 2013, at his home in Washington, DC. He was 85.
Partial bibliography
- From Occupation to Cooperation. The United States and United Germany in a Changing World Order (co-editor, with Gebhard Schweigler). W. W. Norton & Company, New York/London 1992, ISBN 0-393-96254-7
- Universities in the Twenty First Century (editor). Berghahn Books, Providence/Oxford 1996. ISBN 1-57181-026-9
- In Search of Germany (co-editor, with Michael Mertes and Heinrich August Winkler). Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick/London 1996, ISBN 1-56000-880-6