Dale T. Knobel

Dale Thomas Knobel (born 1949 in East Cleveland, Ohio) is an American historian and academic administrator. He served as the 19th president of Denison University, and served as interim president of Southwestern University in 2020.

Early life and career Knobel, the son of an oil executive, was born in East Cleveland, Ohio and raised in Mayfield Heights, Lyndhurst, Worthington, and Hudson, all suburbs of Columbus or Cleveland. Attracted from Hudson High School to play soccer at Denison University, he left Denison after one year to study history at Yale College. He earned his B.A. and graduated cum laude in 1971.

Knobel continued studying history at Northwestern University and received his PhD in 1976. After one year of post-graduate teaching at Northwestern, he joined the history department at Texas A&M University, where he remained for nineteen years. Knobel's scholarship focused on American ethnic and race relations with a particular focus on pop-culture responses to international immigration near the turn of the 20th century.

Denison University Knobel was named Denison's 19th president in 1998 and served in this role for 15 years, the second-longest in the college's history. He was board chair of the Great Lakes Colleges Association, the Five Colleges of Ohio, Some of Knobel’s writing on higher education topics appears in chapters in University Presidents as Moral Leaders and Out in Front: The College President as the Face of the Institution. In 2012, Knobel received the Chief Executive Leadership Award at the Council for Advancement and Support of Education Region V annual meeting.

In 2013, Knobel retired as president and was succeeded by Adam S. Weinberg, a sociologist.

Southwestern University From January 2020 to July 2020, Knobel served as interim president of Southwestern University, following the departure of Dr. Edward Burger.

Personal life Knobel lives with his wife, Tina J. Knobel, in Georgetown, Texas. He serves on the board of directors of the Sherman Fairchild Foundation, and the board of trustees of the American University of Sharjah.