Karl C. Leebrick

Karl Clayton Leebrick (October 20, 1885 – June 13, 1982) was an American academic and academic administrator. He was the president of Kent State University and the first president of Moanaolu Community Junior College. He was also the vice president of the University of Hawaiʻi and dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Syracuse University.

Early life Leebrick was born on October 20, 1885 in Burlington, Iowa. Soon after, his family moved to Mesa, Arizona. His parents were Mary D. (née Rosenberger) and John Phillip Leebrick. In 1907, Leebrick and his mother moved to Covina, California. In the 1907 spring term, Leebrick became a teacher and the principal of the North Clifton Public School in Clifton, Arizona. He resigned in May 1909 to enter college.

In 1909, Leebrick enrolled in the University of California, where he studied law and English. While an undergraduate, Leebrick wa a member of Acacia Fraternity. He won the Bryce Historial Essay Prize in May 1912, earning a teaching fellowhship in history at the university. He graduated with a M.S. from the College of Natural Sciences in May 1913. In the fall of 1913, he was the secretary of history professor H. Morse Stephens. He received a university fellowship in Pacific coast history in May 1915. In August 1915, he went to Seville, Spain to conduct research in archives on Spanish-California history. His trip was funded through a Native Sons' travelling fellowship.

Career In July 1916, Leebrick was hired as an instructor history at the University of California. Leebrick was promoted to assistant professor of history in April 1918.

Leebrick was the head of the Department of History and Political Science at the University of Hawaiʻi from August 1920 to 1928. In January 1929, Leebrick announced his plans to return to the University of Hawaiʻi in September. However, in April 1929, he resigned his position with Hawaiʻi i to become dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Syracuse.

Leebrick was also the director of the Pacific Institute of International Relations, which convened at the University of Washington in July 1928 and at the University of Southern California in December 1928 and 1929. In December 1928, he joined the faculty of the University of Southern California's new College on International Relations.

On February 4, 1938, Leebrick was elected to become the president of Kent State University. On July 1, 1938, he began his new role as the fourth president of Kent State. He was inaugurated on October 21, 1938. Leebrick focused the university's curriculum on the liberal arts and removed its agricultural program. He restructured the university into three colleges: business, education, and liberal arts. His dismissal was related to his rapid changes and strained personal relationships. In 1945, Leebrick became the special assistant to the political advisor of General Douglas MacArthur and was stationed at the American Embassy in Tokyo which was serving as the headquarters of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers. He left the military as a lieutenant colonel.

In the fall of 1946, Leebrick returned to the University of Hawaiʻi as a professor of government and veterans advisor. In 1947, he was made the university's vice president He was named the United States representative to the six-person planning committee.

Leebrick then became an assistant to the administrator of the Trust Territory, later becoming a liaison officer and historian with the rank of admiral of the United States Navy in the Trust Territory. He resigned for the Trust Territory on June 30, 1953 to return to academia as the first president of Moanaolu Community Junior College in Pāʻia, Hawaii. In 1957, he was appointed to the Hawaii Statehood Commission. He retired as president emeritus of the Maunaolu College in 1967.

Personal life Leebrick married Beryl Mae Fountaine on September 25, 1913, at her home in Dixon, California.

Leebrick died in Kula, Hawaii on June 13, 1982, at the age of 96.