Samuel A. Kirkpatrick

Samuel A. Kirkpatrick was president of the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and Eastern Michigan University (EMU).

Early life Kirkpatrick earned a bachelor's degree in education from Shippensburg University and a masters and Ph.D. in political science from Pennsylvania State University. From 1970 until 1990, Kirkpatrick was a faculty member at various universities, eventually serving as head of the Political Science Department at Texas A&M University, and then Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University.

President of the University of Texas at San Antonio Kirkpatrick served as the fourth president of UTSA, from 1990 through 1999. Under his leadership, UTSA underwent a major expansion in enrollment, faculty, building projects, and degree programs. He immediately pushed for the construction of a new president's house, arguing that a larger space was needed to host fundraisers and other official events. Kirkpatrick resigned from EMU in 2004, under pressure after a state investigation into the $6 million construction cost of University House, the new residence he had sought.