Caltech President Thomas Rosenbaum announces retirement

Caltech President Thomas F. Rosenbaum announced this week that he will retire next after 12 years in the position.

Rosenbaum, Caltech’s ninth president, said he will step away on June 30, 2026.

“Caltech boasts a solid financial footing, remarkable new research and educational facilities, and, most importantly, the capacity to recruit and sustain the brightest and most innovative individuals from every walk of life and from every corner of the world,” Rosenbaum said in a statement. “Our secret for success is no more complicated than the people who comprise our community, but it requires diligence, awareness, and commitment to be able to soar ever higher.”

In a letter to the Caltech community, Rosenbaum wrote that, as president, his job “has been to sustain and enhance our culture, our values, our intimate environment, our commitment to primary sources and first principles, our defense of evidence-based inquiry, our devotion to learning and discovery.”

He voiced confidence that the Institute’s trustees would find “a dynamic new president to lead the Institute to an even brighter future.”

Rosenbaum took office on July 1, 2014, serving two terms as Caltech’s president.

At the request of the Caltech Board of Trustees, in 2023 he agreed to serve part of a third term, planning to end his tenure at the end of the 2025–26 academic year.

In a release, officials said Rosenbaum positions the Board and the Institute’s faculty to begin the Institute’s next presidential search, details of which will be announced next week.

He will remain at the Institute as a member of the faculty.

During his tenure, Caltech more than doubled its endowment and completed a “historic” capital campaign, officials said. The Institute also started programs to enhance students’ educational and co-curricular experiences, with a goal of making a Caltech education more affordable.

Officials also noted what they called a strengthened Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which the Institute manages for NASA. At the same time, they pointed to strategic partnerships with other research-focused institutions and the private sector.

“Since his appointment in 2014, Tom has personified Caltech’s mission to benefit society through research integrated with education,” said David W. Thompson (MS ’78), chair of the Caltech Board of Trustees, in a statement Monday to the Caltech community. “He expanded our intellectual enterprise, strengthened our connection to the broader community, and served as a constant steward of Caltech’s legacy at the forefront of discovery, innovation, and education.”