Shillinglaw named interim director at National Steinbeck Center

The Board of Trustees of the National Steinbeck Center says Dr. Susan Shillinglaw will become the interim director of the National Steinbeck Center beginning on June 1.

The National Steinbeck Center is working to complete the sale and lease-back of its One Main Street facility that will mark the beginning of a long-term partnership with California State University, Monterey Bay in downtown Salinas.

The non-profit National Steinbeck Center has had a history of struggling to raise funds to meet their provision of services for many years. The excellent programs that provide educational opportunities about the Central Coast’s native son, his Nobel Prize winning literary work and mission cost money. Recouping that, with hefty administrative costs has been the issue according to their IRS 990 reports.

So in comes CSUMB and Dr. Susan Shillinglaw who has been a presenter at the Steinbeck Festival for 25 years. She is a Professor of English at San Jose State University and the SJSU President’s Scholar for 2012-13. Shillinglaw directed the San Jose State University Steinbeck Center for 18 years. Since 1987, she has been actively involved with the National Steinbeck Center, helping coordinate Steinbeck Festivals and assisting with strategic planning of the National Steinbeck Center in the 1990’s. She has served on the NSC Board of Trustees for eight years and has acted as Scholar in Residence at the NSC since 2005 as well as a historical and literary consultant for the Center.

Chris Steinbruner, President of the National Steinbeck Center Board of Trustees, said, “We are delighted to welcome Dr. Susan Shillinglaw as interim director of the National Steinbeck Center during this important moment in the history of the organization. It’s exciting to be able to draw on the expertise of an internationally-recognized Steinbeck scholar. Susan has been an important adviser to the organization and her guidance has been critical to the Center for years. We look forward to her leadership as we move into our long-term partnership with CSUMB at One Main Street.”

Time will tell if this new union with CSUMB will be the knight in shining armor for the challenged center.