Robert Huttenback

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2025}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Robert A. Huttenback

| image =

| order = 3rd

| title = Chancellor of the
University of California, Santa Barbara

| term_start = 1977

| term_end = 1986

| predecessor = Vernon Cheadle

| birth_date = {{birth date|1928|3|8}}

| birth_place = Frankfurt am Main, Germany

| death_date = {{death date and age|2012|6|10|1928|3|8}}

| death_place = Camarillo, California, U.S.

| alma_mater = University of California, Los Angeles (BA, PhD)

| residence = Santa Barbara, California

| profession =

| spouse = Freda

| website =

| successor = Daniel G. Aldrich (acting)
Barbara Uehling

| module = {{Infobox scientist

| embed = yes

| workplaces =

| field = Modern history

| thesis_title = British relations with Sind, 1799–1843: a case study in the dynamics of imperialism

| thesis_url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/301859843/

| thesis_year = 1959

| doctoral_advisor =

}}

}}

Robert Arthur Huttenback (March 8, 1928–June 10, 2012){{cite book|title=Who's who in the West|date=1968|volume=11|publisher=Marquis Who's Who, Incorporated|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b2pmAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=2015-01-12}} was the third chancellor of UC Santa Barbara from 1977 to 1986.{{cite news|title=Robert Huttenback: 1928-2012 UCSB Chancellor 1977-86|url=http://www.independent.com/news/2012/jul/25/robert-huttenback-1928-2012/|accessdate=9 August 2015|publisher=Santa Barbara Independent|date=25 July 2012}} He was ousted from the post in July 1986 after allegations surfaced that he and his wife Freda had embezzled US$174,087 from the university to perform renovations on their home.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/03/17/us/ex-university-chief-and-wife-held-in-fraud-case.html|title=EX-UNIVERSITY CHIEF AND WIFE HELD IN FRAUD CASE|publisher=nytimes.com|accessdate=2015-01-12}} After two UC presidents (David P. Gardner and David S. Saxon) testified against him, Huttenback and his wife were convicted by a Santa Maria jury in July 1988.{{cite journal |last1=Ebenstein |first1=Lanny |title=The Rise of UCSB |journal=Noticias: Journal of the Santa Barbara Historical Museum |date=2013 |volume=54 |issue=3 |pages=117–183 |url=https://issuu.com/santabarbaramuseum/docs/132309_noticias_web |access-date=18 August 2020}}

Huttenback was a German Jew whose family fled to England in 1933 when he was a young boy. Although his family lived in England for only about six years before moving again to the United States, Huttenback spoke English with a British accent for the rest of his life.

Huttenback received his B.A. in 1951 and his Ph.D. with a historical dissertation in 1959, both from the University of California, Los Angeles. Before returning to UCLA to earn his doctorate, Huttenback served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. His doctoral dissertation in modern history was titled British relations with Sind, 1799–1843: a case study in the dynamics of imperialism (1959).{{Cite web |title=BRITISH RELATIONS WITH SIND, 1799-1843: A CASE STUDY IN THE DYNAMICS OF IMPERIALISM - ProQuest |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/301859843/ |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=www.proquest.com |language=en}}

From 1960 to 1977, he was a professor at the California Institute of Technology. He was a lifelong specialist in the history of British imperialism. Huttenback initially blocked the tenureship of Jenijoy La Belle, who became Caltech's first female professor when his decision was overturned.{{cite web|url=http://oralhistories.library.caltech.edu/175/|title= Interview with Jenijoy La Belle |publisher=CaltechOralHistories|accessdate=2020-05-02}}