A professor in electrical engineering at Purdue University from 1966 to 1973, Steven B. Sample's career in academic administration began when he was named an administrative fellow by the American Council on Education. He later served as deputy director of academic affairs to the Illinois Board of Higher Education, and executive vice president for academic affairs and dean of the graduate college at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Sample was president of the State University of New York at Buffalo from 1982 to 1991 and transformed that campus into the flagship of the SUNY system. Under his leadership the University was elected in 1989 to the Association of American Universities, a select group of 58 leading research universities which receive 85 percent of all federal research funding. In 1991 Sample became president of the University of Southern California.

Throughout his academic career, Sample has held faculty positions in electrical engineering and pursued his research in electro-hydrodynamics. His five patents for digital electronic controls have been licensed to major manufacturers of appliance controls and microwave ovens and have been incorporated into more than 100 million home appliances.

A former timpanist with the St. Louis Philharmonic, Sample has served on the board of directors of companies as varied as Moog Inc. and Litton Industries, First Interstate Bancorp of Los Angeles, and Studio Arena Theatre. He also has served on the Executive Committee of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges and on the Educational Activities Board of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Sample has been recognized for his contributions to engineering and education by the University of Illinois, the New York State Society of Professional Engineers, and the National Council of Christians and Jews of Buffalo, New York. He received an honorary doctorate of letters from Canisius College, Buffalo, New York, and an honorary doctorate of law from the University of Sheffield in England.