Tuesday, January 31, New York NY: President of The New School Bob Kerrey announced today that Arjun Appadurai has decided to step down as Provost and Chief Academic Officer of the university. Effective July 1, 2006, he will become a fully-tenured member of the university faculty, as John Dewey Professor in the Social Sciences, and will assume responsibilities for directing The New School’s global initiatives. He is especially charged with extending the university’s programs and reach into the world’s two largest nations, as reflected in his advocacy of the university’s recently-formed India China Institute.
“I want to express my personal gratitude to Arjun for serving in my administration and guiding The New School’s academic affairs for the past two years,” said Mr. Kerrey. “Under Arjun's leadership, we have made extraordinary progress in improving academic quality and creating a true university. His depth of scholarly experience, his vision, his passion for excellence, and his intellectual stature have combined to help us recruit an unprecedented number of new faculty. We have accelerated our efforts to become an integrated university. We have also established a faculty Senate, and completed contract negotiation with our part-time faculty. Arjun has set our academic program on the right path, and now I am delighted that I will have the opportunity to continue to work with him as we develop significant programs in Asia. My respect and admiration for Arjun have only grown as I have benefited from his wise counsel and his clear insights into a very wide range of issues”
Mr. Appadurai created a strong Provost's Office with university-wide authority. He directed the university’s academic decision-making, using collaborative means to engage the best ideas of the deans and other academic leaders. He also articulated an academic plan that clearly defines the university’s direction for the next five years and beyond. “While it was an enormous privilege to help the university to strengthen its academic architecture, its faculty strength and its interdisciplinary reputation as one university,” Mr. Appadurai said, “I decided that the time was right to restore my global institutional commitments, my own work as a scholar and as a public intellectual, and those collaborations which I have helped to initiate in India and Asia.”
Prior to joining The New School in 2004, Mr. Appadurai, who was born in Mumbai, India, was the William K. Lanman Jr. Professor of International Studies, a Professor of Anthropology, and Director of the Center for Cities and Globalization at Yale University. He has held professorial chairs at the University of Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania. The university will announce a national search for a new provost shortly. However, to assure continuity and momentum, Mr. Appadurai will remain fully in charge of the academic affairs of the university until June 30, 2006.
The New School is a legendary and progressive university comprising eight schools bound by a common, unusual intent: to prepare and inspire its 9,300 undergraduate and graduate students to bring about positive change. From its Greenwich Village campus, The New School launches economists and actors, fashion designers and urban planners, dancers and philosophers, conductors, filmmakers, political scientists, organizational experts, jazz musicians and more into careers where their ideas and innovations forge new paths. In addition to its 70 graduate and undergraduate degree-granting programs, the university offers certificate programs and nearly 1,000 continuing education courses a semester to 20,000 adult learners every year. The university is comprised of eight divisions: The New School for General Studies, The New School for Social Research, Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy, Parsons The New School for Design, Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts, Mannes College The New School for Music, The New School for Drama, and The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music.
ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY:
Located in the heart of New York’s Greenwich Village, The New School is a center of academic excellence where intellectual and artistic freedoms thrive. The 8,800 matriculated students and 10,000 continuing education students who attend the university’s eight schools enjoy a disciplined education supported by small class sizes, superior resources, and renowned working faculty who practice what they teach. Artists, scholars, and students from all walks of life attend its diverse programs and can earn everything from program certificates to bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. When The New School was founded in 1919, its mission was to create a place where global peace and justice were more than theoretical ideals. Today, The New School continues that mission and endeavors to foster worthy and just citizens of the world.
For more information about the university, please visit www.newschool.edu.