October 10, 2012

I am pleased to welcome Andy Atzert, the new Vice President for Distributed and Global Education. Andy will focus right away on our major initiatives in Paris, Shanghai, and Mumbai. He comes to The New School with a strong background, including six years at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, where he was Chief Operating Officer at the Aresty Institute of Executive Education, delivering more than 200 programs to business people around the world. Previously, Andy managed and marketed professional and international programs at Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences, Arizona State University, and UC Santa Barbara. He holds an MS in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from Penn and he has taught internationally as an Assistant Professor at the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok.

I am also pleased to welcome Cynthia Lawson to a new position as Associate Provost for Distributed and Global Education. As part of Andy’s team, she will focus on academic curricula and academic quality for our global programs, again with a primary focus on Paris, Mumbai, and Shanghai. Cynthia moves to this position from Parsons, where she has been a faculty member and served as director of the Integrated Design Curriculum, associate chair of Core Studies, and project coordinator for DEED (Development through Empowerment, Entrepreneurship, and Design). Cynthia’s teaching and research has focused internationally on community-engaged design education. She received her bachelor’s degree from la Universidad de los Andes and holds a Master of Professional Studies from NYU.

The other members in the Distributed and Global Education staff include Matt Caballero, whose work focuses on planning, analysis, and operational aspects of global and distributed education, and Jim O’Connor and his staff who manage the university’s online programs. The team is supported by executive assistant Armando Esposito.

Andy and I look forward to sharing future news about The New School’s progress in distributed and global education.