Minouche Shafik tapped as first woman to be president of Columbia University
NEW YORK -- A woman will lead Columbia University for the first time.
The school's board of trustees announced Wednesday it has named Nemat "Minouche" Shafik, a leading economist and current director of the London School of Economics, to succeed Lee Bollinger as Columbia's 20th president. Bollinger will step down at the end of the 2022-23 academic year.
Jonathan Lavine, chairman of the board of trustees, penned a letter to the Columbia community in which he described the 60-year-old as "the perfect candidate: a brilliant and able global leader, a community builder, and a preeminent economist who understands the academy and the world beyond it."
Shafik's career has focused on public policy and academia.
"What set Minouche apart as a candidate is her unshakable confidence in the vital role institutions of higher education can and must play in solving the world's most complex problems," Lavine said. "Like all of us in the Columbia community, she believes that in order to bring about meaningful change, we have a collective obligation to combine our distinctive intellectual capacities with groups and organizations beyond the academy."
Shafik also served as the first female leader of the London School of Economics and previously was the first female permanent secretary of the U.K. Department for International Development.
"Her expertise, her experiences -- both personal and professional -- and her general outlook on academic and public life make her an inspired appointment," Bollinger said.
Born in Alexandria, Egypt, Shafik received a bachelor's in economics and politics from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst; a Master of Science in economics from the London School of Economics; and a Doctor of Philosophy in economics from St Antony's College at Oxford University.