Head of College to Step Down After Marathon Tenure

Barnard College President Judith Shapiro will step down in 2008, she announced Monday.

Shapiro has held the position since 1994, far longer than the average eight-and-a-half year tenure for American college presidents, according to the American Council on Education. The announcement came just two months before the Nexus, Barnard's massive construction project, picks up steam with the planned demolition of the McIntosh student center in June.

"You know, 14 years is a good long period for a president," Shapiro said in an interview Monday evening. "I think the idea is that it's the best transition time for me and for Barnard."

During her administration, Barnard's admission rate dropped as the school became more selective. Twenty-five percent of students were admitted out of a record-breaking 4,599 received applications for the class of 2010, compared with Shapiro's first year at Barnard when 55 percent of 2,734 applicants were admitted.

Shapiro's second six-year contract expired last year, but she and the Board of Trustees decided to extend it through next year in light of pending construction, she said.

Beyond the Nexus, Shapiro oversaw the renovation of Hewitt Dining Hall and Brooks Living Room, and the opening of Cathedral Gardens residence hall.

Barnard Board of Trustees chair Anna Quindlen, who was on Shapiro's search committee a decade and a half ago, said its members sought a candidate to make three major changes. These included strengthening and solidifying relations with Columbia, raising money for the endowment and capital projects, and staying dedicated to Barnard's mission to educate women.

Shapiro succeeded on all counts, Quindlen said.

The college's endowment has doubled in the past five years, and the number of endowed professorships has more than doubled during Shapiro's presidency.

Shapiro, who earned her Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia, has a self-described "collegial" relationship with administrators across Broadway. She went to grade school in Queens with Jonathan Cole, predecessor to Provost Alan Brinkley, she said.

University President Lee Bollinger wrote in a statement, "Barnard has thrived under her leadership and the University as a whole is better because of it."

Throughout her presidency, Shapiro has remained a proponent of women's education. Student Government Association President Eman Bataineh, BC '07, said she felt inspired by Shapiro's eloquence and intellect.

"In some ways, she is the model of what a Barnard woman is," Bataineh said.

Many agreed that Shapiro also improved relations between faculty and administrators.

Barnard classics department chair Helene Foley has taught at the school since 1979. "It's been exceptionally valuable to have a president who was also an academic and really understood extremely well what faculty were doing in the classroom," Foley said.

Quindlen is overseeing the formation of a search committee, which will work with an outside search firm. Co-chairs are already in place, she said, declining to divulge details because she had not yet told the entire Board of Trustees who they are.

Quindlen expressed optimism about the search, confident that, as was the case the last time around, "there are all kinds of phenomenal people out there that I don't know about yet." After Ellen Futter stepped down as Barnard president in 1993, Shapiro was one of more than 250 candidates who were considered for the job.

As the committee looks for her replacement, Shapiro said she plans to remain busy executing her presidential duties next year, including fundraising for the Nexus.

"I think what can happen when you step down from a presidency is that all of the people who think that you've been doing a fabulous job might be especially moved to celebrate you," Shapiro said of her planned fundraising efforts.

Dorothy Denburg, dean of the college, agreed that Shapiro won't have a lame-duck year.

"She's not the kind of person who will just sit around for the next year waiting to retire," Denburg said.