Judith Shapiro Set to Step Down After 14 Years

After serving 14 years as president of Barnard College, Judith Shapiro announced in April that her tenure will come to an end along with the 2007-2008 academic year.

In explaining her decision to step down, Shapiro cited reasons ranging from her desire to spend more time with her dog to her intention of pursuing projects in the field of higher education in association with research foundations. She expressed mixed emotions about the move, dubbing Barnard's highest post as "quite possibly the best job in the world."

Several administrators, faculty, and students credit Shapiro with Barnard's rise in status in recent years.

Since 1994 when she came to the position after holding the post of provost at Bryn Mawr College, Barnard's endowment has doubled, the admission rate has been halved, and applications have risen by the thousands.

Just this year, 28 percent of students were admitted out of a record-breaking 4,572 applicants, in comparison with Shapiro's first year at Barnard, when 55 percent of applicants out of 2,734 were admitted.

Shapiro also oversaw a review of Barnard's curriculum and helped to establish nine cross-disciplinary areas of study, dubbed "The Ways of Knowing," that are now required of all students at the college.

Robert McCaughey, Barnard's former dean of faculty and academic affairs and author of Stand Columbia: A History of Columbia University in the City of New York, said he believes Shapiro's leadership has moved Barnard in a positive direction, and that she has risen to the challenge of succeeding Barnard's previous president, Ellen Futter, who struggled to define Barnard's relationship with Columbia.

"I think she has brought Barnard to the attention of American higher education in a way that was started by Ellen Futter, but I think has been carried on very effectively by Judith," McCaughey said. "I think Barnard College is a better-known institution both in the city and in the country. Financially, it's better off , and it gets along better with its neighborhood and Columbia University."

Shapiro was one of more than 250 candidates who were considered for the job after Futter stepped down in 1993.

The search for a new president is already underway, headed by the chair of the board of Barnard's trustees, Anna Quindlen. Quindlen is overseeing the formation of a search committee, which will work in cooperation with an outside search firm to find the right candidate.

University President Lee Bollinger praised Shapiro in a written statement on the day of her announcement.

"Barnard has thrived under her leadership, and the University as a whole is better because of it," he said.