Manhattan’s New School Chooses Law Dean as President

New School’s current president Bob Kerry is set to step down from office at the end of December 2010. In light of this impending vacancy, New School had recently elected Dr. David E. Van Zandt as its eighth president.

Dr. Van Zandt, 57, will replace Kerry, 67, a Vietnam War veteran and former governor and senator of Nebraska. He served as New School’s seventh president since 2001 and had since then worked on the improvements and expansion of New School. His contract as president officially ends in July 1, 2011, but he announced back in May 6, 2010 that he intends to step down at the end of this year.

The board of trustees, headed by Michael J. Johnston,selected Dr. Van Zandt for his track record as a leader and educator of 15 years in Northwestern Law School. He is a dedicated academic with creative but realistic visions for higher education.

Dr. Van Zandt graduated from Princeton University and attended Yale Law School afterward. He also earned a Ph.D. in sociology from the London School of Economics. He worked as a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun and later as an associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York. In 1985 he joined Northwestern’s Law faculty and became its second longest-serving dean, having served under this position from 1995 up to the present.