Farewell frost!
October 30, 2024
EVANSTON, Ill. --- The Northwestern University Board of Trustees has extended the contract of President Morton Schapiro for three additional years, William A. Osborn, chair of the board, announced today (Dec. 16, 2014). The new agreement extends President Schapiro’s contract to Aug. 31, 2022.
“Northwestern continues to make significant strides under President Schapiro,” Osborn said. “By extending his contract, we will ensure that the University will have continued stability and inspiring leadership into the next decade.”
President Schapiro was named the 16th president of Northwestern in December 2008 and began his term Sept. 1, 2009. He is a professor of economics in Northwestern's Judd A. and Marjorie Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and teaches classes regularly in that school. He also holds appointments in Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management and in the School of Education and Social Policy.
“The Northwestern community consists of the most inspiring students, faculty, staff and alumni imaginable. I absolutely love being president of Northwestern University -- there is no place else I would rather be. Therefore, I am honored by this vote of confidence from the Board of Trustees,” President Schapiro said.
“Northwestern has benefited throughout its history from the strong leadership and full engagement of the Board of Trustees,” he added. “I look forward to continuing this partnership.”
President Schapiro is a member of the executive committee of the Association of American Universities Board of Directors and the executive committee of the Board of Directors of the Consortium on the Financing of Higher Education.
He is among the nation’s leading authorities on the economics of higher education, with particular expertise in the area of college financing and affordability. He has testified before U.S. Senate and House committees on economic and educational issues and is widely quoted in the national media on those issues. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honorary societies.
President Schapiro previously was president of Williams College from 2000 to 2009. Earlier he had served as a member of the Williams College faculty from 1980 to 1991, as professor of economics and as assistant provost. In 1991, he went to the University of Southern California, where he served as chair of the department of economics until 1994, and then as dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences until 2000. During his last two years as dean, he also served as the university's vice president for planning.
President Schapiro has written more than 100 articles and five books, and he has edited two others, most with his longtime co-author Michael McPherson. These include: “The Student Aid Game: Meeting Need and Rewarding Talent in American Higher Education” (Princeton University Press, 1998); “Paying the Piper: Productivity, Incentives and Financing in Higher Education” (also with Gordon Winston, University of Michigan Press, 1993) and “Keeping College Affordable: Government and Educational Opportunity” (Brookings, 1991), plus two edited volumes “College Success: What It Means and How to Make It Happen” (College Board, 2008) and “College Access: Opportunity or Privilege?” (College Board, 2006).
President Schapiro and Gary Saul Morson, professor of Slavic languages and literature, are co-editors of a new book, “The Fabulous Future? America and the World in 2040,” which will be published in 2015 by Northwestern University Press. The book emerged from an undergraduate course, Alternatives: Modeling Choice Across the Disciplines, that the two have co-taught for several years. The book examines different approaches to predicting the future and to understanding the past.
President Schapiro received his bachelor’s degree in economics from Hofstra University and his doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania.
