Introducing Linda G. Mills, NYU's 17th President

lindamills
Feb 16 2023

On behalf of the Board of Trustees, we are very happy to announce that the extensive search conducted by the Presidential Search Committee has led to the selection of Linda G. Mills—NYU’s Vice Chancellor and Senior Vice Provost for Global Programs and University Life; a chaired professor and researcher; an attorney, licensed clinical social worker, filmmaker, parent of an NYU graduate, and long-time member of the University’s senior leadership team—as the 17th president of New York University. She will take on her duties as president on July 1, 2023.

The search to recruit our next president drew an extraordinary group of applicants. It is a tribute to NYU’s stature, reputation, and upward academic trajectory that the position attracted so many outstandingly qualified and eager candidates to be reviewed by the Committee. The comments members of the University community shared with the Search Committee during meetings with various campus groups last fall guided the Committee’s goals: to recruit a president who will shape a bold vision for the University, cultivate and deepen academic excellence, build on NYU’s institutional momentum, create a signature student experience, enhance diversity, and improve fundraising.

Among all the many excellent candidates, what set Linda apart was her profound and manifest commitment to NYU and its future, including her commitment to the University’s core research and teaching mission and high standards of academic excellence; her extensive knowledge of the University—both its strengths and the areas for improvement most vital to its continued advancement; her keen understanding of NYU’s complexities; and her ‘day-one’ readiness to step into the role of president. We were struck, too, by her dedication to diversity and inclusion; her ability to listen and bring people together and to cultivate nascent ideas into flourishing programs; her flexibility and foresight; her creativity and her determination to advance NYU’s far-ranging ambitions. Linda’s long record of notable achievements in shaping student life and engaging faculty in building the University’s unequaled global presence also impressed the Committee. We were impressed, as well, by the data-driven approach she brings to analysis and decision-making while never losing sight of the very human elements at the heart of a university.

In an era of rapid change in higher education and a competitive environment in which NYU starts with considerably fewer economic advantages than many of its peers, Linda brings a bold vision for our future that no other candidate could match. She will draw on all the strengths of our extraordinarily diverse global community and our precious resources—scholarly, artistic, entrepreneurial, and administrative—to lift NYU to new heights. She was the candidate with the skill set, determination, and imagination to realize our ambitious goals.

Linda G. Mills is the Lisa Ellen Goldberg Professor of Social Work, Public Policy, and Law. She is also the Executive Director of the NYU Center on Violence and Recovery. She first came to NYU as an associate professor of social work in 1999 and in 2001 was promoted to full professor. Prior to coming to NYU, from 1994 to 1998, she was a lecturer in the School of Law and an assistant professor in the UCLA School of Public Policy and Social Research, where she received early tenure.

Mills’ principal areas of scholarly focus are trauma, bias, and domestic violence; her groundbreaking research funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Justice has reshaped the field of treatment in domestic violence, and her restorative justice-based programs are currently being adopted in several jurisdictions across the U.S. She is a widely published author of articles appearing in Harvard Law Review, Cornell Law Review, Journal of Experimental Criminology, and Nature: Human Behavior, among others. Her books have been published by Princeton University Press, University of Michigan Press, Springer, and Basic Books. As a filmmaker, she has produced award-winning films that have debuted at Tribeca Film Festival and the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival and have been shown in the United Arab Emirates, Austria, and Tunisia, among other countries. Of Many: Then and Now appeared on ABC to 8.1 million viewers.

She has been NYU’s Vice Chancellor and Senior Vice Provost for Global Programs and University Life since 2012. In 2002, she was named Vice Provost (and in 2006 Senior Vice Provost) for Undergraduate Education and University Life.

The President-Designate received her PhD in Health Policy in 1994 from Brandeis University, where she was a Pew Scholar; her MSW from San Francisco State University in 1986; her JD from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco in 1983; and her BA in history and social thought from the University of California, Irvine in 1979. She was admitted to the California Bar in 1983 and first became a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in 1990.

Her husband, Peter Goodrich, is a professor of law at Cardozo School of Law and a visiting professor of law in the Division of Social Science at NYU Abu Dhabi. They have a son who is a 2019 graduate of NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study.

We would like to thank the members of the Presidential Search Committee for their hard work, their seriousness of purpose, the range of perspectives they brought to the process, their deep knowledge of NYU, and their wisdom and judgment. There are few university duties more solemn than the selection of a president, and this Search Committee has fulfilled its responsibilities superbly, treating every candidate with dignity, respect, and open-mindedness. The Committee’s efforts were ably supported by the executive search firm Isaacson Miller; we are grateful for their work.

We would also like to recognize and thank Andrew Hamilton for his tenure as president. Since joining our community in January 2016, Andy has skillfully led the University during one of the most challenging periods in higher education. He has successfully propelled and accelerated NYU’s upward academic trajectory. He has brought about an important and lasting set of achievements, including new records in research spending and in undergraduate admissions. The rate of growth in tuition was slowed, financial aid packages were greatly improved, student retention increased, and student success prioritized. The University opened much-needed and important new academic facilities. Diversity, equity, and inclusion were emphasized, as was sustainability. We are grateful for Andy’s service, which contributed greatly to the University’s reputation and sense of momentum.

We ask you to join us in thanking the Search Committee for their admirable work; in commending Andy Hamilton for all he has done as NYU’s president; and especially in congratulating Linda Mills on her appointment as our 17th president and in offering our collective support and good will as she takes on her new duties.

 

— William Berkley, Chair of the NYU Board of Trustees and of the Presidential Search Committee & Evan Chesler, Chair-Designate of the NYU Board of Trustees and Vice-Chair of the Presidential Search Committee

 

To hear directly from President-Designate Linda G. Mills, click here to watch a video message from her.