Steven Cohen, Ph.D.

Dr. Steven Cohen is the Senior Vice Dean of Columbia’s School of Professional Studies (SPS) and a Professor in the Practice of Public Affairs at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). He is also the Director of the Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy program at SIPA, the Director of the Master of Science in Sustainability Management program at SPS, and the Director of the Research Program on Sustainability Policy and Management at Columbia University's Climate School.

He is a graduate of James Madison High School in Brooklyn (1970), Franklin College of Indiana (1974) and the State University of New York at Buffalo (M.A., 1977; Ph.D., 1979). In 1976-77, Cohen was a Ford Foundation Fellow in Urban Environmental Policy; in 1978-79, he was a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow in Public and Environmental Policy and Implementation.

Dr. Cohen was the Executive Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University from 2006 to 2018. He is a former policy analyst and consultant to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Dr. Cohen has served on numerous boards and committees, including the Board of the Pew Faculty Fellowship in International Affairs, the Executive Committee and Committee on Accreditation and Peer Review of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Advisory Council on Environmental Policy and Technology. He is a former member of the Advisory Board of the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment and the former Chair of the Lotos Club Science and Technology Committee. He formerly served on the Steering Committee for the Porter School of Environmental Studies at Tel Aviv University and sat on the Judging Committee for the Yidan Prize Foundation. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Homes for the Homeless, the Board of Directors of the Willdan Group, Inc., and the Admissions Committee of the Lotos Club.

Dr. Cohen is the co-author of The Sustainable City 2nd edition (2021), Sustainability Policy: Hastening the Transition to a Cleaner Economy (2015), The Responsible Contract Manager (2008), The Effective Public Manager 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th editions (1995, 2002, 2008, 2013), Strategic Planning in Environmental Regulation (2005), Tools for Innovators: Creative Strategies for Managing Public Sector Organizations (1998), and Total Quality Management in Government (1993), and the author of Environmentally Sustainable Growth: A Pragmatic Approach (2023), Management Fundamentals (2020), The Sustainable City (2017), Understanding Environmental Policy (2006, 2014), Sustainability Management (2011), The Effective Public Manager (1988), and numerous articles on public management innovation, public ethics, sustainability management, politics and environmental management. Dr. Cohen also was a weekly contributor to The Huffington Post from 2009 to 2018. He contributes to the School of Professional Studies' blog Tomorrow's Minds at Work on a weekly basis. His upcoming book, Sustainability Metrics and Management: The Path from Innovation to Routine, is forthcoming publication in 2025. 

Dr. Cohen has taught courses in public management, policy analysis, environmental policy, management innovation, and sustainability management. In 1982, Cohen developed Columbia’s Capstone Workshops in Applied Public Management and Applied Policy Analysis, bringing practical professional education into the center of Columbia’s Public Administration curriculum. He directed these Capstone Workshops until 2001. He has conducted professional training seminars in total quality management, strategic planning, project management, and management innovation.

Cohen was born in Orange, New Jersey, was raised in Brooklyn, New York, and now resides in New York City. He and his wife, Donna Fishman, have two wonderful daughters, Gabriella and Ariel.