Columbia University President Lee Bollinger, in close consultation with Executive Vice President for Arts and Sciences Amy Hungerford, has formally appointed Troy Eggers as Dean of the School of Professional Studies.
“Troy has led the School admirably through a period of considerable uncertainty and strain,” read a note from President Bollinger to the University. “As Dean, Troy will build upon the School’s unique and impressive history, while refining and broadening its approach to non-traditional higher education. Priorities he has already identified include deepening the School’s programmatic collaborations with departments across the University, establishing internal advisory boards focused on professional education, expanding access through fellowships and financial aid, and developing new educational programs to serve the varied needs of SPS students.”
“I am deeply honored to assume the role of Dean of the School of Professional Studies and am grateful to President Bollinger and EVP for Arts and Sciences Amy Hungerford for their steadfast leadership of the search process and for their unwavering support for the School and its ambitions,” Dean Eggers wrote to the SPS community. “This is a pivotal and vital time to be part of SPS. We are facing unprecedented global crises and our School is uniquely positioned with the skills, talent, and resources to address them by creating lasting, positive change and improving lives around the world. SPS is also uniquely positioned within our great institution and our great city, giving our community access to knowledge and understanding that shape the character of our community.
“In my first outreach to you as dean, I want to thank all of you for your individual and collective commitment to SPS. Thank you to our student leaders, our faculty, and our staff for your passion and stewardship of the School over this interim period. Thank you to our recent graduates for demonstrating such resiliency. Thank you to our alumni for your support and nurturing of our students. And thank you to all of our incoming students for your courage to pursue your academic journey amid such complexities.”
Dean Eggers has served Columbia with great distinction for more than two decades. Since joining the University in 2000, he has excelled in a variety of senior positions within Columbia Business School, the School of International and Public Affairs, and the Office of the Provost. As Executive Vice Provost, his portfolio included critical areas of academic management—financial planning, faculty housing, human resources, travel, emergency protocols, and space planning—in addition to oversight of the International Students & Scholars Office, Columbia University Press, The University Seminars, and the Alliance joint-venture between Columbia, École Polytechnique, Sciences Po, and Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University. Dean Eggers has also served as a member of the University’s Emergency Management Operations Team and on the President’s Advisory Task Force on COVID-19.
“In the past year, Troy and his team have created new educational programs, developed a rigorous system of faculty governance, and built a curriculum to meet the needs of record numbers of students in two unpredictable summers—the regular summer session of 2020 and the pandemic school year’s ‘third term’ undergraduate summer session of 2021. Also in response to the challenges of COVID-19, Troy directed a process that elevated the School’s approach to online learning and oversaw deft management of the School’s finances,” wrote President Bollinger.
