2024 Power Players in Education

Laura Rosenbury, the 9th president of Barnard College at Columbia University, is a leading feminist legal theorist. Before joining Barnard on June 12, 2023, she spent eight years raising the national and international profile of Florida’s flagship law school (UF Law) as its first woman dean. She earned her undergraduate degree and her law degree at Harvard, where she served as a primary editor of the Harvard Law Review.

How can policymakers support New York’s students and educators?
Policymakers can make a huge difference in improving access to college, working across the aisle to maximize financial aid and other resources. College is where students test out ideas, expand their minds, and learn to see the world in different ways. Leveling the playing field gives all young people the opportunity to enter exciting careers, address the world’s most pressing challenges, and become the best versions of themselves.

What was your favorite moment or experience in your own education?
After growing up in rural Indiana, college was transformative for me. I discovered my desire to advocate for the rights of women and families. While working as an attorney, I started teaching a night class on Feminist Legal Theory at Fordham Law, where I realized I could continue my advocacy for women and families by teaching and inspire others to do the same. That’s where my education career began.

What is the best advice you have received from a mentor?
Martha Minow, the 300th Anniversary University Professor at Harvard University, and the former dean of Harvard Law School, has relayed untold wisdom to me over the years, but this advice is what guides me each and every day: To be an effective leader, I must connect ideas, give the gift of attention, imagine possibilities, and stay fully in the moment without losing sight of the past and the future.

Henry has served as CSA president since 2023, after having served as executive vice president, first vice president, and chief negotiator of recent contracts. Henry was born and raised in NYC, with an undergraduate economics degree from Fordham, a graduate degree from Queens College, and administrative certification from the College of Saint Rose. He began his career as a Bilingual Social Studies teacher, becoming an assistant principal and then principal of A. Philip Randolph Campus High School.

How can policymakers support New York’s students and educators?
Policymakers can support public schools by fighting for the necessary resources to implement educators’ ambitious visions and plans for their students. They should actively engage with educators, especially school leaders, who possess a deep, irreplaceable understanding of their communities. By involving school leaders in decision-making, policymakers can help ensure we address the urgent needs of today’s students, creating safer, more effective learning environments and increasing the likelihood that we achieve our collective goals.

What was your favorite moment or experience in your own education?
I was fortunate to have incredible learning opportunities in high school, college, and grad school. However, one of my most profound educational experiences was when I began working with CSA’s Supervisory Support Program. Coaching school leaders from across the city gave me a comprehensive, crash-course understanding of the diverse challenges they faced. This work provided insights into the complex, on-the-ground realities of our public schools that I still benefit from today.

What is the best advice you have received from a mentor?
The best advice I’ve received from mentors were reminders to prioritize my own health as a school leader. We focus on taking care of everyone else, but the analogy of “putting on your own oxygen mask first” is key. Regular focus on our meals, movement, and mindfulness better prepare us to support and lead others. These practices help me maintain balance and effectiveness as a husband, father, and the president of our union.

For three decades, Frank D. Sánchez, Ph.D., has advanced higher education policy, programs, and services to improve college completion rates and modernize education systems. Appointed fifteenth president of Manhattanville University in 2023, Sánchez has led the institution through a rebrand and enhanced its profile through curricular innovation and strategic partnerships. Previously, Sánchez was president of Rhode Island College and, prior to that, vice chancellor for student affairs at the City University of New York (CUNY).

How can policymakers support New York’s students and educators?
For years, NY policymakers have supported higher education well. I would encourage additional funding to incentivize corporations/businesses to partner with postsecondary institutions in order to keep top talent in the state. More programs to minimize student debt while supporting student employment post-graduation benefits the tax base, the economy and the state’s workforce.

What was your favorite moment or experience in your own education?
The moment I realized that college administration was a profession I could pursue was transformative for me as an undergraduate. The idea of fixing and supporting policies, systems, and programs for college student success, gave me a passion that I’ve now had for over 30 years.

What is the best advice you have received from a mentor?
A mentor once told me, “We don’t have good or bad days! Only days that we’re celebrating or that we’re learning.” I’ve had my fair share of days where I’m learning…and I’m a better professional and person because of them.

Dorothy Savitch has led the Music Partners program at BKCM since 1996, developing fully enriched, sequential programs that build skills and a love for music-making. Under Dorothy’s guidance, Music Partners has grown from six sites with 700 students to 35 sites with nearly 4,000 participants. Since 2002, Dorothy Savitch has also led the Brooklyn Conservatory Community Orchestra. She received music degrees from Columbia University and the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College.

How can policymakers support New York’s students and educators?
First, invite musicians and music educators to your policy discussions to hear firsthand how transformative and crucial music education is – now more than ever –  to every child’s life. Then make music education a permanent priority in New York City funding.

What was your favorite moment or experience in your own education?
The first time I ever stood in front of an orchestra, I conducted Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1. There’s a tough transition in the first movement from a slow tempo to an allegro, and I navigated it terribly! But it may have been one of the most thrilling moments of my life – I could not sleep afterward from joy and excitement! It changed the direction of my life.

What is the best advice you have received from a mentor?
My beloved classical guitar teacher Vicente Gomez used to say to me, right before I was about to perform, “Play your mistakes with love!” I always thought this was both funny and deeply inspiring – recognizing that all our lives we will make mistakes, but that what brings us to music and keeps us there is our love for the art form and our joy in sharing with others.

Dr. Claudia Schrader was appointed interim president of York College in January 2024, bringing her signature and student-centered leadership style to Queens and promoting increased enrollment pathways by establishing the York Opportunity Network, a consortium of CBOs. These efforts are bearing fruit as evidenced by an enrollment increase this fall. Dr. Schrader facilitated the receipt of a $7.5 million gift from NYCFC and cut the ribbon on the college’s $8.1 million NCAA-certified track and field.

How can policymakers support New York’s students and educators?
Policymakers can support students and educators by creating supportive frameworks characterized by increased funding to offset the cost of tuition, transportation, resources to support teaching and learning, student retention, persistence and success. Funding is also needed to foster and strengthen relationships and pathways between educational institutions and community-based organizations, schools and parent associations. And retention initiatives for educators, including mentoring and professional development

What was your favorite moment or experience in your own education?
My senior year at Rutgers, I visited my friend at Spelman College. A woman was walking on campus stopping to talk to students. They engaged with easy familiarity. My friend told me she was Spelman’s president, Johnnetta B. Cole. Although a career in higher education was never even a thought for me, at that moment, I said to myself, that if I were to become a college president, this is the kind I would be.

What is the best advice you have received from a mentor?
Presidential transitions can be difficult, especially for those anxiously awaiting their next boss, the incoming president. It’s not unusual for new presidents to appoint their own leadership teams, which causes angst among the existing staff. It was under these conditions that four sage words of advice were imparted to me: Just do your work. I did and continue to do. On the most challenging days, I focus on my goal of ensuring student success.

Senator Stavisky is the first woman from Queens elected to the State Senate and the first woman to chair the Higher Education Committee. Prior to serving in the Senate, Mrs. Stavisky taught social studies in NYC high schools. Currently, Senator Stavisky serves as vice chairwoman of the Majority Conference. In addition, she serves on the education and finance committees. She is a trustee of the CUNY Construction Fund and treasurer of the Legislative Women’s Caucus.

Donna Stelling-Gurnett is the president of the Association of Private Colleges (APC), an organization that represents 11 degree-granting proprietary and nonprofit colleges in New York and advocates for their interests before state and federal government officials. Before her tenure with APC, Donna led statewide and national associations in New York and Massachusetts. She also serves on the Empire State Society of Association Executives board, where she heads the group’s programming committee.

How can policymakers support New York’s students and educators?
APC has a long, successful history of working with policymakers at the state and federal levels to help them better understand what matters most to our students and educators. Looking ahead, we will continue to ask that they advocate for greater access to financial aid and mental health resources, as these are two fundamental issues that help to ensure all New Yorkers can pursue a path in higher education.

What was your favorite moment or experience in your own education?
My favorite experience in my own education was the support I received from my professors as I worked my way through my program. I did not take the usual path through higher education and patched my degree together with classes from the local community college, business school and work experience. The individual attention I received and their willingness to help me succeed made all the difference!

What is the best advice you have received from a mentor?
I have always believed that education and life-long learning are important, so I try to keep an open mind and learn something new every day. Never be afraid to try new things and step outside your comfort zone!

Shamilia Tocruray is director of education at Brooklyn Museum where she collaboratively stewards programs serving K-12 audiences, teens, adults, emerging professionals, and an array of community partners. With grounding in liberatory education, applied theatre and socially-engaged art, Shamilia’s experience includes over a decade of leading arts programming, professional development, and mentorship across sectors. Her work with educators, organizational leaders, justice workers and wellness practitioners centers equitable practice and cultivates community through transformative experiences with art. 

How can policymakers support New York’s students and educators?
I urge our policymakers to conjure up their own experiences as learners as they envision plans for education in New York. Remember moments when your creativity, agency and self-expression made you excited to go to school, made your lessons resonate, or strengthened connection, ownership and belonging for you. We know the arts facilitate development across every discipline, and we need our policymakers to support them as a mainstay in every person’s education. 

What was your favorite moment or experience in your own education?
I dressed up as Marcus Garvey (complete with a homemade feathered hat and one of my mom’s military jackets) to present an autobiographical essay in third grade. I was so excited to show off my feathers and to talk about him – I don’t think anyone in that area had ever heard of Garvey. Getting into character deepened my love for history and writing and made me feel so proud of myself and my heritage!

What is the best advice you have received from a mentor?
I’m fortunate to have received so many great nuggets of advice from all kinds of teachers. One rising to the top in this season is that you can’t pour from an empty cup. It’s easier said than done for me, but I think we can all use a reminder to devote time, energy, resources and accountability to ourselves so that we can show up to our communities, and families and work with fullness and integrity.

Joel Towers became The New School’s president in August 2024. A member of the full-time faculty since 2004, his extensive experience at The New School includes a decade as executive dean of Parsons School of Design. In that role and others at the university, he has worked to advance education, research, and creative practice integrating bold design, policy, and collaborative approaches to advance social and ecological resilience.

How can policymakers support New York’s students and educators?
Education is critical to a healthy functioning democracy.  It is an antidote to the addiction of political polarization, misinformation, and disinformation that ravages much public discourse, social media, and the social capital necessary for fact-based policy and governance. Policymakers can support students and educators by investing in education that is genuinely diverse, inclusive, and committed to the pursuit of knowledge.  

What was your favorite moment or experience in your own education?
As an undergraduate architecture student at The University of Michigan, I was a research assistant to Dr. Sharon Sutton on a project in Detroit. We worked with primary school students to design a playground, and through the project I learned about community-based design, the power of teaching young people to draw and represent their world in their own words, and how they could use that capacity to help transform their world for a better future.

What is the best advice you have received from a mentor?
Lead from your values and remember who you are. It is easy to get lost or dragged down by those who see leadership in more transactional terms. Be empathetic and strategic. Change takes time. Play the long game even as you get things done today.

With 20+ years in the education sector, Gayle Villani has lifted GO Project to the next level of impact and growth over the last eight years. Gayle began her career as a corps member with Teach for America, teaching second grade in New Orleans, and continued teaching in communities including New Orleans and Los Angeles. Prior to GO, she established comprehensive partnerships between business leaders and public schools at PENCIL.

How can policymakers support New York’s students and educators?
Policymakers can best support both students and educators by focusing on and investing in the things that we know will have the biggest impact on teaching and learning: small class sizes; attracting, retaining and developing high-quality instructors; and supporting social-emotional learning and the well-being of students.

What was your favorite moment or experience in your own education?
My 6th grade teacher Mrs. Auerbach. I don’t remember what we learned in that class, but I do remember how she made each and every one of us feel. She built an incredible sense of community and made sure each student felt a sense of belonging, acceptance and success.  Her focus on the social-emotional learning of her students is something I took with me into the classroom when I was a teacher.

What is the best advice you have received from a mentor?
You don’t need to know the answers. You do need to know how to ask questions. There is often the pressure to have all the answers for women in leadership positions. This advice was a reminder to lean on my team members and their expertise and focus on asking the questions that will help facilitate the strategic conversations connected to our collaborative work.