Senior Leadership

Dr. Renée T. White

PROVOST AND EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

Dr. Renée T. White became provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs of The New School on August 1, 2021. With more than 25 years of experience working in higher education, Dr. White joined The New School from Wheaton College in Massachusetts, where she served as provost and a professor of sociology since 2016. She previously served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Simmons University from 2011 to 2016. Before working at Simmons, Dr. White served in faculty roles, including professor of sociology and Black studies and academic coordinator for Diversity and Global Citizenship at Fairfield University and a joint appointment in the Department of Sociology and the African American Studies Research Center at Purdue University.

Dr. White is the editor of three books, including the acclaimed Spoils of War: Women of Color, Cultures, and Revolutions, and is the author of Putting Risk in Perspective: Black Teenage Lives in the Era of AIDS. She has served as editor of the Journal of HIV/AIDS Prevention in Children and Youth and as editorial advisor to the Journal of HIV/AIDS and Social Services. Dr. White also was a Wye Faculty Fellow at the Aspen Institute and completed a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship in Black film studies. Her current research is in the areas of the impact of public discourse on social policy concerning reproductive rights, representations of Blackness in popular culture, and applications of Black feminist theory to higher education leadership.

Dr. White holds an AB with honors from Brown University and an MA and PhD from Yale University, where she was awarded a Mellon Foundation doctoral fellowship. She is a member of the Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education. She also serves on the Vision 2020 National Leadership Circle and as a member of the Rachel Carson Council (RCC) National Advisory Council. From 2019 to 2021, she served on the Chief Academic Officers Task Force of the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC).

Mark Diaz

INTERIM EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT FOR BUSINESS AND OPERATIONS

Mark Diaz serves as The New School’s Interim Executive Vice President for Business and Operations. Mark brings extensive knowledge of finance, operations, strategy, and governance and over 25 years of leadership experience in higher education, healthcare, and professional services. From 2018 to 2022, he was the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at George Washington University (GW). He served as GW’s chief operating, administrative, and finance officer and provided leadership for finance and budget, human resources, information technology, facilities and operations, risk management, safety and security, as well as GW’s athletics programs and clinical enterprise. Previously, Mark served for 19 years in leadership roles at the University of Miami, most recently as Vice President for Budget and Planning reporting to the Provost and the Executive Vice President. He shepherded the development of the university’s operating and capital budgets as well as organizational and business development across the university. For a three year period, he also served as Interim Chief Financial Officer of the University’s Miller School of Medicine and UHealth, the university’s health system, which includes three hospitals, more than 30 outpatient facilities and more than 1,200 physicians and scientists. He was also a key leader in Miami’s culture transformation initiative to improve employee services and morale. Mark earned his Bachelor’s and Master's degrees in Accounting at the University of Miami.

Anne Adriance

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR MARKETING AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Anne Adriance joined The New School in October 2013, charged with elevating the university's public profile. Today, in addition to leading all marketing and communication university-wide, she oversees new ventures including executive and online education, corporate partnerships, and licensing. To enhance university recognition and understanding, she launched a celebrated new brand identity system, with a distinctive algorithm-based font, that graphically integrates the university and its’ colleges. Named the American Marketing Association’s Marketer of the Year, she led our team to create a comprehensive and integrated marketing campaign recognized as groundbreaking in higher education and to establish enterprises that have expanded The New School’s ability to bring its differentiated academic offering to new audiences, including executives, online learners, and partners in a wide range of organizations. Throughout her tenure, Anne’s focus has been on advancing the story of The New School’s distinctive vision, forward-looking educational approach, and remarkable contributions to the world. 

She brings to her job more than 25 years of experience in marketing communication and strategic brand design in commercial, nonprofit, government, and media settings, for companies and organizations such as General Mills, CNN, Cartoon Network, BusinessWeek, Kodak, Procter & Gamble, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Of special note is her work with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to launch the nation's largest and most successful public health media campaign and the first national effort to prevent childhood obesity. Anne has held senior executive positions at the Burns Group, a brand consultancy and innovation agency she co-founded; Saatchi & Saatchi, as executive vice president, leading the largest account in the company's New York office; Time Warner, as the senior vice president for Turner Broadcasting's licensing and merchandising and global brand management; and Guideposts, as senior vice president for consumer marketing at the country's largest publisher of inspirational publications and digital content. Anne has a bachelor's degree from Princeton University.

Dr. Jennifer E. Hobbs

UNIVERSITY SECRETARY AND SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR ADMINISTRATION AND CHIEF OF STAFF

Dr. Jennifer E. Hobbs joined The New School in April 2020 as senior vice president for Administration and chief of staff. In these roles, she works in collaboration with institutional leaders, colleagues across the university, and constituents to plan, coordinate, and advance the university’s vision and academic mission. She has been in higher education administration for more than ten years, working to remove impediments to institutional advancement and to develop efficient, data-driven, humanistic approaches to institutional decision making, processes, and policies. Before coming to The New School, she served as chief of staff and vice provost in the Office of the Provost at Emory University. She earned her BS in Biology at Loyola University Chicago and her PhD at Northwestern University through the Driskill Graduate Program in the Life Sciences at the Feinberg School of Medicine.

Jonah Nigh

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT

Jonah Nigh joined The New School in September 2021 as senior vice president of Development and Alumni Engagement. In this role, Jonah leads The New School’s strategic fundraising, institutional advancement, alumni engagement, corporate and foundation relations, and related areas. An accomplished fundraising leader with 16 years of experience, Jonah comes to The New School from the Jewish Museum, where he served as the director of Major Gifts, senior director of Individual Giving, and acting deputy director of Development before being appointed chief development officer in February 2020. In that role, he oversaw the planning, management, strategy, and execution of the museum’s fundraising efforts during a time of unprecedented challenges. Jonah was previously the major gifts officer for Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and was the assistant director of Development for Opera America. Prior development roles include positions at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Columbia University’s School of the Arts, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Jonah has served as a panelist for the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and serves regularly as a guest speaker on the topic of fundraising on podcasts, in university arts administration programs, and in other outlets related to development. A classically trained singer, he earned his undergraduate degree at Lawrence University and a Master of Music degree at the New England Conservatory. His performance credits include roles at the Aspen Music Festival, Boston Lyric Opera, Dorian Opera Theatre, and Opera Boston and in national commercials and films. Jonah is a longtime New York City resident and serves on the Executive and Economic Development committees of Bronx Community Board Four.

Alex Perez

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL COUNSEL

A highly accomplished attorney, Alex brings nearly two decades of experience in legal affairs at leading law firms and in higher education. He joined The New School from the Rutgers University—New Brunswick campus, where he served as Chief of Staff and Senior Vice Chancellor in the Office of the Chancellor-Provost, overseeing a broad spectrum of administrative, operational, and service functions across various Rutgers–New Brunswick units. Alex concurrently served Rutgers University as Associate General Counsel in the Office of the General Counsel. In this capacity, he worked closely with Rutgers University leadership on a variety of legal matters, focused on athletics and international matters. Prior to serving as Chief of Staff and Senior Vice Chancellor, Alex worked in the Rutgers Office of the General Counsel where he provided legal advice in all aspects of education law, including student affairs, faculty matters, governance issues, athletics and academic affairs. Alex started his legal career as an associate in the general practice group at Sullivan & Cromwell, LLP in New York City. He received a B.A. from Columbia University and a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law. He is a member of the National Association of College and University Attorneys and is a frequent presenter and speaker on topics relating to athletics and international matters.

Alex Aleinikoff

DEAN, THE NEW SCHOOL FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH

Alex Aleinikoff is Dean of The New School for Social Research and University Professor. He has served as Director of the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility since January 2017. He received a J.D. from the Yale Law School and a B.A. from Swarthmore College.

Alex has written widely in the areas of immigration and refugee law and policy, transnational law, citizenship, race, and constitutional law. His latest book is The Arc of Protection: Reforming the International Refugee Regime (Stanford University Press, 2019), co-authored by Leah Zamore. His book Semblances of Sovereignty: The Constitution, the State, and American Citizenship was published by Harvard University Press in 2002. Alex is a co-author of leading legal casebooks on immigration law and forced migration.

Before coming to The New School, Alex served as United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees (2010-15). He served on the faculties of the Georgetown University Law Center, where he also served as Dean and Executive Vice President for Law Center Affairs, and at the University of Michigan Law School. He was co-chair of the Immigration Task Force for President Barack Obama’s transition team in 2008. From 1994 to 1997, he served as the general counsel, and then executive associate commissioner for programs, at the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).

Alex was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2014.

Christoph Cox

DEAN, EUGENE LANG COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS

Dr. Christoph Cox joined The New School as dean of Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts in August 2022, following more than 25 years in senior leadership and faculty roles at Hampshire College, Bard College, The University of Chicago, and Hamilton College. A philosopher, critic, and curator of visual and sonic art, Christoph teaches and writes on contemporary European philosophy, cultural theory, and aesthetics. He is the author of Sonic Flux: Sound, Art, and Metaphysics and Nietzsche: Naturalism and Interpretation and is a co-editor of Realism Materialism Art and Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music. The recipient of an Arts Writers Grant from Creative Capital/Warhol Foundation, Christoph is an editor-at-large at Cabinet magazine. His writing has appeared in journals and magazines such as October, Artforum, Journal of the History of Philosophy, The Wire, Journal of Visual Culture, Organised Sound, and the Review of Metaphysics. He has curated numerous exhibitions in venues across the United States, including the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, The Kitchen, CONTEXT Art Miami, New Langton Arts, and G Fine Art Gallery. Christoph holds a PhD in the History of Consciousness from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a BA in Modern Culture and Media from Brown University.

Richard Kessler

EXECUTIVE DEAN, COLLEGE OF PERFORMING ARTS

Richard Kessler joined The New School in 2011. Kessler has both undergraduate and graduate degrees from The Juilliard School in Music Performance.

Florence Leclerc

DEAN, PARSONS PARIS

Florence Leclerc is the dean of Parsons Paris. She is also the senior director of Strategic Academic Partnerships and works on both campuses—New York and Paris—of The New School. Leclerc has spent most of her life abroad and currently lives in the United States and France. She obtained her master's degree in translation from the École de Traduction et d’Interprétation of Geneva, Switzerland, as well as an MBA in Marketing from SUNY New Paltz. For a number of years, she chaired the Foreign Languages Department at The New School in New York, where she taught all levels of French language and culture. In 2013, she moved back to France to relaunch Parsons Paris. Leclerc is also an associate professor of foreign languages and a novelist.

Mary R. Watson

EXECUTIVE DEAN, SCHOOLS OF PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

Mary R. Watson was appointed executive dean of the Schools of Public Engagement in 2014. In this capacity, she leads the founding division of The New School with the aim of advancing its innovative approaches to action-oriented, engaged learning. Watson is a key leader worldwide in university networks advancing change in higher education, including the 50+20 management education network and the Ashoka Changemaker campus initiative. She is co-founder of The New School's university-wide Social innovation Initiative, The New Challenge student ideas competition, and The New School Collaboratory, a Rockefeller Foundation–funded initiative on university community partnerships.

Watson's creative practice and her scholarship on the human rights of workers reflect her commitment to a more just and equitable world. She has more than two decades of experience in higher education as a faculty member, chair, associate dean, and interim dean, as well as broad experience in change leadership consulting for organizations and universities. She is a recipient of The New School's Distinguished University Teaching Award. Watson holds a PhD in Organization Studies from Vanderbilt University.

Yvonne Watson

EXECUTIVE DEAN, PARSONS SCHOOL OF DESIGN

Yvonne Watson was appointed interim executive dean of Parsons School of Design in July 2022. A member of the School of Fashion faculty and leadership since 2010, Yvonne most recently served as Parsons’ dean of Curriculum and Learning and advisor to the Provost’s Office on Curriculum. As a member of the Parsons Deans’ Council, Yvonne has been developing a systematic approach to ensuring that the programs at Parsons are designed within a culture of equity, inclusion, and social justice. Before holding this position, Yvonne was associate dean of Curriculum and Learning, a role in which she oversaw assessment and support for faculty investment and pedagogical growth. She previously served as associate dean of the School of Fashion, where she was instrumental in the development and implementation of the BFA Fashion Design curriculum and articulation of pathways.

Yvonne's career has spanned roles encompassing undergraduate and graduate studies. She holds a master’s in Globalization, Identity and Technology from The School of Humanities, Nottingham Trent University, and is undertaking a doctorate in Education with a focus on questions around the role that community, belonging, and kindness play in the development of inclusive pedagogy. Her praxis involves work in fashion sustainability and the rethinking of the supply chain to create inclusive spaces for global artisans and fashion entrepreneurs from developing and emerging economies.