Provost

Mariana Amatullo was appointed vice provost and academic dean of the School of Continuing and Professional Education (CPE) in January 2022. In this role, she provides academic leadership and strategy and oversees integration and development for CPE. Her work encompasses integrating academic development and academic administrative functions for the division to operate as a continued source for teaching and learning innovation, new partnerships, and sustainability. She also oversees the Distributed Education team in the area of Continuing and Professional Education.

Mariana came to The New School in 2017 as an associate professor of strategic design and management. In this role, she co-chaired a university-wide task force on management at The New School, which worked to outline an integrated approach to and new vision for management education in the 21st century driven by design, creativity, and social justice. In 2019, she was appointed vice provost for Global Strategic Initiatives, a position in which she partnered with academic leadership across the university to support the implementation of university-wide strategies, coordinate academic partnership efforts, evaluate new degree proposals, and review articulation agreements and the development of dual degrees. From November 2019 to June 2020, she chaired the Online Task Force, which assessed educational opportunities for the university and its needs in supporting future program development. In spring 2020, she conceived and launched the Online Signature Course pilot initiative for New School faculty, enabling them to submit proposals for new or adapted courses designed to use opportunities for innovation in online teaching and learning. In March 2021, she was appointed vice provost for Global Executive Education and Online Strategic Initiatives, a role that entailed working to build open-enrollment online executive education programs, long-form executive master's programs, and large-scale programs tailored to corporate and enterprise partners and developing strategy for and supporting delivery of online degree and certificate programs. 

In her faculty role, Mariana is a core member of the MS in Strategic Design and Management faculty at the School of Design Strategies at Parsons and is affiliated with Parsons’ DESIS Lab and the university’s graduate minor in Civic Service Design. She also serves on the board of the university’s Vera List Center for Art and Politics. Mariana’s research on design focuses on social innovation, organizational culture, management, and international development. She has lectured and presented widely on these topics, received many grants and other awards for her work, and published and edited numerous papers and book chapters. Before joining The New School, Mariana spent 17 years at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, teaching and serving in a variety of leadership roles, including Vice President of the Designmatters Department, the social innovation division of the college, which she co-founded in 2001. She had previously held curatorial positions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Mariana currently serves as the first American president of CUMULUS, an international association of universities and colleges of art, design, and media. She holds fellowships at the Salzburg Global Seminar and the Royal Society for the Arts. Mariana received her PhD in Management from Case Western Reserve University and her MA in Art History and Museum Studies from the University of Southern California; she pursued undergraduate studies at the Sorbonne University and l’Ecole du Louvre, Paris.

Lorenley Báez joined The New School in January 2020 as Assistant Vice President in Student Success. She was later appointed Associate Provost of Academic Advising and Career Development in Student Success. Previously, she was at the College of Mount Saint Vincent, where she served as Associate Dean for the Oxley Center for Academic Advisement, providing strategic oversight for career education, internships, academic advisement, TRiO Student Support Services, Mount Access Program, Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program, Academic Resource Center, and Office of Disability Services.  She was also an adjunct instructor in the Department of Sociology where she taught race and gender identity theory.  

Lorenley is also the principal consultant for Lorenley Báez Consulting, where she works with nonprofit organizations, colleges, and universities to support the student experience by providing an array of support services in the following areas: team development and professional coaching; curriculum and co-curricular design and assessment; organizational infrastructure and strategic planning; and equity, inclusion, and social justice education, awareness, and competency.  

She is a graduate of American University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in print journalism and two master's degrees in organization development and public administration. 

Rita Pisalet Breidenbach has held several positions at The New School since arriving in 2003. These include associate dean of Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, where she oversaw the introduction and expansion of academic majors and minors, implementation of the part-time faculty Collective Bargaining Agreement, and the development and implementation of tenure, EE, and RTA review processes. She also served as vice dean of the Schools of Public Engagement, a position in which she oversaw the integration of academic schools into a new college. In her current role in the Provost’s Office, she has overseen the creation of the Faculty Center for Innovation, Collaboration, and Support, supervising development and providing support for faculty in pedagogy (on-site, online, and hybrid) and on issues of equity, inclusion, and social justice. Her work also includes planning orientation and support for new part-time and full-time faculty and providing support for faculty review and promotion.

Rita holds a PhD in English literature and has taught courses in poetry, verse drama, and short fiction. She has a concurrent appointment as assistant professor of English.

Adam Brown was appointed vice provost for Research in February 2021. In this role, he oversees the Office of Research Support and works to improve the climate and support for research at the university, broadly defined as including the full range of scholarly and creative practices at the university. His primary objective is to advance the university’s research activities and raise the university’s research profile within and beyond the university.

Adam is a clinical psychologist who joined The New School in 2018 as an associate professor of psychology at his alma mater, The New School for Social Research (NSSR), where he also serves as the director of the Trauma and Global Mental Health Lab. His research focuses on identifying social, cognitive, and biological factors that contribute to mental health risks associated with traumatic stress. In addition, Adam and the members of his lab work closely with UN agencies, policymakers, and NGOs to build mental health capacity in contexts where there is little access to mental healthcare. Adam has also served as an advisor on mental health initiatives for the United Nations Secretariat, Amnesty International, and UNICEF. His work has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals and has been supported through federal and private grants from organizations including the NIH, USAID, the DoD, Mellon, and Fulbright.

Before joining the faculty at NSSR, Adam was a member of the psychology faculty at Sarah Lawrence College, where he held the Sara Yates Exley Chair in Teaching Excellence from 2017 to 2018. He holds an academic appointment as an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine and completed a two-year NIH-funded postdoctoral fellowship in brain-imaging techniques in the Department of Psychiatry at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. He is the recipient of federal and foundation grants from organizations and agencies including the NIH, USAID, the Department of Defense, the Social Science Research Council, the Binational Science Foundation, the Open Societies Foundation, and the Mellon Foundation. He also received a Senior Scholar Fulbright award and two Fulbright Specialist grants for studies of trauma and refugee mental health. He has published more than 60 peer-reviewed articles and chapters and co-edited two books. 

Adam received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from NSSR and his BA in Environmental Studies and Political Science from the University of Oregon.

Dr. Cheryl K. Green joined the Office of Research Support as assistant provost for Research Support (APR) in August 2021. As APR, she plays a central role in the Office of Research Support’s (ORS) mission of broadening university support for research and sponsored project activities at The New School, which includes research and proposal development and submissions, post-award administration of funded awards, research integrity and education, and research compliance. 

Cheryl has more than 20 years of experience working in higher education. She has led offices for research development, sponsored research and programs administration, and ensured research integrity. She joins The New School after serving as the director of Sponsored Programs and the research integrity officer at Colorado Mesa University. Previously she was the director of Sponsored Research at Marymount University in Virginia. Before working in research support in higher education, Cheryl served as a program associate at the Dole Foundation for the Employment of People with Disabilities in Washington, DC, and at the Meadows Foundation in Dallas, Texas.

Cheryl has received more than $10 million in research funding for grants while serving as principal investigator (PI), co-PI, or senior personnel at federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Health, Health Resources Services Administration, U.S. Department of Education, and U.S. Department of Justice on projects focusing on development of institutions of higher education. She served as the Title III director/principal investigator of a $1.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education under the Title III Strengthening Institutions Program for a university-wide project focused on improving student success and retention at a Hispanic-Serving Institution. Cheryl served as a co-PI of a $1.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation for an institutional initiative to improve student success and retention of underrepresented students in STEM by expanding early undergraduate research experiences. 

Cheryl holds a BA in Psychology from Yale University, where she was awarded a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship; an MA in Psychology from The Ohio State University, where she held a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship; and a PhD in International Psychology (concentration organizations and systems) from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. She was also awarded a NIH National Research Service Award Fellowship for predoctoral research at Southern Methodist University. 

Jin Kim joined the Provost’s Office in September 2018. Her role as deputy provost is to align academic priorities with resource planning. She coordinates strategic planning efforts and the academic budget process, oversees analysis of new program investments and faculty hiring plans, and works closely with the deans, the officers, and the provost on developing multi-year planning processes for enrollment, facilities, and major academic initiatives.

A seasoned university leader, Jin joined The New School in January 2017 as vice dean of the Schools of Public Engagement (SPE). In this role, she advanced new degree proposals, brought new center and institute projects to the college, collaborated on faculty hires and school staffing, designed strategic systems to enhance the visibility of the schools and programs, and led fiscal and administrative teams to advance the college’s administrative and budget processes.

Before joining The New School, Jin worked at New York University (NYU) for 14 years, her last role being that of senior director of strategic planning in the Office of the Provost, a position in which she advanced space planning for NYU Tandon and took on other projects. She previously served as the chief financial and compliance officer for Tisch School of the Arts, Asia campus, in Singapore, and as senior director of Finance and Operations for the Office of Global Programs, where she oversaw all operations of the international academic programs.

Jin holds an MPA in Public Administration from NYU Wagner School of Public Service and a dual BA degree in Economics and in Philosophy, Politics and Law from Binghamton University.

Maggie Koozer joined the Provost’s Office in January 2021 and currently serves as senior vice provost for Curriculum, Learning, and Academic Affairs. Previously she was at the College of Performing Arts (CoPA), where she held several roles. As the college's vice dean of Curriculum and Learning, Maggie oversaw all academic affairs and curriculum. She played a key role in the formation of the college, leading the development and launch of the MA in Arts Management and Entrepreneurship, the MM Performer-Composer, and the MFA in Contemporary Theatre Practice programs. Maggie advanced the vision of the college by directing major curriculum revisions, including the CoPA Core project, which connects undergraduate students at Mannes, Jazz, and Drama through a series of courses based on shared values and multidisciplinary work. She has served on numerous committees at the university, including the University Curriculum Committee and the Academic Affairs Committee. Before working at CoPA, she managed adult continuing education programming at Mannes.

In addition to serving in her administrative leadership role, Maggie has a concurrent appointment as associate professor and teaches courses in curriculum design, community-based teaching, and teaching artistry for performing artists and Topics in Pedagogy (the university’s required course for Teaching Fellows).

Maggie has worked on curriculum and program design for organizations such as the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts, the Bethel Woods Center for the Performing Arts, the Buck-Hill Skytop Music Festival, and Hastings College. Before coming to The New School, she led school-based arts education programming for The Metropolitan Opera Guild and The Metropolitan Opera and served on the board of the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable. She frequently serves as a grant panelist for various local and national arts education funding initiatives.

Maggie holds a Doctorate of Education from Fordham University, a Master of Music Education from the University of Connecticut, and Bachelor of Music degrees in Music Education and Vocal Performance from Hastings College. 

Rob Mack joined The New School as vice provost for Student Success and Engagement in August 2022. In this role, he is responsible for strategically leading the area of Student Success and Engagement and supporting and improving New School students' experiences outside the classroom, in close collaboration with the colleges and academic experience. This includes oversight of the areas of Academic Advising and Career Development, Student Engagement, Student Advocacy, and Student Health Services. 

Rob brings with him over 20 years of higher education experience and a background in clinical psychology. Before joining The New School, he served as associate provost and chief diversity officer at Tufts University, providing diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice strategic consultation and vision for the senior leadership. Working closely with faculty, staff, and students, Rob helped foster a culture of belonging grounded in best practices, education, and support. He led and supported projects such as the Tufts Anti-Racism Initiative, the institutional inclusion climate survey, education learning opportunities focused on oppression, and programs for the university community centered on dialogue. Rob has also led or served on university committees focused on mental health, police reform, and indigeneity justice.

Rob’s background in the areas of student success and student engagement is both deep and broad. At Tufts, Rob also served as associate dean for the Office of Student Success and Academic Advising in Student Affairs; earlier he served as the associate dean for Undergraduate Education in Academic Affairs. He is very proud of his work launching and directing the Bridge to Liberal Arts Success at Tufts program for students who are the first generation to attend college, students on financial aid, and students with undocumented status.

Rob received his EdD in Educational Leadership & Supervision from American International College, his MEd in Counseling in Mental Health from the University of Massachusetts, and his BA in Psychology from Westfield State University.

Shondrika Merritt was appointed associate provost for Student Affairs and dean of Students in October 2022. She had served as the interim associate provost for Student Success since January 2022. She joined the New School community in August 2019, initially serving as the senior director of Student Advocacy; she became the assistant provost of Student Advocacy when Student Success officially became part of the Provost’s Office in spring 2020. In her current role, Shondrika is responsible for overseeing critical services that promote excellence in students' learning, academic achievement, and personal growth. Student Advocacy strives to meet students' needs holistically by strengthening relationships between students, faculty, staff, and community members to support civic awareness. Ensuring students' success, growth, and wellness is the ultimate goal.

Shondrika brings with her 16 years of progressive student affairs experience and is responsible for providing leadership for Title IX (Student-Student), student conduct and community standards, student disability services, student support and advocacy, and wellness and health promotion. Earlier Shondrika worked in Housing and Residential Life at Temple University, overseeing Student Behavior and Crisis Management.

Shondrika received her bachelor's in Business Administration from Shawnee State University, her MS in College Student Personnel from the University of Dayton, and her Doctorate of Education from Temple University. Her research explores how race, history, and culture have influenced the attitudes and perceptions of African American women regarding sexual violence. Through her research, Shondrika has given voice to African American women and their experiences.

Daniel Napolitano joined The New School as Chief of Staff to the Provost on May 1, 2022. Previously, he was at Alfred University's New York State College of Ceramics, where he served as the Associate Dean of the School of Art and Design and the Performing Arts Division since 2017. Daniel served as the university lead diversity strategist for over twenty years, including five as the Chief Diversity Officer. Prior to academic affairs, he had an accomplished career in Student Affairs including student leadership development, multicultural affairs, bias response, and new student programs.

Daniel has been a statewide leader in DEI collaboration, receiving national attention for his educational strategies and creative approaches. As founding director of the Art Force 5 collaborative, he has taught social justice and social practice courses, conducted extensive community outreach, and provided workshops for educators across the country. The program received the Unite Rochester prize in 2016 because of its unique approach, using art to build bridges between police and communities while discussing issues of bias and violence in the city. In 2019, the Art Force 5 engaged Atlanta police and youth for a collaboration featured on the NFL Network. From 2020 to 2022, the Art Force 5 launched the Women's Empowerment Draft to celebrate women's history icons. The 2022 Women's Empowerment Draft partnered with 25 New York State colleges and 31 New York State public schools named for women.

Daniel received both his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts Education and his Master of Science in Education, College Student Development, from Alfred University.

Tracy Robin currently serves as associate provost for Student Health Services. In that role Tracy oversees medical and counseling services, the student health insurance plan, and immunization and Covid compliance. Tracy initially joined the university in 2000 as a therapist at the counseling center, and took on increasing responsibilities as an administrator during the following years. Tracy sees health and social justice as inextricably linked, and with their team has created and supported programs and services over the years that integrate equity, inclusion, and social justice.  

Before joining The New School, Tracy worked for over 10 years as a therapist and clinical supervisor in NYC hospital-based trauma programs serving survivors of childhood sexual abuse, sexual assault, and domestic violence. Tracy’s work draws from feminist, multicultural, trauma-informed, and psychodynamic perspectives.

Tracy received their MSW from New York University and their BA in Sociology from Ithaca College. Tracy went on to get a certificate in Gender Conscious Psychoanalytically Oriented Psychotherapy from The Women’s Therapy Centre Institute, and has received intensive training in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and EMDR. Tracy is also trained as a Reiki practitioner and an Acupuncture Detoxification Specialist. Tracy co-wrote an article published in the Journal of American College Health titled “Provision of Auricular Acupuncture and Acupressure in a University Setting”, which created a path for colleges around the country to introduce this wellness practice on their campuses.

Ed Scarcelle joined the Provost’s Office as University Librarian in July 2008. He previously served for six years as director of the Scherman Music Library at Mannes College, which was renamed the Performing Arts Library in 2016, when Mannes became a part of The New School’s College of Performing Arts. 

In his first decade as University Librarian, Ed oversaw The New School’s Libraries and Archives. Under his leadership, the structure of the Libraries shifted from a branch-based system to a reorganized department with a dynamic team of directors, who manage services, collections, and research and instruction. In addition, he oversaw the creation and opening of two library spaces, one at the University Center and the other at the Albert and Vera List Academic Center. In 2015, the University Learning Center became part of Ed’s portfolio and was soon followed by the New School Art Collection and English Language Services. In 2019, the department was renamed Libraries, Collections, and Academic Services (LCAS), and Ed became associate provost, bringing together into one team a key group of leaders who deliver vital services to the New School community.

Before joining The New School, Ed was an archival librarian at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, where he cataloged materials and provided services for one of the largest recording archives in the world.

Ed holds an MLS from Long Island University, an MM in Music History from Temple University, and a BS in Mathematics from St. Joseph’s University.

Michael was appointed Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs in January 2021. He takes a lead role in all major academic initiatives, oversees faculty affairs, and serves as the provost’s representative in a variety of contexts.

Michael joined The New School in 1992 as an assistant professor at NSSR. Now a tenured professor of psychology, he has taught graduate and undergraduate lecture and seminar courses across The New School, including courses on psycholinguistics, human-computer interaction, research methods, psychology and design, and psychology of music. Michael’s research deals with questions about human interaction that cross disciplinary boundaries, including work on misunderstandings in conversation, respondent experience and data quality in new modes of survey data collection, new ways to visualize uncertainty, and how performing musicians’ thinking does and doesn’t overlap with that of their collaborators and audiences. He has published numerous articles, edited the journal Discourse Processes, lectured widely, and received a number of grants and awards. From 2006 to 2013, Michael served as dean of NSSR, and he was chair of the Psychology Department from 2000 to 2003 and again from 2004 to 2006. 

Michael is also concurrently serving as vice provost for Research, a role he assumed in 2016 after serving as associate provost for Research starting in 2014. In six years, he has built and led the university’s research support area. He and his team have focused on improving services and support for faculty, student, and staff research, broadly defined to include the full range of scholarly and creative practices at the university. This has included working to reduce administrative burdens for researchers and collaborators, establishing researcher-friendly policies on external funding, and improving the university’s infrastructure for supporting the responsible conduct of research and ethical questions in working with human research participants. Faculty and student applications and awards for external funding have increased significantly during this time, as has external awareness of faculty and student accomplishments. 

Michael received his PhD in Cognitive Psychology from Stanford and his ScB in Cognitive Science from Brown. 

Deva Woodly was appointed faculty director of the Mellon Initiative for Inclusive Faculty Excellence at The New School in February 2021. In this role, she provides critical support for this university-wide initiative to increase demographic and intellectual diversity at the doctoral, postdoctoral, and professorship levels. Her work includes leading the Mellon Fellows mentorship program, running the annual Mellon Transformative Seminar at The New School, building the Mellon Community Fellows program, supporting the six annual Mellon Dissertation Fellows, and overseeing the grant budget.

Deva is an associate professor of politics at The New School. She is the author of The Politics of Common Sense: How Social Movements Use Public Discourse to Change Politics and Win Acceptance (Oxford, 2015). She has also held fellowships at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and the Edmund J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard. Her research covers a variety of topics, from media and communication to political understandings of economics to race and imagination to social movements. She focuses on the impacts of public discourse on political understandings of social and economic issues and on how those common understandings change democratic practice and public policy. Her process of inquiry is inductive, moving from concrete, real-world conditions to the conceptual implications of those realities. In her research, she centers the perspective of ordinary citizens and political challengers, with an eye to the way the demos influences political action and shapes political possibilities. Her forthcoming book, Reckoning: #BlackLivesMatter and the Democratic Necessity of Social Movements, an examination of the ways social movements re-politicize public life in times of political despair, will be published by Oxford University Press in fall 2021.    

Deva received her PhD in Political Science and her MA in Social Science from the University of Chicago and her BA in Political and Social Thought from the University of Virginia.

Paula Young was named vice provost for Institutional Research and Decision Support in May 2021. She has served as associate provost since she arrived at The New School in January 2012. Her role as vice provost is to develop and lead a comprehensive program of institutional research and data analysis that ensures university compliance with all federal and state reporting; provides accurate data, reports, and information to university leaders, faculty, staff, and other stakeholders; and supports long-range planning and day-to-day decision making. In collaboration with the Offices of Enrollment Management, Registrar, Student Success, and Finance and Business, she also provides the data and analysis needed to establish achievable enrollment targets and models tuition and financial aid scenarios.

Paula appreciates the challenges presented by The New School’s many data systems and the unique requirements of an audience of visual and performing artists, designers, social scientists, and cross-disciplinary critical thinkers. In encouraging her team and other collaborators to think about the user while ensuring data integrity and sustainable, systematic processes, she places emphasis on participating in conversations in which data support is most relevant and helpful. She and her team have re-created the standard annual factbook into an interactive almanac and report of trends with Tableau, made standardized federally reported data accessible through simplified Google sheets, and routinely collaborate with faculty and staff in the design, implementation, analysis, and presentation of surveys.

After a three-year stint as a postdoctoral research associate at Rutgers University’s Center for Theoretical and Applied Genetics, where she assessed genetic diversity of deep-sea hydrothermal vent organisms using molecular genetic techniques and phylogenetic analyses, Paula decided to move into higher education administration. As assistant dean of science at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ), Paula played an instrumental role in assembling the data used by the five department chairs and the dean of science to support curriculum transformation and planning for a more equitable faculty workload. She also advised approximately 70 entering students with undeclared majors each year. From this role she moved into the Provost’s Office, where she coordinated the initial college-wide initiative in program and general education student learning outcomes assessment in support of Middle States Commission on Higher Education re-accreditation. Her final role at TCNJ was executive director of the Center for Institutional Effectiveness, where she led a growing office through the implementation of PeopleSoft Student and Business Objects reporting, resulting in improved reporting in support of student learning and institutional effectiveness and enrollment, tuition, and institutional scholarship aid projections.

Paula holds a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and a BA in Biology with a Minor in Women’s Studies from Douglass College, Rutgers University.