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President Michelle J. Anderson

President Michelle J. Anderson

President of Brooklyn College

  • Trustee Ex Officio
  • Executive Committee

President Anderson is a 1989 honors graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she earned the Chancellor’s Award for outstanding academic achievement. She earned her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1994, where she was Notes Editor of the Yale Law Journal. She went on to clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for Judge William A. Norris. President Anderson has taught at Villanova Law School and has been a visiting professor at Yale Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. From 2006 - 2016, she was Dean at the CUNY School of Law, overseeing a period of great renewal and transformation in development, facilities, programs, and recognition. During her tenure, CUNY Law strengthened its public interest mission, increased its academic standards, and obtained PreLaw magazine’s ranking as the “Best Public Interest Law School” in the nation. CUNY Law launched a number of groundbreaking initiatives as well, including: the Pipeline to Justice Program, the Court Square Law Project, the Community & Economic Development Clinic, the Center for Urban Environmental Reform, the Center on Latino/a Rights & Equality, and the Sorensen Center for International Peace and Justice. President Anderson is a leading scholar in the law of rape and sexual assault. She is an adviser to the American Law Institute’s project to reform the Model Penal Code on sexual offenses and a consultant to its campus sexual misconduct project. In 2014, she received the New York City Bar Association’s “Diversity and Inclusion Champion Award” for her social justice commitments. In 2016, she received the City & State’s “Above & Beyond Award for Outstanding Women in Public Service.” In August 2016, she became President of Brooklyn College.