A Leadership Vision

Teachers College President

Dr. Susan H. Fuhrman is the President of Teachers College, Columbia University, founding Director and Chair of the Management Committee of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE), and President of the National Academy of Education (to which she was first elected member in 2002, and of which she was named Secretary-Treasurer in 2005).

Dr. Fuhrman’s substantial leadership track record includes, most recently, her term as Dean of the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education from 1995-2006, where she was also the school’s George and Diane Weiss Professor of Education. While at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Fuhrman was influential in creating a new community school as a partnership between the University and the city of Philadelphia. She is a former Vice President of the American Educational Research Association as well as a former Trustee Board member of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and a current non-executive Director of Pearson plc, the international education and publishing company. In January 2009, she was named co-chair of the Roundtable on Education Systems and Accountability (RESA), established at the request of the U.S. Department of Education by the National Research Council’s Board on Testing and Assessment. 

Dr. Fuhrman received bachelors and masters’ degrees in history from Northwestern University and a Ph.D. in political science and education from Teachers College and Columbia University. Her research interests include accountability in education, intergovernmental relationships, and standards-based reform, and she has written widely on education policy and finance; among her edited books are The State of Education Policy Research (with David K. Cohen and Fritz Mosher, 2007); The Public Schools (The Institutions of American Democracy Series, with Marvin Lazerson, 2005); Redesigning Accountability Systems for Education (with Richard Elmore, 2004); From the Capitol to the Classroom: Standards-Based Reform in the States (2001); and Rewards and Reform: Creating Educational Incentives that Work (with Jennifer O’Day, 1996). Through the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE), she leads and conducts a variety of research with significant financial support from the U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation and private funding sources. 

Dr. Fuhrman’s work has been recognized by a wide variety of international, national, state, and local organizations. In March 2008, Dr. Fuhrman was one of five women honored by New York City Comptroller William Thompson at an event co-sponsored by the Women’s City Club of New York and the League of Women Voters as part of Women’s History Month. Dr. Fuhrman was recognized for her expertise in her field; the respect accorded her by her peers and colleagues; her commitment to serving others; and her demonstrated commitment to making New York City a more vibrant, inclusive and healthy place to live. Dr. Fuhrman has also received the 2008 Distinguished Leaders in Education Award from the Rutgers Graduate School of Education. In 2007, Crain’s New York Business named Dr. Fuhrman one of the 100 most influential women in business in New York City.

Dr. Fuhrman lives in New Jersey with her husband, Dr. Robert Fuhrman; they have three sons and two grandchildren. 

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