AU names new chancellor
- Published: March 29, 2012
This week Antioch University announced that Felice Nudelman, executive director of education for the New York Times Company, will be the university’s new chancellor beginning July 1. Nudelman will take the place of current Chancellor Toni Murdock, who is retiring at the end of seven years in that position.
“Ms. Nudelman brings an abundance of experience and talent to Antioch University,” said AU Board Chair Lawrence Stone in a March 19 press release. “We were looking for a leader who is innovative and can make the good ideas come to life quickly to benefit the entire institution. We’re ecstatic that she agreed to make this commitment to lead us to a position of strength and vitality.”
At the New York Times Company, Nudelman is responsible for developing and overseeing education initiatives, including the New York Times Knowledge Network. In an interview this week, Nudelman said the Knowledge Network has created innovative online educational efforts, including last spring when, at the request of the United Nations, she brought together journalists from Egypt and Tunisia with New York Times journalists to learn how to cover elections in a democracy.
In that position, she also led the development of a business model in e-learning that includes collaboration with colleges and universities to create and deliver online courses, according to the AU press release.
Before her 11 years with the New York Times Company, Nudelman held a variety of positions in higher education. She was executive director for Pace University’s School of Education, and associate dean of academic affairs at Bloomfield College. Her leadership in the area of increasing student-centered services helped the college win a national award in the area of academic advising, the press release states. An alumna of the 1995 Harvard Management Development Program, Nudelman obtained her bachelors in fine arts and philosophy from Allegheny College and her MFA from the Pratt Institute.
Overall, according to Nudelman this week, “I bring a passion for learning and teaching and for the role of education in this country.”
Nudelman was attracted to Antioch University’s mission and values, she said.
“It’s an institution that not only is learner-centered but understands the role of education in the common good, which is so important in this moment of change in higher education,” Nudelman said. “Antioch University is committed in its mission and vision and values to really lead.”
A second draw is AU’s potential for growth, Nudelman said.
“There’s an opportunity on all campuses to forge a deeper relationship with the community and also to become a truly national university,” she said.
Becoming both more local and more national is not a contradiction; rather, the two go hand in hand, according to Nudelman.
“It’s important to be a good steward of place while also building a stronger whole,” she said, describing the AU campuses as “not separate but distinct.”
Antioch University, with an enrollment of 4,000 adult students from around the world and across the country, has five campuses in four states, It also offers a PhD in Leadership and Change.
Murdock retires after 40 years in education, including 15 with Antioch University.
Nudelman, a native of New Jersey, will move to southwest Ohio, according to the press release.
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