Professor Scott S. Cowen, author of four books and over 100 other academic works, has been president of Tulane University in New Orleans since 1998. His excellent work there earned him recognition in TIME Magazine as one of the top 10 college presidents in the U.S., as well as the Carnegie Corporation Academic Leadership Award in 2009. In 2010 he received the double honor of being elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of being appointed by President Obama to the White House Council for Community Solutions.
Cowen is also well known for his dedicated and successful efforts of rebuilding New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, particularly in his role in the city’s Bring New Orleans Back Commission, leading a committee to repair the city’s failing public school system. Under his guidance, Tulane chartered a K-12 school in New Orleans and created an Institute for Public Education Initiatives to support the reform of public education in New Orleans. In addition, Cowen co-founded the Fleur-de-lis Ambassadors program in order to promote news of New Orleans recovery and status as a livable and economically viable city to the rest of America. He was honored for his efforts with the award of the Times-Picayune’s Loving Cup, and by being named New Orleanian of the year by Gambit in 2011.
Before he became a nationally recognized figure, President Cowen earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut in 1968 and then his masters and doctoral degrees in finance and management from the George Washington University. In the intervening three years he served as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army. Before coming to Tulane, he served as a professor and eventually a dean at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio. Today he is the chair of the Association of American Universities, and has four children and four grandchildren with his wife, Marjorie.
Simon Schama2015Author and Historian
Michael Pollan2013Author and Food Activist
Letty Cottin Pogrebin2011Author
Thomas Friedman2009Author & Journalist
Dr. Ruth Westheimer2008Sociologist and psychosexual therapist
Scott S. Cowen, Ph.D.2006President of Tulane University
Frédéric Brenner2004Photographer
Barry Scheck, Esq.2003Defense Attorney and Professor
Dr. Judah Folkman2002Medical researcher
Ruth Gruber2001Journalist and humanitarian
David Halberstam2000Journalist and Non-fiction Writer
Peter Yarrow1999Musician and Activist
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield1998Ice Cream Entrepreneurs, Philanthropists and Activists
Felix G. Rohatyn1996Former U.S. Ambassador and Investment Banker
Senator Charles E. Schumer1995Democratic Politician
Marion Wiesel1993Translator and Humanitarian Activist
Dr. Sidney M. Wolfe1992Physician and Medical Activist
Adam Michnik1991Journalist and Anti-Communist Dissident
Jonathan Kozol1990Author and Education Activist
Isaac Stern1989Violinist and Philanthropist
Eugene M. Lang1988Businessman and Philanthropist
Mathilde Krim, Ph.D.1987Scientist and Medical Researcher
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