Dear Commons Community,

The Board of Trustees of The City University of New York today appointed a nationally prominent educator, Dr. Rudy Crew, Oregon’s chief education officer, former New York City schools chancellor and Miami-Dade school superintendent, as president of Medgar Evers College. Chancellor Matthew Goldstein recommended Dr. Crew after a national search. As stated in the CUNY announcement:

“Dr. Crew has made it his life work to strengthen America’s public education system during a 30-year career that has spanned classroom teaching and leadership of the nation’s largest school districts. Since 2009 he has been a professor in the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California. He is also president of the K-12 division of Revolution Prep, which seeks to use technology to improve math instruction and graduation rates in urban school districts. As Oregon’s first chief education officer he was charged by Gov. John Kitzhaber with revamping public education, improving Oregon’s high school graduation rate and refashioning public education from kindergarten through college into an integrated system.

In a joint statement, Board of Trustees Chairperson Benno Schmidt and Chancellor Goldstein said: “Dr. Rudy Crew brings to Medgar Evers College an exemplary record of academic, administrative and governmental accomplishment, combined with classroom experience and a strong commitment to students. We are confident that, with his leadership, Medgar Evers College will achieve new levels of excellence for its dedicated students and faculty and strengthen its role with the community. The college was established in 1970 to honor the memory and ideals of the slain civil rights martyr and it is highly appropriate that it will be uplifted by a leader who is deeply committed to academic quality, equal access, and student success.”

Dr. Crew has stated that his mission is to “improve student achievement, especially for poor and minority students.” To that end he worked closely with all stakeholders, first as New York City schools chancellor and later as superintendent of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, to place those cities’ lowest-performing schools in virtual districts whose boundaries were defined by student need, not geography, and used research-based practices to accelerate the pace of student learning.

Dr. Crew headed the New York City public schools from 1995-2000 — the nation’s largest district, with a million students — where he initiated many reforms, including adoption of curriculum standards for all schools, elimination of tenure for principals, and the introduction of school-based budgeting. As superintendent of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools from 2004-2008, with 356,000 students, he strengthened math instruction, created paths for more English-language learners and students of color and poverty to gain college entry with improved ACT and SAT scores, and started The Parent Academy serving more than 100,000 parents with courses and workshops to help them support their students’ education.”

Congratulations to Dr. Crew on this appointment!

Tony