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President's Bio
Esther L. Barazzone, Ph.D.
Since beginning her tenure as Chatham 's 18th president, Esther L. Barazzone has led a period of major institutional renewal and expansion, and national recognition. Because of her leadership, Chatham eradicated a decade of major operating deficits; doubled its endowment and enrollment (from approximately 620 to 1300 students); and for the first time received investment-grade rating for bonds. The campus infrastructure has been revitalized through more than $75 million in construction, renovation and acquisition of 23 structures, as well as the creation of a modern technological infrastructure that includes wireless networking.
Successful fundraising, public relations activities, and publications have earned Chatham three national gold medals from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). Under Dr. Barazzone, Chatham 's annual fundraising level has more than doubled since 1992. In October 1998, a three-year $18 million comprehensive campaign, Keep the Vision Splendid , was announced, eventually raising $31.7 million - 176% of goal. Chatham later raised more than $55 million from 2001-2005 and annual fundraising increased from $2 million a year to $8 million. Chatham has also received the largest gift in its history - $4 million from the Richard King Mellon Foundation - and two $800,000 Kresge grants, marked renewed national recognition.
Her leadership and Chatham 's turnaround were featured in “Remaining the Province of Women ,” a feature published in The Chronicle of Higher Education (2003). Michael K. Townsley, President of the Pennsylvania Institute of Technology, featured Chatham in The Small College Guide to Financial Health: Beating the Odds, which was excerpted in the September 2002 issue of the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) magazine. In January 2002 Chatham was awarded a Greater Expectations, Special Commendation for Distinguished Achievement in Undergraduate Education and Innovation Across the Curriculum, by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). The leadership of Chatham 's Board of Trustees was highlighted in “Five Boards That Lit A Spark” in Trusteeship, published by the Association of Governing Boards (2001). Lastly, Dr. Barazzone was invited to contribute a chapter to Presidential Essays: Success Stories that Make a Difference at Thirteen Independent Colleges and Universities (2000).
Dr. Barazzone has championed major program development at Chatham, leading to the creation of more than 40 new degree and certificate programs (undergraduate, graduate and continuing education), a Division III athletic program (including Pennsylvania's first varsity women's ice hockey team), and institution-wide initiatives such as the Center for Women's Entrepreneurship, the Global Focus program, the Pennsylvania Center for Women, Politics, and Public Policy, the Pittsburgh Teachers Institute, the Rachel Carson Institute, and the Regional Women's Initiative. She has developed partnerships with other higher education institutions including Carnegie Mellon University , creating a Five-Year Masters Program with the Heinz School of Public Policy, a joint physics major, an engineering articulation, and a teacher development institute to serve the region's K-12 teachers. Among Chatham 's awards for programming is the Institute of International Education 's Andrew Heiskell Award for innovative internationalization, and a mention as an Association of American Colleges and Universities' “institution of distinction” (2003).
Dr. Barazzone has traveled extensively throughout her career, and joined several international delegations including the World Affairs Council's US Delegation to Egypt (2005), for which she was one of ten leaders selected among World Affairs Council's member cities; German Marshal Fund's Pittsburgh Delegation to Turin, Italy and Lyon, France (2004); United Nations Women's Conference in Beijing, representing a delegation of students and faculty from U.S. women's colleges (1995). She has visited Cuba , Europe, Guatemala , Haiti , India , Japan , Korea , Mexico , and Pakistan .
Dr. Barazzone is an active leader in the national higher education community, and serves on the boards of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Pennsylvania (AICUP); the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES); the Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education (PCHE); and the Public Leadership Education Network (PLEN). She has served on the American Council on Education's Commission on Leadership Development and its International Education Leadership Network; the Executive Committee of the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC); the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Panel of Presidents; the New College of the University of South Florida's Foundation Board; the Executive Committee of the Board of the Women's College Coalition, and as Accreditation Team Chair for Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges.
Locally, Dr. Barazzone serves on the Boards of the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (Executive Committee and Vice Chair, Committee on Community Health); Dollar Bank (Executive Committee); the Allegheny Conference on Community Development (Chair of the Conference's Task Force on Young People; Education Goal and Executive Committees); Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania; International Women's Forum; Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation; the World Affairs Council; the Ireland Institute of Pittsburgh; and the Pittsburgh Citizens' Task Force on Gambling. She has served on the Boards of The Carnegie; Deloitte Touche; Duquesne Club; the Education Policy and Issues Center; Pittsburgh Symphony; the Regional Industrial Development Corporation of Southwestern Pennsylvania; Mayor's Task Force on Pittsburgh Public Education and was a member of the Steering Committee of the New Idea Factory, the economic development initiative of Allegheny County Executive Jim Roddey.
Dr. Barazzone is the recipient of several honors for her work at Chatham and around the country including Italian American Person of the Year (2005); the Gandhi, King, Ikeda Award for Outstanding Leadership for Peace and Humanitarianism, from Morehouse College (2004); Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania (2001); a University Medal from Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan (2001); an honorary doctorate from Seoul Women's University, Seoul, Korea (2000); an honorary doctorate from Doshisha Women's College (Kyoto, Japan) for her extensive work in international education, where she gave the 1999 Neesima Founder's Lectures; the 1999 Susan B. Anthony Leadership Award from the Women's Leadership Assembly; 1999 Vectors Pittsburgh Woman of the Year in Education; the 1996 YWCA Leadership Award in Education, and is listed in various Who's Who editions, including Who's Who in America .
Dr. Barazzone holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in European Intellectual History from Columbia University , where she was a Fellow of the Faculty. Dr. Barazzone was a Charter Scholar in the first graduating class of New College , earning her B.A. in Philosophy and History. She also was a Fulbright Scholar to Spain and studied at the Wharton School of Business Administration and at Harvard University 's Institute for Educational Management.
The mother of two college-age sons, Dr. Barazzone enjoys golf, playing the Appalachian mountain dulcimer, traveling, collecting ukioy-e (Japanese woodblock prints), and reading.
April 2007 |
