Columbia Announces Jennifer L. Mnookin as the University's Next President
Dear CUIMC Community,
Sunday evening the Columbia Board of Trustees announced that Jennifer L. Mnookin, the current chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, has been selected as the University's next president. President-designate Mnookin brings an extraordinary record of leadership, scholarship, and commitment to academic excellence, and we are confident that she will guide Columbia with vision, integrity, and purpose in the years ahead.
Dr. Mnookin has extensive experience overseeing a large, complex university with a significant research enterprise, including a medical school, an affiliated health system and clinical operations, a distinguished faculty, and diverse student populations. Her tenure at Wisconsin-Madison included significant investments in research infrastructure, cross-cutting initiatives in artificial intelligence and human health, and sustained leadership through an uncertain federal funding environment. She worked to improve educational access and affordability for students and navigated complex and evolving legal and regulatory frameworks impacting higher education.
We’d like to extend our deepest gratitude to Acting President Claire Shipman for her partnership and support for our medical center over the past 10 months. We’d also like to thank the Presidential Search Committee for their dedication and diligence in identifying an outstanding leader for our University. We greatly appreciate the thoughtful service of CUIMC’s Stavros Lomvardas, PhD, VP&S interim vice dean for basic science research, and Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, PhD, director of the Center for Dental and Craniofacial Research and the Mikati Foundation Professor of Biomedical Engineering, on the Search Committee.
We look forward to working with President-designate Mnookin to further advance our missions of education, research, patient care, and community engagement. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Mnookin and in welcoming this next chapter for Columbia.
Please find the announcement from the Board of Trustees below and more information about Dr. Mnookin and her appointment on the Presidential Transition page.
Sincerely,
Katrina Armstrong, MD
Dean, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences
Lorraine Frazier, PhD, RN
Dean, School of Nursing
Dennis Mitchell, DDS, MPH
Dean, College of Dental Medicine
Kathleen Sikkema, PhD
Interim Dean, Mailman School of Public Health
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Columbia University in the City of New York
January 25, 2026
Dear members of the Columbia community,
We are writing with the exciting news that the Board of Trustees has unanimously selected Jennifer L. Mnookin, the current chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, as the next president of Columbia University. She will begin her tenure on July 1, 2026. We had hoped to share this announcement with you tomorrow, rather than on a snowy Sunday evening, but given the intense media interest, we wanted you to hear from us right away.
President-designate Mnookin brings to Columbia an exceptional academic and leadership pedigree and a reputation for building trust through listening and engagement. She is known as a thoughtful consensus builder who strives for excellence in every pursuit, bringing both vision and energy to the work of institutional leadership. She will be a remarkable leader of our great university.
As Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, she has led a flagship public research campus serving more than 50,000 students across 13 schools and colleges with more than 25,000 faculty and staff, including a medical school and an affiliated health system. Across more than two decades in higher education, including nearly 17 years on the faculty of UCLA, including seven years as Dean of UCLA School of Law, she has demonstrated deep respect for the transformative power of higher education, including shared governance, the student experience, academic freedom, and the central role of teaching and research in defining and advancing a university’s mission. Mnookin received her AB from Harvard University, her JD from Yale Law School, and a PhD in history and social study of science and technology from MIT.
More information about Jennifer’s career, scholarship, and accomplishments can be found on the Presidential Transition webpage.
President-designate Mnookin’s appointment is a result of the diligent work of the Presidential Search Committee, which was created last spring to identify our next president. The Committee, comprised of trustees and faculty, with input from our students, faculty, staff, and alumni, conducted a thorough and inclusive national search, engaging a broad cross-section of the Columbia community and considered dozens of exceptionally qualified candidates.
On behalf of the Trustees, we extend our sincere thanks to the members of the Presidential Search Committee, and especially to its co-chairs Jonathan Lavine, CC ’88, and Andrew Barth, CC ’83, Business ’85, for leading this exceptional effort during one of the more challenging periods in Columbia’s history.
We also want to express our deep appreciation to Acting President Claire Shipman, CC ’86, SIPA ’94, for her outstanding leadership and service to the University for the last 10 months. She generously stepped into the role in late March 2025, and her steady guidance and unwavering commitment to protecting and moving our institution forward have positioned Columbia well for this next chapter.
We look ahead with excitement as Jennifer prepares to assume the presidency, and we are grateful to the Columbia community for its engagement and support throughout this process.
Sincerely,
David J. Greenwald
Co-Chair, Board of Trustees
Jeh C. Johnson
Co-Chair, Board of Trustees