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Who We Are | Mission & Vision | History
Scott Cowen is the 14th President of Tulane University and founder of the Scott S. Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives. He also holds joint appointments as the Seymour S. Goodman Memorial Professor of Business in Tulane's A.B. Freeman School of Business and Professor of Economics in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He is the author of four books and over 100 academic and professional articles, essays and reviews and is the recipient of several national awards and honors. Since his arrival in 1998, Tulane has more than doubled its undergraduate applications, experienced all-time highs in student enrollment and quality, doubled the level of total private giving to the university and received a record level of research awards.
President Cowen has held several leadership positions in national academic and professional associations, including the American Council on Education and the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. Besides his achievements in the academic world, President Cowen also has extensive experience in business as a consultant and corporate director, currently for businesses including Newell Rubbermaid Inc., American Greetings Corporation, Jo-Ann Stores Inc. and Forest City Enterprises Inc.
In August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans, flooded half of Tulane’s uptown campus and all of its downtown Health Sciences Center and dispersed its faculty and staff around the country for an entire semester. Under President Cowen’s leadership the campus was repaired and a remarkable 87 percent of its students returned for classes in January of 2006. On December 8, 2005 the Board of Tulane approved President Cowen’s Renewal Plan, a sweeping effort that strengthens and focuses the university’s academic mission while strategically addressing its current and future operations in the post-Katrina era.
In response to Katrina, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin appointed President Cowen to the city’s Bring New Orleans Back Commission and charged him with leading a committee to rebuild and reform the city’s failing public school system. President Cowen has devoted his days and nights to these monumental tasks and has already had impressive results. In addition, Dr. Cowen also serves as a Commissioner of the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority, which plays a major role in the rebuilding of Orleans Parish in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
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