Spotlight Archive

February 1, 2000

Christoph Kimmich Assumes Presidency of Brooklyn College

     Brooklyn, NY - As students and members of the faculty and staff arrive on campus today at the opening of the spring 2000 semester, they will be greeted by posters that declare, "Brooklyn College-To Be the Best."

     The posters, and the sentiment, establish the primary goal of Christoph M. Kimmich, who today becomes the eighth president in the College's seventy-year history.

     "I want excellence to inform everything we do at Brooklyn College," Dr. Kimmich said. "We are recognized across the country as an exciting liberal arts college. We can be the best.

     "Brooklyn College has a reputation for innovative leadership in higher education. Our nationally recognized core curriculum and our Honors Academy are models for other CUNY colleges. Our record in winning major grants to underwrite these programs is unmatched and widely admired, as is our technological support of our programs."

     Kimmich will also direct attention to the College's education programs for aspiring and in-service teachers. "The plight of the American public schools has captured the public's attention," Kimmich noted,"and Brooklyn College has much to contribute to national, regional, and local movements toward reform. We can respond to the ambitions of our students by offering the best professional and preprofessional programs in the City University, informed by a first-class liberal arts curriculum."

     Kimmich has demonstrated his commitment to excellence throughout his career at Brooklyn College and the City University of New York. As interim chancellor of CUNY from November 1997 to August 1999, he helped establish a new direction for the University and lay the foundation for its renewal. He led the University through a series of reforms--multiyear budget planning, expanded collaboration with the New York City public school system,and new directions in academic computing--that enlarge the educational opportunities available to New York City high school students while continuing to offer broad access to higher education. At the initiative of his administration, the state was persuaded to revise TAP financial aid to include assistance to part-time students.

     As provost of Brooklyn College from 1989 to 1997, Kimmich set the pace and tone of much of the course work students now take. Under his direction, the College:

     -Streamlined academic programs

     -Introduced such new programs as environmental studies and children's studies;

     -Developed new curricula in the School of Education to better prepare teachers in early childhood and elementary education;

     -Reviewed and revised the core curriculum to refine and strengthen the general education requirements at the College;

     -Developed academic computing and expanded the use of educational technology in multimedia and distance learning; and

     -Built and developed the Learning Center, which provides peer tutoring in writing and other subjects.

     Kimmich led a number of innovative academic efforts at Brooklyn College. In 1976, he served as director of the Scholars Program, where he enlisted members of the faculty to teach interdisciplinary seminars and work with students on honors theses. As chairperson of the Department of History from 1980 to 1984, he oversaw the creation of Core Studies 4 and the development of its source reader, The Shaping of the Modern World from the Enlightenment to the Present. The textbook, now in its fifth edition, is used in colleges and universities across the country.

     Kimmich is deeply committed to the sciences and science education. During his tenure as associate provost and assistant vice-president for programmatic and faculty development, 1984 to 1986, he worked to establish the Applied Sciences Institute as a new focus for faculty research.

     Under his guidance as provost, the Office of Research and Program Development won funding for departments and programs from such major foundations as the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Ford Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Aaron Diamond Foundation.

     Another of his goals was to reduce red tape for students, particularly in the areas of financial aid and registration. He oversaw the implementation of the Student Information Management System (SIMS) and telephone registration.

     "Brooklyn College can be the jewel of CUNY. I want to work withthe faculty, the administration, our alumni, and our students to secure for the College the preeminence it deserves. I look forward very much to my return and a new beginning."

     Brooklyn College, founded in 1930 and located on a twenty-six acre tree-lined campus in Flatbush, is one of the eleven senior colleges of the City University of New York. It enrolls 14,000 undergraduate and graduate students who are representative of the diverse population of Brooklyn and New York City. The school is nationally known for its core curriculum, which has been hailed as one of the "bright spots" in American higher education.

Education

     D. Phil., Oxford University, England, 1964

     B.A. with high honors, Haverford College, Pa., 1961

Academic Appointments

     Professor, Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center, City Universityof New York, 1978-

     Associate professor, Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, 1973-77

     Associate professor, Columbia University, 1968-73

     Assistant professor, Columbia University, 1965-68

     Assistant professor, Earlham College, 1964-65

     Tutor, Oxford University, 1962-64

Administrative Appointments

     President, Brooklyn College, February 2000-

     Interim chancellor, City University of New York, 1997-99

     Provost and vice-president for academic affairs, 1989-2000

     Acting provost and acting vice-president for academic affairs,1988-89

     Associate provost and assistant vice-president for research, 1986-88

     Associate provost and assistant vice-president for programmatic andfaculty development, 1984-86

     Chairperson, Department of History, 1980-84

     Deputy chairperson, Department of History, 1978-80

     Director, Brooklyn College Scholars Program, 1976-77

Honors and Awards

     Visitor, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, 1983-84

     John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, 1983-84

     International Affairs Fellowship, Council on Foreign Relations,1974-75

     Fulbright Scholarship, 1961-62, 1962-63

     Phi Beta Kappa, 1961

Books

     German Foreign Policy, 1918-1945: A Guide to Research and Research Materials (Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, 1981; second edition, 1991).

     Germany and the League of Nations (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,1976).

     The Free City: Danzig and German Foreign Policy, 1919-1934 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968).


ARCHIVE      MAIN

Brooklyn College Web Site
Copyright © 1999, 1998 Brooklyn College.
All Rights Reserved.