President Anderson's Biography
Michelle J. Anderson is the 10th president of Brooklyn College. Under President Anderson’s leadership, the College has enhanced academic excellence and student success. The College has increased academic momentum, retention, and graduation rates, improved the percentage of students passing gateway math, strengthened career services, and enhanced the diversity of its faculty, staff, and executive leadership. The College has established the Brooklyn College Center for Cancer Research, obtained AACSB accreditation for the Murray Koppelman School of Business, opened the Leonard and Claire Tow Center for the Performing Arts and the Don Buchwald Theater, launched the “We Stand Against Hate” initiative, and pursued an anti-racist agenda. The College has also enhanced faculty grants support, research funding, and philanthropic engagement. Under her leadership, the College obtained excellent recognition, including: U.S. News & World Report 2021 rankings as #1 “Most Ethnically Diverse College” and 6th “Best for Social Mobility in the nation;” Business Insider ranking as 11th “Best College for Return on Investment” in the nation; and Money Magazine listing among “Top Colleges for Best Value” in the nation.
From 2006 to 2016, Anderson served as Dean of the CUNY School of Law. Under Anderson’s leadership, CUNY Law strengthened its mission, increased academic standards, and obtained strong rankings, including: PreLaw Magazine ranking as the “Best Public Interest Law School,” U.S. News & World Report Top 10 ranking for “Best Clinical Training,” and Princeton Review recognition for “Best Law Professors” and “Most Diverse Faculty.” In addition, CUNY Law launched a number of groundbreaking initiatives, including the Pipeline to Justice Program and the Sorensen Center for International Peace and Justice.
President Anderson was previously a member of the Villanova University School of Law faculty, where she garnered consistent, top rankings as a professor. She has also been a visiting professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center and Yale Law School.
President Anderson holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she earned the Chancellor’s Award for outstanding academic achievement, and a J.D. from Yale Law School, where she was notes editor of the Yale Law Journal. Following law school, Anderson clerked on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for Judge William A. Norris. She then worked in the clinical program at Georgetown University Law Center and earned an LL.M. in Advocacy.
President Anderson is a leading scholar on the law of rape and sexual assault. Her research has been published in the Yale Law Journal, Boston University Law Review, George Washington Law Review, Hastings Law Journal, Rutgers Law Review, Southern California Law Review, and the University of Illinois Law Review, among others. Anderson is an adviser to the American Law Institute’s project to reform the Model Penal Code on sexual offenses and a consultant to its campus sexual misconduct project.
Anderson is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Champion of Justice Award from Brooklyn Legal Services (2017); the Diversity & Inclusion Champion Award from the New York City Bar Association (2014); the Public Service Leader Award from the Center on Women in Government & Civil Society (2013); the Distinguished Leader in Education Award from Education Update (2011); and the Susan Rosenberg Zalk Award from the Feminist Press (2007).
