Baruch College President S. David Wu Named among City & State’s “Higher Education Power 100” Honorees

April 19, 2021

City & State named Baruch College President S. David Wu, PhD, to its inaugural “Higher Education Power 100” list, which recognizes New York’s most influential higher education leaders.

Dr. Wu ranks #28 on the highly selective list, which appears in the April 19 special edition of City & State magazine. His tenure as the eighth president of Baruch College started on July 1, and Dr. Wu is the first Asian-American appointed to lead a college at The City University of New York.

“I am honored to be selected by City & State alongside so many distinguished colleagues in higher education throughout New York State,” said Dr. Wu. “Baruch is one of the most compelling institutions I have encountered in more than 30 years in academia, offering a rare amalgam of top academic achievement and upward mobility for diverse students from all echelons of society, especially those who are largely underrepresented in the system of higher learning.”

Dr. Wu added, “Since assuming the responsibilities of president of Baruch last July, my aim is to lead the College to a new era—one that is at the forefront of reimagining higher education in New York and in the nation.”

In less than one year as Baruch College president, Dr. Wu has been named to City & State’s inaugural “Power of Diversity: Asian 100” list and its “2020 Higher Education Power 50” list, and he was chosen among the “50 Top U.S. College and University Presidents” by College Cliffs.

Impressive Record of Academic Leadership

Dr. Wu has a career that spans more than 30 years at renowned public and private institutions. At the beginning of his presidency at Baruch, Dr. Wu proactively established the Task Force for the Future, which is harnessing lessons learned from the pandemic and integrating them with the institution’s innovation to initiate a paradigm shift in college education.

Prior to joining Baruch, Dr. Wu served as provost and executive vice president of George Mason University, where he led the largest public university in Virginia to achieve Carnegie research-one (R1) status. He also led Mason’s Access to Excellence campaign—expanding access while achieving excellent academic outcomes regardless of race, ethnicity, and Pell eligibility. Before serving at Mason, Dr. Wu was Dean and Iacocca Professor at Lehigh University’s Rossin College of Engineering. He has been a long serving board member of Dartmouth College’s engineering school, and a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

Technology Innovator

In addition to being a bold and visionary academic leader, Dr. Wu is a technology innovator and accomplished scholar in systems engineering and operations research. He has published extensively in such areas as game theory, optimization, and econometrics, and his research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, and Sandia National Laboratories. Dr. Wu’s field work in data science and statistical leading indicators has been implemented or tested at such firms as Intel, HP, and IBM.

Learn more about Dr. Wu by reading and subscribing to his blog, follow him on Twitter @DavidWuBaruch, and connect with him on LinkedIn.

About City & State

City & State is the premier media organization dedicated to covering New York’s local and state politics and policy. Its award-winning in-depth, non-partisan coverage serves New York’s leaders and the public as a trusted guide to the issues impacting New York.

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