Baruch President S. David Wu Leads Successful National Search for CUNY’s Executive Vice Chancellor and University Provost

April 22, 2022

An Effort Across the University System

Baruch College President S. David Wu recently spearheaded a successful national search for an executive vice chancellor and university provost at The City University of New York (CUNY), the nation’s leading urban public university.

President Wu chaired the search committee whose members included senior leaders from across the University and its colleges, the University Faculty Senate and college-based faculty members, and the University Student Senate, among others.

Based on the search committee’s recommendations, CUNY Chancellor Matos Rodríguez named Wendy F. Hensel to serve in the high-level leadership position, and the CUNY Board of Trustees approved the appointment, which will become effective on June 1.

“It is an honor to be entrusted to chair this important national search on behalf of CUNY,” said President Wu. “This critical position requires an innovative higher education leader with a passion for public education and an unfailing commitment to CUNY’s mission. The search committee found these essential qualities and a high-energy, can-do attitude in Ms. Hensel. We are thrilled to welcome her to CUNY and look forward to working with her.”

Hensel will have oversight of ongoing initiatives to improve student transfer, reimagine Black, Race and Ethnic Studies and Graduate Education, and foster innovation in pedagogy and instruction, according to a CUNY press announcement. She will also oversee CUNY’s faculty and student affairs; research programs; student inclusion initiatives; efforts to promote student mental health and wellness; K-16 initiatives and efforts to promote enrollment growth; student success and research evaluation; and academic programs and policies.

Well Positioned to Lead National Search on Behalf of CUNY

Since President Wu began his tenure as Baruch’s president in 2020, he has been named for the last three years to both City & State’s “Higher Education Power 100” and the “Power of Diversity: Asian 100” lists.

Last year, President Wu was selected as one of the “50 Top U.S. College and University Presidents” by College Cliffs, and named by the Asian American Business Development Center as one of the “Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business”—the only awardee representing the education sector among the other honorees who were C-suite and senior executives from Fortune 500 companies and global brands.

Throughout his more than 30 years in higher education, President Wu has demonstrated a track record of visionary leadership. Before coming to Baruch College as president, he served as provost and executive vice president of George Mason University.

Under his leadership, Virginia’s largest public research university experienced historic growth in innovative academic programs, embraced multi-disciplinary collaboration, and increased student diversity and academic outcomes. Mason also emerged as a top-tier national research institution-the youngest university to earn Carnegie research-one (R1) designation.

For more than a decade prior to Mason, President Wu was dean and Iacocca Professor of the Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science at Lehigh University where he had been a member of the faculty since 1987. He was also a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

President Wu has served as a long-term member of the board of Dartmouth College’s Thayer School of Engineering in addition to various national and international panels and advisory boards, including with the National Science Foundation, the Science Foundation of Ireland, the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong, and the Science & Engineering Research Council of Singapore.

In addition to his distinguished academic career, President Wu is an accomplished scholar in systems engineering and operations research.

Connect with President Wu

President Wu maintains a monthly blog where he shares “ideas and perspectives that impact the campus community, higher education, and society at large.”

Subscribe to President Wu’s blog, follow him on Twitter @DavidWuBaruch, and connect with him on LinkedIn.

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