New York University President John Sexton today announced the appointment of Dr. Robert S. Lapiner, currently UCLA’s Dean of Continuing Education and UCLA Extension, as Dean of NYU’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies. He will assume his post, full-time, early in the spring semester of 2006.
NYU’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS), created in 1934, is one of the nation’s oldest and most highly regarded University-based programs serving adult students. Its programs include non-credit courses, baccalaureate level programs, and numerous specialized master’s degrees. The school is also home to two premier industry education and applied research centers, the Real Estate Institute and the Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management. SCPS educates tens of thousands of degree-seeking and non-credit students each year through courses offered by an exceptional full-time and part-time faculty.
John Sexton said, “NYU’s founders had a distinctive idea - that we should be a University in and of the city, that we should serve an emerging merchant and middle class, providing an education that is not only intellectually enriching but that permits one to prosper in one’s professional life. Of all of NYU’s schools, none lives that original mission more fully than the School of Continuing and Professional Studies.
“Such a school requires an especially deft and thoughtful person as dean, one who will diligently ensure the education we provide is of a quality consistent with NYU’s high academic principles while also remaining flexible enough to ensure that the school’s programs remain relevant and meaningful to the citizens of this great city who wish to enrich their lives and advance in their careers through lifelong learning.
“I believe that we have found such a person in Robert Lapiner. He has accumulated an outstanding record as Dean of Continuing Education at UCLA, and is highly regarded by his peers within the field.
“We owe a great debt of thanks to the members of the dean’s search committee, and in particular to its chair, Harvey J. Stedman, NYU’s Vice Chancellor Emeritus and a former dean of SCPS. Two debts really: the first for their willingness to render this service to the NYU community, and the second for displaying the wisdom and discernment that led us to offer this post to Robert Lapiner.
“I know I speak for the entire NYU community in welcoming Dean Lapiner.”
Robert Lapiner has been at the University of California, Los Angeles, since 1990 as Dean of Continuing Education and UCLA Extension, which each year serves some 60,000 individuals; he is also an affiliate faculty member of the UCLA Center for International and Development Education within the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. Prior to taking the position of dean at UCLA, he was Deputy Executive Director/Director for Europe for the Council on International Educational Exchange. From 1976 to 1982, he was a career diplomat in cultural and educational affairs with the US Foreign Service, from which he received a Meritorious Honor Award in 1981.
Dean Lapiner received B.A. summa cum laude from UCLA, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his M.A. and his Ph.D. from Harvard University.
In addition to the Chair, Harvey Stedman, the members of the Dean Search Committee are: Moraly Arroyo (student), Dennis Castello (student), Associate Dean Dorothy Durkin, Professor Renee Harris, Senior Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Debra LaMorte, Associate Dean and Professor Carl Lebowitz, Professor Hannah Messerli, Professor Ronald Rainey, Professor Godfrey Roberts (Vice Chair), Senior Vice President for Finance and Budget Jeannemarie Smith, Associate Dean Sue Turk, and Chief of Staff and Deputy to the President Diane Yu; Beth Morningstar served as Staff Director.
New York University, located in the heart of Greenwich Village, was established in 1831 and is one of America’s leading research universities and a member of the selective Association of American Universities. It is one of the largest private universities, it is a leader in attracting international students and scholars in the U.S, and it sends more students to study abroad than any other U.S. college or university. Through its 14 schools and colleges, NYU conducts research and provides education in the arts and sciences, law, medicine, business, dentistry, education, nursing, the cinematic and performing arts, music, public administration, social work, and continuing and professional studies, among other areas.