President

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Joel Towers as the new President of The New School, beginning August 1, 2024.

President-elect Towers is currently a University Professor of Architecture and Sustainable Design at Parsons School of Design in The School of Constructed Environments. He is also the Co-Director of The Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School. His work focuses on sustainability, resilience, and the development of policy and design-based solutions to climate change and the construction of healthy environments.

In 2009, President-elect Towers was appointed Executive Dean of Parsons School of Design, serving as head of the college for a decade. Under his leadership, Parsons completed major curricular reforms, launched new graduate and undergraduate programs, and built an integrated 26,000 sq. ft. cross-disciplinary Making Center facility. With the intent to expand the school’s reach and research capabilities, he supported multiple industry-leading design and research labs and expanded the ranks of full-time faculty. Today, the school is one of the most internationally diverse in the United States, with nearly half of the undergraduate student body coming from other countries. Under Towers’ leadership, Parsons consistently ranked as the top school for Art and Design in the United States, a position it continues to hold today.

President-elect Towers received a B.S. in Architecture from the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning and a Master of Architecture from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation. Prior to joining The New School, he worked with William McDonough Architects, where he directed projects including The Hannover Principles: Design for Sustainability that helped codify that firm’s environmental thinking.

The full press release is linked here.

Carrie Alexander and Dan Rodas led this search with Sheryl Ash, Janette Martinez, and Nicole Sancilio.