NYU Wagner

For the past 25 years, Ellen Schall has focused on solving tough organizational problems. From the days of her first career as a lawyer through her tenure as commissioner of a local government agency, Schall's work has shifted commonly held notions of leadership from a focus on counting on only one leader to fulfill the mission of an organization to investing in the power of collective action. Since 2002, she has led the faculty and staff of New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service on a bold journey of reframing public service education.

Her commitment to public service led Dean Schall to work as a Legal Aid Society criminal defense attorney after graduating from the NYU School of Law. She learned case management skills and quickly figured out how to translate theory into practice within a complex legal system. During the early years of Mayor Edward I. Koch's administration, she was charged with improving the city's criminal justice system and began to hone her skills as a reflective practitioner. The ability to step back, observe the big picture, draw lessons from her everyday work experiences, and share that new knowledge with those around her enabled Schall to overcome the challenges she faced in the criminal justice system and she quickly ascended though the ranks of city government.

Schall made the switch from active attorney to innovative manager in 1982, first overseeing program services and legal policy as Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Department of Corrections and then as Commissioner for the New York City Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ,) in 1983. Here she built a highly successful, effective team of existing and new staff members, transforming a troubled agency into one that Harvard University and the Ford Foundation selected to win their prestigious Innovations Award and gained Schall national recognition as a thoughtful and effective leader of change. The 1989 PBS documentary "Excellence in the Public Sector with Tom Peters" immortalizes her as a trailblazer in restructuring the American model for juvenile justice.

Dean Schall joined the NYU Wagner faculty in 1992 as the Martin Cherkasky Professor of Health Policy and Management. This named professorship was created to remember the work of Martin Cherkasky; physician, hospital leader and adviser to government and private institutions, who had a conviction that hospitals must be an instrument for social change, using its resources to improve the public's health and welfare. Early on at NYU Wagner, the Annie E. Casey Foundation asked Schall to help design its leadership development program for mid-career professionals. She and her faculty colleague Sonia Ospina cultivated a partnership with the Ford Foundation which led to the establishment of the Research Center for Leadership Development, a permanent research center at Wagner. In 2002, the Wagner faculty unanimously recommended that NYU's President John Sexton appoint Schall Dean.

Schall's accomplishments since assuming the deanship include: uniting the entire NYU Wagner faculty and staff under one roof in the historic Puck Building; enhancing faculty and Center research in the field; increasing Wagner's visibility within NYU and among its institutional peers; building a strong student experience through innovative programming, encouraging participation in micro-communities, and enhancing practical opportunities through career services; providing lifelong learning opportunities to alumni; and spearheading the Catherine B. Reynolds Program in Social Entrepreneurship. She is also heavily involved in NYU's initiative in Abu Dhabi as a member of the core planning committee.

Dean Schall's achievements are not limited to city government and academic arenas. She has participated on the Selection Committee for the Innovations in American Government Awards run by the Kennedy School of Government completing a five year term in 2004, and beginning a new term in 2006. Dean Schall became a member of the Women's Forum, Inc - a community of New York women leaders - in 2007.

Her legacy is one of helping to transform organizations by encouraging others to step up to their own leadership potential. Under her leadership, the NYU Wagner network is poised to take its place as the flagship school of public service education and research by creating enterprising models of public service education, advancing original concepts of leadership development, and inspiring the next generation of public service professionals.

Dean Schall received her B.A. from Swarthmore College and J.D. (cum laude) from NYU School of Law.