NYU Wagner

In one role or another over the past 25 years, Ellen Schall has focused on solving tough organizational problems. From the early 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 and helped organizations to rethink and fulfill their missions. For the past four years, she has led 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. In her next position in 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 and quickly ascend though the ranks of city government.

Schall made the switch from active attorney to innovative manager in 1982, overseeing program services and legal policy in her capacity as deputy commissioner of the New York City Department of Corrections (DOC). She proceeded to become one of the youngest NYC commissioners when she assumed responsibility for administering the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) in 1983. Her successful efforts to build an effective team of existing and new staff members led to the transformation of 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. Soon afterward, the Annie E. Casey Foundation asked her 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; increasing Wagner's visibility within NYU and among its institutional peers; building a strong student experience through innovative programming; providing lifelong learning opportunities to alumni; and spearheading the Catherine B. Reynolds Program in Social Entrepreneurship.

Dean Schall's achievements are not limited to city government and academic arenas, but range from active involvement on the University Settlement Board of Directors to service on New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's transition team as a member of the Human Services Policy Advisory Committee. Her legacy is one of helping to transform organizations by encouraging others to step up to their own leadership potential. In her position as NYU Wagner's Dean, she is poised to grow NYU Wagner into 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.