On January 5, President Lee Bollinger announced that the former Secretary of State and First Lady will be joining the Columbia community with two new appointments.

Earlier today, Columbia announced that Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton will join Columbia in February 2023 as a Professor of Practice at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) and Presidential Fellow at Columbia World Projects (CWP).

Secretary Clinton joins Columbia’s faculty after a decades-long career in politics, diplomacy, and law. From 2009 to 2013, she served as the 67th US Secretary of State for President Barack Obama (CC ’83), a US Senator representing New York from 2001 to 2009, and First Lady during Bill Clinton’s presidency from 1993 to 2001. Clinton also became the first woman candidate nominated by a major political party as the Democratic candidate against Donald Trump in the 2016 election.

In an email to students this morning, Bollinger wrote: “Given her extraordinary talents and capacities together with her singular life experiences, Hillary Clinton is unique, and, most importantly, exceptional in what she can bring to the University’s missions of research and teaching, along with public service and engagement for the public good.”

Secretary Clinton has been considering the possibility of becoming a Columbia professor since at least 2017. According to Bollinger’s email, Clinton will work with SIPA’s Dean Keren Yarhi-Milo on a variety of initiatives focusing on global politics and policy and on supporting women leaders in these areas. With Columbia World Projects, Secretary Clinton will also work with Executive Vice President for Columbia Global and CWP Director Wafaa El-Sadr and CWP Deputy Director Ira Katznelson on programming “related to renewing democracy and advancing efforts for effective engagement of women and youth in this country and around the world.”

Email sent from President Bollinger to the Columbia community at 11:04 am on Thursday, January 5:

Dear fellow members of the Columbia community:

I write to announce that Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton will be joining the Columbia community in February 2023 with two appointments: Professor of Practice at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) and Presidential Fellow at Columbia World Projects (CWP).

At SIPA, Secretary Clinton will work closely with Dean Keren Yarhi-Milo and other senior faculty and administrators on a variety of major initiatives, especially those focusing on global politics and policy and on supporting female leaders in those arenas. In her role at Columbia World Projects, Secretary Clinton will work with Executive Vice President for Columbia Global and CWP Director Wafaa El-Sadr and CWP Deputy Director Ira Katznelson to support programming related to renewing democracy and advancing efforts for effective engagement of women and youth in this country and around the world.

I have had the great pleasure of knowing Hillary personally for three decades, since her early days as First Lady of the United States. Her public service has expanded since then, most notably in her remarkably successful tenure as United States Senator for the State of New York, in her impressive role as Secretary of State, and in her two historic and record-breaking presidential campaigns. Given her extraordinary talents and capacities together with her singular life experiences, Hillary Clinton is unique, and, most importantly, exceptional in what she can bring to the University’s missions of research and teaching, along with public service and engagement for the public good.

It is, therefore, with great delight and pride that I make this announcement that Secretary Clinton will be bringing her capacities, experience, and wisdom to this institution. I expect us all to benefit immeasurably from working with her in the months and years ahead.

Sincerely, 

Lee C. Bollinger

Hillary Clinton speaking at Barnard in November 2022 via Ava Slocum