Building Community at the 21st-Century University: Vanderbilt University Chancellor Daniel Diermeier and Columbia University President Jennifer Mnookin

An internationally renowned political scientist, management scholar and visionary leader, Daniel Diermeier is Vanderbilt’s ninth chancellor.

During a time of unprecedented criticism of higher education, Chancellor Diermeier has been nationally recognized as a leader of reform in the sector, advocating for universities to avoid politicization, return to their core purpose and embrace time-tested principles such as excellence, institutional neutrality and civil discourse.

With Diermeier as chancellor, Vanderbilt has strengthened its standing as a destination for the most promising faculty and students, attracting a record number of admissions applications, posting its highest percentage of admitted students attending, and expanding financial aid through Opportunity Vanderbilt.

Under Diermeier’s leadership, the university has sought to realize a bold vision of establishing a network of additional campuses located in the nation’s innovation centers to include New York City, West Palm Beach, Chattanooga and San Francisco.

Diermeier has also grown partnerships and collaboration with the U.S. military and national security agencies. He has driven development of the annual Asness Summit on Modern Conflict and Emerging Threats and established the Vanderbilt Institute of National Security. In August of 2023 he oversaw the launch of Dialogue Vanderbilt, a multifaceted initiative to promote civil discourse on campus and affirm Vanderbilt’s long-standing commitment to free expression.

In 2025, Chancellor Diermeier was honored with Vanderbilt Chabad House’s Lamplighter Award and was inducted into the White Rose Society, reflecting Vanderbilt’s commitment to maintaining a campus environment where all students can live, learn and grow without fear.

He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Guggenheim Foundation. He has published six books and more than 100 research articles in academic journals — primarily in the fields of political science, economics and management. Before arriving at Vanderbilt, Chancellor Diermeier served in leadership roles at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and at the University of Chicago, where he served as dean of the Harris School of Public Policy.

A first-generation college graduate, Chancellor Diermeier earned a PhD in political science from the University of Rochester. He also holds master’s degrees in political science from the University of Rochester and the University of Munich, and he earned a master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Southern California.

Jennifer L. Mnookin became the 21st president of Columbia University on July 1, 2026. She assumed the role after serving as the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. President Mnookin is a nationally recognized legal scholar who has spent her career championing excellence in higher education by advancing world-class teaching and research, promoting accessibility and affordability, serving the public good, and training future generations to be thoughtful and engaged citizens. She is also professor of law at Columbia Law School.

Mnookin’s academic work sits at the intersection of law and science and examines how scientific and expert evidence is evaluated and used within the legal system. An elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2020, she is one of the nation’s most-cited scholars in the field of evidence law, with core areas of focus including wrongful convictions, forensic evidence, and scientific and visual evidence. She recently served as co-chair of a 2024 expert report on facial recognition technologies for the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine.

Mnookin comes to Columbia from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), where she served as chancellor from August 2022 until May 2026 and as the Morgridge Friends Distinguished Chair of Leadership and Professor of Law. As chancellor, Mnookin led an institution of more than 50,000 students across 13 schools and colleges with more than 25,000 faculty and staff. Her tenure included significant investments in faculty hiring and research infrastructure and the launch of major cross-campus initiatives on artificial intelligence, interdisciplinary research, and intellectual pluralism and dialogue across difference. She also maintained a commitment to strengthening academic and support systems for students, grew UW-Madison’s research strength, secured additional resources for the university, and effectively navigated an uncertain federal funding environment and complex state politics.

At UW-Madison, Mnookin made access and affordability a central priority. She established initiatives such as Bucky’s Pell Pathway, which guarantees full financial support for Pell-eligible Wisconsin residents, and expanded scholarship opportunities and academic support services, which have contributed to improved completion and graduation outcomes. Mnookin also helped boost philanthropic giving at UW-Madison, securing in 2025 the second-highest amount in contributions in the history of the institution, and in 2026 setting an all-time record for UW-Madison levels of philanthropy.

Prior to leading UW-Madison, Mnookin served for seven years as dean of the UCLA School of Law, where she spent 17 years on the faculty and held the Ralph and Shirley Shapiro Chair in Law. As dean, Mnookin strengthened the law school’s scholarly profile, expanded clinical and experiential programs, and led record-breaking fundraising efforts in support of the school’s academic mission. While on the faculty, she also received the school’s highest teaching honor, the Rutter Award for Excellence in Teaching. Before that, she was a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law and a visiting professor at Harvard Law School.

Mnookin previously served for six years on the National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Science, Technology, and Law. She also co-chaired a working group advising the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology on its report on the use of forensic science in the criminal courts.

Mnookin received her AB in social studies from Harvard University, her JD from Yale Law School, and a PhD in history and social study of science and technology from MIT. She and her husband, political theorist Joshua Foa Dienstag, have two adult children.