In one role or another over the past 25 years, Ellen Schall has focused on solving tough organizational problems. 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.
A commitment to public service led Schall to work as a Legal Aid Society criminal defense attorney after graduating from NYU School of Law. She became deputy commissioner of the New York City Department of Corrections (DOC) in 1982 and 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 at DJJ transformed the 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 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.
Schall joined the NYU Wagner faculty in 1992 as the Martin Cherkasky Professor of Health Policy and Management. As a faculty member, she helped the Annie E. Casey Foundation design its leadership development program for mid-career professionals. With her faculty colleague Sonia Ospina she partnered with the Ford Foundation and the Advocacy Institute to create a program called Leadership for a Changing World, which ultimately led the Ford Foundation to support the creation at Wagner of the Research Center for Leadership in Action. 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 Wagner faculty and staff under one roof; 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. Her achievements in other arenas include service as president of a health education nonprofit and active involvement on the University Settlement Board of Directors.
Schall’s legacy is one of helping to transform organizations by encouraging others to step up to their own leadership potential. In her current position as Dean, she is poised to grow 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.