NEW YORK, July 17, 2006 --- Professor Karen Gross of New York Law School has been named President of Southern Vermont College. The announcement was made by the Board of Trustees of the College on Friday, July 14.  At her investiture in the fall of 2006 as the College’s eighth president, Gross will join a growing number of law professors and lawyers chosen to lead American colleges and universities, including Joel Seligman of the University of Rochester, Barry Mills of Bowdoin College, and Ellen Futter, former president of Barnard College.

 

Gross has been a professor at New York Law School for more than 20 years, teaching courses in consumer finance, contracts, and commercial law, among others. She is also the co-founder and former president of the Coalition for Consumer Bankruptcy Debtor Education, an award-winning pro bono organization, and was director of New York Law School’s Economic Literacy Consortium. Gross will continue to be affiliated with New York Law School and will return there periodically to teach.

 

“I congratulate Southern Vermont College in their appointment of Professor Gross,” said New York Law School’s Dean and President, Richard A. Matasar. “Karen has been an outstanding colleague--a terrific teacher, a first-rate scholar, and an important institution builder. We will miss having her here full time, but look forward to exploring possible synergies between SVC and the Law School. We know that she will bring tremendous energy to her position, and make a real difference for her new school." 

 

Colleagues on the Law School’s faculty echoed the Dean’s sentiments. Said Professor Nadine Strossen, who is President of the ACLU, “At New York Law School, Karen Gross combined scholarship with advocacy for those less privileged, and helped to educate a generation of students to be better lawyers and better citizens. Southern Vermont College is extremely fortunate to have her as its new leader. She will inspire students, faculty and staff to reach their highest potential, and she will do so with energy and grace.”

 

Of her academic home for the past 20 years, Gross said, “In my years at New York Law School, I have had the opportunity to teach extraordinary students, develop warm friendships with members of the faculty and staff, and learn from three remarkable deans, James F. Simon, Harry H.Wellington, and Richard A. Matasar. I owe much of my success to an environment at the Law School in which faculty flourish as scholars, teachers, and leaders.”

 

Of Southern Vermont College, Gross said, “My new academic home is a career-oriented liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. I share the College’s mission—a deep commitment to the power of education.”

 

Gross speaks frequently in the United States and abroad on student indebtedness, consumer finance, and economic literacy. She is a prolific scholar and has written numerous articles in academic and non-academic journals. She is the author of the book Failure and Forgiveness: Rebalancing the Bankruptcy System (Yale University Press, 1997), which won the Association of American Publishers 1997 Business Management Award. She has been honored for community work by various organizations, including the American Association of University Women (AAUW) which bestowed on her the Senior Scholar Special Commendation of Honor in 2004. In May 2006, she was honored by Westchester Community College at a program celebrating Women’s History Month. Gross is a member of the Foundation Board of Open Door Family Medical Centers, headquartered in Ossining, New York.

 

Raised in New England, Gross received her B.A. from Smith College, cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and her J.D. degree, cum laude, from Temple University, spending her final year of law study at the University of Chicago. Gross and her husband, Stephen H. Cooper, a lawyer and law professor, have a home in Bondville, Vermont.  Their son, Zack, who graduated from the Stratton Mountain School in Vermont and the University of Chicago, is now pursuing graduate studies in healthcare policy at the London School of Economics.

 

 

ABOUT SOUTHERN VERMONT COLLEGE
www.svc.edu

 

 

Southern Vermont College, founded in 1926, is a private, independent institution that offers a career-oriented, liberal arts education to 500 students. It has more than 6,000 graduates. The campus has strong academic support programs and NCAA Division III athletics and provides a safe, environmentally respectful, and a supportive community to its diverse student body. The College-owned radio station, WBTN 1370-AM, provides a voice for the Bennington community and broadcasts Boston Red Sox games. 

 

ABOUT NEW YORK LAW SCHOOL
www.nyls.edu