John Sexton
John Edward Sexton is an American legal scholar. He is the Benjamin F. Butler Professor of Law at New York University where he teaches at the law school and NYU's undergraduate colleges. Sexton served as the fifteenth president of NYU, from 2002 to 2015. During his time as president, NYU's stature rose dramatically into the ranks of the world's top universities, and it became the world's first global network university. Sexton has been called a "transformational" figure in higher education and was named by Time Magazine as one of the United States' 10 best college presidents in 2009.
From 1988 to 2002, he served as dean of the NYU School of Law, during which time NYU became one of the top five law schools in the country according to U.S. News & World Report. Sexton has also served as chair of several major higher education organizations, including the Association of American Law Schools, the American Council on Education, the Independent Colleges and Universities of New York State, the New York Academy of Sciences, and the University of the People President's Council. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has received many [|awards and honors] for his work in education, including the American Council on Education's Theodore M. Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence and 24 honorary doctoral degrees. In July 2008, he was named as Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, the national order of the Legion of Honor of France; and in April 2024, Sexton received the Abu Dhabi Award, which is the highest civilian honor issued by the United Arab Emirates. From January 1, 2003, to January 1, 2007, Sexton was the chairman of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; in 2006, he served as chair of the Federal Reserve System's Council of Chairs.
Education and early career
Sexton graduated from Brooklyn Preparatory School, a Jesuit high school, in 1959.Sexton holds a B.A. in history, a M.A. in comparative religion, and a Ph.D. in history of American religion from Fordham University, as well as a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was Supreme Court Editor of the Harvard Law Review.
From 1966 to 1975, he taught religion at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, New York, where he was chair of the Religion Department. In 1977, he incorporated the John Sexton Test Preparation Center in the New York City area, which offered test preparation services for exams such as the GMAT and LSAT. According to a government report, it served 6,500 students and had revenue of over $650,000 in 1979.
From 1961 to 1975, Sexton coached the debate team at St. Brendan's High School, a Catholic girls' school in Brooklyn, New York, leading the team to five national championships and numerous invitational titles. He was named to the National Forensic League Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2005, the Barkley Forum at Emory University presented him with a Golden Anniversary Coaching Award recognizing him as a top high school debate coach of the past 50 years. Still an avid proponent of interscholastic debate, he is chairman of the board of Associated Leaders of Urban Debate, which seeks to bring debate activities to underserved communities in America's urban areas.
After graduating from Harvard Law School, he clerked for judges Harold Leventhal and David L. Bazelon of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1979–80, and he clerked for Chief Justice of the United States Warren E. Burger in 1980–81.
Dean of New York University School of Law
Sexton joined the faculty of the New York University School of Law in 1981, teaching first year law students Civil Procedure ; he was given tenure in 1983.In 1988, Sexton was named dean of the New York University School of Law, succeeding Norman Redlich. During his deanship, NYU's School of Law rose to number four in the U.S. News & World Report rankings of law schools; an emphasis on faculty recruitment reduced the student faculty ratio from 19:1 to 12:1; the Hauser Global Law School Program was established; the school became among the most selective in the U.S. ; and in 1998 the school completed the then-largest fundraising campaign in the history of legal education. After he stepped down as dean to become president of NYU in 2002, the law school named a professorship after him, the John E. Sexton Professor of Law, held presently by Richard B. Stewart, as well as named a lounge after him at Furman Hall, the John Sexton Student Forum. In addition, the law school as created a set of scholarships for students named in his honor.
President of New York University
Sexton was named the 15th president of New York University by NYU's Board of Trustees on May 8, 2001, two months after then-president L. Jay Oliva announced that he was stepping down. He assumed the post of president on May 17, 2002, one day after the 2002 All-University Commencement, and his official installation occurred on September 26, 2002. In 2009, NYU's Board of Trustees asked him to stay on as president until 2016, and Sexton accepted.In addition to his duties as NYU President, Sexton has taught a full faculty schedule — at least four courses — every year since 1981 without sabbatical. He teaches both law students and undergraduates across NYU's Global Network in New York and Abu Dhabi and has taught classes in Shanghai. A book based on one of the courses, Baseball as a Road to God, was published in 2013. He also taught a year-long course on the American Constitution, religion, and government for the Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Scholars Program for outstanding undergraduate students in United Arab Emirates' institutions of higher learning.
During his presidency, NYU was named the "number one dream school" four times by The Princeton Review. In addition, NYU rose across college rankings, including in US News & World Report, the Times Higher Education, the Financial Times, and Bloomberg BusinessWeek. In 2014, NYU received a record number of prospective applicants for freshman admission for the seventh straight year in a row.
Expansion of the Arts and Science faculty
In 2004, Sexton announced a program — the Partners Plan — to expand tenured and tenure-track faculty in the arts and sciences by 20%, the largest such expansion in the university's history. By fall 2009, faculty hires under the Partners Plan included totaled 245, including 124 hires to replace departing faculty and 121 new hires to expand the arts and science faculty.Fundraising campaign
In 2008, NYU successfully finished what was then the largest completed fundraising campaign in higher education. The Campaign for NYU, with a stated goal of raising $2.5 billion, ultimately raised over $3 billion. In 2009, NYU's fundraising continued to exceed $1 million per day in spite of the economic crisis.The Global Network University
In October 2007, NYU announced the creation of New York University Abu Dhabi, the first such campus to be operated abroad by a major research university. The school, which the university is referring to as the "world's honors college," recruits top students and faculty from around the world, and began classes in the fall of 2010. Sexton discussed the idea of the Global Network University at length in late 2009 with Richard Heffner on The Open Mind . "The New Global University" was a topic of the British Council's Going Global conference in March 2010, at which Sexton was invited to speak.On March 28, 2011, under Sexton, the university announced the creation of New York University Shanghai, a research university with a liberal arts and science college in China's financial capital, the first American university with independent legal status approved by the Chinese Ministry of Education, and the result of a partnership between NYU and Shanghai. Also in March 2011, NAFSA: Association of International Educators recognized NYU with its Senator Paul Simon Award for Campus Internationalization, and Fast Company named NYU #1 on its list of education innovators, citing the opening of NYU Abu Dhabi. The following month Secretary of State Hillary Clinton cited NYU's announcement about the opening of NYU Shanghai and praised John Sexton's work on the project when she spoke at the U.S. State Department's US-China Consultation on People-to-People Exchange.
On July 11, 2011, in response to the detention of law-abiding democracy advocates by the government of the United Arab Emirates and Sexton's suggestion that such detention was appropriate to the UAE's "security concerns," Human Rights Watch asked Sexton to publicly retract his statements on the matter. He did not respond to this request.
Undergraduate programs
Both Sexton's own transition reports and the Middle States Accreditation Report cited the need to enhance the experience of NYU undergraduates. Since Sexton's appointment, NYU put in place the award-winning 24/7 Wellness Exchange, specialized programming in student dorms, and novel resources to assist students. In addition, NYU's Student Health Center has been a pioneer in depression screening among college students.Leadership positions in major academic organizations and think tanks
While Dean of the NYU School of Law, Sexton served as president of the Association of American Law Schools. In 2009, Sexton served as chair of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, vice-chair and chair-designate of the American Council on Education, and chair of the New York Academy of Sciences. He is also a member of the board of the Association of American Universities, a member of the board of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and a member of the board of the Institute of International Education.Sexton is also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and on the advisory board of the Genesis Prize Foundation. He is a fellow of the Foreign Policy Association.
In 2008–09, Sexton co-chaired the US-UK Study Group on Higher Education in a Global Environment, a working group of university presidents constituted by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
In March 2010, Sexton was named Chair of the American Council on Education.
In 2011, Sexton led a blue ribbon panel assembled by the American Council on Education that issued a report on the competitiveness of U.S. universities and the global higher education environment.