Dr. Kerry Walk ’83 to Lead NYC’s Marymount Manhattan College

Kerry Walk ’83 was unanimously selected by the Trustees of Marymount Manhattan College as the school’s 8th president. In a press release, Marymount Manhattan College called Walk “a champion of student learning and success.”

An award-winning teacher, Walk studied English at Wellesley before going on to earn her Ph.D. and M.A. in English Literature from the University of California, Berkeley. Her scholarly work has focused on best practices in writing pedagogy, student writing development, and educational assessment. She told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette that she was “deeply inspired by [her] teachers and professors” in her career path. 

She said, “There’s a reason I’m passionate about the arts, literature, history, and the sciences, and have assiduously pursued these as an adult. My high school teachers and college professors inspired me to be a lifelong learner.”

Dr. Walk has over twenty years of experience in leadership in higher education. She was most recently with Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, first serving as Provost and, more recently, as interim president. Prior to joining Otis in 2011, Walk held academic leadership positions at Harvard University, Princeton University, and Pitzer College (a member of the Claremont University Consortium).

At Princeton, Walk built and directed the acclaimed interdisciplinary Princeton Writing Program. Before Princeton, she spent eight years as a faculty member and administrator at Harvard. Her publications, papers, and invited talks and workshops have focused on best practices in writing pedagogy, student writing development, and educational assessment. Her guide, Teaching with Writing, is used for faculty development in institutions around the country.

Walk begins her appointment today, July 1.