Jennifer L. Mnookin

Jennifer L. Mnookin has been appointed President of Columbia University, effective on July 1, 2026. Mnookin comes to Columbia from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she completed her tenure as Chancellor in May 2026. 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, the launch of major crosscampus initiatives on artificial intelligence and inter disciplinary research, and sustained leadership through an uncertain federal funding environment. She also made access and affordability a central priority, establishing initiatives such as Bucky’s Pell Pathway, which guarantees full financial support for Pelleligible Wisconsin residents, and expanding scholarship opportunities and academic support services, which have contributed to improved completion and graduation outcomes. Mnookin is a nationally recognized legal scholar whose work sits at the intersection of law and science and examines how scientific and expert evidence is evaluated and used within the legal system. Her core areas of focus include wrongful convictions, forensic evidence, and visual evidence. She recently served as cochair of a 2024 expert report on facial recognition technologies for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Prior to leading UWMadison, Mnookin served as Dean of the UCLA School of Law, where she spent 17 years on the faculty, strengthened the school’s scholarly profile, expanded clinical and experiential programs, and led recordbreaking fundraising efforts in support of the school’s academic mission. 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 cochaired a group of senior advisors for the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology report on the use of forensic science in criminal courts. Mnookin received her A.B. from Harvard University, her J.D. from Yale Law School, and a Ph.D. in history and social study of science and technology from MIT. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020.