It’s said that if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life, and I know it’s true.
Helping to make the American Dream become a reality for tens of thousands of young New Yorkers has been a pleasure and privilege beyond measure.
As the president of Hunter College for the last 22 years, my aim has been to bring excellence to public higher education, to show that affordable does not have to mean second-class, and to prove that New York can provide opportunity and access to those who could not otherwise move up the ladder.
This commitment was informed by my ideals and my life story.
While serving as the city’s landmarks commissioner 23 years ago, I learned the president of Hunter was leaving and in a Eureka moment decided the job was meant for me.
It was brash and presumptuous, given that I had no experience as an academic leader.
And as I quickly learned the fit, shall we say, was not obvious to everyone.
But I was tenacious because I had a vision — and fortunately won the support of the decision-makers.
My tenure, which overlapped with all or part of the terms of four mayors and five governors, lasted longer than any other Hunter president except for founder Thomas Hunter himself.
Why Hunter College?
Because over 50 years ago, I left my family’s apartment in Washington Heights and got on the No. 4 bus with my No. 2 pencils, and took the test for Hunter High School.
When I was admitted, I was warned about Hunter’s academic rigor and quickly learned I was unprepared for its exacting standards.
But like so many Hunter students today, I persevered and later became the first in my family to get a college education, followed by two advanced degrees.
With the support of generous scholarships, I experienced the best of what three Ivy League universities offered.
Now, so many years later, I was in a position to take all I had been given and pass it on to a new generation of strivers.
My vision was to build on Hunter’s storied reputation and show what excellence in public higher education looks like.
And thanks to the phenomenal Hunter team, we did just that.
We raised standards, wondering if we would have enough students, but to our great satisfaction, enrollment actually grew.
Then we raised standards even higher.
We jump-started philanthropy and set out to create opportunities and programs that are standard at top private universities.
We recruited the adviser at Harvard who coached students for prestigious scholarships.
The next year, Thamara Jean, the brilliant daughter of Haitian immigrants, became our first Rhodes Scholar.
We expanded our Macaulay Honors program, and when there were not enough spots for all our talented applicants, we raised more private money and created new honors programs for hundreds more qualified students each year.
Our second Rhodes scholar, Devashish Basnet, an immigrant from Nepal, came from that cohort.
Our philanthropy, which surpassed $500 million, helped support Dreamers, and today, Izzie Echevarria, who was undocumented when she was brought here at 2 from Chile, is a star at Columbia Law School.
We recruited outstanding professors such as two-time Booker Prize winner Peter Carey, Tony winner Gregory Mosher and art historian Joachim Pissarro.
Together we put Hunter on the map as the public school of the arts in the capital city of the art world.
We gave aspiring artists an incomparable education at a price that enables them to follow their passion.
We attracted more than $1 billion in research funds and bought a floor in the Weill Cornell science-research building.
We built a new complex in East Harlem to live the mission of our social-work school and renovated and reopened Roosevelt House to give our students an extraordinary public-policy institute.
We also launched what has become the best early college high school in the state and enriched my beloved Hunter HS to ensure its future.
As our national rankings and support soared, we proved that offering a first-class public education attracts top students and faculty, creating continuing cycles of excellence.
We did this for our immigrant and first-generation students.
But we also did it for the working- and middle-class city kids whose families have been priced out of the private university market.
With private costs reaching $70,000 a year, we simply must have more high-quality public options.
And that’s what Hunter has become, or, as the prestigious Princeton Review called it, “the crown jewel of CUNY.”
And all for the price of about $7,000 a year!
Throughout my tenure, the Hunter motto, mihi cura futuri, the care of the future is mine, has been my guiding star.
But even as I begin a new chapter in my life, the mission is far from finished.
There is much more caring for the future for all of us to do.
Jennifer Raab ended her 22-year tenure as Hunter College president Friday.
