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Scott S. Cowen is a member of the board of directors of Forest City Enterprises, Inc.
Cowen is Tulane University's 14th President. He also holds joint appointments as the Seymour S. Goodman Memorial Professor of Business in Tulane's A.B. Freeman School of Business and Professor of Economics in its School of Liberal Arts.
From his arrival at Tulane in 1998 until 2005, the university more than doubled its undergraduate applications, experienced all-time highs in student enrollment and quality, doubled the level of total private giving and received a record level of research awards. The university also implemented a number of innovative academic and research program initiatives and significantly increased its community outreach. In recognition of these and other efforts, Newsweek magazine listed Tulane University as one of the "hottest" schools in the U.S. in 2002.
In August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans, flooded two-thirds of Tulane's campus and dispersed its students, faculty and staff around the country. Despite incurring more than $400 million in damage, Tulane, under Cowen's leadership, was repaired, and a remarkable 87 percent of its students returned for classes in January of 2006. In order to ensure the university's financial stability and secure its continuation as one of the nation's leading universities, Cowen implemented a Renewal Plan. The Plan represents the most sweeping reorganization of an American university in more than a century.
The Renewal Plan strengthens and focuses the university's academic mission while strategically addressing its current and future operations in the post-Katrina era. It also includes the continuation of "Promise and Distinction: The Campaign for Tulane." With a goal of raising $700 million by 2008, the campaign, launched March 17, 2005, is one of the largest university fundraising efforts in the history of Louisiana.
In the aftermath of Katrina, Cowen has emerged as one of the primary leaders in the recovery of New Orleans. In addition to reopening Tulane, the city's largest employer, taking the lead in reopening the city's first post-Katrina public school and helping other New Orleans institutions such as Xavier and Dillard universities recover, Cowen chaired the education subcommittee of Mayor C. Ray Nagin's Bring New Orleans Back Commission. The subcommittee presented a plan to city and state leaders designed to rebuild and transform the city's public schools into a model system.
Even before Katrina, Cowen was a leader on the national stage. In June 2003, he invited his fellow university leaders to join together in a national effort to reform intercollegiate athletics and ensure that their sports programs are consistent with the values, missions and aspirations of their institutions. This effort included working to alter the Bowl Championship Series arrangement to minimize, if not eliminate, its adverse impact on Division I-A intercollegiate athletics, requesting that the NCAA adopt policies and procedures that support higher academic standards and asking the NCAA to reconsider the appropriateness and cost implications of Division I-A membership criteria.
Cowen has also held several leadership positions in national academic and professional associations. He is a past board member of the American Council on Education, a past member of its Nominating Committee and Executive Committee and was Chair of the Planning Committee for its 2003 annual meeting. He is also a former board member of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, a former member of the NCAA board and its executive committee and past president of the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business. He is currently chair of the Conference USA Board of Directors and a member of the Mayor's National Film Advisory Board.
Besides his achievements in the academic world, Cowen also has extensive experience in business as a corporate director and consultant. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Newell Rubbermaid Inc., American Greetings Corporation, Jo-Ann Stores Inc. and Forest City Enterprises Inc. He has served as a consultant to dozens of companies, from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies. In addition, he sits on several community boards, including the New Orleans Business Council, Committee For A Better New Orleans and Greater New Orleans Inc.
Cowen came to Tulane in 1998 from Case Western Reserve University where he was a member of the faculty for 23 years and Dean and Albert J. Weatherhead III Professor of Management at its Weatherhead School of Management for 14 years. | 