Former President, NYU
John Sexton served as fifteenth President of New York University from 2002 through 2015. He is NYU’s Benjamin F. Butler Professor of Law and Dean Emeritus of the Law School.
During his presidency, NYU’s reach and stature grew tremendously, including the University’s largest increase in the number of Arts and Science faculty; record numbers of applications for undergraduate admissions; and a merger with Polytechnic University, now the NYU Tandon School of Engineering.
A signature of his tenure was the emergence of NYU as a Global Network University, with 11 academic centers on six continents and degree-granting campuses in Abu Dhabi and Shanghai.
A Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, President Emeritus Sexton also serves on the board of the Institute of International Education and is past Chair of the American Council on Education. In 2015, he received the TIAA-CREF Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence, recognizing outstanding university presidents, and the Institute of International Education’s Duggan Award for Mutual Understanding. In Spring 2016 he held the Kluge Chair in American Law and Governance at the Library of Congress.
Before coming to NYU, President Emeritus Sexton clerked at the United States Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals. From 1966-1975, he was a Professor of Religion at Saint Francis College in Brooklyn.
President Sexton received a Bachelor’s degree in history, a Master’s degree in comparative religion, and a PhD in the history of American religion, all from Fordham University. He received a law degree magna cum laude from Harvard Law School.
