President David Podell, Ph.D.
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David Podell, Ph.D. is the sixth president of Massachusetts Bay Community College. Prior to joining MassBay in July 2016, he served as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty at Marymount Manhattan College, and as Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at the College of Staten Island, part of the City University of New York (CUNY). In addition, Dr. Podell has served on on the faculty of the College of Staten Island, the CUNY Graduate Center, and Adelphi University.
A long-time academic leader and scholar, Dr. Podell’s passions have focused on expanding higher education access and providing high quality educational opportunities to help students advance their academic goals, advance their careers, and enrich their lives.
At the College of Staten Island, he spearheaded the creation of innovative programs for both high achieving students and those with developmental and English language needs. Under his leadership, the college developed its first doctoral programs in Nursing and Physical Therapy, and new master’s, bachelor’s, and certificate programs. He led a team that created an on-campus, internationally-themed high school, receiving support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Asia Society.
At Marymount Manhattan College, he introduced a learning communities program for first-year students, as well as the college’s first honors program. He worked closely with faculty to create new programs in Business and Communication Arts to respond industry demands, and a new liberal arts major, “Politics and Human Rights.” He engaged faculty in the creation of the Center for Teaching Innovation and Excellence and a monthly conversation series on diversity and social justice.
Dr. Podell’s academic research, which focuses on the psychology of cognitive disabilities, has appeared in the Journal of Research and Development in Education, Child Abuse and Neglect, the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, the Journal of Educational Research, and the Journal of Special Education. He is the co-author of Educational Psychology: Windows on Teaching (McGraw-Hill) and the editor of two readers, Perspectives: Educating Exceptional Learners and Educational Psychology: Contending Ideas and Opinions (Coursewise).
Dr. Podell graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in history. He earned his Ed.M. in Child Development from Harvard University and his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from New York University. He also studied at the University of London through Empire State College, State University of New York, and at the Institute for Behavior Therapy in New York.