New School gets new president: Northwestern Law's dean

The dean of the Northwestern University School of Law has been appointed president of The New School, replacing ex-U.S. presidential candidate Bob Kerrey.

David E. Van Zandt will assume the post Jan. 1. Kerrey will remain at the helm of The New School, a university in Manhattan, until the end of this year, the school's board of trustees announced yesterday.

Kerrey sought the Democratic nomination for president in 1992. He served as Nebraska governor from 1983 to 1987 and was a U.S. senator for Nebraska from 1989 to 2001.

Kerrey, who joined the school in 2001, has not announced his plans. He said in May 2009 that he would step down when his contract was up, stressing his departure had nothing to do with a faculty dispute and student protests against him.

Van Zandt, a sociologist, graduated from Yale Law School and received a doctorate from the London School of Economics. He was a law clerk to Judge Pierre N. Leval, of the Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York City, and to Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun. He also was an attorney with the New York office of Davis Polk & Wardwell.

The New School, formerly called the New School for Social Research, has about 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The university's announcement about its new president said that during Van Zandt's tenure at Northwestern he created the largest JD-MBA program in the country, influenced annual giving and forged cross-cultural relationships.

"He has built bridges among the practices of law, business and the social sciences throughout his career," said Laura Frost, a member of the school's search committee. - AP