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About President Schweitzer
Laura Schweitzer, Ph.D. became president of Union Graduate College in January, 2009.
She brings a wide range of administrative experience, having previously served in key roles at SUNY Upstate, Syracuse University, Bassett Healthcare and the University of Louisville. Prior to her administrative career, President Schweitzer, a Duke and Washington University trained neurobiologist, was known for her contributions to the understanding of the relationship between structural and functional development in the auditory brainstem and deafness.
Now considered an expert on faculty development, strategic planning, and effective change management in higher education, Dr. Schweitzer has spoken nationally on these and related topics. She also holds a place in history. Believed to be the first female Ph.D. to ever lead a U.S. medical school, President Schweitzer first served as vice dean for administration and faculty affairs at the University of Louisville, then dean of allied health. She then became the University’s first presidential fellow, and finally, interim dean of the medical school. During her tenure there, the University of Louisville saw a seven-fold increase in research funding from the National Institutes of Health.
In 2003, Dr. Schweitzer received the University of Louisville’s Diversity and Equity (Tachau) Award and in 2008 she received the Women in Medicine Leadership Development Award, a national honor of the Association of American Medical Colleges. The award recognizes an individual who has made significant contributions to advancing women leaders in academic medicine. She currently mentors a group of women from around the country as a national faculty member of the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine Program.
Just before coming to Union Graduate College, Dr. Schweitzer served as Chief Academic Officer/Bassett Healthcare and Founding Regional Dean at the Cooperstown Campus/Albany Medical College, where she pioneered creation of a new two-year medical campus model, designed to respond to the dangerous physician shortage in rural New York. Prior to that assignment, she served as Vice President for Academic Affairs/SUNY Upstate and Vice Provost/Syracuse University.
President Schweitzer received a Ph.D. in Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis in 1979. She went on to complete a post-doctoral fellowship at Duke University and was named Research Faculty in 1985. Three years later, Dr. Schweitzer moved to the University of Louisville. She has published more than 50 scholarly articles and accumulated grant and contract funding in excess of $5 million, primarily from federal sources including the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and HRSA (Health Resources and Services Administration).
Dr. Schweitzer is also committed to strengthening community. As a founding member of the Heuser Hearing Institute, she was named its first and only lifetime board member when she left Louisville in 2005. Her board involvement also includes the Star Autism Initiative, Louisville Deaf Oral School, the Parkinson’s Foundation and the regional Go Red for Women campaign of the American Heart Association.
In recognition of her research and contributions to the deaf community, Dr. Schweitzer was nominated to the White House National Council on Disabilities (NCD) in 2006. That same year, she was appointed to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Hearing Advisory Group. Dr. Schweitzer also serves on the Albany Medical Center Horizons Committee, a task force of Capital Region health care leaders convened to design a blueprint for better health care delivery in the region.
President Schweitzer is married to Dr. Michael Gruenthal, chair of neurology at Albany Medical Center. They have two adult sons.
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© 2011 Union Graduate College,
Full, part time and accelerated Graduate Masters Degree Study Programs.
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Union Graduate College
80 Nott Terrace, Schenectady, NY 12308 US
Phone: (518) 631-9900 Fax: (518) 631-9901
