Statement From CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez On The Appointment of Claudia V. Schrader to serve as interim president of York College

Dear York Community,

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Claudia V. Schrader to serve as interim president of York College. A longtime member of the CUNY family, Dr. Schrader has served as president of Kingsborough Community College since September 2018. She has held leadership roles in three CUNY schools and worked more than 20 years in the system. The appointment will be effective Jan. 8, 2024, pending approval by the CUNY Board of Trustees.

President Schrader’s strong, enthusiastic leadership of Kingsborough has been distinguished by the inception of wide-ranging initiatives such as KCC FLEX, one of CUNY’s earliest online hybrid degree programs. She also led the opening of Kingsborough’s first satellite location in Brooklyn’s Cypress Hills neighborhood. During the COVID-19 pandemic, President Schrader started a program called the KCC Welcome Wagon, visiting incoming students at home, hoping to ease their anxieties about starting college in those challenging times and let them know that she — along with the rest of the Kingsborough community — was rooting for their success. I accompanied her on one such visit in the summer of 2020, and will always remember her positive energy and warmth.

Under her tenure, Kingsborough has garnered many accolades, twice advancing to the final round of 10 schools that competed for the highly prestigious Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. 

Prior to becoming president at Kingsborough, President Schrader served as provost and senior vice president for academic and student success at Bronx Community College; as associate provost at William Paterson University in New Jersey; and as associate provost at Medgar Evers College, where she also held a tenured appointment as a professor of education and served as her department’s deputy chair. I am confident that her wide-ranging CUNY experience and steady guidance will be a valuable asset to York’s campus community during this time of transition.

President Schrader has a B.A. from Rutgers University and an M.A., M.Ed. and Ed.D., all from Teachers College, Columbia University. The recipient of numerous accolades, President Schrader was one of 25 leaders selected for the Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program’s Aspen New Presidents Fellowship, and she has been inducted into the Rutgers African-American Alumni Alliance Hall of Fame.

I also want to again extend my heartfelt gratitude to outgoing President Berenecea Johnson Eanes for her combined decade of leadership and service to CUNY, and for working so diligently on behalf of us all during her time at York. I wish her much success in her new role as president of Cal State Los Angeles.

We will launch a national search for York’s next permanent leader beginning in the spring semester, in accordance with the University’s Guidelines for Presidential Searches and the bylaws of the Board of Trustees. As your Chancellor, I am here to support you and the entire college community as we work through this time of transition, and I look forward to working together to find the next president of York College. In the meantime, I know that your college will be in highly capable hands.

Please join me in extending best wishes to Dr. Eanes and a warm welcome to Dr. Schrader. We are grateful to both of them for their commitment and leadership.

Sincerely,

Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, Ph.D.
Chancellor