CUNY Chancellor Matos Rodríguez Names Interim Vice Chancellor For University Advancement

August 13, 2019

The City University of New York Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez today named Andrea Shapiro Davis, a driving force behind programs that promote access and equality, as interim vice chancellor for University advancement.

Since 2013, Davis has served as CUNY’s associate vice chancellor for Corporate, Foundation and Major Gift Development, a role in which she has spurred the growth of initiatives for women’s rights and diversity. She will now be charged with continuing that mission through the University’s efforts in fund-raising from private donors.

“Andrea Shapiro Davis is a longtime champion of diversity, inclusion and access. She has the expertise to broaden the University’s private fundraising efforts and advance CUNY’s mission of moving low-income students into the middle class,” said Chancellor Matos Rodríguez. “Andrea’s tireless advocacy, and her many efforts to create opportunities for New Yorkers, make her a natural candidate for this role.”

“I’m delighted to be given this opportunity to help lead the fund-raising efforts at CUNY,” said Davis. “As a CUNY grad, I know firsthand the essential role that our individual, corporate and foundation donors play in helping low income students access higher education and thereby change the trajectory of their lives and the lives of their families. I look forward to helping to further this great mission.”

As associate vice chancellor, Davis led CUNY’s Women in Technology and Entrepreneurship in New York Program (WiTNY), a partnership between CUNY and Cornell Tech that has support from several corporate partners. The goal of WiTNY is to double the number of women majoring or minoring in computer science, thereby diversifying the profession. She also oversaw CUNY Arts, a multidimensional program that is designed to open up the cultural world to CUNY students, and she helped create the CUNY Cultural Corps, a partnership between CUNY, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the Rockefeller Foundation.

She has had a long and distinguished career in public service, including 11 years in the administration of former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, in which she served as special adviser to the mayor, executive director of the mayor’s Office of Appointments and executive director of the NYC Commission on Women’s Issues. Prior to joining the Bloomberg administration, she was the director of development and external relations at the CUNY School of Law. She also spent four years as an assistant district attorney in Queens County and was an attorney in private practice.

Davis is the founder of the Women’s City Network and the Women’s City Network C-Suite, professional development collaboratives for women working in and leading nonprofit and public sector organizations. She is a proud graduate of Queens College and Hofstra University School of Law.

The City University of New York is the nation’s leading urban public university. Founded in 1847, CUNY counts 13 Nobel Prize and 24 MacArthur (“Genius”) grant winners among its alumni. CUNY students, alumni and faculty have garnered scores of other prestigious honors over the years in recognition of historic contributions to the advancement of the sciences, business, the arts and myriad other fields. The University comprises 25 institutions: 11 senior colleges, seven community colleges, William E. Macaulay Honors College at CUNY, CUNY Graduate Center, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, CUNY School of Law, CUNY School of Professional Studies and CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy. The University serves more than 275,000 degree-seeking students. CUNY offers online baccalaureate and master’s degrees through the School of Professional Studies.