On January 25, 2026, the Board of Trustees of Columbia University announced that it has designated HASTS alumna Jennifer L Mnookin PhD ’99 as the University’s 21st president.
Mnookin, who presently serves as Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin – Madison, is a scholar of technology and the law. She was previously Dean of the School of Law and Ralph and Shirley Shapiro Professor of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles. During her graduate studies at MIT, Mnookin wrote a dissertation entitled “Images of Truth: Evidence, Expertise and Technologies of Knowledge in the American Courtroom” under the tutelage of Mellon Professor of Humanities Emeritus Michael M.J. Fischer.
Mnookin will begin her appointment as Columbia’s next leader on July 1. The HASTS community extends her the warmest congratulations as she prepares to assume the new post.