Dr. Lisa S. Coico
Leadership In Higher Education Award
Dr. Lisa S. Coico is the 12th President of The City College of New York and the first City University of New York graduate to lead City College. Since joining City College in 2010, Dr. Coico has overseen a resurgence in academic excellence, student engagement and faculty enhancement for the benefit of its diverse student population. Through a comprehensive program emanating from her vast experience and embracing the input of students, staff, faculty, alumni, community leaders, and others, President Coico has significantly upgraded the quality of the academic experience and student life as a whole at City College. Major research projects throughout the STEM areas have been nurtured and increased academic emphasis on the extensive undergraduate and graduate offerings in liberal arts have attracted an increasingly high quality of students and faculty alike.
The success of her programs has been reflected in many ways including significant gifting from alumni, growth of the Macaulay Honors Program on campus and recognition of City College as one of the "Best Colleges in the U.S." by the Princeton Review, Forbes and U.S. News & World Report, and one of the "Best Value Colleges" as measured by the Princeton Review.
Dr. Coico is a nationally prominent educator and researcher in microbiology and immunology and former Provost and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs and Professor of Surgery at Temple University. She also served as executive director of the Tri-Institutional Research Program, a research consortium of Cornell University, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Rockefeller University.