Noel S. Anderson currently holds the positions of Steinhardt Director of Leadership and Innovation and Clinical Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. He is responsible for leading and growing the Steinhardt EdD in Leadership and Innovation, Executive Education Leadership programs and other innovation initiatives within NYU’s global network.

For over 25 years, Noel S. Anderson has served in a variety of leadership positions in the public and private sectors. He has lead in large public school districts, higher education institutions and national
non-profit organizations. Prior to NYU, Noel was National Senior Program Director (Chief Program Officer) for Year Up, Inc., a national workforce and education organization that develops young people for internships and job placement in Fortune 500 companies, and was responsible for overseeing program development, innovation and quality for a growing network of over 15 cities across the United States, serving over 3000 young adults yearly. He also served as interim Executive Director for Year Up, New York, Year Up’s largest market, directing corporate partnerships, fundraising, leading a staff of 40, and managing a budget of $8 million.

Before leading at Year Up, Noel was a tenured Associate Professor and interim Chairperson in the Department of Political Science at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. His academic research focuses on career and post-secondary pathways for low-income youth and race and equity in education. Much of his research integrates the capabilities approach (a theory developed by Amartya Sen, Nobel Prize winner in welfare economics) to education and equity, one of only a handful of U.S. scholars applying this complex methodology to education and workforce studies. Noel has taught and lectured around the world. He was Visiting Professor of Politics at Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey, and has shared his research widely in Europe and South Africa on “disconnected youth” (those not working or in school).

Noel has authored and edited numerous scholarly articles and books on urban education, youth development and youth labor markets, emphasizing youth voice. His most recent co-authored book is Working to Learn: Disrupting the Divide between College and Career Pathways for Young People (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2020), which blends research, policy analysis and assessments from professional practice to examine how young people navigate and integrate the worlds of work and school in Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.

Noel has earned over a dozen awards and fellowships. He was Presidio Institute Cross-Sector Leadership Fellow. He also received the prestigious Whitney M. Young, Jr. Education Leadership Award from the National Urban League for developing “Project Ready”, NUL’s signature college access program. He served on United States Presidential candidate Joseph Biden’s Education Policy Committee, lending his expertise to inform the campaign’s national platform on career readiness. Noel received his B.A. cum laude from Brooklyn College, M.S.Ed. from the University of Pennsylvania and his Ph.D. from New York University.