Dr. Merryl H. Tisch is one of the nation’s leading voices on education. She was appointed chair of the State University of New York in September of 2019, after serving as vice-chair since 2018. From 2009 to 2016, Dr. Tisch served as chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents, New York State’s governing body for education.
Prior to serving as its chancellor, Dr. Tisch was a member of the board of regents for twenty years and then held the position of vice chancellor from 2007 to 2009. While leading the board of regents, Dr. Tisch was responsible for setting the state’s education policy and overseeing both public and private education throughout New York. Her policies were informed by years of experience in the fields of education, community service, and philanthropy.
Dr. Tisch currently holds a number of philanthropic and civic positions in New York and beyond. She sits on the executive committees of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the Citizens Budget Commission. Additionally, she serves on the board of The Trust for Cultural Resources of the City of New York, and the Graduate School of Education’s Board of Overseers at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Tisch is also a trustee of Barnard College.
Dr. Tisch sits on the board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and acts as the Met’s representative on the Public Design Commission, and she also serves as the chair of the Rhodes Scholarship District Selection Committee. Dr. Tisch is a member of the NYC Charter Revision Commission, and chair emeritus of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, a leading social services agency. In 2008, Dr. Tisch and her husband James Tisch endowed the Tisch Cancer Institute at Mt. Sinai Hospital.
She earned a B.A. from Barnard College, an M.A. in Education from New York University, and received an Ed.D from Teacher’s College, Columbia University.