Ann Marie Lipinski is leaving her position as Vice President for Civic Engagement at the end of June to take an appointment as Curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.
Lipinski arrived in 2008 to help explore how a major urban university acts in partnership with its city. Under her guidance the Office of Civic Engagement has supported discourse around the future of the city and arts programs in the community. She helped shape engagement with the Chicago Public Schools, including the University’s charter schools, and worked with the Woodlawn community on the future of schools in that area. She worked in partnership with a number of faculty members to connect their academic work to concrete issues faced by Chicago, ranging from crime to health to the census.
“I want to thank Ann Marie for her leadership and service to the University. We are deeply committed to the growing engagement with the community, the city and the nation that Ann Marie helped develop,” President Robert J. Zimmer wrote in an email to University leaders. He said details about future civic engagement leadership at the University would emerge in the weeks to come.
Lipinski oversaw the reorganization and strengthening of the University’s safety, security and transportation systems, resulting in a significant reduction in crime. She introduced a new community planning process for building projects. She also taught a popular course in non-fiction narrative writing in the College.
“I have been privileged by my time at the University and am grateful for the many relationships I have formed here,” Lipinski said. “The University is an extraordinary resource to Chicago and, in turn, benefits greatly from being here. I have no doubt that the work we have in place will continue and flourish.”
Lipinski came to the University after a nationally prominent career in journalism, including a 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Journalism and seven years as editor of the Chicago Tribune. As curator of the Nieman Foundation, she will oversee a prestigious fellowship for journalists and guide the Foundation’s support for research in journalism.
—Prof. Kunle Odunsi
