BARUCH COLLEGE–After eight years of leadership, Baruch College President Mitchel B. Wallerstein announced his decision to step down at the end of the current academic year following commencement in June 2019. Wallerstein explained in an email to students sent on Oct. 1 that with the new five-year strategic plan completed and all three schools named and endowed, it is an appropriate moment for him to “pass the torch to a new leader.”
“The average shelf life of a college president, nationally, is about five to seven years,” Wallerstein said in an interview with The Ticker when asked why he felt after such success, it was appropriate for him to step down. He reiterated that he had accomplished most of what he set out to do.