Dr. Karen Gross is New President
of Southern Vermont College
Southern Vermont College announced the selection of Karen Gross, a leader in education and community development, as its eighth president. She succeeds Barbara P. Sirvis, who is retiring after serving as the College's president for the past nine years.
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Dr. Gross, selected following a six-month national search involving more than one hundred candidates, brings to Southern Vermont College a remarkable and diverse set of skills and experiences. A professor of law for more than 20 years at New York Law School (NYLS), she has earned a national and international reputation as a scholar, teacher, speaker and advocate who addresses the needs of vulnerable individuals and communities. She founded and led an award-winning non-profit organization that designs, implements and assesses programs to improve financial literacy skills. She has been honored for her efforts by many organizations, including the Legal Aid Society and American Association of University Women.
A prolific writer, she is frequently quoted in the media, and her articles appear in well-known academic and non-academic publications, including The Chronicle of Higher Education, University Business, the Journal of Student Affairs and Leadership Exchange. Her book, Failure and Forgiveness (Yale University Press, 1997), has been regularly cited by commentators and won the Association of American Publishers Business Management Award.
Raised in New England, Dr. Gross received her B.A. from Smith College, cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and her J.D. degree, cum laude, from Temple University, spending her final year of law study at the University of Chicago.
In announcing the appointment of Dr. Gross, Mike Rolla, Chair of the Board of Trustees, applauded the search committee, chaired by fellow trustee Wally Altes, and the efforts of the many constituencies that contributed to the successful process. "We believe our intensive search effort has yielded an individual who is uniquely qualified to advance the mission of Southern Vermont College," he said. "Dr. Gross' longstanding commitment to education and community building, her deeply held belief in the power of education to create opportunity, and her vision for liberal arts education in the 21st century struck a chord with those who met her." Search Chair Wally Altes echoed these sentiments. "In Dr. Gross, we have found a talented, energetic and skillful leader who understands small colleges and appreciates the values at the heart of this college. The SVC community eagerly awaits her arrival on campus in August." The College — now in its 80th year — is planning a series of community events over the coming months to welcome its new leader.
Congratulations to the College and Dr. Gross are already being heard in different quarters. "In Karen Gross, Southern Vermont College has found an inspirational leader," said Ray Bell, Vice President of CreditorsInterchange, who sat on Dr. Gross' non-profit board and has worked with her for a decade. "She has the capacity to move people and institutions to places they have not been before, with thoughtfulness, good humor and sound judgment." Dr. Sirvis noted, "I am sure the Board has made an excellent choice and the College will continue to flourish."
In accepting this appointment, Dr. Gross said, "Southern Vermont College is a very special place. The College's programs, resources, location and size create the unique opportunity for it to address successfully the challenge of providing the next generation of students with the skills they need to become leaders in our ever-changing workplaces and communities. I look forward to being a part of the College's future and to meeting and working together with the SVC and Bennington community. I am delighted with my new academic home, and I look forward to synergies between SVC and NYLS."
Dr. Gross and her husband, Stephen H. Cooper, a lawyer and law professor, have a home in Bondville, Vermont. Their son, Zack, who graduated from the Stratton Mountain School and the University of Chicago, is now pursuing graduate studies in healthcare policy at the London School of Economics.
About the College
Southern Vermont College, founded in 1926, is a private, independent institution that offers a liberal arts education to 500 students. It has more than 6,000 graduates. The campus has strong academic support programs and NCAA Division III athletics and provides a safe, environmentally respectful and supportive community to its diverse student body. The College-owned radio station, WBTN 1370-AM, provides a voice for the Bennington community and broadcasts Boston Red Sox games.
Additional Information
Professor of Law
Director, New York Law School Economic Literacy Consortium
President, Coalition for Consumer
Bankruptcy Debtor Education
In all her years of legal practice and scholarship, Karen Gross has earned a reputation among colleagues as a scholar dedicated to studying and advocating for remedies to the human impact of overindebtedness.
Professor Gross teaches consumer finance, bankruptcy, corporate reorganization, financial advocacy, commercial law, and contracts. She also conducts empirical and historical research on these topics. Professor Gross advocates to preserve the United States bankruptcy system as a social safety net and to improve the financial literacy skills of individuals, most especially women, minorities, and students of all ages and educational levels. She serves as president of the Coalition for Consumer Bankruptcy Debtor Education, an award-winning pro bono organization she cofounded. She is the director of New York Law School's Economic Literacy Consortium, and serves as a consultant to non-profit organizations.
Author of the acclaimed 1997 book, Failure and Forgiveness: Rebalancing the Bankruptcy System (Yale University Press), which won the Association of American Publishers Business Management Award, and numerous scholarly articles, Professor Gross is a frequent commentator for the media and lecturer on consumer finance and consumer bankruptcy. She also studies women and money and coauthored an article on the first women debtors in the United States entitled, "Ladies in Red: Learning from America's First Female Bankrupts," which was published in the American Journal of Legal History. Some of her current articles appear in University Business and the Chronicle of Higher Education. She serves on various advisory boards and most recently became a member of the Foundation Board of Open Door Family Medical Centers, an organization that provides primary healthcare to underserved communities.
Prior to entering academia in 1984, Professor Gross practiced bankruptcy law at Arvey Hodes Costello & Burman in Chicago and at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP in New York. Although her initial years in practice were focused on business bankruptcy, she has since worked with overindebted individuals, including at the Legal Aid Society of New York. She also serves as an expert witness in bankruptcy and consumer finance cases.
Contrary to the commonly held belief that many debtors are abusing the bankruptcy system, Professor Gross advocates an approach toward debtors based on compassion and rehabilitation. She says that individuals trained in money and credit management can better re-enter our consumer credit marketplace as more knowledgeable and thoughtful citizens. She also believes that many individuals are vulnerable to predatory lending schemes, and she works on ways individuals can avoid unfair lending practices and build assets and credit.
She has testified before governmental bodies, including the House Judiciary Committee in 2001 on proposed bankruptcy legislation which she said was likely to have a negative effect on women and children. In 2003, she testified before the New York City Council on holiday financial scams.
As an advocate of debtor education, Professor Gross proposed a comprehensive program for consumer debtors in her 1997 testimony before the National Bankruptcy Review Commission. Through her Coalition, she and her colleague at Fordham Law School, Susan Block-Lieb, together with their social science team, developed and then conducted and empirically assessed a pilot financial literacy project for consumer debtors in bankruptcy. They received the New York State Bar Association's 2002 President's Pro Bono Service Award for their work.
Professor Gross has also brought her expertise to foreign venues. In May 2005, she spoke at Bifrost University in Iceland on women and money, and she has spoken at various meetings of experts in England, Scotland, and Portugal on financial literacy education and how to prevent and deal with consumer overindebtedness. She was cochair of the Bankruptcy Working Group of the Second Circuit Gender Fairness Committee and has been a distinguished visiting professor at Southeastern Bankruptcy Law Institute, University of Maine Law School, and St. Thomas Law School. She was recently awarded the AAUW senior scholar special commendation of honor.
