Shapiro GS ’64 to chair DeVry

Keller said in a statement that Shapiro, who has been a director of DeVry Inc., since 2001, “is an excellent choice to serve as board chair.”

“Having served as president of the University of Michigan, a leading publicly-funded university and Princeton University, a leading privately-funded higher education institution, he will bring extraordinary knowledge and talent to the work of board chair of DeVry Inc.,” he said.

DeVry Inc., is a publicly held higher education company and the umbrella legal entity for DeVry University, Ross University, Chamberlain College of Nursing, Becker Professional Review and Advanced Academics, Inc.

Its institutions offer a range of educational opportunities, from career-oriented undergraduate and graduate education to veterinary, nursing and medical school and professional education in finance and accounting.Shapiro said in an interview that Keller introduced him to a new model of for-profit education. The two met as members of the University Board of Trustees.

“I was intrigued by this niche DeVry found for itself in the educational structure in this country,” Shapiro said. “The closer I got to it, I realized [DeVry is] fulfilling a function.”

It provides education for “non-traditional students [who] got off the standard track,” Shapiro explained.

Shapiro joined the DeVry Inc., board after he finished his tenure as president of Princeton. He explained that he now serves as head of the board’s Education Committee, which analyzes academic issues, such as how nursing school graduates do on their national exams.

Shapiro explained that, as chair, he will mostly run board meetings and facilitate communication between the board and the management of DeVry Inc., adding that his position will be non-executive.

Those who have worked with Shapiro have expressed great confidence in his ability to lead the board.

Jocelyn Russell ’85, a business professor currently pursuing a Ph.D. from DeVry University, said she was happy to hear that Shapiro was assuming the position of chair. Russell has known Shapiro since she served as a Young Alumni Trustee. During trustee meetings, “Harold talked about a vision he had ... related to helping raise the bar on the quality of [Princeton’s] excellence,” she said.

Russell said that Shapiro’s inspirational leadership played a part in her decision to come to DeVry.

“One of the reasons I’m a professor at DeVry was because I was touched by Harold’s call that he gave to serve our nation [as a role model], and it touched my heart,” Russell said. She enrolled in the Ph.D. program at DeVry after running a number of nonprofit organizations.

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Russell said that she is confident Shapiro has the tools to run a rapidly expanding DeVry effectively. “He understands how to develop and grow an organization,” she said. “It’s a great blessing for DeVry to have his help.”