Andrew Rich (DE 91)
Andrew Rich became Executive Secretary of the Truman Scholarship Foundation in October 2011. As Executive Secretary, he directs the independent federal agency that provides merit-based Truman Scholarships to college students who plan to attend graduate school in preparation for careers in public service. He supervises a selection process involving up to 500 colleges and universities that annually nominate more than 600 candidates for scholarships. He works closely with 150 senior public servants including federal judges, college and university presidents and past Truman Scholarship winners who serve on panels to select annually 60-65 new Truman Scholars. Under his direction, the Foundation provides leadership training and community-building programs, along with graduate school and career counseling to several hundred Truman Scholars each year.
Before joining the Truman Scholarship Foundation, Dr. Rich was President and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute, a non-profit organization devoted to carrying forward the legacy and values of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. It is the non-profit partner to the FDR Presidential Library and Museum and a progressive policy idea and leadership development organization headquartered in New York City with offices in Washington, DC and Hyde Park, NY. During his three year tenure at the Institute (2009-2011), Dr. Rich launched the Institute's Four Freedoms Center, supporting some of the most innovative voices as they engaged fundamental policy challenges of the day. Rich also oversaw efforts to expand and strengthen the Roosevelt Institute Campus Network, which more than doubled in size during his tenure, with active chapters on more than 125 college campuses involving 12,000 college students in a vibrant set of student-led programs that engage them in discussing progressive values, empower them to develop public policy, and promote their ideas to policymakers at all levels of government.
Dr. Rich is the author of Think Tanks, Public Policy, and the Politics of Expertise (Cambridge University Press, 2004), as well as a wide-ranging number of articles about think tanks, interest groups, foundations, individual donors, and the role of experts and ideas in the American policy process. He was Associate Professor and Chairman of the Political Science Department at the City College of New York (CCNY) before joining the Roosevelt Institute. He was also Deputy Director and Director of Programs at the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies at CCNY. From 1999 to 2003, he taught political science at Wake Forest University. He received his BA from the University of Richmond, and his PhD in political science from Yale University. He is a 1991 Truman Scholar from Delaware.