Terry Babcock-Lumish

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  Terry Babcock-Lumish was appointed in January 2011 a Distinguished Lecturer and the first Newman Director of Public Policy.  In this capacity, Dr. Babcock-Lumish directs the public policy program at Roosevelt House, preparing students to be informed and active citizens, developing Roosevelt House’s applied policy research agenda, and fostering civic engagement both within and beyond the Hunter College community.

  Before joining Hunter College, Dr. Babcock-Lumish served as research faculty at the University of Oxford, Harvard University, and the University of Arizona.  Her research interests involve decision-making in financial innovation at the intersection of science, technology, and society, with implications for private and social entrepreneurship alike.  She has been an invited speaker internationally, with her work appearing in journals such as The Journal of Financial Transformation and Competition and Change.

  Previously, Dr. Babcock-Lumish worked in local, state, and federal government, most recently as a Presidential Management Fellow in the President’s Council of Economic Advisers.  During her service at the US Department of the Treasury, she was awarded the Vice President’s Hammer Award for “reinventing government” and the Secretary’s Award.  Upon leaving the White House in 2001, Dr Babcock-Lumish served as a researcher for two books by the Honorable Al Gore and Tipper Gore.

  In 2005, Dr. Babcock-Lumish founded Islay Consulting LLC, a certified Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise, with clients such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative, and LIVESTRONG.  Islay leverages experience in public-private partnering, intergovernmental management and relations, community and economic development, and catalytic domestic and international grantmaking to support results-oriented policies and programs, from grassroots to global.

  In 2006, Dr. Babcock-Lumish was recognized as one of southern Arizona’s “40 Under 40” emerging leaders by the Tucson Business Edge.  In 2007, she was named a Young Leader by the American Swiss Foundation and selected for an alumni award by her undergraduate alma mater Carnegie Mellon University.  In 2010, she was named to the National Committee on US-China Relations’ Young Leaders Forum.

  Active in community and public service, Dr. Babcock-Lumish serves as a trustee of Indicorps, an advisory panelist to Beyond Sport, and on the steering committee for the Honorable Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ).  She is a member of the Association of American Geographers and the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), and is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

  Dr. Babcock-Lumish earned her BS with University and College Honors at Carnegie Mellon University, her MPA in environmental and technology policy as a Lilly Community Assistance Fellow at the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and her DPhil as both a Truman and Clarendon Scholar at the University of Oxford.