Provost Manoj Pardasani and Roosevelt House Director Harold Holzer have announced that Dr. Joseph Viteritti is assuming the role of Interim Director of the Public Policy Program at Roosevelt House. Dr. Viteritti is the Thomas Hunter Professor of Public Policy and served as the Chair of the Urban Policy and Planning Department at Hunter from 2008-2023. He was the founding faculty chair of the Public Policy Program at Roosevelt House.

Professor Viteritti has written or edited 12 books, and has published extensively in social science journals, law reviews, and the press, including the New York Times and Washington Post. His work has been translated into four foreign languages and covers topics that include city politics, education policy, criminal justice, and law. His most recent book on racial politics in our schools will be published later this year by Oxford University Press.

He has an extensive record of public service, having worked as a senior advisor to the chancellor of the New York City public schools as well as the school superintendents of Boston and San Francisco. He has been a member or director of a variety of blue-ribbon panels that have reviewed and recommended policies in the areas of city charter revision, education governance, police management, jail reform, municipal secession, civic education, and executive, legislative and judicial compensation.

Prior to joining the Hunter faculty in 2003, Professor Viteritti taught at Princeton, New York University, Harvard, and the State University of New York at Albany. He is a proud graduate of Hunter College, and a member of the Alumni Hall of Fame.

The Public Policy Program — which, along with Human Rights, constitutes the academic side of Roosevelt House — counts approximately 100 undergraduate enrollees annually pursuing a certificate or minor in public policy.