1. EachPod

Dr. Ann Kirschner, former Interim President, Hunter College

Author
The HOW Institute for Society featuring hosts Dov Seidman and Dana H. Born
Published
Thu 04 Sep 2025
Episode Link
None

[Archive Interview from Apr 25, 2024]

“I have a lack of fear of change,” says Dr. Ann Kirschner, a fearless leader known for her pursuit of new challenges and new opportunities. Dr. Kirschner, who is currently the interim president of Hunter College, follows the thread of reinvention, and it’s evident from her diverse background. She’s involved in classrooms and boardrooms, a pioneer in digital technology, and authored Sala’s Gift: My Mother’s Holocaust Story – based off letters her mother received while in Nazi labor camps. 

This week on HOW Conversations, Dr. Kirschner spoke with Dana Born, Distinguished Fellow at The HOW Institute, about another thread she follows: public education. “Public education changes people’s lives," she says. Growing up in Jackson Heights, Queens, “going to New York City public schools, they were not only educating me, they were educating the whole family.”

Dr. Kirschner also speaks on the need for rebuilding trust in higher education and how getting out of your own experience can help build moral muscle.

Check out Sala's Gift here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/book... 

READY TO START YOUR MORAL LEADERSHIP JOURNEY? Moral leadership is more imperative today than ever before. The HOW Institute for Society was founded on the belief that those in positions of formal authority should also have moral authority.  We are creating the tools leaders need to make principled, ethical and values-based decisions.  We are a nonprofit organization dedicated to building a world rooted in deep human values and trust in our social fabric. The Institute channels philosophical reasoning to address modern problems. Today, HOW we do what we do matters more than ever and in ways it never has before.  

Learn more at https://thehowinstitute.org/   

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