Hilary Ballon

As Deputy Vice Chancellor of NYU Abu Dhabi, Hilary Ballon is part of the leadership team that is developing NYU's new, full-scale campus for undergraduate and graduate students and pursuing President Sexton's vision of NYU as a global network university. A founding member of the team that began planning NYUAD in September 2007, she has been involved in all aspects of the new university, with particular emphasis on the design of a new, globally oriented curriculum and of the campuses in downtown Abu Dhabi and on Saadiyat Island. A frequent traveler to Abu Dhabi, Ballon is based in New York, where a priority is to build an organic connection between NYU in New York and Abu Dhabi. In addition to her administrative duties, Ballon teaches courses on urbanism and architecture to undergraduates and in the graduate planning program at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Before joining NYU in September 2007, Ballon had been at Columbia University since 1985. An innovative and dedicated teacher, Ballon received Columbia University's highest teaching awards: the Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching, the Great Teacher Award, and the Philip and Ruth Hettleman Teaching Award. Her seminar on the urban development of New York City was a laboratory for collaborative student work and digital projects. She was chair of the Department of Art History and Archaeology from 2002-04, and as director of Art Humanities, she oversaw a cornerstone of Columbia's undergraduate core curriculum. An active participant in university affairs, she chaired the Committee on Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid, played a leadership role in curricular development, co-chaired the Arts & Sciences Faculty Fundraising Committee for the Capital Campaign, and served on the Presidential Search Committee, among many university appointments. Ballon serves on the Board of Directors of the Museum of the City of New York, the Regional Plan Association, and the Skyscraper Museum, and is a member of the Advisory Council of the Princeton School of Architecture She was chairman of the Planning Board of Englewood, New Jersey from 2000-05 where she dealt with contested development issues and rewrote the town's master plan. Ballon received a B.A. from Princeton University and a Ph.D. from M.I.T. Her academic awards include fellowships from the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, the Institute for Advanced Study, and the Andrew H. Mellon Foundation.