Debra Szybinski
Higher Education Consultant
Helping Colleges and Universities Since 1996
- Forging partnerships among higher education institutions
- Offering opportunities for faculty development
- Fostering collaboration and collegiality
- Enhancing teaching with effective pedagogical approaches
Cross-institutional Collaboration
Developed a successful model for bringing together faculty and institutions from around the country and the world to work in meaningful and collegial partnerships.
Career Building Opportunities
With a proven record of bringing together recognized experts in their fields to keynote, lead faculty seminars, and provide mentoring and guidance across institutions.
Promoting the best pedagogical approaches at institutions of higher education for over 20 years
Named one of the top 25 Women in Higher Education by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education
Dr. Szybinski has served concurrently as: (a) Executive Director of the Faculty Resource Network (1996-2019) – a partnership of over 50 colleges and universities throughout the U.S. that provided professional development opportunities for its member institutions, and (b) Executive Director of the Office of Faculty Resources and the Center for the Advancement of Teaching (2008-2019) at New York University (NYU).
Skillful Leadership
Under her leadership, the Faculty Resource Network (FRN) was an award-winning, nationally-recognized faculty development consortium that annually offered a week-long summer program of seminars and workshops that normally attracted 300+ faculty and administrators. The FRN also offered National Symposia on such topics as “Transforming Teaching through Active Learning,” “Teaching a New Generation of Students,” “Engaging with Diversity,” “Advancing Social Justice,” “Women and the Underrepresented in the Academy,” and “Spirituality and Higher Education.” She has, in fact, organized more than 40 national conferences, symposia, and disciplinary institutes on topics in higher education. She is also known for her fundraising prowess, having secured funding from such entities as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Lily Endowment, NEH, NSF, NIH, Pew Charitable Trusts, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Education.
Generous Service
Dr. Szybinski has served as Chair of the Board of Directors for the Washington Internship Institute, a member of the Advisory Committee of the United Negro College Fund’s Institute for Capacity Building, NYU’s institutional representative for the Leadership Alliance headquartered at Brown University, and as Executive Administrator for the Renaissance Society of America and Managing Editor of Renaissance Quarterly. She has made presentations on faculty development before higher education organizations, such as the American Association of Colleges and Universities, the American Association of Higher Education, and the Professional and Organizational Development Network (POD). In 2018, she was named one of the top 25 Women in Higher Education by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education.
Dr. Szybinski received her Ph.D. from Columbia University in Renaissance Literature (with a minor in Modern Greek Literature) and her B.A. from Barnard College.