Governance – The Consortium for International Education & Development

Founded by a group of scholars based in the United States, CIED is governed by a Board of Directors, Advisory Council, and management and staff who are passionate about creating pathways to global higher education and dozens of educational and networking opportunities for individuals to learn about personal, professional, and community issues, from experts, and from each other. The group seeks to leverage their combined century of experience in international education in Africa, Europe, and North America.

Dr. Rudy Crew served as president of Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, New York from 2013 to 2021. A lifelong educator and author, Dr. Crew’s career has spanned the classroom to the chancellorship of the nation’s largest school district, New York City Public Schools. In 2012, Dr. Crew was selected to serve as Oregon’s first chief education officer. Dr. Crew is a renowned leader and reformer who has made it his mission to improve student achievement, especially for poor and minority students. The Chancellor’s District, the Parent Academy, and the School Improvement Zone are among Dr. Crew’s innovations that are considered national models for reform. These successful strategies have engaged parents, business and political leaders, and the community, ensuring that students achieve higher levels of success and are prepared for the global challenges ahead. Dr. Crew has served on numerous boards, including Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Communities in Schools, the Al Shanker Institute, and the Public Education Network. He is the recipient of many awards, including the NAACP Educational Leadership Award, the Arthur Ashe Leadership Award, and the AASA National Superintendent of the Year. Dr. Crew’s acclaimed book, Only Connect: The Way to Save Our Schools, continues to guide a vital public discussion.

Dr. Charles E. Menifield is dean of the School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA) at Rutgers University–Newark. His research interests lie primarily in the areas of budgeting and financial management, public health and welfare, and policing. He has two books on minority politics and two books on public budgeting and financial management. He is a Fellow in the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA).

Dr. Robert A. Schwartz, MD, MPH, DSc (Hon), MAE, FRCP Edin is in his third decade as the Professor and Head of Dermatology at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Schwartz joined the U.S. Government as a Member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, leading the global component. Schwartz has served three terms on the Rutgers University Board of Trustees, is the Chairman of the university-wide Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee, and was the Faculty President of the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. He is an International Regional Adviser of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Vice President of the International Society of Dermatology, and the Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed journal Dermatologic Therapy. Schwartz is recognized globally as an authority on cutaneous oncology, HIV/AIDS, paraneoplastic syndromes, and international health policy. Schwartz’s contributions have brought him multifarious distinctions and honorary titles from universities and scholarly organizations. Schwartz was elected as a foreign member of Academia Europaea (the European Academy of Letters and Sciences). Schwartz has written 15 books and monographs, most notably Skin Cancer: Recognition and Management, with its second edition published by Wiley-Blackwell, as well as more than 650 full articles, 300 book chapters and 300 other publications.

Dr. Michael Seelig is an expert in education policy, program development and leadership. He was the Institutional Effectiveness Officer at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York. In the course of his career, Michael has conducted successful mentoring programs that provide students with access to social capital and benefit them in emotional, social, academic and professional ways. Providing students an edge in these areas, he believes, is integral to their success and ability to compete in the global economy of the 21st century. His research interests focus on understanding existing ways that schools and external mentoring organizations are currently providing mentoring opportunities to urban youth in an effort to design a framework to be implemented and utilized by urban school districts in a continuous fashion that would make mentorship a permanent and sustainable component of higher education.

Prof. Robert Schwartz, MD, MPH, DSc (Hon), FRCP Edin is in his third decade as Professor and Head of Dermatology at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. He is also Professor of Medicine, Professor of Pediatrics, Professor of Pathology at Rutgers University; has served three terms on the Rutgers University Board of Trustees; and is the Chairman of the university-wide Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee. Schwartz is a Member of the U.S. Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/ AIDS, where he leads the global component. Schwartz has published well over 300 book chapters, 600 articles, and 200 abstracts and other publications. He has authored or coauthored a total of 15 books and monographs, most notably Skin Cancer: Recognition and Management, with its second edition published by Wiley-Blackwell. Prof. Schwartz first described florid cutaneous papillomatosis, also known as the Schwartz-Burgess syndrome, and acral acanthosis nigricans (acral acanthotic anomaly). In 1981 Prof. Schwartz led one of the three groups that first described AIDS- associated Kaposi sarcoma (KS-AIDS). He has written 65 publications on Kaposi’s sarcoma alone, including a breakthrough therapy for Kaposi’s sarcoma published in Cancer as well as original descriptions of Kaposi’s sarcoma subtypes. He established New Jersey’s first dermatology residency program in 1983. Schwartz has been active at the National Institutes of Health since 2004, presently serving on the Health Services Organization and Delivery Study Section. Prof. Schwartz was the Faculty President of the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School for two terms and the Co-chair of the Rutgers 250 Anniversary Committee. Schwartz has been part of the Board of Governors University Relations Committee. Prof. Schwartz is Overseas Regional Adviser of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. Prof. Schwartz is a past President of the Dermatology Section of the New York Academy of Medicine, has begun a third five-year term on the Board of Directors of the International Society of Dermatology, and is a member of numerous editorial boards. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, the American College of Physicians, and the American Academy of Dermatology.

Dr. Augustine Okereke is a consummate educationist whose administrative philosophy is anchored on the deep-seated belief that education is a force for social advancement and a powerful vehicle for individual and societal transformation. Dr. Okereke served as the Senior Vice President and Provost at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York. As the Chief Academic Officer of the College, he was responsible for strategic leadership, academic vision and quality, and operational management of personnel. Prior to his role as Senior Vice President and Provost, Okereke served as Dean of the School of Liberal Arts and Education and Chairperson/Professor of the English Department at Medgar Evers College (MEC). As Senior Vice President and Provost, he reported directly to the President and led a large team of senior and mid-level staff/academic managers including Vice President, Associate Provost, Deans, Directors, and Departmental Chairpersons and the supervision of the School of Professional Studies and Community Development, Center for Law and Social Justice, Caribbean Research Center, DuBois Bunche Center, and the Center for Black Literature. With exceptional academic leadership, Okereke successfully transitioned Medgar Evers College to online instruction at a record pace and achieved record student enrollment and retention. He has a demonstrable ability to lead the development of new programs and engagement of the business community towards investment in education. Okereke’s passion for education transcends boundaries, hence his determination to support development of higher education in his native country – Nigeria.

Dr. Uchenna Ekwo is a Nigerian-born author and communication and media studies scholar formerly affiliated with The City University of New York, CUNY. He teaches at the School of Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers University and is currently a Visiting Professor in the Department of Social Sciences Coal City University, Nigeria. Ekwo serves on the board of Consortium for International Management, Policy & Development that works to inspire and promote collaborative working relationships towards the advancement of knowledge in public administration, public management, public policy, and leadership development, among practitioners and academicians in various African countries and the diaspora. Ekwo has been interviewed many times on local, national, and international television, radio, magazine, and newspaper organizations as a commentator on global public policy issues. He is frequently quoted in newspapers and magazines around the world and his op-eds have appeared in such major papers as The New York Times, China Global Television Network (CGTN), UN Global Connections Television, and Al Jazeera News Network. A journalist by training, a teacher by choice, mediator by temperament, Ekwo has authored four books including the latest “Leadership & Journalism – Enduring Challenges, New Practices: The Convergence, Divergence of Press, Politics, and Power in Modern Democracies” released Summer 2020. Dr. Ekwo is a recipient of numerous awards including Ambassador for Peace Award by the Universal Peace Federation based in the US and a nomination for the 2017 El-Hibri Peace Education Prize for his contributions towards “building inclusive and socially just communities in the United States.”

Robert Bernstein served as an educator with the New York City Public Schools for 30 years.He served the children of New York City for more than 25 years, initially as a teacher of mathematics and later as a dean of students. His academic credentials have been supplemented with extensive training in human relations, school safety, and emergency management. In 2005 he became a co-owner and one of the board members of Prince George’s Suite Magazine, a lifestyle publication for the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC. His role in the company included developing new business contacts and covering culture, military affairs, travel, and local sports for the magazine. Bernstein provides strategic support to a number of Non-Governmental Organizations committed to improving the social conditions in Africa and the Caribbean.He currently serves as Board Director for Public Affairs and Media of Girls Education Initiative of Ghana as well as the organization’s representative to NGO Education Committee at the United Nations in New York City. Additionally, Robert serves as a Managing Editor with the Center for Media & Peace Initiatives (CMPI), CMPI is a journalism consortium that sponsors panel discussions, publishes articles and a quarterly journal as well as host the annual Gershowitz Conference on Media and Democratic Governance at the Rutgers University’s School of Public Affairs and Administration. Bernstein is a board member of Help A Star, an NGO based in Raleigh, North Carolina and Amsterdam, Netherlands which utilizes a program of swim training to develop educational outcomes for children in need. He also works as a volunteer in community relations and public affairs for the American Red Cross in the Greater New York Region.