The National Book Foundation Elects Three New Board Members
Anthony Marx became President and CEO of The New York Public Library on July 1, 2011. A distinguished political scientist, hewas formerly President of Amherst College, where he earned wide recognition for his passionate promotion of accessibility to higher education for lower-income students and established the most effective program in the country to increase socio-economic diversity among the student body. He is the author of more than a dozen scholarly articles and three books, including Faith in Nation: Exclusionary Origins of Nationalism and Making Race and Nation. In his first year at the Library he led a planning process to increase educational programming in the branches and services to researchers, and ensure public access to electronic books, as well as planning renovations for a state-of-the-art central branch library. Prior to joining Amherst in 2003, Dr. Marx served as professor and director of undergraduate studies of political science at Columbia University, where he spearheaded a number of secondary school initiatives. In the 1980s, he helped found Khanya College, a South African secondary school that prepares more than 1,000 black students for university study. Dr. Marx will advise the board on a range of issues including education, new media and organizational matters related to nonprofits.
Deborah Needleman has had a diverse and idiosyncratic career in media. Successful editor of three different publications, from the much beloved domino magazine, which she conceived and launched, to her development of weekend lifestyle coverage for the Wall Street Journal through the creation of the Saturday “Off Duty” section and the editorship of WSJ Magazine, which she transformed and made into a monthly publication, to the editorship of T: The New York Times Style Magazine, which she took over in late 2012 and redesigned; under her direction its ad pages experienced a 26% increase in the first six months of 2013. Deborah Needleman will advise the board and staff on strategies for expanding the impact of the Awards and the Foundation’s programs.
