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.