Annalena Baerbock to teach global leadership at Columbia University
After finishing her UN General Assembly term in early September, the former German foreign minister will take a full-time, three-year post at Columbia's SIPA.
Annalena Baerbock will join Columbia University in New York to teach a course on global leadership after she completes her term as president of the United Nations General Assembly at the start of September.
Full-time, three-year appointment at SIPA
Baerbock will serve at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) as co-chair of an institute and as an instructor. Her post is a full-time position scheduled to last three years and is connected to Columbia's executive-style Master of Public Administration (MPA) track in Global Leadership.
The Global Leadership MPA at Columbia runs for ten months and is designed for senior executives with more than ten years of professional experience who want to develop their leadership skills. The program's promotional page carries the message: "Learn from global leaders."
Her academic title at Columbia will be "Professor of Professional Practice," a category reserved for professionals with significant accomplishments outside the academy; Baerbock does not hold a conventional academic degree that would qualify her for a traditional tenured professorship.
Privately, Baerbock is preparing to return to life as a private citizen with her two daughters, aged 11 and 14. With the end of her assignment at the United Nations, her formal ties to the UN and to the German Foreign Ministry will cease, as will any funding from German taxpayers tied to those roles.
Columbia has been under intense scrutiny in recent years. At the beginning of 2024 the campus was the scene of violent pro-Palestinian protests: students and activists set up a protest camp and entered classrooms, clashes prompted police intervention, and the university faced heavy public criticism. The institution's then-president, Nemat Shafik, resigned in August 2024. The U.S. government later withdrew financial support worth $400 million, citing the university's response to ongoing harassment of Jewish students.
Columbia has attracted other high-profile former officials: former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton teaches at SIPA; Victoria Nuland has held a Professor of Professional Practice role there; and Madeleine Albright was active at Columbia in the past as both student and faculty.
Photo: press material from the event
