James Shulman

Executive Director

James Shulman serves as ARTstor's Executive Director. During his 9 years at the Mellon Foundation before joining ARTstor, he participated in the construction of large databases, wrote about educational policy issues and the missions of not-for-profit institutions, and worked in a range of research, administrative, and investment capacities.

He joined the Foundation in 1994 as a member of the research staff and subsequently served as Financial and Administrative Officer. He oversaw the building of the College and Beyond database with 34 participating colleges and universities, survey teams at Mathematica Policy Research and NORC, and Foundation colleagues. Drawing upon the database, he collaborated with William G. Bowen and Derek Bok on The Shape of the River: Long-term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions (Princeton University Press, 1998). He also wrote (with William Bowen) The Game of Life: College Sports and Educational Values (Princeton University Press, 2001).

From 1997-2002, he assisted in the management of the Foundation's endowment. He also worked with the Financial Vice President with the Foundation's internal budgeting. For the first half of 2000, Shulman managed these functions while the Financial Vice President was on sabbatical.

Shulman received his BA and Ph.D. from Yale in Renaissance Studies. His dissertation, which examined how heroes made decisions in the complex world of renaissance epic poetry, received the John Addison Porter Prize and forms the basis of The Pale Cast of Thought: Hesitation and Decision in the Renaissance Epic (University of Delaware Press, 1998). He also has written the introduction to Robert K. Merton's The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity: A Study in Historical Semantics and the Sociology of Science (published by Princeton University Press, 2003).

He serves on the board of Smith College, where he sits on the Educational Matters, Student Affairs, and Investment Committees. He is currently also chairing an ad hoc committee on admissions and financial aid issues.

Email: james.shulman@artstor.org