Thirty-year Congressional veteran Carolyn Maloney will spend the spring 2023 semester as Eleanor Roosevelt Distinguished Leader in Residence at Hunter College’s Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute.
Announcement of Rep. Maloney’s appointment was made today by Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab. The Congresswoman’s tenure begins on January 25.
“We are delighted and honored to welcome Carolyn Maloney to Hunter,” President Raab said. “Her vast experience in Washington on social and economic concerns — particularly on issues of deep concern to women and girls — provides a practical and inspiring foundation for teaching and mentoring our public policy and human rights students. This residency will provide a unique opportunity for them to engage with a Congressional legend on a range of critical policy concerns. Ms. Maloney will work directly with students on such issues as the Equal Rights Amendment and infrastructure, engage with classes and student organizations, and develop and introduce public events at Roosevelt House. She will also work as a Co-Leader in its Eva Kasten Grove Program, in which small, select cohorts of students pursue and advocate for policy projects under the leadership of seasoned professionals from the public sphere. “Congresswoman Maloney was always a staunch advocate for public higher education in general, and Hunter College in particular,” President Raab added, “and was among the first public officials to advocate for the preservation and restoration of Roosevelt House. So it is with a sense of history coming full cycle that we look forward now to sharing her knowledge, legendary energy, and impassioned advocacy in service to students, faculty, and the public in the landmark building she once fought with us to save.”
From 1993 until the end of 2022, Ms. Maloney represented the Upper East Side, Roosevelt Island, and parts of Brooklyn and Queens in the House of Representatives — a district whose borders changed over the years, but always included the Hunter College campus. During her tenure, she held dozens of community meetings, issue briefings, and news conferences at Roosevelt House.
Ms. Maloney began her professional career as a teacher and administrator for the New York City Board of Education. She later held staff positions in both the State Senate and State Assembly.
First elected to the New York City Council in 1982, she became the first member to introduce a law to legalize domestic partnerships. The first Council Member to give birth while in office, she also pioneered in the cause of expanded day care funding and legal recognition of domestic partnerships, including same-sex couples. She also created and chaired the first City Council Contracts Committee and passed major legislation on campaign finance reform.
In Congress, she championed federal aid for New York’s recovery from the 2001 terrorist attacks, authoring the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. Among many other initiatives, she sponsored gun control measures, advocated for environmental protection, helped secure federal funding to complete the long-delayed Second Avenue Subway, and supported increased federal funding for health care. A onetime co-chair of the House Caucus on Women’s Issues, she sponsored such legislation as the Child Care Affordability Act of 2007, the Campus Sexual Violence Against Women (SaVE) Act, and the 2005 Justice for All (“Debbie Smith”) Act. In her final term, Ms. Maloney secured House passage of what could become the nation’s first paid parental leave law.
A leading advocate for — and chief House sponsor of — the fight to recognize ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, she has long pressed for acknowledgment of its legality. Overcoming years-long resistance from the Senate, she also secured approval to build the forthcoming Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum on the National Mall.
In her final term in Congress, Rep. Maloney served as chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee (its first-ever woman chair). Previously, she was the first woman to chair the Joint Economic Committee. In 2021, the Center for Effective Lawmaking ranked her the third-most effective lawmaker in the House of Representatives, while, in another study, Gov.Track rated her the second-most effective.
Said Ms. Maloney: “I have always viewed public service as a ‘loan’ that I must repay every day by helping people. My work is far from over. I am just switching jobs. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to continue working in public service at Hunter College in the outstanding City University system, helping to cultivate a new generation of progressive leaders through education, mentorship, and hands-on participation in the political process. I am truly grateful to President Raab for asking me to serve as Eleanor Roosevelt Leader. I look forward to an exciting and meaningful residency at Hunter, a world-class institution beloved by Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, in the very home they once shared.”
