Mark Roosevelt
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Mark Roosevelt (born December 10, 1955) is an American academic administrator and politician serving as the seventh president of the Santa Fe campus of St. John's College. He was the President of Antioch College from January 2011 to December 2015 and superintendent of the Pittsburgh Public Schools, the second largest school district in
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, until December 31, 2010. He served as a state
legislator A legislator (also known as a deputy or lawmaker) is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people of the state. Legislatures may be supra-national (for ...
in the
Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...
and was the Democratic nominee for governor in the
1994 Massachusetts gubernatorial election The 1994 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1994. Incumbent Republican Governor Bill Weld won reelection as Governor of Massachusetts by the largest margin in state history. As of 2022, this is the most recent election ...
. Roosevelt is the great-grandson of
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
.


Early life and education

Roosevelt was born and raised in Washington, D.C. and attended St. Albans School. Roosevelt is the great-grandson of U.S. President
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
and the son of Mary Lowe "Polly" (née Gaddis) and
Kermit Roosevelt Jr. Kermit Roosevelt Jr. (February 16, 1916 – June 8, 2000) was an American intelligence officer who served in the Office of Strategic Services during and following World War II. A grandson of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United S ...
, who was one of the key figures behind the controversial coup engineered by the CIA that overthrew Iranian Prime Minister
Mohammad Mossadegh Mohammad Mosaddegh ( fa, محمد مصدق, ; 16 June 1882 – 5 March 1967) was an Iranian politician, author, and lawyer who served as the 35th Prime Minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953, after appointment by the 1950 Iranian legislative election ...
in 1953. He was related to his 1994 Massachusetts gubernatorial opponent
William Weld William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
through Weld's wife at that time,
Susan Roosevelt Weld Susan Roosevelt Weld is an American educator who is a former professor at Harvard specializing in ancient Chinese civilization and law. She also was General Counsel to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. She was the First Lady of ...
, the daughter of
Quentin Roosevelt II Quentin Roosevelt II (November 4, 1919 – December 21, 1948) was the fourth child and youngest son of Theodore "Ted" Roosevelt III and Eleanor Butler Alexander. He was the namesake of his uncle Quentin Roosevelt I, who was killed in acti ...
; Susan is Mark's second cousin. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
and a
Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...
from
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each c ...
.


Career


Political career

In 1977, Roosevelt served as campaign manager for John D. O'Bryant, the first black man elected to Boston's school board. Roosevelt served in the
Massachusetts General Court The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, ...
from 1986 to 1994. In 1990, he was appointed Chairman of the legislature's Education Committee, where he was the co-author and chief sponsor of the
Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993 The Massachusetts Education Reform Act (MERA) of 1993 was an act of legislation passed in Massachusetts that "greatly increased the state's role in funding public education and in guiding the local education process."Driscoll, L., et al, (2005), ...
. He also was chief sponsor of a gay rights bill that had been introduced annually since 1972 but did not pass until 1989. The bill's passage made Massachusetts the second state, after Wisconsin, to pass legislation protecting gay rights. In
1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...
, Roosevelt was the Democratic nominee for
Governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the chief executive officer of the government of Massachusetts. The governor is the head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces. Massachuset ...
and lost the general election to the Republican incumbent,
William Weld William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
. Roosevelt and Weld were second cousins, as Weld's first wife,
Susan Roosevelt Weld Susan Roosevelt Weld is an American educator who is a former professor at Harvard specializing in ancient Chinese civilization and law. She also was General Counsel to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. She was the First Lady of ...
, is also a great-grandchild of President
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
. Following his bid for office, Roosevelt served as CEO of Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives, Managing Director of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, and as a Professor of Politics and head of the Gordon Public Policy Center at
Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , p ...
.


Pittsburgh Public Schools

A graduate of the 2003 Broad Superintendents Academy, Roosevelt was appointed on August 3, 2005, to the position of Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) superintendent. He accepted this post under the terms of a performance-based "accountability contract." While in Pittsburgh, he implemented measures intended to ease the district's financial problems and improve academic standards. The plan included the closing of underutilized and under-performing schools, opening of accelerated learning academies with a vigorous academic curriculum and longer school hours, the moving of several programs, and an increase in the number of childhood education programs, K-8 schools and 6-12 schools. Under his leadership, PPS met federal achievement standards (AYP) for the first time, received a $40-million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation focused on improving teacher effectiveness, opened several innovative new schools, adopted a more rigorous curriculum, and inaugurated a nationally recognized program to recruit, train and support school principals as instructional leaders. In 2007, Roosevelt founded The Pittsburgh Promise and secured a $100-million challenge grant from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. The Promise has raised more than $180 million to guarantee college scholarships to PPS graduates who meet certain academic standards and has supported more than 6,500 students. In October 2010 he became a finalist for the position of President of Antioch College. On October 6, 2010, he held a press conference to announce his resignation as superintendent of Pittsburgh Public Schools effective December 31, 2010. It was reported that he was the only finalist for the Presidency of Antioch College in Ohio.


Antioch College

Roosevelt served as president of Antioch College from 2011 to 2015. Hired to reestablish the college, which had closed, Roosevelt helped to recruit faculty and students, began a renovation of the campus; and reestablished Antioch's cooperative education program. He also led a process that resulted in "fast-track" accreditation consideration for Antioch from the Higher Learning Commission. The college won accreditation in July 2016. He negotiated an agreement between the College and
Antioch University Antioch University is a private university with multiple campuses in the United States and online programs. Founded in 1852 as Antioch College, its first president was politician, abolitionist, and education reformer Horace Mann. It changed its ...
that eliminated any future claims of the university to Antioch College's campus or endowment. On May 5, 2015, Roosevelt announced his departure from Antioch by the end of the year. Dr. Thomas Manley was hired as his successor, to begin in March 2016. Roosevelt assumed the presidency of St. John's College in
Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label=Tiwa language, Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. ...
, replacing Michael P. Peters.


St. John's College

Mark Roosevelt is the seventh president of the Santa Fe campus of St. John's College, which also has a campus in
Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...
. He took office on January 1, 2016. In June of that year, the St. John's Board of Visitors and Governors voted to make Roosevelt the college-wide president as of July 1, 2016.


Other work

Roosevelt has also taught graduate level courses on the intersection of American history and public policy at
Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , p ...
and the Heinz Graduate School of Public Policy at
Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...
.


Family

He is married to Dorothy, the former project lead of Antioch College's Wellness Center, which opened to the public on September 6, 2014.New Wellness Center
/ref> Prior to Antioch College, Dorothy worked at Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and as a yoga instructor. They married in January 2005 and have a daughter, Juliana. Mark Roosevelt also has an adopted son, Matthew, born in South Korea and raised in Boston, from a previous marriage.


References


External links

*Amy McConnell Schaarsmith (2005)
Roosevelt Hired as Pittsburgh School Superintendent
Retrieved November 10, 2005.
Pittsburgh Public Schools
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Roosevelt, Mark 1955 births American people of Dutch descent School superintendents in Pennsylvania Bulloch family Carnegie Mellon University faculty Harvard Law School alumni Living people Democratic Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Politicians from Pittsburgh Presidents of Antioch College Presidents of St. John's College
Mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fi ...
Schuyler family St. Albans School (Washington, D.C.) alumni