Ann Kirschner is an American entrepreneur, academic, and author of the books Sala's Gift: My Mother's Holocaust Story and ''Lady at the OK Corral: The True Story of Josephine Marcus Earp''. She previously served as the interim president of

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

. As a tech entrepreneur in the 1990s and 2000s, Kirschner launched the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

's website, the first online livestream of the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

, and co-founded

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

's interactive knowledge network

Fathom.com Fathom was an online learning portal project, spearheaded by Columbia University, that opened to the public in late 2000. Partners in the venture included the London School of Economics and Political Science, the British Library, the New York Pub ...

. She is Dean Emerita of Macaulay Honors College of the

City University of New York The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...

, a University Professor at the

CUNY Graduate Center The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and postgraduate university in New York City. Formed in 1961 as Division of Graduate Studies at City University ...

, a faculty fellow of the Futures Initiative, and interim president of

Education and early career

Kirschner was born in New York City to Sala Kirschner, a

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

survivor from Poland, and Sidney Kirschner, an American GI who brought her home as a

war bride War brides are women who married military personnel from other countries in times of war or during military occupations, a practice that occurred in great frequency during World War I and World War II. Allies of World War II, Allied servicemen ...

. Kirschner attended public school in New York City, then earned a bachelor of arts degree from the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public university, public research university in Buffalo, New York, Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. ...

and a master's degree from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

. She received her doctorate in English literature from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, where she was a Whiting Fellow in the Humanities. Kirschner started out as a lecturer on

Victorian literature Victorian era, Victorian literature is English literature during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901). In the Victorian era, the novel became the leading literary genre in English. English writing from this era reflects the major transform ...

at Princeton University and working as a freelance writer for

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', and

Chronicle of Higher Education ''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' is an American newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty and student affairs professionals, including staff members and administrators. A subscriptio ...

. She assisted the director of English programs at

Modern Language Association The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "str ...

, and Lola Szladits, the director of the Berg Collection at the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

. Kirschner has conducted research on doctorates in business, funded by grants from Texas Committee for the Humanities, and the Littauer Foundation to study slave labor camps. Kirschner was scholar-in-residence at

Rollins College Rollins College is a Liberal arts college, private liberal arts college in Winter Park, Florida. It was founded in November 1885 and has about 30 undergraduate majors and several master's programs. Florida's fourth oldest post-secondary institut ...

and

James Madison University James Madison University (JMU, Madison, or James Madison) is a public university, public research university in Harrisonburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1908, the institution was renamed in 1938 in honor of the fourth president of the ...

Entrepreneurship

Her start-ups include Request Teletext, the first full-channel cable teletext service; Primetime 24 - the first home satellite broadcast network;

NFL Sunday Ticket NFL Sunday Ticket is an out-of-market sports package that broadcasts National Football League (NFL) season (sport), regular season games unavailable on local Network affiliate, affiliates. It carries all the regional Sunday afternoon games produ ...

and NFL.com - the first sports league on satellite television and the Internet; and

, one of the first offerings of

online learning in higher education Online learning involves courses offered by primary institutions that are 100% virtual. Online learning, or virtual classes offered over the internet, is contrasted with traditional courses taken in a brick-and-mortar school building. It is a deve ...

to be affiliated with universities, libraries, museums, and research institutions. Fathom's consortium includes Columbia University,

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

, British Library, British Museum,

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, the Science Museum of the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering. Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it i ...

, and

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...

. She introduced new media to the

(NFL) using emerging technologies, such as

interactive television Interactive television is a form of Technological convergence#Media, media convergence, adding data services to traditional television technology. It has included on-demand delivery of content, online shopping, and viewer polls. Interactive TV i ...

and the Internet, and founded NFL.com
Superbowl.com
and Team NFL on

America Online AOL (formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City, and a brand marketed by Yahoo! Inc. (2017–present), Yahoo! Inc. The service tra ...

. Kirschner was responsible for livestreaming

Super Bowl XXX Super Bowl XXX was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion fo ...

, the first

ever broadcast on the web.

Academia

From 2006-2016, Kirschner served as Dean of Macaulay Honors College, the selective honors college for students at the

. As Dean, Kirschner opened the William Macaulay Honors College Center on 67th Street in Manhattan, which was the first dedicated space for CUNY students in the honors college. After retiring as dean, Kirschner served as Senior Advisor to the Chancellor and University Professor developing courses in higher education and workforce development at the

. Kirschner co-founde
Women In Technology and Entrepreneurship in New York (WiTNY)
a collaboration between CUNY and

Cornell Tech Cornell Tech is a graduate campus and research center of Cornell University on Roosevelt Island in Manhattan, New York City. It provides courses in technology, business, and design, and includes the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, a partners ...

to increase participation of women in

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

. WiTNY later became the founding chapter of Break Through Tech, where Kirschner serves on the advisory board. In 2023, Kirschner was appointed interim president of

Advisor and Board Director

She is a current or former board member o
Movado Group
(MOV)
Strategic Cyber VenturesApollo Group
Topps, onhealth.com, Public Agenda
Jewish Women's ArchiveMOUSEPaul and Daisy Soros FoundationFootstepsWorld Quant University
New York Media Association, Theatreworks USA, Footsteps, the Princeton University English Department Advisory Council, and the Leadership Council of the Princeton University Graduate School.

Professional recognition

Kirschner received the Above and Beyond Award (2014) from City and State Magazine, New York Award from

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Clay Felker and Milton Glaser in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'' a ...

(1999), and as a distinguished alumni of University at Buffalo and Princeton University. In 2023, City & State New York named her to the Manhattan Power 100 list of the borough's most influential political players.

Publications

Books

Kirschner is the author of Sala's Gift: My Mother's Holocaust Story, the story of her mother's wartime rescue of hundreds of letters sent to her during the five years she spent in Nazi slave Labor camps. The letters include correspondence between Kirschner's mother and Ala Gertner, who was hanged for her role the

sonderkommando ''Sonderkommandos'' (, ) were Extermination through labor, work units made up of Nazi Germany, German Nazi death camp prisoners. They were composed of prisoners, usually Jews, who were forced, on threat of their own deaths, to aid with the di ...

revolt at

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

. The book has also been published in German as ''Salas Geheiminis,'' in Polish, as ''Listy z Pudełka,'' in Italian, as ''Il Dono di Sala,'' in French, as ''Le Secret de ma mère, ''in Czech as ''Salin Dar, '' and Chinese (Mandarin). The book was adapted to a play entitled Letters to Sala by Arlene Hutton, which had it
New York premiere on October 2, 2015 by
and is distributed b
Dramatists Play Service
Letters to Sala
Dramatists Play Service, Inc. Her second book, Lady at the OK Corral: the True Story of Josephine Marcus Earp was published by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

in March 2013. It is a biography of Josephine Marcus Earp,

Wyatt Earp Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (March 19, 1848 – January 13, 1929) was an American lawman in the American West, including Dodge City, Kansas, Dodge City, Wichita, Kansas, Wichita, and Tombstone, Arizona, Tombstone. Earp was involved in the gunfight ...

's common law wife of nearly 50-years. According to the author, Marcus sparked the world's most famous gunfight, buried her husband in a Jewish cemetery after he died in 1929, and subsequently shaped the legend of Wyatt Earp and the

Wild West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...

. In 2013, Kirschner's book was selected as an Editor's Choice by ''

'' Sunday Book Review and Kirschner was honored as best new Western author by True West Magazine.

Selected publications

Are Universities On the Wrong Side of History?
Forbes
Perfume Before Zoom, I Presume
Forward
Dad, Did Trump Lose Your Vote?
Newsweek

* Innovations in Higher Education, HAH! The Chronicle of Higher Education

*

The Chronicle of Higher Education ''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' is an American newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty and student affairs professionals, including staff members and administrators. A subscription ...

Adventures in the Land of Wikipedia
*

Reading Dickens Four Ways
*

My iPad Day
*

The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local, regional, national, and international news. Founded in 1837, the newspaper was owned by Tribune Publi ...

Study Abroad to Get Ahead in the U.S. (Commentary)

References

External links

Lady at the OK Corral websiteAnn Kirschner's websiteAnn Kirschner
on girlgeeks.org
Ann Kirschner
on The Technology Source {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirschner, Ann Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Columbia University faculty Princeton University alumni University of Virginia alumni CUNY Graduate Center faculty Philosophers from New York (state) University at Buffalo alumni Presidents of Hunter College William E. Macaulay Honors College