Advisory Board of Governors
Jonathan Fanton
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Visiting Fellow, Hunter College
Jonathan F. Fanton became president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation on September 1, 1999. Previously, he had been president of the New School for Social Research in New York City for 17 years.
At Yale University, Mr. Fanton earned a baccalaureate degree in 1965, a master’s in philosophy in 1977, and a doctorate in American History in 1978. At Yale, he taught American history, was special assistant to president Kingman Brewster from 1970 to 1973 and associate provost from 1976 to 1978. From 1978 to 1982, he was vice president for planning at the University of Chicago, where he also taught American history.
As president of the New School for Social Research from 1982 to 1999, he led the integration and enhancement of the seven divisions of the university, expansion of the Greenwich Village campus, and development campaigns that increased the university’s endowment ten-fold.
Mr. Fanton is a board member of Human Rights Watch (HRW), the largest U.S.-based human rights organization, which operates in 70 countries. He served as Chair of HRW’s board for six years, stepping down at the end of 2003. He is also an advisory trustee of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Chicago History Museum, and the founding Board Chair of Security Council Report. He is Co-Chair of Chicago's Partnership for New Communities. He served as chair of the New York Committee on Independent Colleges and Universities and as co-chair of the 14th Street/Union Square Local Development Corporation.
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