Johanna Duncan-Poitier

Johanna Duncan-Poitier is the Senior Vice Chancellor for Community Colleges and the Education Pipeline for the State University of New York (SUNY). She provides system oversight and coordination for SUNY’s 30 community colleges that educate more than a quarter of a million students with an annual operating budget of $2.1 billion. In her dual role, she also provides leadership to strengthen STEM education, teacher preparation, and connections between SUNY’s 64 campuses and New York State’s Pre K–12 schools and business leaders to improve college readiness, completion rates, and prepare a highly-qualified workforce.

At SUNY, she has led the launch and development of major statewide collaborative projects including the SUNY Empire State STEM Learning Network; a statewide $14.6 million State Workforce Development Consortium of 30 community colleges dedicated to high-demand careers; the scale-up of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Math Pathways; the national designation of New York State as one of 12 Jobs for the Future (JFF) Student Success Centers; the launch of Guided Pathways; the national $2.1 million Strong Start to Finish (SSTF) award to scale-up first year student success strategies across SUNY campuses to help more students earn a college degree and the Smart Scholars Early College High Schools and P-TECH programs. Johanna Duncan-Poitier also serves as one of five New York State Commissioners for the Education Commission of the States (ECS).

Prior to SUNY, Johanna Duncan-Poitier served as the Senior Deputy Commissioner of Education P-16 for the New York State Education Department (NYSED), and in that role was responsible for regulatory oversight of the 700 school districts, all NYS public and private colleges and universities, and the preparation and licensure of 225,000 teachers and 750,000 licensed professionals in 47 health, business, and design professions.

Before joining NYSED, she provided campus-based leadership for the City University of New York (CUNY) at Queens College, York College, and Bronx Community College. Ms. Duncan-Poitier earned a B.S. from Queens College (CUNY), an M.S. degree from Bernard M. Baruch College (CUNY), and has received two honorary degrees including a Doctor of Laws from Saint Joseph’s College and a Doctor of Humane Letters from D'Youville College.