Scott Cowen Interview

Scott S. Cowen, president of Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana

Scott S. Cowen is president of Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is also Seymour S. Goodman Memorial Professor in the A.B. Freeman School of Business and professor of economics in Tulane's School of Liberal Arts.

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans, flooding 70 percent of Tulane's uptown campus and all the buildings of its downtown health sciences campus. Tulane's faculty, staff and students were dispersed around the country for an entire semester. Under President Cowen's leadership the campus was repaired and on December 8, 2005, the Board of Tulane approved his Renewal Plan, a sweeping effort that strengthens and focuses the university's academic mission while strategically addressing its current and future operations in the post-Katrina era. A remarkable 87 percent of Tulane students returned for classes in January of 2006.