Dr. David L Levinson
Norwalk CC, United States
Dr. David L. Levinson has been president of Norwalk Community College (NCC) in Norwalk, Connecticut since August 2004. During his presidency, NCC completed a successful capital campaign for a new Science, Health and Wellness Center, became an Achieving the Dream Leader College, and was selected by MDC, Inc. as one of fifteen community colleges nationwide to receive funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for a developmental education project. NCC is a recipient of Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s 2010 Community Engagement Classification on the basis of its commitment to serving those in need throughout Southwestern Connecticut. NCC was selected as 1 of only 3 community colleges in the nation to lead a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Regional Collaborative with the funding assistance from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. In partnership with IBM and the Norwalk Public Schools, NCC created the Norwalk Early College Academy (NECA), Connecticut’s first replication of the Pathways to Technology (P-Tech) High School in Brooklyn, New York. NCC was honored as a White House Healthy Campus in 2017. With the restructuring of higher education in the state of Connecticut, Dr. Levinson was appointed Vice President for the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities, in addition to his presidency at NCC.
Dr. Levinson is the general editor of Education and Sociology: An Encyclopedia, published by RoutledgeFalmer in 2002 and author of Community Colleges: A Reference Handbook, published by ABC-CLIO, 2005. His articles and reviews have appeared in The American Prospect, the American Sociologist, Community College Journal of Research and Practice, Community College Week, American Journal of Sociology, and Contemporary Sociology. He has given numerous presentations on educational issues at the annual meetings of the American Association of Community Colleges, American Council on Education, American Educational Research Association, American Sociological Association, League for Innovation in the Community College, and Society for the Study of Social Problems.
Dr. Levinson served as an elected commissioner on the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc. (NEASC) Commission on Institutions of Higher Education and co-chaired the American Sociological Association’s Task Force on Community College Faculty. Previously he was elected to the Society for the Study of Social Problem's Budget, Finance and Audit Committee, which he chaired from 2011-2012, appointed to the American Sociological Association’s Public University of Sociology Award Committee, and served on the American Council of Education’s Commission on Lifelong Learning.
Dr. Levinson is on the Board of Directors of the following organizations: Connecticut Campus Compact; Connecticut Students for a Dream; Fairfield County’s Community Foundation, Horizons at NCC; Greater Norwalk Chamber of Commerce; Norwalk Housing Authority Choice Neighborhood Initiative (Chair); and the Workplace, Inc., southwestern Connecticut’s Workforce Investment Board (WIB). He serves on advisory boards to the Family and Children’s Agency of Greater Norwalk, Future 5, Norwalk ACTS and Norwalk Maritime Aquarium. Dr. Levinson is the recipient of the following awards: Strengthening Families Award from The Family and Children's Agency of Greater Norwalk in 2008; Distinguished Leader Award from the Voluntary Action Center of Mid-Fairfield County in 2009; Stepping Up for Children Award from Stepping Stones Museum for Children in 2012; Shirley Gordon Award of Distinction from Phi Theta Kappa in 2013; the 2014 Elizabeth Roberts Award For Excellence in Furthering United Way’s Education Work; 2016 Laurel House Norwalk/Stamford Town Champion in recognition of advocacy for accessible and affordable higher education for those with mental health challenges; and the 2016 Friend of CONNTAC (Connecticut Talent Assistance Cooperative) award.
The recipient of a Distinguished Teaching Award from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Dr. Levinson has also taught at: Bergen Community College; Merrimack College; Norwalk Community College; Teachers College, Columbia University; and Tufts University