About Dr. David Finney

Dr. David F. Finney became president of Champlain College July 1, 2005 and was formally installed as the College’s seventh president November 19, 2005.

Dr. Finney had been dean of New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies, a position he assumed in 1999. He also was assistant to the president from 1999 through 2002, and oversaw the restoration of the five villas of La Pietra, NYU’s campus in Florence, Italy. He directed its activities and supervised the administrative staff at NYU’s four sites in Prague, London, Buenos Aires and Florence.

From 1992 through 2001, Dr. Finney was a faculty member at the Department of Higher Education. From 1988 through 1994, Finney was assistant vice president and then associate vice president for Enrollment Services, supervising the offices of Admissions, Financial Aid, Registrar, Enrollment Services, Advertising, and Publications and Electronic Publications.

Under Dr. Finney, undergraduate applications rose from 8,500 to over 30,000. He was responsible for the creation and implementation of NYU’s Study Abroad program and he created NYU’s Office of Corporate Learning Services (CLS). Under Dr. Finney’s direction, CLS produced three courses in nine languages for MCI, training all of its 65,000 employees worldwide. Finney was also responsible for development of NYU’s Virtual College.

He began his 20-year tenure at NYU in 1985 as director of admissions for the university’s seven undergraduate schools. He had been Director of Admissions at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Dr. Finney earned a bachelor of arts degree in psychology from Westminster College, Pennsylvania and a master of arts in higher education from Bowling Green State University, Ohio. He holds a master of science and a doctor of education, both in higher and adult education, from Teachers College, Columbia University. His primary areas of scholarly interest are higher education and effective teaching in continuing education programs. He is the author of the 1997 book Financing Your College Degree: A Guide for Adult Students.

Dr. Finney’s wife, Sabine Zerarka, is associate general counsel at Standard and Poor’s. He has two daughters: Lauren is a junior at Skidmore College, and Heather is a freshman at Hamilton College.

Upon accepting the offer to become president of Champlain College, Finney remarked, “I could not be happier about joining the Champlain College community. The entrepreneurial spirit of the faculty and its innovative tradition is unique in higher education.” Finney noted that the “very strong commitment to student growth and development among all the faculty and staff is easy to see when one visits campus. It is a gem of a school. I am delighted to be offered the privilege of helping Champlain through the next chapter of its history.”