Oral history interview with Patricia L. Rosenfield, 2012.

Biographical Note

Director/Chair, Carnegie Scholars Program Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Scope and Contents

Defense against being called an armchair chair by Vartan Gregorian in 1998; scatteration of Carnegie programs; appointment of Narciso Matos as chair of Africa program; impact of the McKinsey & Company report on Carnegie Corporation staff and trustees; criticisms, praises and gossip of Carnegie leadership; development, implementation and efficacy of Carnegie Scholars Program; continuity between Carnegie programs under David A. Hamburg and Vartan Gregorian; comparison of Hamburg and Gregorian leadership: skills and grant-making; transitioning the leadership and shifts in staff; selection process of trustees; Carnegie parties and tea tradition; Carnegie reaction to world events: Strengthening U.S. Democracy Program, Education, Strengthening Human Resources in Developing Countries, International Peace and Security; Partnership for Higher Education in Africa; stages of Scholars Program: nominations, review, scholarship, product; examples of Carnegie scholars and research; transformation from Scholars Program to Islam Initiative; controversy within Islam Initiative; tensions in structure under Gregorian; musings on the current state of American and global philanthropy; efficacy of administrative changes after McKinsey report; history of Carnegie annual reports and bureaucracy; morale and interactions of staff and trustees; importance of Muslim philanthropy; development of program evaluation methods under Gregorian; slow change of education programs: Schools for a New Society, Teachers for a New Era; partnerships: Ford Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, World Health Organization, International Development Research Center; clash of academic and philanthropic cultures; influence of Andrew Carnegie on grant-making; Carnegie medal; philanthropic accountability; value of institutional history to foundation officials and for public dissemination; foundations as risk capital; Carnegie's unchanging mission; global community philanthropy; working against racism and for women through Carnegie history; development of administrative structure though history; specialization versus interdisciplinarity in grant-making

Subjects

• Carnegie Corporation of New York.
• Charitable uses, trusts, and foundations--Political activity.
• Education, Higher--Africa.
• Endowments.
• Executives--Interviews.
• Gregorian, Vartan.
• Grele, Ronald, interviewer.
• Interviews.
• Oral histories.
• Rosenfield, Patricia L.--Interviews.

Access Conditions

Copyright by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, 2013. The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York hold a non-exclusive license to enable library activities.