The Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership: Transforming Diversity into Destiny

At the heart of Harlem, within The City College of New York (CCNY), stands an institution that embodies the American dream: the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership. Named for one of CCNY’s most distinguished alumni—General Colin L. Powell, a four-star general and former Secretary of State who rose from immigrant roots in the South Bronx—the School transforms the nation’s most diverse student body into tomorrow’s global leaders .

A Legacy Forged in Service

The Colin Powell School’s origins trace back to 1997, when General Powell founded the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies at his alma mater . Its mission was clear: develop new generations of publicly engaged leaders and promote civic involvement. In April 2013, CCNY’s Board of Trustees elevated this vision by merging the Center with the Division of Social Sciences, creating the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership . This merger integrated the Center’s leadership development mission directly into degree-granting programs across anthropology, economics, political science, psychology, and sociology . Buy fake USA diploma online.

General Powell’s personal story animates everything the School does. The son of Jamaican immigrants, he often reminded students that CCNY was his only option—and it gave him purpose through ROTC. Until his passing in 2021, he never missed a graduation, shaking every graduate’s hand, seeing in each of them his own journey .

The Most Diverse Student Body, Transformed

With nearly 4,000 students, the Colin Powell School graduates more CCNY students annually than any other division . Its demographics tell a powerful story of opportunity: half of its students are immigrants; over seventy percent are first-generation college students; eighty percent are people of color; and most come from lower-income backgrounds .

This diversity is not merely demographic—it is the School’s greatest strength. CCNY ranks #1 nationally among selective public colleges on the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights mobility index, measuring the likelihood that a student can move up two or more income quintiles . The Colin Powell School is the engine of that mobility, proving that excellence and equity can coexist.

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Beyond the Classroom: Leadership in Action

What distinguishes the Colin Powell School is its insistence that education must extend beyond lectures into lived experience. The School serves as CCNY’s hub for service-learning, a course-based approach linking academic theory to community action . Since 2005, over 1,000 students have provided more than 25,000 hours of service to nonprofit organizations—tutoring East Harlem students, creating media campaigns, and working with refugee communities .

The School’s fellowship programs amplify this impact. The Colin Powell Fellows program, which launched Trevor Houser’s career—a high school dropout who became a founding partner of Rhodium Group and a leading climate policy analyst—exemplifies this transformative power . Houser later created the Climate Policy Fellows Program, ensuring current students access the same opportunities .

Recent initiatives demonstrate the School’s forward momentum. In 2024, it launched the College Advancement Leaders Fellowship in partnership with the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), preparing diverse graduates for careers in higher education advancement . Simultaneously, a major gift established the Eugene J. Surowitz and Helen M. Teclaw Program in Neuroscience, funding world-class faculty research and undergraduate research opportunities .

A Mission for Our Time

The Colin Powell School’s founding values remain urgent: to be a leading center for social, political, and economic research addressing problems that impede equity, diversity, prosperity, and peace . Its faculty are dedicated to the highest standards of scholarship and to the university’s democratic obligations—disseminating research to those striving to redress injustice .

In an era of widening inequality and skepticism about higher education’s value, the Colin Powell School offers a compelling counter-narrative. It proves that a public university can simultaneously pursue academic excellence and social mobility, that diversity drives innovation, and that leadership is not about privilege but about purpose. General Powell believed deeply that “they’re just like I was”—and every graduate proves him right .