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Human Resources (HR) Overview

Human Resources (HR) provides the New School community with strategic HR guidance, industry best practices, and workforce planning support to help our leaders and teams navigate organizational growth and change.

We support the university through a full range of HR functions, including:

  • Total Rewards: Health and Welfare Benefits, Retirement Benefits, Compensation, and Accommodations
  • Talent Development & Employee Experience: Talent Acquisition, Organizational Development, Professional Development, Engagement Activities, and Employee Relations Support
  • Title IX and Equal Employment: Title IX, Title VI, Title VII, 504, and bullying investigations
  • HR Operations: HR Reporting and Analytics, HRIS, Talent Operations, and Payroll

Below are the different units within HR and their primary functions. General HR inquiries may be sent to hrhelp@newschool.edu.


Our Leadership & Enterprise Structure

HR Organizational Chart showing the 4 service hubs described below reporting to Sonya Williams, VP of HR

The HR team operates as an interconnected team to serve all faculty, staff, and student employees. Under the leadership of Sonya Williams, Vice President of Human Resources, HR is organized into four core functional service hubs:

Talent Development & Employee Experience (TD&EE)

Cultivates a high-performing, adaptable university culture by building strong unit relationships and delivering robust, modern training frameworks. Oversees how the organization attracts, deploys, and retains the right people to meet its goals. This new team integrates HR Strategy, Organizational Development, end to end targeted hiring and recruitment and day-to-day transaction workflows.

Key Responsibilities & Goals:

  • Enables and supports employees to create meaning, purpose, and professional growth in their work.
  • Drives strategic workforce planning (WFP) in close partnership with campus departments.
  • Develops and launches university-wide employee training and leadership programs.
  • Manages the end-to-end hiring process.
    • Visit our external New School Careers page to find a list of open Administrative, Full-Time Faculty, and Union positions.
    • Visit our New School Careers website for all Part-Time Faculty, Temp, and Student Worker positions.
    • Internal opportunities can be found in the Jobs Hub in MyDay.

General Contact(s): hrhelp@newschool.edu, hrcareers@newschool.edu
Department Leader:
Ilana Levitt | Assistant Vice President for Talent Development & Employee Experience
Senior HR Strategy Partners: Carrie Cotton & Antonia Oluwanifise

Benefits & Total Rewards

Supports employees by providing comprehensive benefits support and keeps the university competitive by aligning healthcare, retirement, and compensation packages to market value. The New School is committed to providing an array of comprehensive health and welfare benefits intended to meet the needs of faculty and staff and their eligible dependents. A list of our current benefit offerings may be found on the Benefits - Overview.

Key Responsibilities & Goals:

  • Establishes competitive compensation structures and job frameworks that align with market value and promote internal equity across the university.
  • Administers competitive medical, pharmacy, and retirement programs.
  • Provides comprehensive benefit support and manages leave of absence (LOA) processes.

General Contact: benefitshelp@newschool.edu
Department Leader:
Terryann Waldron | Assistant Vice President for Total Rewards

HR Operations (HR Ops)

Drives data-informed leadership decisions through supervisory organization mapping, automated dashboards, and advanced data analytics. This team oversees payroll and is also instrumental in operationalizing labor contracts.

Key Responsibilities & Goals:

  • Serves as the primary operational engine for hires, onboarding, job changes, and system updates through MyDay.
  • Manages accurate, on-time payroll processing and compliance. View the Payroll Schedules Overview for additional information.
  • Configures core systems (like Workday) to seamlessly support university infrastructure and provide leadership with clear workforce data.

General Contacts: hrops@newschool.edu, payrollhelp@newschool.edu
Department Leader:
Ajeia Gholson | Assistant Vice President, HR Operations

Title IX & Equal Employment

Protects and supports the campus community by providing dedicated resources for addressing harassment, discrimination, Title IX, Title VII, Title VI, and 504 Disability concerns, while promoting institutional equity through education, prevention, visibility and communication. See the university's Title IX page for more information.

Key Responsibilities & Goals:

  • Manages all harassment, discrimination, and equity complaints through a single, centralized office.
  • Strengthens institutional integrity through proactive campus visibility, education, and compliance training.
  • Ensures a safe, fair, respectful, and legally compliant working and learning environment.

General Contact: titleixcoordinator@newschool.edu
Department Leader:
Rhonnie Jaus | Vice President for Equal Employment Opportunity, Affirmative Action, and Compliance


How to Get Support

Not sure which hub to contact? You can reach out to our general accounts below, and we will connect you directly with the right partner:

General HR Email: HRHelp@newschool.edu
Phone: 212.229.5671 x4964
Fax: 212.229.5884
hrhelp@newschool.edu

Benefits Help
Phone: 212.229.5671 x4942
Fax: 646.843.3656
benefitshelp@newschool.edu

Payroll Help
Phone: 212.229.5671 x4963
Fax: 646.843.3651
payrollhelp@newschool.edu

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