David Potash

Dr. David Potash is president of SUNY Sullivan. He joined SUNY Sullivan during the Summer of 2024.  Prior to SUNY Sullivan, he served as president of Wilbur Wright College for ten years, bringing extensive higher education administrative experience to the independently accredited Chicago community college. As president, Dr. Potash guided the 85-year-old Wright to significant increases in student success, new programs and certificates; sustained efforts at equity, community service, civic engagement, career, workforce, and apprenticeships; served the community’s growing Hispanic population; and led the creation of a Center of Excellence in Engineering and Computer Science. Wright College received Campus Compact’s Eduardo J. Padrón Award for Institutional Transformation in 2020 and the prestigious Seal from Excelencia in Education in 2021.

Prior to this role, he served as the Chief Academic Officer at Curry College, a four-year institution in Massachusetts, where Potash strengthened faculty development, advanced learning outcomes assessment, and enhanced Curry’s long-standing commitment to pedagogy and serving diverse learners.

He also worked for 10 years in the City University of New York system, where Potash was associate provost and assistant vice president for academic affairs at Hunter College and associate provost at Baruch College. At both institutions he had responsibilities for accreditation, curricula and program development, enrollment, and facilitating student success.

Dr. Potash holds a bachelor of arts from Rice University where he majored in English and philosophy, a master’s of art in history from New York University, and a doctorate in history from Cambridge University. He has taught composition and US history courses. Dr. Potash serves on several advisory boards and is a frequent speaker at conferences and other events.