Ester R. Fuchs is Professor of Public Affairs and Political Science at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. From January 2002 to January 2006, she served as Special Advisor to the Mayor for Governance and Strategic Planning in the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of the City of New York. Dr. Fuch's previous academic positions included Professor of Political Science at Barnard College, Chair of the Urban Studies Program at Barnard and Columbia Colleges, Professor of Public Affairs at Columbia
University School of International and Public Affairs, and founding Director of the Columbia University Center for Urban Research and Policy. She also taught at the University of Notre Dame.
She is a graduate of Bayside High School, received her B.A. from Queens College, C.U.N.Y.; M.A. from Brown University; and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.