Dr. James Shulman

James Shulman serves as President of the Rockefeller Archive Center, an independent organization which supports the creation and circulation of knowledge about  philanthropy. The Center collects, preserves, and provides broad and equitable access to the historical records of the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations (along with more than 40 others).

In the 1990s, he worked in the Mellon Foundation’s research, program, and finance offices. From its founding in 2001 to 2016 he was president of Artstor, an intermediary organization created by the Mellon Foundation. Working with his colleagues, he developed and implemented plans for an organization that serves over 2,000 colleges, universities, schools, and museums around the world. After returning the Mellon as a Senior Fellow, he served as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the American Council of Learned Societies.

His latest book, The Synthetic University; How Higher Education Can Benefit from Shared Solutions and Save Itself was published by Princeton University Press in fall 2023. Among his other publications are The Game of Life: College Sports and Educational Values (with William G. Bowen), “The Funder as Founder,” in Giving Well: The Ethics of Philanthropy (Oxford), and The Pale Cast of Thought: Hesitation and Decision in the Renaissance Epic (Delaware). He received his BA and PhD from Yale in Renaissance Studies.