Stefanos Gandolfo named director of Columbia Global Center Athens

Columbia Global is pleased to welcome Stefanos Gandolfo as director of its Global Center in Athens, Greece. With a BA in Economics and Philosophy from Yale, an MA in Chinese Philosophy from Peking University, and a DPhil in Asian Studies from the University of Oxford, Gandolfo brings a wealth of intercultural and policy experience in international studies, education reform, and advocacy.

Gandolfo joins the Center from the Office of the Prime Minister of Greece where he worked as a Special Advisor to the Minister of State responsible for the government’s policy on disabilities. In that role, he led the drafting of the National Strategy for the Rights of People with Disabilities, 2024-2030, and coordinated the streamlining of key reforms including the national accessibility sign and data collection on disability.

Prior to that, he spent more than two years in the Ministry of Education in Greece where as Chief of Policy he spearheaded efforts to forge global partnerships with universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, China and the European Union. He also was instrumental in advancing the evaluation of Greece’s education system.

In his capacity as lecturer, Gandolfo has taught Chinese international relations and history at the University of Piraeus, and was both a visiting scholar as well as a teaching fellow of Chinese history and philosophy in the Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Department at the University of Oxford.

“Stefanos brings diverse skills and experiences to the position as well as a history of knowledge of various academic and other partners in Greece”, said Wafaa El-Sadr, executive vice president for Columbia Global, “I look forward to him applying his distinctly global perspectives and keen sense of how to move from policy to action to the Center’s work program.”

Gandolfo takes up his new position on June 10th.

About the Columbia Global Center in Athens

The Athens Center is one of 11 Global Centers Columbia established in cities around the world including Amman, Beijing, Istanbul, Mumbai, Nairobi, Paris, Rio, Santiago, Tel Aviv and Tunis. Columbia University launched the Athens Center in 2023 to engage faculty, students, and in-country partners on priority issues where Greece is at the forefront, including climate change, migration and international affairs, business and innovation, ancient studies and arts and culture.

The Global Centers were created to generate opportunities for shared learning and dialogue. They serve as regional hubs for training, research, and collaboration, linking local experts and institutions to Columbia’s academic and scientific resources and vice versa. The Centers are part of Columbia Global, which also harnesses the work of the Committee for Global Thought, Columbia World Projects and the Institute for Ideas & Imagination for the greater good.