Head of Global Strategy and Partnerships
Senior Advisor to the Provost
Noah Pickus is Head of Global Strategy and Partnerships and Senior Advisor to the Provost at Duke University. In these roles, he leads initiatives that shape academic strategy, global engagement, and educational innovation across the university. He is also the founder of the Future Universities Alliance, a global learning network that brings together start‑up, emerging, and established universities to co‑create innovative academic solutions and expand access to high‑quality education worldwide.
Pickus has played a central role in launching and scaling new ventures in higher education. He served as a founding architect of Duke Kunshan University (DKU) in China, later becoming DKU’s Dean for Academic Strategy, and founded the Institute for Global Higher Education there. He also launched the Institute for Emerging Issues at NC State University under former Governor James B. Hunt Jr.
At Duke, Pickus has served as Associate Provost for ten years and co‑authored both the university’s 2017 Academic Strategic Plan and the Duke 2030 strategy. As the Nannerl O. Keohane Director of the Kenan Institute for Ethics, he led a signature university‑wide interdisciplinary program for a decade, expanding its research and high‑impact undergraduate programming. He currently co‑directs the Provost’s Initiative for Pluralism, Free Inquiry, and Belonging.
Beyond Duke, Pickus served as Chief Academic Officer of Minerva Project, overseeing a 40‑person academic team working across the United States, Mexico, Asia, and Europe. He also co‑directed the ASU–Georgetown Academy for Innovation in Higher Education Leadership and previously co‑directed the Brookings–Duke Immigration Roundtable.
His recent book with Bryan Penprase, The New Global Universities: Reinventing Education in the 21st Century (Princeton University Press), tells the inside story of eight innovative universities worldwide and what their experiments mean for the future of higher education. His earlier work includes True Faith and Allegiance: Immigration and American Civic Nationalism (Princeton University Press).
A Professor of the Practice of Public Policy, Pickus received his B.A. from the College of Social Studies at Wesleyan University and his Ph.D. in politics from Princeton University.