Courtney Sale Ross

Courtney Sale Ross is an educational philanthropist and Chair of Ross Institute for Advanced Study and Innovation in Education, New York City and Founder of Ross School, East Hampton.

Ross Institute for Advanced Study and Innovation in Education serves as an incubator for 21st century education. It facilitates Ross School's entry into public school systems, acts as a catalyst for research in areas such as Globalization in Education, Mind, Brain and Education and Interdisciplinary Curriculum for Cultural Understanding. Ross Institute's Inter-University Consortium was founded in 2004. It is a network of universities whose schools of education will utilize Ross School as a lab school, and through teacher training the partners' findings will be disseminated to public education, primarily in underserved areas.

Founded in 1991 Ross School teaches the whole child for the whole world. The school's multi-disciplinary curriculum presents global cultural history as an outwardly-expanding spiral, enabling multiple perspectives onto past and current history. Ross School serves children from age 2 through the 12th grade. In the 2006-2007 academic year the school enrollment will number almost 550 students.

In 2006, the New York State Board of Regents approved the charter for the Ross Global Academy which is a collaboration with New York University’s Steinhardt School of Education and New York City’s Board of Education. The charter school is scheduled to open in New York City in fall 2006.

Courtney Sale Ross’ philanthropy is focused on education, emphasizing the underserved, globalization, and U.S./China relations. Ross has given to major universities across the United States including Harvard University, New York University, the University of Southern California and Skidmore College. At New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Ross created the Courtney Sale Ross Scholarship Fund for aid to minority women. At NYU's Steinhardt School of Education, Ross' daughter, Nicole, established the Courtney Sale Ross University Professor of Education and Globalization Chair.

Ross' giving extends to the People's Republic of China where she has endowed museums with contributions related to education and research. At the Shanghai Museum, Ross created the Courtney and Steven J. Ross Multi-Media and Communications Center, an interactive theatre designed for use by international scholars.

Ross serves on boards with special emphases on education, wellness and international relations, including New York University, the Asia Society, the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California, the Committee on U.S./China Relations, and the United Nations Association of the United States of America.

Prior to her work in education, Courtney Sale Ross founded a contemporary art gallery in Dallas, Texas. Thereafter, New York State Governor Hugh Carey appointed Ross to curate a state-wide exhibition celebrating two centuries of art in New York. Ross followed this by producing an accompanying documentary film 'The Big Picture' and then with a six-part documentary series on the 'New York School' artists, 'Strokes of Genius.' In 1990, Ross was executive producer on the feature film, 'Listen Up! The Lives of Quincy Jones' which received enthusiastic notices in the international press.

Courtney Sale Ross is a graduate of Skidmore College where she was awarded an honorary doctoral degree in 1991. She is the widow of Steven J. Ross, former Chairman and CEO of TimeWarner and the mother of one daughter, Nicole Ross.