Public Directors Named to AAUP Foundation Board

Arthur Caplan and Heidi Bogin Oshin have been elected as public directors on the AAUP Foundation’s board of directors. Caplan and Oshin bring a wealth of nonprofit and academic experience to the Foundation’s board.

An internationally respected bioethicist, Arthur Caplan is director of the Medical Ethics Department of Population Health at New York University’s Langone Medical Center. He has served on committees for the United Nations, the US Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the International Olympic Committee. His work includes research on cloning, organ trafficking, and gene therapy, and he is the author or editor of more than thirty books.

Heidi Bogin Oshin has a diverse background in law, education, film, and media. She is executive vice president of Menemsha Films, a distribution company that specializes in art-house films from around the world. She previously was an adjunct instructor at Ottawa University, and she developed a program for teaching gifted students with disabilities for Scottsdale Unified School District in Arizona. She also served as executive director of the Western North Carolina Jewish Federation and as a program director of the Thirtieth Judicial District Alliance in North Carolina.

The new directors look forward to supporting the Foundation’s work. Of her role as a public director, Oshin said, “It is my great honor to be working with the AAUP Foundation. In these challenging times, the need for academic freedom is paramount. We need an educated population to handle the complexity of the world. To foster that educated population, the work of the AAUP becomes even more important.” Caplan said of his new role, “I am eager to begin work with the new Foundation. With a broad range of issues confronting the academy, from the use of online teaching to intrusions into free speech to educational and research budget woes that put the future of our nation at risk, the need for the AAUP to be active, engaged, and vocal is obvious and pressing.”