Jenny Tuten Named Anchor Institutions Task Force (AITF) Fellow

Jenny Tuten, Professor of Literacy Education and Special Advisor to the Provost on Community Engagement and Public Partnerships at CUNY-Hunter College, is named a 2026 Anchor Institutions Task Force (AITF) Fellow. 

The Anchor Fellows Program was created in order to provide a next generation of anchor leaders sharing AITF’s values with additional tools, resources, mentorship and relationships.

With over two decades of experience bridging university scholarship and community practice, Dr. Jenny Tuten has established herself as a leader committed to equity and collaborative partnerships in urban education.

As Acting Dean of the School of Education and former Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs, Jenny demonstrated strong leadership across Hunter College’s four schools. In her role as Associate Provost, she oversaw faculty development initiatives, tenure and promotion processes, and served as the president’s liaison for Hunter’s centers, galleries, and arts programs. Her scholarship is practitioner-focused, closely aligned with the challenges and opportunities facing teachers as they strive to meet the needs of diverse literacy learners in urban schools, the development of responsive professional development models to improve literacy instruction in urban schools, and family, community, and school engagement.

Jenny’s most significant community impact comes through her direction of READ East Harlem/Hunter College, a multimillion-dollar professional development initiative funded by the New York Community Trust’s Brooke Astor Fund for Public Education. This collaborative project united university faculty with K-3 teachers and school leaders across all East Harlem elementary schools, creating deep, trusting relationships. This initiative developed into a true collaboration that recognized and leveraged the expertise present in both university and community settings.

Currently, Jenny is serving as Special Advisor to the Provost on Community Engagement and Public Partnerships. In this role, she will help enhance publicly engaged scholarship, build partnerships with organizations and communities, and coordinate critical activities and projects across the college to further Hunter College’s mission as an anchor institution.