Catherine Pierce

MA, 1964, History; HDR, 2005

Adjunct Professor, New York University, Center for Global Affairs

Professor Catherine Shevlin Pierce, a consultant in international development, has worked in this field for over twenty five years, initially at The World Bank and subsequently at the United Nations. From 2000 to 2003, she was the Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Regional Technical Services Team for the Pacific, which advises governments and civil society organizations on population and sustainable development initiatives designed to assist countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Professor Pierce has worked extensively on human rights concerns and women and development issues and took an active role in the UN global conferences of the 1990s. She managed the UNFPA Global Training Program in Population and Development situated in universities in Botswana, Chile, Egypt, India and Morocco and chaired the UN Development Group Task Force on Knowledge Sharing.

Born and raised in New York City, Pierce received her bachelor’s degree cum laude from Marymount College, Tarrytown, N.Y., in 1963 and holds advanced degrees from Purdue University (history) and from Georgetown University (demography). She was elected (1983) to the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population. Her involvement with the UN Training Program in Population and Development enabled Pierce to combine academic interests and program management. She retired from the United Nations in 2003 and currently consults in the area of international development and teaches in the Global Affairs Program at New York University.

Throughout her UN career, Pierce mentored new staff, junior professional officers and summer interns. She made numerous presentations to university groups throughout the United States and to community organizations, particularly in Greenwich, Conn., where she resided for 25 years.