The Erikson Institute Board of Trustees announced that Mariana Souto-Manning, Ph.D., will serve as the graduate school’s fifth president starting on September 1, 2021. “Mariana is a visionary leader with a deep passion for early childhood and child development, and she brings extensive experience in higher education administration,” said Elenne Song, Chair of the Board of Trustees. Souto-Manning is currently Professor of Early Childhood Education and Teacher Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She serves as the Director of Early Childhood Education and the Director of Early Childhood Special Education Programs. She formerly served as the Director of the Doctoral Program in Curriculum and Teaching. She is Vice President-elect for the American Educational Research Association Division K (Teaching and Teacher Education). She also holds academic appointments abroad at the University of Iceland and King’s College London. Prior to her career in higher education, Souto-Manning was a teacher in public preschools in Brazil and the United States. Souto-Manning is a native of Brazil. As a first-generation immigrant, she landed in Chicago upon arriving in the United States as an 18-year-old. She attended community college in Georgia before earning her bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Special Education, her master’s degree in Early Childhood Education, and her doctorate in Language Education from The University of Georgia. She is the mother of two teenage sons, and is an avid swimmer.