ABOUT
Who We Are
Mission and Vision
Our Mission is to empower students to become successful, resilient, socially engaged, and ethical citizens of the world for life.
Our Vision is that by 2030 leading universities will adopt our operating and academic innovations and model to reform and improve Higher Education in service to society.
NewU is a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit
We are a team of educators and entrepreneurs with a vision
We are the first private nonprofit undergraduate university to call washington dc home in over 100 years
We are proud of the milestones we achieved in the past 5 years, which culminate in this rare and bold opportunity to do good for the DC community, for the country, and for the world.
Accreditation and Licensure
NewU University is a 501(c)(3) private nonprofit degree-granting post-secondary educational institution, licensed to operate and issue Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Bachelor of Science (BS) degrees by the Washington DC Higher Education Licensure Commission (HELC).
NewU successfully completed the Pre-Application process with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). The institution is now in the next stage of the accreditation process, and is currently engaged with and listed by MSCHE as an Applicant on the accreditor’s website page PRE-APPLICANT, APPLICANT, AND CANDIDATE INSTITUTIONS, which is publicly available here.
More on HELC: The Commission strives to be a national leader in licensing, compliance monitoring, and enforcement and outreach that ensures students are protected and approved postsecondary institutions provide quality education and training programs.
Source: HELC 10/30/2022
Licensure in our nation’s capital by the DC HELC is mandatory for all universities, and serves as a transparent and rigorous quality control and oversight mechanism.
For a list of FAQs or to contact HELC with questions, comments, or grievances, visit the HELC website here. A complete list of HELC-approved institutions is available here.
More on MSCHE: The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) is a global institutional accreditor recognized by the United States Secretary of Education since 1952. As an accreditor and member of the regulatory triad, MSCHE assures students and the public of the educational quality for its over 500 institutions of higher education. The Commission’s accreditation process ensures institutional accountability, self-appraisal, improvement, and innovation through peer review and the rigorous application of standards within the context of institutional mission.
Source: MSCHE website 10/1/2023
To contact MSCHE, visit their website here.
Partners and Supporters
Board of Directors
Stratsi Kulinski is the founder and President & CEO of NewU University, the first 3-year Bachelor’s degree college in the US. He previously held various positions with companies in media, telecom, and finance living and working all around the globe prior to finding his passion for higher education.
A graduate of the inaugural class of students at the American University in Bulgaria with a BA in Business Administration, he also served as the first alumni president of that university, where he passionately and tirelessly worked to improve governance on the Board of Trustees, fired up student, alumni, and donor engagement, and steered his Alma Mater in the right direction as President. During that time he was also on the Board of the Fulbright Commission in Sofia.
President Kulinski earned his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Viktoriya V. Zotova is a business professor with expertise in financial management, macroeconomic policy analysis, and climate change disclosures. She earned her PhD from the R. H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, focusing on capital markets, global capital flows, and climate change regulation, and is an ALM candidate at Harvard University with a focus on Legal Studies. She also has a certificate in Sustainability and Climate Risk from the Global Association of Risk Professionals.
For nearly a decade, Dr. Zotova has worked at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), primarily on capital flow policies and regulations. She has several publications under the IMF banner, including multiple issues of the Annual Report on Exchange Arrangements and Exchange Restrictions (AREAER) and a book chapter on China’s capital flows liberalization.
Dr. Zotova is one of the founding members of NewU University where she manages financial operations as the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. She also teaches undergraduate and graduate courses at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business. Dr. Zotova has contributed to media outlets on macroeconomic and financial topics, including cryptocurrency, and has presented her research at conferences in the US and abroad.
India Ingersoll is a native Washingtonian and graduate of Pepperdine University. She was the Executive Director of The Fare Connection nonprofit which sought to battle food insecurity in the D.C. area.
India has a BA in Economics. While in college she served as the CFO of her chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, and was a member of the Pepperdine Investing Club.
Since moving back to DC she has been working as a growth professional in the tech space for a shopping platform that helps creators monetize their content and in the nonprofit space.
Kenneth Ward is the Executive Director of College Bound, Inc. in Washington, D.C. As a Fulbright Memorial scholar in Japan and a seasoned D.C. educator and administrator for 15 years, he has been instrumental in creating academic and personal enrichment programs for students, such as the Young Ambassadors program. He has participated in the International Teacher Exchange program where he studied best practices in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia and has also volunteered in Ethiopia.
Mr. Ward holds a Bachelor's degree in communications from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he matriculated on a Pogue Scholarship and a Master’s degree in education from Trinity. Mr. Ward participated in the Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate Program at Georgetown and was bestowed the 2012 Harvey Elliott Beech Outstanding Alumni Award from the University of North Carolina for his outstanding personal achievements. He serves on the Advisory Board at UNC for the Learning and Writing Center and the Friends of the Library. He is an active member of the Perry Community Center Services Center and Achievement Prep boards.
S. Mitchell Pinkowski is a devoted educator with a distinguished academic career, and a founding faculty member at NewU University. He attended Deerfield Academy and earned honors degrees from Emory University (B. A.) and St. John’s College’s Graduate Institute (M.A.). He now serves on the English faculty at Merrimack College in Massachusetts, teaching college writing, rhetoric, and literature.
Mitch built his career teaching in college prep schools in New England and the Mid-Atlantic region, and as an Academic Director to the Great Books summer programs at Amherst and Haverford Colleges. He served as an English Department Head for 10 years, a teacher of AP Literature for 15 years, and held various positions as both a mentor of newer faculty and as a pioneer of new educational trends. He has spoken to national and regional audiences on “How to Revolutionize the English Classroom” and has a lengthy professional commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion work, to experiential education, and to engagement in the local community.
As a global citizen, Mitch has lived and taught in Japan, lived for five years in Saudi Arabia as a youth, and has traveled to more than 30 countries and all 50 of the United States.
Milestones
1991 - 2017
Idea Inception
As a first-generation college student, our founder embodies the promise of opportunity through education. His belief that education enriches and empowers lives is the product of his own story, and constitutes a central tenet in his life philosophy.
As an immigrant to the United States, Stratsi – as he is known to friends and colleagues – credits his professional and personal growth mostly to his years at the American University in Bulgaria, initially funded by the United States Congress through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and US and European philanthropists. A member of the very first class of students, Stratsi’s choice of an unproven brand new university seemed risky, and came with financial burdens for his family at the time. But his undergraduate experience was transformative. He went on to graduate, worked across different industries from Radio Broadcasting to Satellite Telecom to Software on several continents and in DC and Silicon Valley, earned his MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and even served as President and Board Member of that university where it all started.
These diverse life experiences made possible by a new and unproven university 30 years ago, and the motivation to pay it forward, inspired the very creation of NewU. We hope, in turn, it empowers young people to invest in a life of resilience, pursuit of lifelong learning, and success here at NewU in our nation’s capital.
March 2018
The Proverbial Napkin
The very first NewU written concept gets commemorated on a piece of paper napkin. A museum-worthy artefact.
2018
Concept Validation, Branding
NewU’s first roadshow takes place, where our concept for an innovative and bold new university gets shared with leaders from academia, government, philanthropists, regulators, and of course, students and parents. Everyone wants to be a college student again when NewU launches.
Our logo, colors, taglines, social media accounts, and website are created.
December 2018
First Strategic Parnerships
NewU signs agreements with one of the preeminent law firms in the US, Holland & Knight LLP, and with real-estate leader CBRE Inc.
2019
Legal, Tax, Governance, and IT Infrastructure
NewU is incorporated in Washington DC.
The IRS approves our 501(c)(3) nonprofit tax-exempt status.
The NewU Board of Directors holds its first meeting.
The US Patent and Trademark Office approves the trademark applications for our name and logo.
Oracle and Salesforce join the list of NewU strategic partners.
2020
Executive Team and Program Development
NewU completes the executive team. It brings together many people with a true passion for education, many of them first-generation college graduates, now with doctoral and master’s degrees and professional success stories on their resumes.
The team bands together, prepares an extensive application for licensing, develops the academic programs, and puts together the marketing and recruiting strategy.
NewU not only survives the COVID-19 pandemic, but thrives.
2021
Licensure and Go-to-Market
NewU is licensed to operate by the DC Higher Education Licensure Commission in a unanimous decision of the 5 Commissioners in testament to our innovative and high quality education and operating model and programs.
We launch our first marketing and recruitment campaign for the very first class of students, and prepare to start in-person classes for Fall 2022.
2022
First Class of Students
Our very first class of students starts at NewU with Orientation Day 1 on August 22, 2022.