
Annalena Baerbock will take up a multi-year teaching position at Columbia University in New York this fall following the end of her term as president of the UN General Assembly, according to reports from the Deutsche Presse-Agentur and other outlets. She will serve as a professor of Global Leadership and co-director of the university’s Master of Public Administration in Global Leadership program, a practice-oriented role rather than a traditional research professorship. The program targets mid-career professionals with at least 10 years of experience.
Baerbock’s one-year term as president of the UN General Assembly officially concludes on Sept. 8, with Khalilur Rahman of Bangladesh set to succeed her. She was elected to the post in June 2025 by an overwhelming majority and assumed office the following September, becoming only the fifth woman to hold the position. During her tenure, she advocated for UN reform, women’s rights, climate action, and sustainable development, while also addressing the global governance of artificial intelligence and pushing for a transparent, inclusive process to select the next UN secretary-general, urging the appointment of the organization’s first female leader.
The former German foreign minister and Green Party politician has previously expressed her affinity for New York, telling dpa shortly after taking office that she enjoyed “disappearing” into the city’s diversity, calling it “sometimes very liberating.” More recently, she told the Süddeutsche Zeitung she had “regained a degree of anonymity and with it a sense of freedom” in the city.
Baerbock’s transition to Columbia does not require German government approval, as the 18-month cooling-off period for former ministers has elapsed, according to Table Media. In her new role, she will focus on international political leadership and also work as a public speaker. The appointment follows a similar career move by her former co-party leader, Robert Habeck, who left parliament after the 2025 federal election to take a visiting professorship at the University of California, Berkeley, and currently teaches at the Copenhagen Business School as a Professor of Practice in geopolitics, security, and economics.
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