Harold Levy, chancellor of the New York City public schools and a Cornell University alumnus, will be on campus Feb. 13 to speak about the field of teaching and to recruit Cornell students for the New York City Teaching Fellows program.

Cornell Career Services is sponsoring Levy's visit to campus for the purpose of introducing students to career opportunities in the New York City public schools. The talk, in 105 Ives Hall beginning at 5 p.m., is open to the public, but priority will be given to Cornell students.

One opportunity Levy will discuss is the city's Teaching Fellows program, in which bachelor's-degree level students are provided training to teach in the city's most under-performing schools, while they work toward a master's degree, at no cost. Previous coursework in education is not required, and the selective two-year fellowship includes a regular teaching salary, an intensive training program, ongoing support and an accelerated, fully paid master's degree program.

A graduate of the city's public school system, Levy was appointed chancellor in May of 2000, after serving as interim chancellor since January of that year. Prior to that, he served as director of global compliance for Citigroup Inc. and, earlier, as associate general counsel of Citigroup and its predecessor, Traveler's Group. He also has been assistant general counsel of Salomon Inc. and Phillip Brothers Inc. and an appellate attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division.

Levy has devoted much of his time to education, particularly the New York City public school system. In 1995, he was asked by city school's chancellor to serve as chairman of the Commission on School Maintenance and Facilities Reform. In March of 1997, he was elected by the State Legislature to serve as a member of the New York Board of Regents.

A graduate of Cornell with a B.S. in industrial and labor relations (1974) and a J.D. from the Cornell Law School (1979), Levy has served on the Cornell Board of Trustees. He also holds an M.A. from the University of Oxford.