Joseph M. Torsella
Encyclopedia
Joseph M. Torsella is the current U.S. Representative to the United Nations
for Management and Reform, with the rank of Ambassador
. He previously served as President and CEO of the National Constitution Center
in Philadelphia from 1997–2003 and again from 2006–2008, and as the Chairman of the Pennsylvania State Board of Education http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/state_board_of_education/8830 from 2008-2011.
Torsella was a graduate of Wyoming Seminary
high school in Kingston, Pennsylvania
and an honors graduate of the University of Pennsylvania
, Phi Beta Kappa, 1986, with a degree in economics and history. As a Rhodes Scholar (1986–1990), he did graduate work in American History at New College, Oxford. His wife, Carolyn Short Torsella, is a trial lawyer and partner at Reed Smith LLP. They live with their four children in Flourtown, Pennsylvania
.
passed and President Ronald Reagan
signed the Constitution Heritage Act calling for the creation of a National Constitution Center to "disseminate information about the United States Constitution on a non-partisan basis in order to increase the awareness and understanding of the Constitution among the American people". The non-profit museum and education center was to be located in Philadelphia. But for almost a decade the project languished, financially troubled and inadequately focused.
By 1997, the Constitution Center was still not built and already had an operating deficit of $200,000 (Philadelphia Business Journal
, January 3, 2003). That year, Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell asked Torsella to become President and CEO. Torsella raised $185 million in private and public funds, formed a board of trustees led by Vanguard Group founder John C. Bogle and got the project back on track. The National Constitution Center opened on July 4, 2003 in a modern glass-fronted 160000 square feet (14,864.5 m²) structure (designed by Henry H. Cobb of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
) located on the north end of Independence Mall.
. Chicago was ultimately selected as the U.S. Olympic bid city, but Torsella continues to serve as co-chairman of the Philadelphia Olympic and International Sports Project http://www.philadelphiasportscongress.com, the successor organization to Philadelphia 2016 that attracted two Olympic team trial events - table tennis and gymnastics - to Philadelphia.
, left to become managing editor of Time magazine. Under Torsella's leadership, the Center has become the permanent home of the annual Liberty Medal ceremony. The medal was presented in 2006 to former Presidents George H. W. Bush
and Bill Clinton
for their humanitarian work following Hurricane Katrina
and the tsunami in Southeast Asia. In 2007, it went to Bono
and DATA
http://www.data.org, the advocacy organization he co-founded for raising awareness about AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa. In 2008, the medal was presented to Mikhail Gorbachev
to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
In 2007, Torsella personally persuaded former President George H. W. Bush to serve as Chairman of the Board of Trustees, the only active board position President Bush then held. In 2008, Torsella announced that former President Bill Clinton would replace Bush as chairman as of January 1, 2009. Clinton currently serves in that capacity http://constitutioncenter.org/ncc_about_Board_of_Trustees.aspx.
The Constitution Center also hosted key events during the 2008 presidential race. On March 18, 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama
delivered his much-heralded speech on race relations in America at the Constitution Center, one that historians Garry Wills
and Harold Holzer
have compared to Abraham Lincoln's famous Cooper Union address. On April 16, 2008, the National Constitution Center hosted a Democratic presidential primary debate between Senators Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton
, the last and highest rated debate of the primary season. That evening, Torsella's appearance on The Colbert Report aired on Comedy Central http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/videos.jhtml?episodeId=165830, in a segment awarded "Best TV Performance" in Philadelphia Magazine's 2008 Best of Philly issue.
In 2008, on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Constitution Center launched an International Engagement Program to promote constitutional principles in emerging democracies by using the civic learning and educational initiatives it developed at the Constitution Center. The Program sought to bolster civil society in Afghanistan through partnerships with the Ministry of Education, the Marefet School and non-governmental organizations. The Constitution Center supported Nasim Fekrat
, Afghanistan's leading blogger, to strengthen citizen journalism in the country. In addition, the Constitution Center provided Afghan students with digital cameras and camcorders http://beingwethepeople.shutterfly.com/ to capture the sights and sounds of freedom, religious expression and other civic themes as part of its Being "We the People" exhibit project, which opened at the Constitution Center on August 24, 2009 http://constitutioncenter.org/International/Blog.aspx?title=Being+We%2C+the+People+at+the+Center+and+Beyond.
On December 11, 2008, Torsella announced that he would be stepping down as President and CEO of the Constitution Center at the end of January 2009; the Philadelphia Inquirer described his tenure as a "resounding success" and called him a "modern-day founding father."
. Torsella received endorsements from the region's major newspapers, including the Philadelphia Inquirer, but was outspent by close to $1 million, and lost in a close Democratic Party
primary to Allyson Schwartz
.
In 2009, Torsella announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination in the 2010 U.S. Senate race
in Pennsylvania. In the weeks after incumbent Arlen Specter
switched party affiliations from Republican to Democrat, Torsella withdrew from the race in an announcement posted on his campaign website http://www.joetorsella.com/. In that announcement, Torsella cited a potentially negative primary fight that would weaken the Democratic Party’s chances in the November 2010 general election as the reason for withdrawal.
Under Torsella's leadership, the State Board passed a landmark reform strengthening high school graduation requirements on August 13, 2009; the reform requires students to demonstrate proficiency in core subjects such as math, science, English and social studies prior to receiving a diploma. When an earlier proposal for graduation testing ran into heavy opposition from statewide education groups and was reversed by the legislature, Torsella brokered a compromise initiative that was approved by the state's Independent Regulatory Review Commission on October 22, 2009 and will take effect beginning with the 2010-2011 school year.
The Board partnered with Pennsylvania's Department of Education to develop an application for the federal government's Race to the Top initiative, an incentive program designed to spur reform in K-12 education across the country http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/index.html. In the first round selection, Pennsylvania was seventh out of forty-one applicant states and submitted a second round application on June 1, 2010. To support that application, the Board expedited its review and adopted "Common Core" academic standards in math and English language arts. The winners of the next round will be announced in September 2010.
In other initiatives, the Board initiated reviews to improve school safety, held more than half of its meetings outside Harrisburg and urged a variety of measures to make college more accessible and affordable, including the creation of a "no frills" option in higher education. More recently, the Board advanced new regulations on school nutrition and physical activity to reduce childhood obesity, a response that has been called "the most comprehensive such standards in the nation."
On June 10, 2010, Governor Rendell tapped Torsella to lead Pennsylvania's participation in Complete College America http://www.completecollege.org/, a 22-state effort to significantly increase college completion and accessibility by 2020.
to the position of U.S. Representative to the United Nations
for Management and Reform, with the rank of Ambassador
; on January 5, 2011, he was renominated after a lame duck session ended without his confirmation.
He had a second hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on March 16, 2011 (with Sen. Robert Casey, Jr. acting as chairman) and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 19, 2011.
In 2004, he founded a business consulting firm called 743 Ventures.
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
for Management and Reform, with the rank of Ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
. He previously served as President and CEO of the National Constitution Center
National Constitution Center
The National Constitution Center is an organization that seeks to expand awareness and understanding of the United States Constitution and operates a museum to advance those purposes....
in Philadelphia from 1997–2003 and again from 2006–2008, and as the Chairman of the Pennsylvania State Board of Education http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/state_board_of_education/8830 from 2008-2011.
Torsella was a graduate of Wyoming Seminary
Wyoming Seminary
Wyoming Seminary, founded in 1844 and currently led by President Kip P. Nygren, is a private college preparatory school located in the Wyoming Valley of Northeastern Pennsylvania, in Kingston and Forty Fort It is near the Susquehanna River and the city of Wilkes-Barre...
high school in Kingston, Pennsylvania
Kingston, Pennsylvania
Kingston is a municipality located in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States, on the Susquehanna River opposite Wilkes Barre. Kingston was incorporated as a borough in 1857. Kingston has adopted a home rule charter which became effective in January 1976. It is part of the greater metropolitan...
and an honors graduate of the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, Phi Beta Kappa, 1986, with a degree in economics and history. As a Rhodes Scholar (1986–1990), he did graduate work in American History at New College, Oxford. His wife, Carolyn Short Torsella, is a trial lawyer and partner at Reed Smith LLP. They live with their four children in Flourtown, Pennsylvania
Flourtown, Pennsylvania
Flourtown is a census-designated place in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States, with a ZIP code of 19031. Flourtown is adjacent to the Philadelphia neighborhoods of West Oak Lane, Mt. Airy, and Chestnut Hill...
.
Early career
Torsella served as Philadelphia's Deputy Mayor for Policy and Planning for Mayor Edward G. Rendell (now Governor of Pennsylvania) from January 1992 to September 1993. He was not yet 30. Under Rendell, Torsella developed and implemented financial and labor reforms that led the city toward a fiscal rebound that the New York Times called "one of the most stunning turnarounds in recent urban history". The municipal renaissance was chronicled in journalist Buzz Bissinger's book A Prayer for the City, in which Torsella describes the Rendell administration's philosophy as "taking control of the government and restructuring it for effectiveness".National Constitution Center 1997-2003
In 1988, the United States CongressUnited States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
passed and President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
signed the Constitution Heritage Act calling for the creation of a National Constitution Center to "disseminate information about the United States Constitution on a non-partisan basis in order to increase the awareness and understanding of the Constitution among the American people". The non-profit museum and education center was to be located in Philadelphia. But for almost a decade the project languished, financially troubled and inadequately focused.
By 1997, the Constitution Center was still not built and already had an operating deficit of $200,000 (Philadelphia Business Journal
Philadelphia Business Journal
The Philadelphia Business Journal is a weekly business-oriented newspaper published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is published by the American City Business Journals....
, January 3, 2003). That year, Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell asked Torsella to become President and CEO. Torsella raised $185 million in private and public funds, formed a board of trustees led by Vanguard Group founder John C. Bogle and got the project back on track. The National Constitution Center opened on July 4, 2003 in a modern glass-fronted 160000 square feet (14,864.5 m²) structure (designed by Henry H. Cobb of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
Pei Cobb Freed & Partners is an architectural firm that was founded in 1955 by I. M. Pei as I. M. Pei & Associates, in 1966 called I. M. Pei & Partners, and received its current name and organization in 1989. The founders were I. M. Pei, Henry N. Cobb, and Eason H. Leonard. Pei and Leonard retired...
) located on the north end of Independence Mall.
Olympic Bid 2005
In 2005, Torsella co-chaired the city of Philadelphia's bid for the 2016 Olympic Games, along with David L. Cohen, executive vice president of Comcast Corp http://www.comcast.com, and Olympic gold medalist Dawn StaleyDawn Staley
Dawn Michelle Staley is an American basketball player and coach. Staley is a three-time Olympian and was elected to carry the United States flag at the opening ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympics. She was named the University of South Carolina women's head basketball coach on May 7, 2008...
. Chicago was ultimately selected as the U.S. Olympic bid city, but Torsella continues to serve as co-chairman of the Philadelphia Olympic and International Sports Project http://www.philadelphiasportscongress.com, the successor organization to Philadelphia 2016 that attracted two Olympic team trial events - table tennis and gymnastics - to Philadelphia.
Return to National Constitution Center 2006
Torsella returned as President and CEO of the National Constitution Center in 2006, after his successor, Richard StengelRichard Stengel
Richard "Rick" Stengel is an American editor, journalist and author and is Time magazine's 16th managing editor. While best known for his work for Time, he has written a number of books including a collaboration with Nelson Mandela on Mandela's autobiography...
, left to become managing editor of Time magazine. Under Torsella's leadership, the Center has become the permanent home of the annual Liberty Medal ceremony. The medal was presented in 2006 to former Presidents George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
and Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
for their humanitarian work following Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
and the tsunami in Southeast Asia. In 2007, it went to Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
and DATA
DATA
Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa was a multinational non-government organization founded in January 2002 in London by U2's Bono along with Bobby Shriver and activists from the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt campaign....
http://www.data.org, the advocacy organization he co-founded for raising awareness about AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa. In 2008, the medal was presented to Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
In 2007, Torsella personally persuaded former President George H. W. Bush to serve as Chairman of the Board of Trustees, the only active board position President Bush then held. In 2008, Torsella announced that former President Bill Clinton would replace Bush as chairman as of January 1, 2009. Clinton currently serves in that capacity http://constitutioncenter.org/ncc_about_Board_of_Trustees.aspx.
The Constitution Center also hosted key events during the 2008 presidential race. On March 18, 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
delivered his much-heralded speech on race relations in America at the Constitution Center, one that historians Garry Wills
Garry Wills
Garry Wills is a Pulitzer Prize-winning and prolific author, journalist, and historian, specializing in American politics, American political history and ideology and the Roman Catholic Church. Classically trained at a Jesuit high school and two universities, he is proficient in Greek and Latin...
and Harold Holzer
Harold Holzer
Harold Holzer is a scholar of Abraham Lincoln and the political culture of the American Civil War Era. He served for nine years as co-chairman of the United States Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission , appointed to the commission by President Bill Clinton in 2000 and elected co-chair by his...
have compared to Abraham Lincoln's famous Cooper Union address. On April 16, 2008, the National Constitution Center hosted a Democratic presidential primary debate between Senators Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
, the last and highest rated debate of the primary season. That evening, Torsella's appearance on The Colbert Report aired on Comedy Central http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/videos.jhtml?episodeId=165830, in a segment awarded "Best TV Performance" in Philadelphia Magazine's 2008 Best of Philly issue.
In 2008, on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Constitution Center launched an International Engagement Program to promote constitutional principles in emerging democracies by using the civic learning and educational initiatives it developed at the Constitution Center. The Program sought to bolster civil society in Afghanistan through partnerships with the Ministry of Education, the Marefet School and non-governmental organizations. The Constitution Center supported Nasim Fekrat
Nasim Fekrat
Nasim Fekrat نسیم فکرت is a well-known Afghan blogger who has also worked as a freelance journalist and a photographer. He is a two time winner of freedom of expression awards, in 2005 from France Reporters Sans Frontieres ) and 2008 from ISF in Siena, Italy . He is the editor of the . He is also...
, Afghanistan's leading blogger, to strengthen citizen journalism in the country. In addition, the Constitution Center provided Afghan students with digital cameras and camcorders http://beingwethepeople.shutterfly.com/ to capture the sights and sounds of freedom, religious expression and other civic themes as part of its Being "We the People" exhibit project, which opened at the Constitution Center on August 24, 2009 http://constitutioncenter.org/International/Blog.aspx?title=Being+We%2C+the+People+at+the+Center+and+Beyond.
On December 11, 2008, Torsella announced that he would be stepping down as President and CEO of the Constitution Center at the end of January 2009; the Philadelphia Inquirer described his tenure as a "resounding success" and called him a "modern-day founding father."
Political aspirations
In 2004, Torsella ran for a seat in the U.S. Congress in Pennsylvania's 13th congressional districtPennsylvania's 13th congressional district
The 13th Congressional District of Pennsylvania is located in Southeastern Pennsylvania, covering eastern Montgomery County and Northeast Philadelphia. The district traditionally included most of Montgomery County, but was redrawn in 2002...
. Torsella received endorsements from the region's major newspapers, including the Philadelphia Inquirer, but was outspent by close to $1 million, and lost in a close Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
primary to Allyson Schwartz
Allyson Schwartz
Allyson Young Schwartz is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2005. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes parts of Montgomery County and Northeast Philadelphia...
.
In 2009, Torsella announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination in the 2010 U.S. Senate race
United States Senate election in Pennsylvania, 2010
The 2010 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania took place on November 2, 2010, during the 2010 midterm elections. Incumbent Republican-turned-Democrat U.S. Senator Arlen Specter ran for re-election to a sixth term, but lost in the Democratic primary to Joe Sestak. Republican nominee Pat...
in Pennsylvania. In the weeks after incumbent Arlen Specter
Arlen Specter
Arlen Specter is a former United States Senator from Pennsylvania. Specter is a Democrat, but was a Republican from 1965 until switching to the Democratic Party in 2009...
switched party affiliations from Republican to Democrat, Torsella withdrew from the race in an announcement posted on his campaign website http://www.joetorsella.com/. In that announcement, Torsella cited a potentially negative primary fight that would weaken the Democratic Party’s chances in the November 2010 general election as the reason for withdrawal.
Chairman of the Pennsylvania State Board of Education
On August 13, 2008, Governor Edward G. Rendell named Torsella the Chairman of the Pennsylvania State Board of Education.Under Torsella's leadership, the State Board passed a landmark reform strengthening high school graduation requirements on August 13, 2009; the reform requires students to demonstrate proficiency in core subjects such as math, science, English and social studies prior to receiving a diploma. When an earlier proposal for graduation testing ran into heavy opposition from statewide education groups and was reversed by the legislature, Torsella brokered a compromise initiative that was approved by the state's Independent Regulatory Review Commission on October 22, 2009 and will take effect beginning with the 2010-2011 school year.
The Board partnered with Pennsylvania's Department of Education to develop an application for the federal government's Race to the Top initiative, an incentive program designed to spur reform in K-12 education across the country http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/index.html. In the first round selection, Pennsylvania was seventh out of forty-one applicant states and submitted a second round application on June 1, 2010. To support that application, the Board expedited its review and adopted "Common Core" academic standards in math and English language arts. The winners of the next round will be announced in September 2010.
In other initiatives, the Board initiated reviews to improve school safety, held more than half of its meetings outside Harrisburg and urged a variety of measures to make college more accessible and affordable, including the creation of a "no frills" option in higher education. More recently, the Board advanced new regulations on school nutrition and physical activity to reduce childhood obesity, a response that has been called "the most comprehensive such standards in the nation."
On June 10, 2010, Governor Rendell tapped Torsella to lead Pennsylvania's participation in Complete College America http://www.completecollege.org/, a 22-state effort to significantly increase college completion and accessibility by 2020.
Ambassador
On November 15, 2010, Torsella was nominated by President Barack ObamaBarack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
to the position of U.S. Representative to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
for Management and Reform, with the rank of Ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
; on January 5, 2011, he was renominated after a lame duck session ended without his confirmation.
He had a second hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on March 16, 2011 (with Sen. Robert Casey, Jr. acting as chairman) and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 19, 2011.
Other endeavors
In 1994, Torsella developed the Spaghetti Smock, a linen bib for adults.In 2004, he founded a business consulting firm called 743 Ventures.
External links
- Official Campaign Website http://www.joetorsella.com/
- National Constitution Center http://www.constitutioncenter.org
- Torsella Biography from Constitution Center Website http://www.constitutioncenter.org/about_us/PresidentandCEO/index.shtml
- Philadelphia Sports Congress http://www.philadelphiasportscongress.org
- City of Philadelphia http://www.phila.gov