Appointment of Executive Dean, School of Arts and Sciences

June 3, 2008

Members of the Rutgers Community:

It is my pleasure to announce that Douglas Greenberg, Ph.D., a professor of history at the University of Southern California (USC) and executive director of the Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, has been appointed executive dean of Rutgers’ School of Arts and Sciences (SAS) in New Brunswick. His appointment as dean is effective August 15.

Dr. Greenberg, a Rutgers alumnus, brings to SAS a wealth of knowledge and experience in a wide range of academic settings, including faculty posts at Lawrence University, Princeton University, and USC. At Princeton, he also served for four years as associate dean of the faculty. From 1987 to 1993, while he was vice president of the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), he was a visiting professor at Rutgers, teaching early American history and American legal and constitutional history.

Over the past two decades, Dr. Greenberg has provided leadership and direction for major organizations focused on academic research and outreach. In addition to his service at ACLS, he was president and director of the Chicago Historical Society, and president and CEO of the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation.

A 1969 graduate of Rutgers College with highest distinction in history, Dr. Greenberg earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in history at Cornell. He has written extensively on the history of early America and American law, and on technology, scholarship, and libraries. He also lectures and writes about the Holocaust, comparative genocide, and Jewish identity in the post-Holocaust United States. Dr. Greenberg is former chair of the New Jersey Historical Commission and of the California Council for the Humanities.

Many thanks to the search committee, chaired by Professor Terry Wilson, which presented us with an outstanding pool of candidates for the deanship of our university’s largest academic unit. In addition, I want to applaud and thank acting executive dean Ziva Galili and acting executive vice dean Peter Klein for the tremendous work they have done in leading the SAS for the past two years.

Doug Greenberg is ideally suited to serve as executive dean. Having known him for many years, I am confident that the School of Arts and Sciences—and indeed the entire university—will benefit from his enthusiasm, vision, and leadership. I know you will join me in welcoming Dean Greenberg back to Rutgers.

Richard L. McCormick
President
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey