Search for Rutgers-Newark Chancellor Begins

Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway announced the launch of the search for a permanent chancellor for Rutgers University-Newark, naming Professor Salamishah Tillet and Prabhas Moghe, executive vice president for academic affairs, co-chairs of the search committee.

“The search committee will gather feedback from stakeholders within and beyond Rutgers-Newark to inform the leadership profile and help them to evaluate candidates for the chancellorship,” Holloway noted in a message to the Rutgers-Newark community on Tuesday. 

Students, staff and faculty from across the university join members of Rutgers’ governing boards, alumni and community partners to complete the search committee. The committee will cultivate, interview and evaluate a pool of potential candidates and recommend a short list of finalists to Holloway.

The finalists will undergo additional review and, ultimately, the top candidate will be presented to the Board of Governors for approval. Holloway said he intends to announce a new chancellor next spring to take office next summer. 

“As the search progresses, I want to applaud Jeffrey Robinson for stepping forward to provide vital leadership as interim chancellor, helping Rutgers-Newark to uphold and bolster its reputation as an engine of social mobility for our students, a hub of outstanding research and a model anchor institution,” Holloway said.

Holloway appointed Robinson, Rutgers-Newark executive vice chancellor and provost, as interim chancellor for the full 2024-2025 academic year following the end of Nancy Cantor’s successful, decade-long leadership as Rutgers-Newark chancellor. On Aug. 12, Cantor began her tenure as the 14th president of Hunter College, the largest college in the City University of New York system.

Robinson joined the faculty at the Rutgers Business School in 2008 and is the academic director of the Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (CUEED), where he has put his scholarship to practical implementation through social entrepreneurship and the promotion of minority businesses.

Isaacson, Miller, the firm assisting with search process, has set up an email account for confidential nominations or other feedback: NewarkChancellorSearch@rutgers.edu. As more information on the search becomes available it will be posted on the president’s Administrative Searches page.

The members of the search committee for chancellor of Rutgers University-Newark are:

 Prabhas Moghe, co-chair, executive vice president for Academic Affairs and Distinguished Professor, School of Engineering, Rutgers-New Brunswick

Salamishah Tillet, co-chair, Henry Rutgers Professor of Africana Studies and Creative Writing; director of Express Newark, Rutgers-Newark

LaToya Battle-Brown, senior vice chancellor for enrollment, Rutgers-Newark

Paul Boxer, professor of psychology, School of Arts and Sciences-Newark; University Senate faculty representative

Sherri-Ann Butterfield, senior vice president of social impact, New Jersey Performing Arts Center; former executive vice chancellor and associate professor, Rutgers-Newark

Melissa Cooper, associate Professor of History, Clement A. Price Humanities Scholars Faculty Director, School of Arts and Sciences-Newark

Jason Cortés, associate professor, Spanish, American Studies; chair, Spanish and Portuguese Studies, School of Arts and Sciences-Newark

Alex Gimenez-Santana, assistant professor of practice, School of Criminal Justice, Rutgers-Newark

David Harris, member, Board of Trustees; retired Lowenstein Sandler partner

Stefon Harris, associate professor of music, School of Arts and Sciences-Newark

Randi Mandelbaum, associate dean for clinical education, professor of law, Rutgers Law School

Joy McDonald, associate director, Academic Technology Services, Rutgers-Newark

Tiffany Olivera, Ph.D. candidate, chemistry, Graduate School-Newark; University Senate student representative

Rosa Oppenheim, Rutgers Business School Dean’s Professor of Business and interim chair of the Department of Supply Chain Management

Suzanne Piotrowski, professor, School of Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers-Newark

Oliver Quinn, chair, Rutgers-Newark Chancellor’s Advisory Board; retired vice president, Prudential Financial

Ashaki Rouff, professor of Earth and environmental sciences, School of Arts and Sciences-Newark

Wardah Samad, undergraduate student, Rutgers Business School, Rutgers–Newark; president, Rutgers-Newark Student Governing Association

Elizabeth Surles, archivist, Institute of Jazz Studies; librarian II, Dana Library, Rutgers-Newark

Brian Ballentine, senior vice president for strategy and chief of staff, Office of the President

Kristen Baker, senior project coordinator, Office of the President