Description:
Dr. Steven J. Diner, Rutgers University Professor and former Chancellor of Rutgers-Newark, is an academic professional who has sought to bridge the gap between universities and the cities in which they are situated. While he served as Chancellor of Rutgers-Newark, he fostered relationships with key community members and established connections that endure as vital ties between the university and the city.
Diner received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Binghamton University, where he, after writing an editorial that was critical of the university’s administration, was first told that he would have a future in university administration. He went on to receive his Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago in 1972.
Diner began his career at the University of the District of Columbia, where he chaired the Department of Urban Studies and served as the director of the Center for Applied Research and Urban Policy. Then, at George Mason University, he served as a history professor, Associate Senior Vice President and Director of the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, and Vice Provost for Academic Programs.
Diner joined the faculty and administration at Rutgers University-Newark in 1998. He served as the Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences at Rutgers-Newark from 1998 to 2002. From 2002 to 2011, he held the post of Chancellor (formerly Provost) of Rutgers-Newark. Since 2011, Diner has served as University Professor at Rutgers University-Newark.
His publications include Universities and Their Cities: Urban Higher Education in America; A Very Different Age: Americans of the Progressive Era; Managing the Nation’s Capital: The Evolution of the Office of City Administrator in the District of Columbia (edited with Helen Young); Housing Washington’s People: Public Policy in Retrospect (edited with Helen Young); A City and Its Universities: Public Policy in Chicago 1982-1919; Compassion and Responsibility: Readings in the History of Social Welfare Policy (edited with Frank R. Bruel); and The Center of a Metropolis: Washington Since 1954.
