Chancellor Steven Diner Appointed President of International Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities
Dr. Diner, who previously served as vice president of CUMU, is a nationally known urban historian who has led the Rutgers University, Newark campus since 2002.
"Throughout my career, I have been deeply committed to the idea that cities and metropolitan areas provide extraordinarily rich resources to advance universities' core missions of teaching and research," noted Dr. Diner. "Having pursued this at Rutgers University in Newark, I am honored to lead the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities, an organization of institutions deeply committed to engagement with urban communities."
"Steven Diner is ideally suited to serve as CUMU president, and we take pride in his selection," said Rutgers President Richard L. McCormick. "He has dedicated his chancellorship to making Rutgers University in Newark a model for urban universities, building the bond between city and university in ways that enhance Rutgers’ curriculum, enrich our research and outreach, and empower people in Newark and surrounding communities."
At Rutgers Diner leads a campus of 11,000 students, 500 full-time faculty and 1,100 full-time staff, which awards doctoral, masters, baccalaureate and law degrees through colleges of arts and sciences, business, criminal justice, law, nursing and public affairs & administration. U.S. News & World Report has named it the most diverse national university in the United States for 11 consecutive years. Prior to assuming his current position, Dr. Diner served as dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science at Rutgers in Newark. He is also a Professor of History. Chancellor Diner has devoted himself to developing Rutgers University in Newark as a leading urban research university. He has overseen a substantial increase in campus enrollments and in the campus’ residential population, and in the development of new academic programs and initiatives. He has built strong ties between the university and the local community, and is deeply involved in the revitalization of downtown Newark, New Jersey’s largest city.
Diner came to Rutgers in 1998 with a lifelong interest in cities, universities, and the connections between them, both past and present. He holds a Ph.D in history from the University of Chicago, and is the author of A City and Its Universities (1980), Housing Washington’s People (1984), and A Very Different Age: Americans of the Progressive Era (1998), as well as numerous articles and essays on the history of American higher education, urban history, and the history of public policy.
CUMU represents a group of universities who have realized the value of working together with peers from similar institutions and with comparable characteristics. In the challenging environment that higher education finds itself, the coalition provides the opportunities to network with colleagues experiencing the same issues. Widener University will host the organization’s annual conference in Philadelphia Oct. 10-13, 2009, focusing on “Building Community Resiliency: The Role of University Leadership.”
More information on CUMU is available at www.cumuonline.org.
Media Contact: Helen Paxton
973-353-5262
E-mail: paxton@andromeda.rutgers.edu