Provost Jeffrey Robinson Will Serve as Interim Chancellor in 2024-25

October 3, 2023

Dear Members of the Rutgers University–Newark Community,
 
I heard from many of you following my recent announcement regarding Chancellor Nancy Cantor, and I take seriously the concerns that have been raised. As I’ve stated, I want to build on the many successes Chancellor Cantor and so many of you have achieved. I am fully committed to the success of those programs, and in order to ensure their continued success, I am appointing an interim chancellor who will serve for the full academic year following Chancellor Cantor’s term and provide an important bridge between Chancellor Cantor’s successful tenure and that of the next permanent chancellor. 
 
It is with pleasure that I am announcing today that I have selected Rutgers University–Newark Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Jeffrey Robinson to serve as Interim Chancellor of Rutgers–Newark when Chancellor Cantor concludes her term. The search for a permanent chancellor will occur during that interim year.

To be clear at the outset: Nancy Cantor will remain as Chancellor at Rutgers–Newark through the current academic year; Chancellor Cantor and I are in full agreement in this regard. The search that follows will be thorough, will include a search committee made up of members of the Rutgers-Newark community, and will allow everyone ample opportunity to participate in the selection process. 

Provost Robinson accepted this interim, one-year appointment after several discussions with me and others, and upon my assurance that he would be expected to continue the important programs at Rutgers–Newark that enhance and encourage social mobility and social justice, and that build upon the strong ethos of community engagement with the city, county, and region. We agreed, too, that his personal and professional commitment to economic empowerment in underserved communities would remain a top priority.

Jeffrey Robinson was named by Chancellor Cantor as the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost of Rutgers–Newark in 2022. He 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 been able to put his scholarship to practical implementation through social entrepreneurship and the promotion of minority businesses.

A tenured full professor, Jeffrey holds the Prudential Chair in Business at Rutgers Business School in recognition of his national reputation as a distinguished, publicly engaged scholar of social and urban entrepreneurship and innovation. As Chancellor Cantor noted when she nominated him for this Board-approved position, he has played a key role in facilitating the launch of hundreds of businesses owned by Black and Latinx entrepreneurs that have created thousands of jobs and generated wealth in the millions. He is a thought leader on the importance of diversifying the ranks of corporate C-suites to strengthen our economy for everyone. For additional information about Dr. Robinson, please see this Rutgers Magazine article from last year. 

I’m pleased that Provost Robinson has agreed to take on these responsibilities on an interim basis and appreciate his commitment to ensuring robust community engagement and input in the process of selecting a new permanent chancellor. I look forward to working closely with him—and many others at RU-N—to continue the excellent work the whole community has been engaged in. I hope all of Rutgers, as well as the greater Newark community, will join me in congratulating him and welcoming him to the role next summer.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Holloway
President and University Professor