Jeffrey A. Robinson, Ph.D. serves as Interim Chancellor, following two years as Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost. He is an award-winning author, business school professor, and higher education administrator. Dr. Robinson’s faculty appointment is at Rutgers Business School where he is the Prudential Chair in Business. At RBS, he has served as the Academic Director of The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development and Director of Special Programs at the Rutgers Advanced Institute for the Study of Entrepreneurship & Development. Through his research, academic leadership, and community-engaged scholarship, Dr. Robinson makes direct impacts on corporate workplaces, entrepreneurs, and economic development policy in the state of New Jersey and beyond.
Emerging from his pioneering research, the New Jersey Social Entrepreneurship Institute and the CUEED Pipeline to Inclusive Innovation are national and international models for economic development and social problem-solving using entrepreneurial approaches. He led research on four National Science Foundation-funded research projects related to inclusive innovation including the GEM Inclusion in Innovation Initiative (GEM i4).
Dr. Robinson is an accomplished scholar. His research specialty can be described as being at the intersection of business and society. His work addresses community and economic development issues for urban metropolitan areas in the United States and abroad. He has produced grant-funded research projects on high growth-oriented African American women entrepreneurs, social innovation, and minority representation in technology entrepreneurship. He is the co-editor (with Johanna Mair and Kai Hockerts) of the research volumes Social Entrepreneurship, International Perspectives in Social Entrepreneurship, and Values and Opportunities in Social Entrepreneurship. His most recent manuscripts are related to inclusive innovation efforts and minority technology entrepreneurs. He is the recipient of the Aspen Institute’s Social Impact Faculty Pioneer Award for his research, service, and teaching activities at the intersection of entrepreneurship and society. His course, Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development, was recognized as a model of Innovative Entrepreneurship Education by the U.S. Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Most recently, his book with Dr. Randal Pinkett Black Faces in High Places: 10 Strategic Actions for Black Professionals to Reach the Top and Stay There (published by Harper Collins Leadership) was named a GOLD MEDAL WINNER of the Axiom Book Award. Over his 25-year academic career, he has been the keynote speaker at international events and conferences and has taught or presented his work on six continents.
Dr. Robinson has completed five degrees in the areas of engineering, urban studies, and business. At Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, he completed a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies at Rutgers College and a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering at Rutgers School of Engineering. He has a Master of Science in Civil Engineering Management from Georgia Institute of Technology and an M. Phil. and a Ph.D. in Management and Organizations from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business.