Meet the Chancellor

Rutgers University–Newark Interim Chancellor Jeffrey Robinson is an internationally known author and co-founder of the Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development at Rutgers Business School. His broad academic and professional background spans business, the social sciences, public policy, and engineering. 

Since 2008, Robinson has been on the faculty of management and global business at Rutgers Business School. 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, along 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 urban social innovation, indigenous social enterprises, and entrepreneurship for economic development.

In 2021, Robinson was named the Prudential Chair in Business and was named Rutgers-Newark Provost in 2022.

For the past five years, Robinson has partnered with the federal government to develop programs and initiatives that are intended to make the tech sector more inclusive, an effort that is funded by the National Science Foundation. Much of Robinson’s early work to advance social entrepreneurship as a driver for economic development was done through The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (CUEED). As co-founding assistant director, he helped to create programs that have supported more than 500 entrepreneurs in the region. 

Robinson is the co-author of two books published by HarperCollins Leadership, including Black Faces in White Places: 10 Game-Changing Strategies to Achieve Success and Find Greatness, which gives Black professionals advice on navigating workplaces where they are in the minority. It was published in 2010. 

The sequel, published in 2022, is Black Faces in High Places: 10 Strategic Actions for Black Professionals to Reach the Top and Stay There, which won a 2023 Axiom Award, one of the top honors for books about business. Both books were co-authored with Rutgers alumnus Randal Pinkett, Robinson’s long-time friend and business partner, who rose to fame after he refused an offer to share his win on The Apprentice, sparking a national conversation about racism in the workplace.

Robinson, who was born in East Orange and raised in Parsippany, holds five academic degrees spanning engineering, urban studies, and business. 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, a Master of Science in Civil Engineering Management from Georgia Institute of Technology as a GEM Fellow, and an M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Management and Organizations from Columbia University's Graduate School of Business.

Robinson 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. Over his 25-year academic career, he has been the keynote speaker or presenter at international events and conferences on six continents.