Rutgers University

 

Alison R. Bernstein Named New Institute Director

 

Alison R. Bernstein, a scholar in the field of humanities and women’s studies and a former vice president of the Ford Foundation, has been appointed director of Rutgers’ Institute for Women’s Leadership (IWL) effective July 1, 2011. “Dr. Bernstein, who earned her bachelor’s degree at Vassar College and her master’s and doctorate at Columbia University, brings impressive credentials to this position,” said Rutgers President Richard L. McCormick. Bernstein served as a vice president for the Education, Creativity, and Free Expression Program at the Ford Foundation from 1996 to 2010. She is currently the William H. and Camille Cosby Endowed Chair and professor of humanities and women’s studies at Spelman College in Atlanta, Ga. An academic whose interest in women’s studies runs both wide and deep, Bernstein coordinated the President’s Standing Committee on the Status of Women while she was associate dean of the faculty at Princeton, and has done extensive research into American Indian history, with an emphasis on Native American women.