Board of Governors Awards Prestigious Professorships to Rutgers University–Newark Faculty

On June 15, 2016, the Rutgers Board of Governors awarded a prestigious University Professorship to two Rutgers University–Newark (RU-N) faculty members, Dr. Marc Holzer and Dr. Todd R. Clear. In recognition of their distinguished contributions to the university and their respective disciplines, as a University Professor, Holzer and Clear now have the privilege of teaching and conducting research and educational activities across the disciplines, schools, and campuses of Rutgers University.

Holzer, founding dean of the School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA) and Rutgers Board of Governors Distinguished Professor of Public Affairs and Administration, has served on the faculty of RU-N since 1989, and effective June 30, 2016, will step down as founding dean after a decade at the helm. Under his leadership, SPAA has attained national and international acclaim as one of the best schools of its kind. Its student body has tripled since its inception and many SPAA graduates hold positions of prominence globally.

Over his 40-year plus career, Holzer has authored, co-authored, or edited more than 60 books, published more than 200 books, monographs, chapters, and articles, and has chaired nearly 50 doctoral dissertations. His external fundraising efforts exceed $20 million. Holzer is a past president of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) and is a recipient of several national and international awards in the field.

Internationally, Holzer has been elected as a fellow of the Center for Media & Peace Initiatives; the Senator Peter B. Boorsma Award; and the Chinese Public Administration Society Award for Excellence. He founded the Northeast Conference on Public Administration and ASPA Sections on Korea, China, and Humanities/Arts. He currently chairs the ASPA Endowment.

In 1975, Holzer founded and has since directed the National Center for Public Performance. He also is the founder and editor-in-chief of the journals Public Performance & Management Review and Public Voices, and is the co-founder/co-editor of the Chinese Public Administration Review. With the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, he established the Public Performance Measurement and Reporting Network.

Clear joined RU-N in 1978 and has donned numerous hats since then: Distinguished Professor of Criminal Justice at the Rutgers School of Criminal Justice (SCJ), former RU-N provost, former RU-N interim chancellor, and former SCJ dean. In addition to his research, teaching, and leadership at RU-N and SCJ, Clear has devoted significant attention to key local projects focused on building stronger, healthier, and safer communities in Greater Newark. He founded the New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons (NJ-STEP) program and raised $4 million toward its expansion. Notably, President Barack Obama singled out NJ-STEP as a model program during his visit to RU-N in 2015, a visit Clear helped orchestrate.

As a scholar, Clear has authored 13 books and more than 100 articles and book chapters. His most recent book, with Natasha Frost, is The Punishment Imperative: The Rise and Failure of Mass Incarceration in America (NYU Press, 2013). He also has written on community justice, correctional classification, community-based correctional methods, and sentencing policy. Clear currently is involved in studies of the criminological implications of “place,” and the economics of justice reinvestment. The impact of his work on thinking and policy in these areas has been increased significantly by the attention of media outlets such as The New York Times and authors such as Malcolm Gladwell.

Clear has served as president of the American Society of Criminology (ASC), the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and the Association of Doctoral Programs in Criminology and Criminal Justice. He is the founding editor of Criminology & Public Policy, published by ASC.

"One could hardly imagine two more deserving faculty members and academic leaders to hold this title than Marc and Todd," said Rutgers University–Newark Chancellor Nancy Cantor.  "Each of them embodies not only the intersection of scholarship and teaching that is deeply engaged with the great challenges of our time, but each has helped to build our university immeasurably. We could not be more proud of their accomplishments."

Photo of Dr. Marc Holzer (left) and Dr. Todd Clear by Nick Romanenko