Dean Vonu Thakuriah has announced that professor Dona Schneider will be stepping down from the position of Associate Dean of Academic Programs of the Bloustein School on August 31, 2020. Having served in the role for 12 years, she will return to a faculty role and serve as the Chair of the Bloustein School’s Research Cluster on Health.
Associate Research Professor Marc D. Weiner, who currently serves as Executive Director of Undergraduate Programs, will be taking on the role of Associate Dean of Academic Administration starting Sept 1, 2020.
During her time as Associate Dean of Academic Programs, Dr. Schneider has worked tirelessly to expand the Bloustein School’s academic programs and also oversaw the stabilization of tuition income. Under her guidance, the school’s undergraduate Public Health program earned accreditation and achieved its #4 ranking nationally in 2016. She also played a part in the creation of both the undergraduate Health Administration major and the Master of Health Administration degree program. She was instrumental in the push for online and hybrid courses (2011), offering off-campus courses (2011), and expanding both semester-abroad offerings (now through RU Global) and full degree programs (through both Southern Chinese University of Technology and University of Konstanz).
Dr. Schneider is the author of over 150 refereed journal articles, books and book chapters, mostly focusing on mortality, morbidity and risk factors for disease, especially for children and minorities. In addition, she has served as the principal investigator (PI) for the HIV Community Prevention, Support and Development Initiative, a grant-funded unit at the Bloustein School that trains and provides technical assistance to community-based organizations across the state.
Dr. Weiner has been with the school since 2006, and has served as the Executive Director of Undergraduate Programs since 2018. In 2014, was selected, by the student community, as the recipient of the Bloustein School’s the Jerome G. Rose Excellence in Teaching Award; in 2016, he won the Graduate Faculty Teaching Award from the Rutgers School of Graduate Studies; and, in 2017, he was profiled for excellence in teaching by the American Political Science Association’s Campus Teaching Award Interview Series in PSNow. Most recently, Dr. Weiner was selected for the 2021 Big Ten Academic Alliance – Department Executive Officer Fellowship
His research interests include quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, and survey research planning, design, and operations. Previously, Dr. Weiner served as Associate Director of the Bloustein Center for Survey Research. He was the founding President of the New Jersey-Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Association for Public Opinion Research and served on the Executive Council of the Association of Academic Survey Research Organizations.
