Statement from Richard L. Edwards, Ph.D., Chancellor, Rutgers University–New Brunswick sent to the Rutgers University-New Brunswick community Wednesday, August 17.
James Hughes will step down from the position of Dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at the end of the 2016-2017 academic year. Dr. Hughes, who began his academic career at Rutgers as a member of the faculty in 1971, is a nationally-recognized expert on demographics, housing, and regional economics, and I am grateful for his exceptional leadership of the Bloustein School since he became dean in 1995.
Dean Hughes has been a prolific researcher and scholar for Rutgers. He is a Distinguished Professor and is the Director of the Rutgers Regional Report, which has produced over 40 major economic, demographic, and real estate studies on New Jersey and the broader metropolitan region. He is author or co-author of 34 books and monographs and more than 150 articles. Among his books are New Jersey’s Postsuburban Economy, published by the Rutgers University Press, and The Atlantic City Gamble, published by the Harvard University Press. He was also a contributing editor to the magazine American Demographics for 14 years.
Dean Hughes has provided extensive budgetary and economic testimony before many New Jersey State Legislative committees, and has given numerous policy briefings both in Washington, D.C. and Trenton on demographics, housing, and the economy. He has served on numerous New Jersey commissions and task forces, including the Governor’s Commission on Jobs, Growth and Economic Development, the Governor’s World Class Economy Task Force, and the Governor’s Property Tax Commission and was appointed to the Economic Advisors Board of the Council of the City of New York.
Among his awards are the 2014 Distinguished Service Award of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, the Rutgers School of Engineering 2014 Medal of Excellence, the Warren Hill Award of the New Jersey Bankers Association, the Rutgers Richard P. McCormick Award for Excellence in Alumni Leadership, the Distinguished Service Award of the New Jersey Chapter of the American Planning Association, and the Rutgers Presidential Award for Distinguished Public Service. Dean Hughes has been both a Woodrow Wilson and Ford Foundation Fellow and was a Distinguished Fellow of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties.
Dean Hughes leaves the Bloustein School in tremendous shape and with national acclaim – the school is indeed one of the finest of its kind in the nation. As Jim worked these many years to build the school into the venerated institution it has become, he has done so with a dry sense of humor that I will miss and pride in Rutgers that will be hard to replace.