List of presidents of Rutgers University

The president of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (also known as Rutgers University) is the chief administrator of Rutgers University and—in an ex officio capacity—a presiding officer within the University's 59-member Board of Trustees and its eleven-member Board of Governors. Appointed by these bodies to the post and delegated authority to run the day-to-day operation of the University, the President is responsible to those bodies alone.

The first president, Reverend Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh, was appointed to the office in 1785—in the days when Rutgers was called Queen's College (1766-1824). Since then, nineteen men have served as president of the institution. The current president is Robert L. Barchi (b. 1946), who has served in this position since 2012.

Presidents of Rutgers University

The following twenty individuals have served as president of Rutgers University from the creation of the office in 1785 to the present. Those marked with their names in bold had graduated from Rutgers. Those marked with "↑" died in office. Where years don't overlap there was a gap of a few months while a suitable candidate was found, this usually occurred when someone died in office, or left unexpectedly to accept another position.

	Portrait	College President	Years in office	Education	Previous occupations(s)
1		Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh (1735–1790)	(1785–1790)↑	Religious instruction at home of John Frelinghuysen	Dutch Reformed minister
2		William Linn (1752–1808)	(1791–1795)	A.B. Princeton (College of New Jersey) (1772)	Presbyterian minister.
3		Ira Condict (1764–1811)	(1795–1810)	A.B. Princeton (College of New Jersey) (1764)	Presbyterian/Dutch Reformed minister, Professor of Moral Philosophy
4	File:Livingston001a.jpg	John Henry Livingston (1746–1825)	(1810–1825)↑	A.B. Yale College (1762) Th.D. University of Utrecht (1770)	Dutch Reformed minister, Professor of Theology
5	File:Milledoler.jpg	Philip Milledoler (1775 – 1852)	(1825–1840)	A.B., Columbia College (1793) || German Reformed minister, active in founding Princeton Theological Seminary, American Bible Society, and the United Foreign Missionary Society.
6	File:Hasbrouck.jpg	Abraham Bruyn Hasbrouck (1791–1879)	(1840–1850)	A.B., Yale College (1810)	Lawyer, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
7		Theodore Frelinghuysen (1787–1862)	(1850–1862)↑	A.B., Princeton (College of New Jersey) (1804)	United States Senator, New Jersey Attorney General, 1844 Whig vice-presidential candidate
8		William Henry Campbell (1808–1890)	(1862–1882)	B.A. Dickinson College (1828) attended Princeton Theological Seminar	Itinerant preacher, School Principal, Professor of Oriental Languages and "Belles Lettres"
9	File:Gates-001a.jpg	Merrill Edward Gates (1848–1922)	(1882–1890)	B.A., University of Rochester	School principal
10		Austin Scott (1848–1922)	(1891–1906)	A.B. Yale College (1869) M.A., University of Michigan (1870) attended University of Berlin Ph.D., University of Leipzig (1873)	Historian, Professor of History, Political Economy, and Constitutional Law, and
11		William Henry Steele Demarest (1863–1956)	(1906 – 1924)	A.B. Rutgers College (1883) B.D. New Brunwick Theological Seminary (1888)	Dutch Reformed minister, Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government
12		John Martin Thomas (1869–1952)	(1925–1930)	B.A, Middlebury College B.D. Union Theological Seminary	Presbyterian minister, college president
13		Philip Milledoler Brett (1871–1960)	(1930–1931)	A.B. Rutgers College (1892) LL.B., New York Law School B.D., New Brunswick Theological Seminary	Corporate attorney
14		Robert Clarkson Clothier (1885–1970)	(1932–1951)	LL.B., Princeton University (1908)	The Wall Street Journal reporter, Publishing company manager, government bureaucrat, school headmaster.
15		Lewis Webster Jones (1899–1975)	(1951–1958)	B.A., Reed College Ph.D. Brookings Graduate School of Economics and Government Post-doctoral work at Columbia University, the London School of Economics, University of Cambridge and University of Geneva.	Professor of Economics
16		Mason Welch Gross (1911–1977)	(1959–1971)	B.A., Jesus College, University of Cambridge (1934) M.A., Jesus College, University of Cambridge (1937) Ph.D. Harvard University (1938)	Professor of Philosophy, university administrator, television quiz show personality
17		Edward J. Bloustein (1925–1989)	(1971–1989)↑	B.A. New York University B.Phil. University of Oxford LL.B. Cornell University Ph.D. Cornell University	Law professor, university president.
18		Francis L. Lawrence (1937–2013)	(1990–2002)	B.A. St. Louis University (1959) Ph.D., Tulane University (1962)	Professor of French and Italian Literature, university administrator
19		Richard Levis McCormick (b. 1947)	(2002–2012)	B.A., Amherst College (1969) Ph.D., Yale University (1976)	History professor, university administrator
20		Robert L. Barchi (b. 1946)	(2012–present)	B.S. Georgetown University (1968) Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania (1972) M.D., University of Pennsylvania (1973)	Neuroscientist, Professor of Medicine, university administrator

External links

• Rutgers University
• Office of the President of Rutgers University
• Leadership on the Banks: Rutgers' Presidents, 1766-2004, essays by Thomas J. Frusciano, University Archivist (Rutgers University) first published in The Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries, LIII, No. 1 (June 1991).