Rutgers University

Jason Geary is Dean of the Mason Gross School of the Arts and Distinguished Professor of Music at Rutgers University. For twelve years beginning in 2004, he taught musicology at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, where he also held the role of Associate Dean for Graduate Studies, Equity, and Inclusion. Prior to arriving at Rutgers, he served for four years as Director of the School of Music at the University of Maryland and was Special Advisor for the Arts within the College of Arts & Humanities. While at Maryland, Geary enhanced entrepreneurship training for students, forged ties between the arts and sciences, increased diversity across the school, and fostered more inclusive programming, all while significantly growing the school’s fund balance and more than tripling its annual fundraising totals. He also launched several community engagement initiatives, including a student live-in residency at a senior retirement community that garnered national attention, and was involved in the creation of an arts leadership minor for undergraduate students. At Michigan, Geary spearheaded multiple efforts to improve the quality of graduate programs and led a comprehensive strategic planning process around enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Henry S. Turner, Vice President for Academic Initiatives, brings more than two decades of commitment to humanities scholarship that weaves together the enduring questions of literature, art, history, and philosophy with the conceptual richness of science, technology, and mathematics.

A Professor of English and former Director of the Center for Cultural Analysis at Rutgers–New Brunswick, Dr. Turner specializes in Renaissance literature and intellectual history. He is the author or editor of five books, including The English Renaissance Stage: Geometry, Poetics, and the Practical Spatial Arts, 1580–1630 (Oxford, 2006), awarded Honorable Mention for the Best Book of the Year by the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts; Shakespeare’s Double Helix (Bloomsbury); and, most recently, of The Corporate Commonwealth: Pluralism and Political Fictions in England, 1516–1649 (University of Chicago Press), recipient of the Elizabeth Dietz Prize for the Best Book in English Renaissance Studies and Honorable Mention for the Bernard Hewitt Award for Outstanding Research in Theater History from the American Society for Theatre Research.

Executive Dean Lawson provides leadership and oversight for the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station. She works closely with university leaders to develop and implement strategic initiatives that reflect and advance the university’s research, education, and outreach missions. Lawson has an undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and an Masters of Landscape Architecture and Ph.D. in Environmental Planning from the University of California, Berkeley. Her scholarship focuses on urban agriculture, community open space, and community-based participation in planning and design. She is author of City Bountiful: A Century of Community Gardening in America and co-author of Greening Cities, Growing Communities: Urban Community Gardens in Seattle (2009). She has numerous publications in academic journals, edited books, and popular media.