Faculty/Staff

RUTH B. MANDEL

Director, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University
Board of Governors Professor of Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers
   University

Ruth B. Mandel is Board of Governors Professor of Politics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Since 1995, she has been Director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics, the unit of Rutgers University that explores state and national politics and government through research and education and links the study of politics with its day-to-day practice.

From 1971 through 1994, Mandel developed and directed Eagleton's Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), where she remains affiliated as a Senior Scholar. Mandel teaches and writes about leadership, with emphasis on U.S. women's political history, women as political candidates and officeholders, women's political networks, and the "gender gap." She is the author of numerous publications about women's changing political roles.

Mandel's public service includes a presidential appointment to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, the governing board of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.(1991-2006). She was named as Vice Chairperson of the Council by President Clinton in 1993 and served in that capacity until 2005. Mandel was a member of the Museum's Executive Committee, its Academic Committee, and chair of its Strategic Planning and Education committees. She chaired the task group charged with proposing a governing structure for the new Museum. In the 1990's, she led the process to create the Museum's Committee on Conscience, which was established in 1996 with Mandel as its founding chair.

Professor Mandel served as a member of the board of the Charles H. Revson Foundation from 1999-2009. Her service has also included membership on the board of the National Council for Research on Women; the National Commission for the Renewal of American Democracy; Princeton University's Center for Jewish Life; the Mercer County Commission on the Status of Women; and various editorial boards.

Awards include: Woodrow Wilson Public Service Award, Governor's Pride of New Jersey Awards (1992); Gloria Steinem Women of Vision Award presented by the Ms. Foundation (1996); Twenty-First Century Leadership Award, presented by the President of the National Women's Hall of Fame; Breaking the Glass Ceiling Award from Women Executives in State Government (1998); Distinguished Policy Leadership and Advancement of Women in Public Life from the Women Legislators and College Presidents of Maryland (2002); American Association of University Women "Women of Distinction" Award (2002); Salute to the Policy Makers award from Executive Women of New Jersey (2004).

As an observer and analyst of American politics and emerging trends in leadership, she speaks to a wide range of community, civic and academic audiences.

Ruth B. Mandel holds a B.A. in English from Brooklyn College and an M.A. and Ph.D. in American Literature from the University of Connecticut. She was awarded an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree from Chatham College in 1998 and an honorary Doctor of Public Administration degree from Georgian Court University in 2006.