Adam Weinberg

President Adam Weinberg has a long-standing commitment to reviving and strengthening the public purposes of higher education. During his initial three years at Denison, the college has become heavily involved in civic and economic renewal efforts in Central Ohio. In particular, he has focused on increasing university support of local community organizations who are engaged in addressing pressing problems throughout the region. This work has included expanding the efforts of students and faculty through service learning, community service, and publicly engaged scholarship, while also finding ways for the college to play a larger role by financially supporting community efforts.

He has also focused extensively on rethinking the role of college presidents as well as the ways in which colleges operate. He is acting to incorporate civic engagement and community work, not only in the research and teaching mission of the college, but also in how the college operates as an employer and large civic actor in the local community. These efforts have led to ongoing examinations of human resource policies, organizational structure, college governance practices, purchasing patterns, and other day-to-day operations as methods for the college to open up more space for civic action. This work includes helping to develop a new project at the Kettering Foundation entitled “College Presidents and the Civic Purposes of Higher Education.”

In addition, President Weinberg has worked to increase Denison’s global focus. He has been actively involved in helping to strengthen the Global Liberal Arts Alliance as a network of 29 liberal arts colleges from 17 countries who are learning from each other and partnering in reciprocal ways to enhance each other’s missions. Denison will host the Global Liberal Arts Alliance in November 2016. Weinberg is also organizing a spring 2017 convening of college presidents at the University of Buckingham (England) to examine presidential leadership and crucial global issues.

Prior to coming to Denison, Weinberg served as president of World Learning, one of the premier international education, exchange and development organizations. Each year, World Learning works with a new generation of emerging civic leaders in more than 60 countries, helping them develop the ability to address critical global issues. Weinberg came to World Learning to serve as the provost of its signature School for International Training (SIT) before becoming president of the parent organization. President Weinberg also served as vice president and dean of the college at Colgate University, where he was a member of the sociology department for more than a decade. At Colgate, he founded a number of organizations, including the Center for Outreach, Volunteerism, and Education (COVE) and the Partnership for Community Development.

President Weinberg attended Bowdoin College. He studied at Cambridge University before earning his master’s and doctoral degrees in sociology from Northwestern University. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and of the Higher Education Working Group on Global Issues, and has served on a variety of national and local boards. He was elected to the Talloires Network Steering Committee in 2016.