Neil Rudenstine

Chairman

Neil L. Rudenstine was appointed Chairman of The New York Public Library's Board of Trustees in 2011. He is also Chairman of the Board of ARTstor, an initiative created by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

A scholar of Renaissance literature, Rudenstine served as President of Harvard University (1991–2001) and as Executive Vice President of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (1988–91). Earlier in his career, Rudenstine was associate professor and then professor of English at Princeton, where he also held a series of senior administrative posts: Dean of Students (1968–72), Dean of the College (1972–77), and Provost (1977–88).

Rudenstine received a BA from Princeton in 1956. A Rhodes Scholar, he studied for the next three years at New College, University of Oxford, where he earned a second BA and an MA. A Harvard Prize Fellow, he was awarded a PhD in English from Harvard University in 1964. He then joined the faculty at Harvard, leaving for Princeton in 1968.

Rudenstine is an honorary Fellow of New College, Oxford, and Emmanuel College, Cambridge University, as well as Provost Emeritus of Princeton University and President Emeritus of Harvard University. He is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a former Director of the American Council on Education, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Philosophical Society, and the Committee for Economic Development. Rudenstine has also served as a trustee of Princeton University, the College Entrance Examination Board, and the Wooster School in Danbury, Connecticut, of which he is a graduate. In addition to his position at The New York Public Library, Rudenstine currently sits on the boards of the Getty Trust, and the Barnes Foundation, and he is Chairman of the Board of the Rockefeller Archive Center.