Ronald Chen( 1958 - ) is currently University Professor, Distinguished Professor of Law and Judge Leonard I Garth Scholar at
Rutgers Law School
Rutgers Law School is the law school of Rutgers University, with classrooms in Newark and Camden, New Jersey. It is the largest public law school and the 10th largest law school, overall, in the United States. Each class in the three-year J.D. pr ...
. Until August 2018, he was co-dean of Rutgers Law School and is the former
New Jersey Public Advocate.
Chen was born on May 28, 1958, in
Stamford,
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
, and raised in
Berkeley Heights, New Jersey
Berkeley Heights is a township in Union County, New Jersey, United States. A commuter town in northern-central New Jersey, the township is nestled within the Raritan Valley region in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 United States ...
, where he now resides.
[ He attended ]Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
, where he was president of Phi Tau
Phi Tau () is a coeducational fraternity at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, USA. Founded in 1905 as the Tau chapter of Phi Sigma Kappa, the organization separated from the national fraternity in 1956 over a dispute regarding the se ...
fraternity and a member of the rowing
Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically atta ...
team, graduating in 1980. He then attended Rutgers Law School
Rutgers Law School is the law school of Rutgers University, with classrooms in Newark and Camden, New Jersey. It is the largest public law school and the 10th largest law school, overall, in the United States. Each class in the three-year J.D. pr ...
, where he was editor-in-chief of the Rutgers Law Review
The ''Rutgers Law Review'' was a quarterly, scholarly journal focusing on legal issues, published by an organization of second- and third-year law students at the former Rutgers School of Law–Newark, in Newark, New Jersey. It was the flagship la ...
, and graduated magna cum laude in 1983.[Chan, Sewell]
"Metro Briefing"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', January 6, 2006. Accessed June 20, 2008. "Governor-elect Jon S. Corzine nominated Ronald Chen yesterday to serve as public advocate and Lisa Jackson to head the Department of Environmental Protection." He currently serves as Chair of the New Jersey Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of New Jersey is the highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, the Supreme Court of New Jersey is the final judicial authority on all cases in the state court system, including cases challenging the ...
Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics, and as a member of the American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
National Executive Committee, and was elected General Counsel of the national ACLU beginning January 2018. He has also served as secretary and a member of the board of directors of the U.S. Rowing Association, was a referee in the 1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
, and serves as Chair of the Masters Commission and a member of the Council of the International Rowing Federation
World Rowing, also known as the World Rowing Federation (former abbreviation FISA; french: Fédération internationale des sociétés d'aviron), is the international governing body for rowing. Its current president is Jean-Christophe Rolland who ...
, the international governing body of rowing.
Until January 2010, he served as the New Jersey Public Advocate, having been nominated to fill that position on January 5, 2006, by Governor of New Jersey
The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The official res ...
Jon Corzine
Jon Stevens Corzine ( ; born January 1, 1947) is an American financial executive and retired politician who served as a United States Senator from New Jersey from 2001 to 2006 and the 54th governor of New Jersey from 2006 to 2010. Corzine ran fo ...
.[Meet Ron Chen]
, New Jersey Department of the Public Advocate
The New Jersey Department of the Public Advocate was a department within the Executive branch of the government of New Jersey that acted as a voice on behalf of the people of the state. It was responsible to make government "more accountable and r ...
. Accessed February 27, 2011. "A child of Chinese immigrants who came to this country after World War II, Chen has lived most of his life in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey." He was the first public advocate since 1994, when the job was abolished by former Governor Christine Todd Whitman
Christine Temple Whitman (née Todd; born September 26, 1946) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th governor of New Jersey from 1994 to 2001 and as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in the administration o ...
following the two-year tenure of Zulima Farber
Zulima Farber (born 1944) is the former Attorney General of New Jersey and the first Latina (Cuban) to serve as Acting Governor of New Jersey. She was appointed Attorney General in 2006 by Governor of New Jersey, Governor Jon Corzine and resigned ...
, who was Governor James Florio
James Joseph Florio (August 29, 1937 – September 25, 2022) was an American politician who served as the 49th governor of New Jersey from 1990 to 1994. He was previously the U.S. Representative for New Jersey's 1st congressional district from 19 ...
's Public Advocate. The first New Jersey public advocate—and the first of any state—was Stanley Van Ness
Stanley Carlton Van Ness (February 28, 1933 – September 26, 2007) was an American jurist who worked for a number of state agencies in New Jersey, US. Most notably, he led the New Jersey Department of the Public Advocate as the first Public ...
, whose office filed an Amicus Brief in the case resulting in a decision which was to become known as the Mt. Laurel Doctrine, which prevents municipalities from using zoning as a means of excluding low-income residents. Prior to becoming public advocate, Chen was an associate dean
Dean may refer to:
People
* Dean (given name)
* Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin
* Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk
* Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean
Titles
* ...
and professor of law at Rutgers Law School
Rutgers Law School is the law school of Rutgers University, with classrooms in Newark and Camden, New Jersey. It is the largest public law school and the 10th largest law school, overall, in the United States. Each class in the three-year J.D. pr ...
, teaching courses on contracts, constitutional law, and the federal courts. He returned to Rutgers after his term as public advocate and resumed an active teaching and administrative role. In April 2013, he rose from Vice-Dean to Acting Dean, due to new responsibilities assumed by Dean John Farmer. He was appointed permanent Dean in April 2015. With the merger of the Newark and Camden campuses, he became co-dean of Rutgers Law School. until 2018.
References
External links
Biography
Rutgers School of Law biography of Ronald K. Chen.
press release dated January 5, 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Ronald
State cabinet secretaries of New Jersey
Dartmouth College alumni
Living people
1958 births
People from Berkeley Heights, New Jersey
Rutgers School of Law–Newark alumni
Rutgers University alumni
Rutgers School of Law–Newark faculty
Deans of law schools in the United States