Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair in Media, Culture, and Feminist Studies

The Steinem Chair, a prestigious faculty position funded by an endowment, is held by eminent scholars or practitioners who design and teach courses, mentor students, and engage the university community in exploring new media, social change, and power.

Launched in 2018 with renowned author and activist Naomi Klein as its inaugural holder, the Steinem Chair is a bold collaboration among the Rutgers Institute for Women’s Leadership at Rutgers–New Brunswick, the School of Communication and Information, and the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences. Through this role, Chair holders create unique opportunities for students to connect with experts committed to advancing gender equality and building a more inclusive, democratic media landscape.

Funded by more than 425 donors, including a dozen foundations, the Steinem Chair faculty position was established as a tribute to the groundbreaking leadership of Gloria Steinem. It honors, retains, and recruits distinguished individuals whose work explores the intersections of media, social change, and power.

Learn more about the Chair’s history.

2022–2026 Chair: Roxane Gay, Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair in Media, Culture, and Feminist Studies

Roxane Gay, an internationally recognized writer, editor, cultural critic, and educator, is the 2022–2026 Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair in Media, Culture, and Feminist Studies at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. Gay’s pursuit of social justice makes her appointment especially powerful as she brings a commitment to centering underrepresented voices along with deep and broad experience in media.

“I am truly honored to serve as the new Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair at Rutgers," Gay said. "I walk and work in the footsteps of the many feminists and womanists who came before me, and Gloria is one of the giants among those women. I look forward to joining and contributing to a vibrant intellectual community both on and beyond campus."

Her tenure began in September 2022 in a wide-ranging conversation with feminist icon Gloria Steinem, moderated by feminist activist and writer Jamia Wilson. In her first year, Gay not only taught two undergraduate courses exploring cultural criticism, trauma, Black feminisms, and intersections of identity but also provided mentorship to aspiring student authors through creative writing cohorts. In addition, Gay has held events that offered a variety of writing opportunities for faculty and emerging writers in the community, as well as brought best-selling authors, like Chloé Cooper Jones, to campus. To see more of the Chair's event, please visit the YouTube channel.

Roxane Gay’s writing appears in "Best American Mystery Stories 2014," "Best American Short Stories 2012," "Best Sex Writing 2012," A Public Space, McSweeney’s, Tin House, Oxford American, "American Short Fiction," Virginia Quarterly Review, and many others. She is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. She is the author of the books "Ayiti, An Untamed State," the New York Times-bestselling "Bad Feminist," the nationally bestselling "Difficult Women," and the New York Times bestselling "Hunger." She is also the author of "World of Wakanda" for Marvel. She has several books forthcoming and is also at work on television and film projects. She also has a newsletter, The Audacity, and a podcast, The Roxane Gay Agenda.

She holds a doctorate in rhetoric and technical communication from Michigan Technological University and has years of experience teaching creative, professional, and technical writing at institutions of higher education.

Photo by Roxane Gay.

2018–2021 Chair: Naomi Klein

Naomi Klein, a public intellectual whose best-selling explorations of social, economic, and ecological injustice have made her a global thought-leader, has been selected as the inaugural Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair in Media, Culture, and Feminist Studies at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. The Rutgers University Board of Governors approved the appointment of Klein.

Klein’s appointment comes at a critical time in the American political and media landscape as women progressive leaders link human rights and economic justice with climate change and other global challenges.

“I am honored to have been chosen for this prestigious position and eager to join Rutgers students in connecting the dots between some of the most critical issues of our time,” Klein said.

Steinem, a feminist and human rights leader since the 1960s, will join Klein to kick off the Steinem program with a public discussion on Sept. 21. The conversation will focus on the ways that information technology and new media are reshaping culture and power relationships as well as the challenges ahead for progressive movements in the United States and beyond. The chair is a collaboration among Rutgers’ School of Communication and Information (SC&I), the Institute for Women’s Leadership (IWL), and the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies within the School of Arts and Sciences (SAS).

Over the next three years, Klein will teach, organize public events, conduct research, and immerse students in debate and scholarship on a range of issues. Topics will include the role of activist journalists in revolutionary movements from abolition to feminism, as well as the complex relationships among new media technologies, market forces, democracy, and movements for racial, gender, and economic justice.

“Naomi Klein represents intellectual brilliance and innovative thinking about the way inequalities are being perpetuated in our society,” said SC&I Dean Jonathan Potter. “Engaging with students in the classroom and beyond, she will contribute to Rutgers’ leading role in educating the next generation of responsible citizens committed to social justice.”

Dafna Lemish, who chaired the selection committee, said Klein was chosen from an accomplished and diverse pool of candidates, all highly enthusiastic about what the chair might bring to Rutgers. “She broadens the discussion of feminism to encompass the big questions of our time, such as climate change, participatory democracy, and poverty,” said Lemish, associate dean for programs and a professor of Journalism and Media Studies.

Klein is the author of "The Battle for Paradise: Puerto Rico Takes on the Disaster Capitalists" (2018), "No is Not Enough: Resisting the New Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need" (2017), "This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate" (2014), "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism" (2007), and "No Logo" (2000). Her work has been translated into more than 30 languages.

"Our late IWL director Alison Bernstein had the magnificent idea to create an endowed chair named for Gloria Steinem,” said Lisa Hetfield, IWL interim director. “Her leadership, along with a team of determined volunteer fundraisers and hundreds of generous donors, made this endowed chair possible."

In 2014, Steinem told Rutgers Today, “When I learned of your interest in creating a chair in Media, Culture and Feminist Studies at Rutgers – and doing it in my name – it was hard to wrap my mind around. It is both a first and unique combination of two growing fields of study, and a personal honor for the work and the global movement that matter most to me.”

Watch the Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair launch event, September 2018.

History of the Chair

The Gloria Steinem Chair in Media, Culture, and Feminist Studies honors and draws to campus eminent scholars and practitioners to immerse the university community in debate and scholarship about new media, social change, and power structures.

Occupants of the chair design and teach courses, providing unique opportunities to connect students with media experts who focus on gender equality and creating a more inclusive and democratic media.

When I learned of your interest in creating a chair in Media, Culture, and Feminist Studies at Rutgers – and doing it in my name – it was hard to wrap my mind around. It is both a first and unique combination of two growing fields of study, and a personal honor for the work and the global movement that matter most to me.

Gloria Steinem

Origins of the Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair

Following a three-year, $3 million fundraising campaign, Rutgers University achieved a historic goal in 2017 to establish the first-ever academic chair named in honor of prominent feminist Gloria Steinem.

Funded by more than 425 donors, including a dozen foundations, the Chair was designed to engage students in debate and scholarship and prepare them for success in transforming the media landscape.

"We know that new media are transforming our governance," Gloria Steinem said, "and also that they may be short on facts and context. We also know that heritage media haven’t always told an inclusive story. I’m very proud that the late Alison Bernstein, a visionary scholar who directed the Institute for Women’s Leadership, committed this chair to inclusiveness and accuracy. I’m also proud that Rutgers is not only one of the oldest and most respected public universities, but also has a student population that looks like the nation. I’ve come to believe it’s as good as Harvard – with democracy added. It also happens to be next to one of the media capitals of the world."

The idea for the chair originated in 2014 with Bernstein, a visionary scholar who became director of the Institute for Women’s Leadership in 2011. Bernstein saw the chair as a way to simultaneously honor an American feminist icon while establishing a multidisciplinary teaching role leveraging Rutgers’ strong platforms in media, social change, and women’s and gender studies.

Despite Bernstein’s untimely death from cancer in 2016, her quest to create the first academic position named for a preeminent living feminist grew into a shared mission. A steering committee of dedicated volunteers, co-chaired by Geraldine Laybourne and Subha Barry, continued to raise funds.