Meet the Dean
William Klein is the Dean of the School of Communication and Information.
In his previous position, Klein was the lead behavioral scientist at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the largest of 27 institutes at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In that role, he supervised a staff of approximately 60, managed a multi-million-dollar budget, and provided strategic leadership in several areas including health communication, psychological science, and health behavior. In addition, Klein was an adjunct investigator at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). For his work at NIH, Klein has been recognized with several awards including the American Psychological Association’s Meritorious Research Service Commendation. His career includes 18 years in higher education at Colby College and the University of Pittsburgh, where he held leadership roles including Department Chair and Director of Undergraduate Studies. Throughout his career as a social psychologist, he has leveraged his knowledge of research on motivation, emotional intelligence, organizational processes, and social influence in various leadership positions.
A prolific scholar, Klein has published more than 275 articles, chapters, and books, including 245 peer-reviewed journal articles appearing in the flagship journals of health communication, decision science, public health, and social psychology. With an h-index of 73—a standout record of research productivity and impact—and approximately 24,000 citations, Klein has been recognized by Stanford-Elsevier as a “top 2%” scientist globally. His program of research in academia was funded by NIH, NSF, and several private foundations.
Klein earned a B.A. in Psychology and Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences from Northwestern University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Princeton University. Much of Klein’s research focuses on risk perception, risk communication, information avoidance, and the effective communication of undesirable health messages. Klein is a passionate and creative educator, having won several teaching and mentoring awards including the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award at the University of Pittsburgh.
In his new role as Dean for SC&I, Klein will be responsible for defining the school’s strategic vision, fostering a collaborative culture, and recruiting and retaining world-class faculty. Drawing on his experience as a first-generation college student, Klein is committed to supporting students by providing robust training and mentoring opportunities. By building on SC&I’s multidisciplinary foundation, Klein will promote innovative scholarship and an inclusive learning environment, in line with the goals and objectives of the Rutgers–New Brunswick Academic Master Plan.