Alison Bernstein, trustee of 乐播传媒 and higher-education scholar, policy expert, and activist, dies at age 69
Alison Bernstein, who died on June 30, speaks to a gathering of alumni, parents, and friends in Atlanta during the 鈥淢ulticultural Voices鈥� listening events held around the country in 2011. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)
Alison Bernstein, a member of the 乐播传媒 College Board of Trustees and a U.S. higher education scholar, policy expert, and activist who helped to open doors for diverse and historically underserved populations, died of cancer on June 30, 2016, at age 69.
Appointed to the 乐播传媒 board in 2007, Bernstein used her 鈥渨ealth of experience and expertise in foundation philanthropy and academia鈥� as a 鈥渃hampion of equity and diversity, both for the campus community and the Board of Trustees,鈥� wrote President Clayton Spencer in her message to the campus community on July 5.
Bernstein served as vice chair of the 乐播传媒 board from 2010 to 2014, as a member of the Presidential Search Committee in 2011, and as co-chair of the Board Governance and Admission and Financial Aid committees.
Her daughter Emma Brown-Bernstein graduated from 乐播传媒 in 2009.
鈥淎lison鈥檚 deep experience as an educator, forward vision, and keen understanding of the human condition contributed profoundly to the 乐播传媒 experience for nearly a decade. Alison embraced 乐播传媒 fully 鈥� our institution, our community, and our people 鈥� and we will miss the strength and warmth of that relationship,鈥� said Michael Bonney ’80, chair of the 乐播传媒 College Board of Trustees.
Director of the Institute for Women鈥檚 Leadership at Rutgers University since 2011, Bernstein was earlier a Ford Foundation official for 14 years, rising to vice president of the Education, Creativity, and Free Expression Program, now known as Creativity and Free Expression.
鈥淢s. Bernstein was a polymath who brought her broad knowledge to bear on an array of causes鈥� at the Ford Foundation, The New York Times noted in its July 10 story.
She 鈥渆xpanded opportunities for learning and tackled challenging social problems,鈥� the story said and, specifically, 鈥渨orked on improving community colleges and increasing the transfer rate for students to four-year institutions; opening up higher education to more Native American students; and advancing women鈥檚 and gender studies.鈥�
In her tenure at Rutgers, said the Times, Bernstein 鈥減romoted interdisciplinary study on the areas of women and health and women, media and technology,鈥� and led efforts to endow a professorship in Gloria Steinem鈥檚 name that will be devoted to media, culture, and feminist studies.
A professor of history at Rutgers who was a scholar of Native American studies and women and gender studies, Bernstein鈥檚 scholarship included the co-authored book Melting Pots and Rainbow Nations: Conversations About Difference in the United States and South Africa.
Bernstein鈥檚 first board service was in 1969, at age 22, when she was appointed a trustee of Vassar College, her alma mater, just months after her graduation.
In a sign of the times, then-Vassar president Alan Simpson said that 鈥渋f anyone can mediate between hairy youth and hoary age, it is Alison Bernstein.鈥�
In turn, Bernstein, as quoted in a 1969 Newsday story, said that 鈥渟o far as I can tell, the generation gap is a creation of people who don鈥檛 realize we鈥檙e closer together than we think we are.鈥�
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