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Jorge Reina Schement

Jorge Reina SchementJorge Reina Schement serves as Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Inclusion at Rutgers University New Brunswick, as well as for Rutgers Biological and Health Sciences. He is Distinguished Professor of Communication Policy, and Latino Studies. He previously served as Dean of the School of Communication and Information.

As Vice Chancellor, he formally established the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, organized the President’s Diversity Council, the Chancellor’s Pathways Council, and the first Diversity Forum. He authored the diversity and inclusion passages for the Strategic Plan, proposed a diversity series for Rutgers University Press, and sponsored a University library portal for diversity related materials. His oversight of the Civic Engagement Collaborative has increased student participation in engagement with disadvantaged communities in the region. As Dean, he recruited and promoted women and minority faculty and administrators to their highest numbers in the history of his school.

A Latino from South Texas, his research focuses on the social and policy implications of the production and consumption of information, especially as they relate to ethnic minorities. He conducted the first study of the impact of minority ownership in broadcasting, and conducted the original research that led to recognition of the Digital Divide. His studies of minority ownership contributed to the Supreme Court’s decision in Metro Broadcasting, Inc. v. F.C.C. et al.

In the public policy arena, he authored the telecommunications policy agenda for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. He has served on advisory boards for the Technology Advisory Council of the White House, United States Commission on Civil Rights, National Academy of Sciences, and the National Research Council.
He is a founding member of the F.C.C. Federal Advisory Committee on Diversity in the Digital Age, and a member of the F.C.C. Transition Team for the Obama Administration. He oversees the Rutgers Center for Race and Ethnicity, and chairs the committee of Chief Diversity Officers for the Big Ten.

Schement is author of over 250 books, papers, and articles. Prior to Rutgers, he was a distinguished professor at Penn State University, where he co-founded the Institute for Information Policy. He also held faculty positions at Rutgers, UCLA, University of Southern California, and the University of Texas. He holds an MS in Marketing from the University of Illinois, and a PhD in Communications from Stanford University.