Weinstein Serves on Governor-elect Murphy’s Education Transition Committee

As Governor-elect Phil Murphy prepares to lead New Jersey state government ahead of his Jan. 16 inauguration, he asked Rowan University executive Steven D. Weinstein to serve on a committee to help guide and inform the new administration on educational matters.

Weinstein, Executive Vice President for Policy and External Relationships/Partnerships, is one of some 40 distinguished New Jerseyans to serve on the Education, Access and Opportunity Committee.

Meeting in Trenton, the committee has been tasked with brainstorming policy ideas and identifying the major issues impacting higher education for the new administration. It is one of several committees convened to help inform the incoming governor on such areas as energy, infrastructure, the environment and transit.

“These committees bring together leaders with hands-on knowledge to advise the governor and the new administration to help them focus on immediate challenges facing the state,” he said.

Such committees are routinely formed to help bring incoming chief executives at the state and federal levels and their teams up to speed on important issues, Weinstein said.

He previously served on transition committees for incoming governors James J. Florio, Jim McGreevey and Jon Corzine.

A practicing attorney for more than 40 years, Weinstein, who prior to joining Rowan as general counsel in 2012 had served as chairman of the University’s Board of Trustees, is also a former chairman of the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education and a past president of the Haddonfield Board of Education.

Governor-elect Murphy visited Rowan prior to Election Day, met with President Ali Houshmand and toured the Glassboro campus, Weinstein said.

As for his service on the Education, Access and Opportunity Committee, Weinstein described it as important to New Jersey students at all levels, from K-12 through higher education.

“It’s a great honor,” he said. “But more than that it’s important for the higher education community to convey the challenges that exist as well as the exciting new approaches being implemented. Our final output will be a series of recommendations for the new administration.”