Announcing Dr. William Klein as Dean of the School of Communication and Information

January 29, 2026

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. William Klein, a senior leader at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and a distinguished and innovative leader in academia, as the new dean of the School of Communication and Information (SC&I), a role he will assume July 1, 2026.

Dr. Klein is currently the lead behavioral scientist at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the largest of 27 institutes at NIH, where he has served for 16 years. In this role, he supervises a staff of approximately 60, manages a multi-million-dollar budget, and provides strategic leadership in several areas including health communication, psychological science, and health behavior.  In addition, Dr. Klein is an adjunct investigator at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). For his work at NIH, Dr. 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, Dr. 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, Dr. 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.

Dr. 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 Dr. Klein’s research focuses on risk perception, risk communication, information avoidance, and the effective communication of undesirable health messages. Dr. 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, Dr. 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, Dr. Klein is committed to supporting students by providing robust training and mentoring opportunities. By building on SC&I’s multidisciplinary foundation, Dr. 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.

Dr. Klein will succeed Dr. Mark Aakhus, who has served as interim dean since August 1, 2025. Please join me in thanking Dr. Aakhus for his leadership and service during this interim period and in welcoming Dr. Klein to his new position.

Sincerely,

Francine Conway, Ph.D.
Chancellor and Distinguished Professor
Rutgers University–New Brunswick