Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway announced he will conclude his tenure as the leader of the university after completing his fifth year — on June 30, 2025.
Holloway, long recognized as a prominent U.S. historian, said he plans to take a sabbatical in the 2025-2026 academic year, when he will return to longstanding research projects before joining the Rutgers faculty full time.
“Serving as the university president has been an enormous privilege and responsibility,” he said in a message to the university community. “I welcomed the opportunity to join the Rutgers community in July 2020 because I found inspiration in the possibilities that this institution represented: a belief that cutting-edge research could thrive in a university that was deeply committed to making education as accessible as possible to a profoundly diverse student population. The reality behind this inspiration has been reaffirmed time and again during my tenure.”
Under Holloway’s leadership, Rutgers climbed significantly in national rankings (it was No. 40 in the prestigious U.S. News & World Report rankings last year), broke records this year for undergraduate admissions and exceeded fundraising goals that demonstrate new levels of engagement among alumni.
Holloway, the university’s 21st president, also expanded access and opportunity through programs including Scarlet Promise and Scarlet Service and established Rutgers’ commitment to civic engagement and civil discourse.
His tenure, however, did not come without controversy.
Holloway was criticized by some for this response to the pandemic (Rutgers was shut down and required mask usage for longer than most universities), his response to a strike by teachers and faculty and, more recently, for the school’s response to student protests last spring.
Holloway, in his note, said he was not being forced out.
“This decision is my own and reflects my ruminations about how best to be of service,” he wrote.
Holloway told the Rutgers community that he is proud of his time at the top, during what he called a challenging time for higher education overall and society overall.
“Our first-year class this fall is the largest in our history — better yet, it is among the most diverse and most accomplished as well,” he wrote. “Its members enter a Rutgers deeply committed to social mobility, where every one of our campuses ranks among the Top 25 national universities for the graduation rate of students receiving need-based Pell grants.
“At the same time, Rutgers research is stronger than ever. This past year, our researchers received a record $970 million in grants, over a quarter of which came from the NIH. More than 250 companies are engaged in research alongside our faculty, and we now boast over 100 active startups.”
Holloway said Rutgers is “bursting with energy and innovation” — specifically noting the efforts in health care.
“A decade after we established our biomedical division, Rutgers Health is engaged in some of the most life-changing discoveries, from our innovative contributions to the battle against COVID-19 to the Rutgers Cancer Institute’s T-cell clinical trials,” he said. “And enormous hope and promise attends the projects in the ground — the (HELIX) rising in New Brunswick and the Medical Science Building expansion in Newark — as well as the five-year process of forming Rutgers School of Medicine out of our two outstanding medical schools.”
Just as important, Holloway said, the school is creating a culture of service and citizen engagement.
“The Scarlet Service Initiative, now 3 years old, has provided hundreds of life-shaping internship opportunities at nonprofit and government organizations in the New Jersey region and in our nation’s capital,” he said. “A new recognition program celebrates our employees’ exceptional dedication to serving the common good — here and beyond Rutgers. And a task force on public engagement has just given me a set of recommendations that, when implemented, will help make Rutgers synonymous with service.”
Holloway said he was thankful for the support the school has received from the state as well as individual donors, who last year provided more than $250 million in gifts to the university (including $54 million for scholarships).
“There is plenty to do before I complete my term, and I remain focused on that work, especially that which is committed to the connections between Rutgers and civic preparedness and civil discourse,” he said. “But whatever the topic, I remain steadfast in my belief that Rutgers is on the rise and is earning the respect it has long deserved. I look forward to seeing it flourish in the years ahead.”
