22 Facts About Judith Rodin

Judith Rodin was born on Judith Seitz, September 9,1944 and is an American research psychologist, executive, university president, and global thought-leader.

Judith Rodin served as the 12th president of the Rockefeller Foundation from 2005 to 2017.

From 1994 to 2004, Rodin served as the 7th president of the University of Pennsylvania, and the first permanent female president of an Ivy League university.

Judith Rodin is known for her significant contributions to the fields of behavioral medicine and health psychology, higher education, and philanthropy, as well as championing the concepts of impact investing and resilience.

Judith Rodin grew up in a middle-class Jewish family and was the younger of two daughters of Morris and Sally Seitz.

Judith Rodin graduated with honors from the Philadelphia High School for Girls and won an undergraduate scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania.

Judith Rodin was the president of Penn's Women's Student Government and led the groundwork for the merger with the Men's Student Government that ultimately formed the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education in 1965 that led to the co-education of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Judith Rodin completed postdoctoral research at the University of California at Irvine in 1971.

In 1972, after teaching briefly at New York University, Judith Rodin became an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Yale University, where she was to become well known among students as a popular lecturer.

In 1994, Judith Rodin was appointed president of the University of Pennsylvania, becoming the first permanent female president of an Ivy League institution and the first graduate of the university to take on its highest leadership role.

Judith Rodin encouraged revitalization in University City and West Philadelphia through public safety; the establishment of Wharton School alliances for small businesses; the development of buildings and streetscapes that turned outward to the community; and the establishment of a university-led partnership school, the Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander University of Pennsylvania Partnership School.

Judith Rodin became president of the Rockefeller Foundation in March, 2005, succeeding Gordon Conway and becoming the first woman to serve as the foundation's president.

Judith Rodin's leadership was characterized by a strategic focus on resilience as a guiding framework for addressing complex global challenges, including environmental sustainability, urbanization, healthcare access and economic inequality.

Judith Rodin encouraged collaboration with governments, nonprofits, academia, and the private sector to scale innovative solutions and drive systemic change.

Judith Rodin championed initiatives that aimed to empower marginalized communities, promote inclusive economic growth, and strengthen civil society organizations.

Judith Rodin serves or has served as a trustee of or an advisor to such organizations as the Brookings Institution, the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Psychological Association and the White House's President's Council of Advisors in Science and Technology, and she serves as Chair of the National Academy of Medicine's Grand Challenge on Climate Change, Human Health, and Equity.

Judith Rodin was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 1982, to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1990, and to the American Philosophical Society in 1995.

Judith Rodin has been awarded nineteen honorary degrees from institutions such as New York University, Johns Hopkins University, and most recently from Yale University.

Judith Rodin received the Philadelphia Award, was the first woman to receive the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce's William Penn Award, and was honored with the Pennsylvania Society Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement.

Judith Rodin was named one of Crain's 50 Most Powerful Women in New York list three years in a row, and was recognized on Forbes Magazine's List of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women.

Judith Rodin was placed on the National Association of Corporate Directors' Directorship 100, in recognition of her work promoting the highest standards of corporate governance, was named to the PoliticsPA list of "Pennsylvania's Most Politically Powerful Women".

Judith Rodin was previously married two other times, to Bruce Judith Rodin and to Nicholas Niejelow, with whom she has a son, Alexander Niejelow who is married to Ioanna Kefalas.