Ronald M. Berkman was unanimously selected by the Board of Trustees as President of Cleveland State University on April 26, 2009. Dr. Berkman came to CSU from Florida International University (FIU) in Miami where he served most recently as Executive Vice President, Provost and Chief Operating Officer. He had been at FIU since 1997, also serving as Executive Dean of the College of Health and Urban Affairs.

Dr. Berkman received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1976. Prior to serving at FIU, he taught at The Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, The University of California at Berkeley, Brooklyn College, the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center, New York University and the University of Puerto Rico.

In 1997, Dr. Berkman was named Dean of the College of Urban and Public Affairs at Florida International University. Several years later he was appointed Executive Dean of a large, interdisciplinary College with accredited Colleges of Nursing, Health Sciences, Public Health, Social Work and Policy and Management. He directed the University’s successful efforts to receive authority to open a College of Law and a College of Medicine. In 2005, he became Provost, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. In 2001, he chaired Governor Jeb Bush’s Health Care Summit.

As the Dean of Urban Affairs at CUNY, he was responsible for developing research and technical assistance partnerships with all facets of New York City, New York State and federal government agencies and non-governmental organizations. He served as University Dean of Academic Affairs at CUNY from 1992 to 1994. In 1994, he was named Founding Dean of CUNY's first School of Public Affairs, located at Baruch College. In 1990, he was the Director of the Urban Summit, a historic meeting of mayors of America's largest cities.

He has served as Chair of the Dean's Council for the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration as well as various committees of the Association of Public Policy and Management and has an impressive history of service awards and fellowships as well as foundation grants. He recently served as Co-Chair of the Miami-Dade Empowerment Zone Planning Committee, overseeing the preparation of a successful application for designation as a Federal Empowerment Zone. As a commentator on urban and public affairs, he has frequently appeared on CNN, and other major television and radio networks. Dr. Berkman has authored, co-authored or co-edited five books and numerous articles on municipal government, public policy, economic development, community development, crime and corrections policy.

Dr. Berkman is married to Patricia Bilbao-Berkman, and they have four adult children.