Maureen Shubow Rubin

Maureen Shubow Rubin is founding director of the Center for Community-Service Learning at California State University, Northridge. In this position, she helped to develop and secure funding for over 300 new service-learning classes and initiatives, sponsored by both government and the private sector, including Learn and Serve America, AmeriCorps, the MetLife Foundation’s Health Literacy Initiative, The California State University Chancellor’s “Civic Mission of Education” program, Starbucks Foundation, the Constitutional Rights Foundation, and the Governor’s Office on Service and Volunteerism, among others. Related course-based projects: prepare low-income youths for preschool (Jumpstart); prevent at-risk youths from joining gangs (MOSAIC); teach arts, sciences and sports in schools without funding for enrichment courses (GOGIRLGO, Tomorrow’s Scientists, UPLIFT); help the elderly learn computer skills and prepare for citizenship exam (SHINE); and assist battered women and potential evictees to prepare for court appearances (JusticeCorps). An experienced faculty trainer and peer mentor, she published widely about service-learning pedagogy, civic engagement, community collaboration and effective outreach. In 2001, she was awarded the Richard E. Cone Award from California Campus Compact for excellence and leadership in cultivating community partnerships in higher education.

Rubin joined the University in 1984 as a professor of journalism where she specialized in teaching law, public relations, and media ethics, all of which have been subjects of numerous articles she wrote for both scholarly journals and mainstream media. As a higher education administrator, she served as Director of Undergraduate Studies and Associate Dean of the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication. In 1993, she was voted Outstanding Journalism Educator in the State of California by the California Newspaper Publishers Association. Prior to joining the university, Rubin was Director of Public Information for President Carter’s Special Assistant for Consumer Affairs in the White House, and held similar positions for a U.S. Congresswoman and Consumer Federation of America. Rubin is a graduate of the Catholic University School of Law In Washington, D.C., holds a Master of Arts degree in Public Relations from University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism from Boston University.