Department of Chemistry

Dr. Arnold Speert

Professor of Chemistry
Hobart Manor
Email: speerta@wpunj.edu
Phone: (973)-720-2222

Dr. Arnold Speert became the sixth president of William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J., on September 1, 1985. He previously served as vice president for academic affairs, a post he had held since July 1979.

In 1970, he joined the university’s teaching staff as an assistant professor of chemistry and later that same year assumed his initial administrative responsibilities as assistant to the dean of graduate and research programs. Dr. Speert was named assistant to the vice president for academic affairs in 1971 and became associate dean for academic affairs in 1978. During the same period he rose through the faculty ranks and attained full professor status in 1980. He earned a doctorate in chemistry from Princeton University where he was a National Institute of Health Fellow. He is a member of the American Chemical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Dr. Speert has been active in a wide variety of community service activities. He has served as chair of the New Jersey Presidents’ Council, and been a member of the Commission on Higher Education and the Board of Examiners for the New Jersey Department of Education. He currently serves on the boards of Barnert Hospital and the State Farm Indemnity Company. Previously, he served on the boards of the Tri-County Chamber of Commerce, The Ramapo Bank, Better Business Bureau, Jewish Federation of North Jersey, YM-YWHA of Northern New Jersey, and the Respiratory Health Association.

Founded in 1855, William Paterson University is one of the nine state colleges and universities in New Jersey. The institution offers 30 undergraduate and 19 graduate programs through five colleges: Arts and Communication, the Christos M. Cotsakos College of Business, Education, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Science and Health. Located on 370 hilltop acres in Wayne, the University enrolls more than 10,500 students and provides housing for nearly 2,300 students. The institution’s 363 full-time faculty are highly distinguished and diverse scholars and teachers, many of whom are recipients of prestigious awards and grants from the Fulbright Program (26 scholars), the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the American Philosophical Society.