About Dr. Marbach

Dr. Joseph R. Marbach became Georgian Court University’s ninth president on July 1, 2015. As the president of Georgian Court University, Dr. Marbach is charged with leading the strategic vision and growth of the university. He is the first male and first lay president in Georgian Court’s history. Dr. Marbach possesses a distinguished background in the academic arena as both an educator and thought leader.

In 2010, he was named provost and vice president for academic affairs at La Salle University. There, Dr. Marbach, who also held a post as a professor of political science, established the English Language Institute, the Office of Professional and Corporate Education, and the Institute for Lasallian Education and Engaged Pedagogy (I-LEEP). He expanded the university’s presence in online education, graduate studies, international education and recruitment, signing cooperative agreements with local colleges and international universities.

He is the former dean for the College of Arts and Sciences at Seton Hall University, where he also was a professor and former chair of the Department of Political Science. At Seton Hall, Dr. Marbach served as acting chair for the Department of Africana Studies and as co-founder and director of the Center for Community Research and Engagement. During his years at Seton Hall, Dr. Marbach was a frequent media contributor and subject matter expert for television, radio, newspaper, and magazine outlets.

Dr. Marbach is a past president of the New Jersey Political Science Association and has served on the council of the American Political Science Association’s Section on Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations. He was a fellow with the Pennsylvania Policy Forum, and he has been an active participant in the Global Dialogue on Federalism, sponsored by the Forum of Federations and International Association of Centers for Federal Studies. He has taught in many faculty seminars sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Fulbright Summer Institute.

Dr. Marbach graduated magna cum laude from La Salle University in 1983, and earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from Temple University in 1986 and 1993, respectively. His areas of expertise include federalism and intergovernmental relations, state and local government, and New Jersey politics.

Dr. Marbach is editor-in-chief of Federalism in America: An Encyclopedia and has contributed to and edited Opening Cybernetic Frontiers. Along with several book chapters, Dr. Marbach’s work appears in numerous journals and encyclopedias. An award-winning radio analyst, he is often asked to share his expertise in state and local government, and particularly in New Jersey politics.

He and his wife, Paula, have three children.