During Brian’s 17-year tenure at Macalester, enrollment of U.S. students of color at the college increased significantly. Under his leadership, the college prospered during a challenging economic period, delivering balanced budgets, expanded student counts, and several major additions to the campus infrastructure. Brian led Macalester in two significant and successful fundraising campaigns; the first concluded in December 2011, and the second concluded in May 2020.

Brian champions the role of the liberal arts college in the United States: “The liberal arts model rests on a belief in the transformative power of ideas, the necessity of collaborative action for the common good, and the importance of individual self-determination.”

He is quoted in the press on a variety of issues and has authored many articles on higher education topics including higher education access and quality, tuition costs, and college rankings.

Prior to becoming president at Macalester, Brian was dean of the faculty and a professor of English at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. He also served as a professor and chair of the English department at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania.

A Charles Dickens scholar, he has written numerous articles on the Victorian author and other subjects as well as two books: Mary Lee Settle’s Beulah Quintet: The Price of Freedom and Little Dorrit’s Shadows: Character and Contradiction in Dickens. Rosenberg served as a trustee of the Dickens Society from 2000 to 2004.

Examples of Brian’s writings on leadership and the current state of higher education:

December 2020 Can Algorithms Save College Admissions? 
Chronicle of Higher Education

November 2020 What American Higher Education Can Learn from Africa
Harvard University Social Impact Review

April 2020 How Should Colleges Prepare for a Post-Pandemic World? 
Chronicle of Higher Education

February 2019 This Is Higher Education's Gilded Age
Chronicle of Higher Education

Fall 2018 The Rigidness of Academic Routine
Liberal Education, Association of American Colleges & Universities