Joseph B. Berger is a renowned and award-winning scholar whose work focuses on higher education policy, organization and leadership, the impact of higher education on key stakeholders, and the development of higher education in various national contexts. He has authored dozens of journal articles, book chapters, and research reports and has served on the editorial boards for several top journals. He has received more than $82 million in funding for his work from agencies and foundations such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Trefler Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the Nellie Mae Education Foundation. Internationally, he has provided leadership for projects in countries such as Malawi, China, Russia, Palestine, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Dr. Berger also served as the chair of the Global Higher Education and Research (GHEAR) Initiative for the Worldwide Universities Network. He has been honored with several national awards for his scholarship from associations such as the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), American College Personnel Association (ACPA), National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA), and the Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society.

Dr. Berger has more than 25 years of strategic academic leadership experience in which he has been instrumental in developing innovative academic programs, enhancing faculty development, improving opportunities for inclusive student success, building improved administrative infrastructure, promoting sponsored research, cultivating mission-driven fundraising, engaging community partners, promoting international collaboration, and championing social justice.

Provost Berger has been a member of the UMass Boston community since 2017 when he was appointed the dean of the College of Education and Human Development, where also holds an appointment as professor of education. He previously served as the senior associate dean in the College of Education at UMass Amherst, where he was also the director of the Center for International Education. Before his more than two decades of experience in the UMass system, he was a member of the faculty at the University of New Orleans. He earned a BA in Anthropology and Sociology from Lawrence University, Appleton, Wis.; an MA in College Student Personnel from Bowling Green State University; and a PhD in Education and Human Development, Higher Education Administration, from Vanderbilt University.