Glenn C. Altschuler

Glenn Altschuler is an American writer and university-level educator and administrator.

At Cornell University, he is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Emeritus Professor of American Studies and a Weiss Presidential Fellow.

An animating force in American Studies, Altschuler taught large lecture courses in American popular culture and has been a strong advocate for the value of humanities and for high-quality undergraduate teaching and advising.

He is a subject-matter expert on Popular Culture, Politics, and Higher Education in the United States.

Altschuler received his BA in history (Magna Cum Laude with Honors) from Brooklyn College in 1971, his MA from Cornell in 1973, and his PhD in American history from Cornell in 1976.

Altschuler began his teaching career as a history professor at Ithaca College in 1975.

In 1981, he joined Cornell University as an administrator and teacher and became noted for his work on the history of American popular culture.

He believes that popular culture is "contested terrain"—in which economic classes and demographic groups struggle to make their marks on society.

His year-long course in American Popular Culture was among the most popular in the university.

Additional positions included Chair of the Academic Advising Center (1983-1991), Associate Dean for Advising and Alumni Affairs (1986-1991), and Chair of Cornell's Sesquicentennial Commission (2012-2015).

For four years, Altschuler wrote a column on higher education for the Education Life section of The New York Times.

From 1991 to 2020, he served as Dean of the Cornell University School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions, making him the longest-serving dean in the history of Cornell.

Altschuler also served as Cornell's vice president for University Relations for four years, with responsibilities for articulating and overseeing strategies related to communications, government relations, and land grant affairs.

From 2002 to 2005, he was a regular panelist on national and international affairs for the WCNY television program The Ivory Tower Half-Hour .

A popular speaker, Altschuler has given lectures throughout the United States, and in China, England, Ireland, Israel, Italy, and Russia; a collection of his papers may be found in the Cornell Library's Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections.

He has written over 2,000 scholarly essays, opinion pieces, book reviews, and articles for publishers including The Australian, Barron's Financial Weekly, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Conversation US, Forbes, The Hill, Inside Higher Ed, The Jerusalem Post, The New York Times, NPR's Books We Like, Psychology Today, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. The National Book Critics Circle has cited his work as "exemplary."

Psychology Today has featured it as "essential reading."