Robert S. Lapiner comes to NYU's School of Continuing and Professional Studies in the spring of 2006 after having served for 15 years as dean of continuing education and UCLA Extension at the University of California at Los Angeles. Under his leadership, UCLA Extension set national standards for post baccalaureate certificate programs and the integration of multicultural and global perspectives in continuing education curricula. He shaped UCLA Extension's emergence as the largest Internet-based distance-learning program in the State of California, attracting adult learners from every part of the world and in all fifty states.

From 1976-1990, Dean Lapiner worked in Europe and Africa in universities, international organizations, business, and government service. As the deputy executive director/director for Europe of the Council on International Educational Exchange from 1982-1990, he developed and oversaw university-based academic study and practical training programs involving approximately 30,000 students, faculty, and administrators annually. From 1976-1982, he was a U.S. career diplomat in cultural and educational affairs, posted in the Netherlands, Zaire (now Republic of Congo), and France.

During this period, he was also a visiting professor at the National University of Zaire at Lubumbashi, the American University of Paris, and a frequent lecturer at French universities and grandes écoles. In his various capacities, he helped found a university-based Center for the Study of Human Rights in Central Africa and the Dutch American Studies Association. Dean Lapiner also served on the board of the French-American Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange to select students and scholars funded by Fulbright and French government grants. He was a founding/charter member of the European Association for International Education, formed in 1990.

Dean Lapiner earned his B.A. summa cum laude from UCLA. An honorary Woodrow Wilson Fellow, he completed his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University in British and American languages and literatures. His articles about U.S. and international higher education policy and practice have been published in the Netherlands, Germany, France, South Korea, and the United States.