Donald Rubinstein
Rubric Chair
European Exploration, Trade and Scientific Studies
Donald Rubinstein (1948 – 2023) earned his doctorate in anthropology from Stanford University and his master’s degree in public health from the University of Hawai’i.
Rubinstein was a tenured professor of anthropology and public health at the University of Guam, where he worked since 1988 until his passing in 2023. He conducted fieldwork throughout Micronesia and has lived for extended periods in Yap Outer Islands and Chuuk.
Rubinstein published widely on social organization and social change in Micronesia, adolescent suicide, medical anthropology, and ethnographic art. He also served as editor of Isla: Journal of Micronesian Studies, chair of the Micronesian Studies Program, chaired the Humanities Guåhan, and was the president of the Faculty Senate of the University of Guam. He was a mentor and advisor to many students over the years, as well as Guampedia.
Rubinstein had appointments as visiting professor at the Kagoshima University Research Center for the Pacific Islands in Japan, and at the Institut für Ethnologie at Universität Heidelberg in Germany.
He is survived by his spouse Aaron S. Agsalud.