Dean W. Zimmerman is an American professor of philosophy at Rutgers University specializing in metaphysics and the philosophy of religion.Zimmerman received his Bachelor's degree from Mankato State University in 1987 in French, Philosophy and English. He went on to receive an M.A. from Brown University in 1990, and then a Ph.D from the same institution in 1992. He taught at the University of Notre Dame and Syracuse University prior to joining Rutgers University. Zimmerman is a Christian and a member of the Society of Christian Philosophers.He is the author and editor of Metaphysics: The Big Questions (1998), The Oxford Handbook of Metaphysics (2003), Persons: Human and Divine (2007), Contemporary Debates in Metaphysics (2008), and the Oxford Studies in Metaphysics series, among others.Zimmerman is an influential figure in contemporary metaphysics.