[1][2] Rubin was raised in Cleveland, Ohio and attended nearby Case Western Reserve University, receiving a bachelor's degree in philosophy and political science in 1975.
[3] He went on to study at Boston College, where he graduated with a doctoral degree in 1983 and also where he met his wife Leslie Rubin, a fellow political science academic.
[4] Rubin and his wife taught at Kenyon College before both moving to Duquesne University as professors and raising their children.
[5] Rubin began at Duquesne as an assistant professor in 1987 and continued teaching there for over 30 years.
[6] Rubin is the author of The Green Crusade, a 1998 book which questions the scientific basis for claims and predictions made by environmentalists, specifically naming Rachel Carson and Paul Erlich.