Summer Activity at Rutgers-Camden (July 16, 2012)

To the Campus Community:

The past several months have been fast-paced and some of the most exciting in the history of our campus.  I hope that you are finding time to relax this summer.

Throughout the summer, Rutgers–Camden is buzzing with a high level of activity.  Our Summer Session is serving undergraduate and graduate students – from Rutgers and other institutions – seeking to accelerate their degrees with Rutgers course credits.  Our faculty continue to work on their innovative research projects.  Prospective students and their families are visiting Rutgers–Camden in strong numbers.

Our campus is hosting a number of programs that introduce teens and children to college life.  Through the School of Business, BizEd is providing an intensive college-level experience for 50 rising high school seniors and 25 rising high school juniors from across southern New Jersey throughout July.  The Community Leadership Center is also attracting rising high school seniors to campus through the Aim High Academy, wherein 40 teens from across southern New Jersey will participants will live in the Rutgers–Camden housing complex; attend college-level courses; engage in SAT preparation workshops; and create civic engagement plans that address social issues in their communities or schools.  Rutgers–Camden also is hosting the Legacy Youth Tennis and Education Program for Camden children, as well as the third annual Summer Law Institute at the School of Law for Camden high school students.

These are just a few examples of how Rutgers–Camden is attracting thousands to our campus throughout the summer.  We also are hard at work preparing for the start of another busy academic year through many campus improvement projects, such as:

• Construction on the new student housing facility at 330 Cooper is on track to welcome our first residents in that state-of-the-art complex in August.  We will soon communicate a date for a campus celebration of this new facility in September.
• A new classroom space in 101 Cooper Street (located in Johnson Park) will open this fall, allowing greater flexibility in scheduling classes.
• New turf is being installed on the soccer and softball fields at the Rutgers–Camden Community Park.
• The student lounge area on the main level of the Paul Robeson Library soon will have new and comfortable furniture for studying and relaxing.
• In an effort to better serve our students, work is underway on renovations to the first floor of Armitage Hall that will allow the bursar’s office to relocate proximate to the registrar’s office.  Combined with the financial aid office on the lower level of Armitage, this will provide one-stop access for these interrelated and critical student functions.
• Similarly, the second floor of Armitage Hall is being renovated to accommodate space for the EOF, TRiO, Learning Center, and disability services functions, which will unite into a Center for Learning and Student Success.
• The second floor of 319 Cooper Street is being renovated into appropriate space for our growing Honors College.  When the Honors College relocates, its current space on the second floor of the Robeson Library will be converted into quiet study space for individuals and groups.

Clearly, there is a great deal of momentum and progress at Rutgers–Camden this summer.  I look forward to the successful completion of these projects and to the start of many more that will advance our campus.

Wendell E. Pritchett, J.D., Ph.D.

Chancellor