Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey: Commencement-at-a-Glance 2008

An estimated 10,852 graduates will receive degrees from Rutgers this year. They include approximately 7,168 baccalaureate degrees, 2,423 master’s degrees, 1,260 doctorates and one education specialist degree.

Location: Voorhees Mall, College Avenue Campus, New Brunswick (Rain: Louis Brown Athletic Center, Livingston Campus, Piscataway)

Remarks: Gwen Ifill, one of the nation’s pre-eminent broadcast journalists. Moderator and managing editor of PBS’ Washington Week and senior correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Ifill was the 2007 Senator Wynona Lipman Chair in Women’s Political Leadership at Rutgers’ Center for American Women and Politics. She will receive an honorary Doctor of Letters degree.

Student Speaker: Melanie A. Spero, East Granby, Conn. Class of 2008, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, majoring in biotechnology and minoring in biochemistry

Honorary degrees

Besides Gwen Ifill, Rutgers will present honorary degrees in New Brunswick to William F. Baker, president emeritus of Thirteen/WNET, the Public Broadcasting Service’s flagship station (Doctor of Humane Letters), and to Ivy F. Matsepe-Casaburri, Republic of South Africa’s minister of communications, who received her doctorate from Rutgers in 1984 and was an associate professor (Doctor of Laws). Wolf Singer, renowned neuroscientist, director of the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research and founding director, Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (Doctor of Science), and Arthur F. Ryan, chair and recently retired CEO of Prudential Financial Inc. (Doctor of Laws), will receive their honorary degrees in Newark.

All undergraduate and graduate degrees are conferred at this ceremony. The Graduate School-New Brunswick will award 789 degrees. The Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology in New Brunswick (45 graduate degrees) will not hold a public ceremony. Schools and colleges holding additional convocations are listed in chronological order on the following pages.

NOTE: Estimated numbers of graduates are from the Office of the University Registrar. An estimated 42 graduates who have formally converted to the degree requirements for the School of Arts and Sciences from Douglass, Livingston and Rutgers Colleges or University College-New Brunswick will attend the ceremony of the college with which they last were affiliated.

IN NEW BRUNSWICK AND PISCATAWAY

• EDWARD J. BLOUSTEIN SCHOOL OF PLANNING AND PUBLIC POLICY

Sunday, May 18, 1 p.m.
121 graduate degrees (80 undergraduate joint degrees are counted in their college totals)
Location: Nicholas Music Center, 85 George Street, Douglass Campus, New Brunswick

Speaker: Robert Curvin, urban affairs expert and distinguished fellow, Bloustein School; board chair, Fund for the City of New York; former dean, Graduate School of Management and Urban Professions, New School for Social Research, New York; former member of the New York Times editorial board. Bachelor’s degree from Rutgers-Newark College of Arts and Sciences in 1960; Master’s degree from Rutgers School of Social Work in 1967.

• SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT AND LABOR RELATIONS

Monday, May 19, 7 p.m.
98 graduate degrees (100 undergraduate joint degrees are counted in their college totals)
Location: College Avenue Gymnasium, 130 College Avenue, New Brunswick

Speakers: Members of the Class of 2008, with their programs and hometowns – Pamela Cash, Master of Human Resource Management, Mountainside; Bushra Sheikh, Master of Labor and Employment Relations, Cherry Hill; Jenelle Blackmon, Bachelor of Arts in Labor Studies and Employment Relations (Rutgers College), Annandale, Va.; and William M. Dwyer, industrial relations manager, PSEG Services Corp., Newark, and SMLR Alumni Association.

• SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK

Monday, May 19, 7 p.m.
340 master’s degrees
Location: Louis Brown Athletic Center, Livingston Campus, Piscataway

Speaker: Commissioner Jennifer Velez, New Jersey Department of Human Services. Class of 1996, Rutgers School of Law-Newark.

• MASON GROSS SCHOOL OF THE ARTS

Tuesday, May 20, 2:30 p.m.
121 graduating seniors, 76 graduate degrees
Location: Nicholas Music Center, 85 George Street, Douglass Campus, New Brunswick

Speaker: John G. Hanhardt, consulting senior curator for film and media arts at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., where he develops exhibitions, collections and archives in film and the media arts.

• ROTC COMMISSIONING CEREMONY

Tuesday, May 20, 3 p.m.
6 Air Force and 14 Army second lieutenants to be commissioned
Location: Rutgers Student Center Multipurpose Room, 124 Bartholomew Road, Piscataway

Speaker: Maj. General Kip L. Self, commander, U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center, Fort Dix, N.J.

• RUTGERS BUSINESS SCHOOL-NEWARK AND NEW BRUNSWICK

Tuesday, May 20, 4 p.m.
345 undergraduate joint degrees (recipients are also counted in their college totals)
Location: Louis Brown Athletic Center, Livingston Campus, Piscataway

Speaker: Barry Salzberg, chief executive officer of Deloitte LLP and member, Deloitte’s U.S. board of directors, the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Global Executive Committee and the DTT Global board of directors.

• SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION, INFORMATION AND LIBRARY STUDIES

Tuesday, May 20, 5 p.m.
140 graduate degrees (600 undergraduate joint degrees are counted in their college totals)
Location: College Avenue Gymnasium, 130 College Avenue, New Brunswick

Performance (in lieu of speaker): Queens Chorale

• GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

Thursday, May 22, 9 a.m.
284 graduates (260 master’s, 23 doctorates, one specialist)
Location: College Avenue Gymnasium, 130 College Avenue, New Brunswick

Speaker: The Honorable Gary S. Stein, retired New Jersey Supreme Court associate justice and current counsel to the law firm of Pashman Stein, Hackensack.

• SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

Thursday, May 22, 9:30 a.m.
380 graduates
Location: Louis Brown Athletic Center, Livingston Campus, Piscataway

Speaker: Hugh Martin, chair and CEO, Pacific Biosciences, Menlo Park, Calif. Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Rutgers in 1978.

• DOUGLASS COLLEGE

Thursday, May 22, 10 a.m.
585 graduates
Location: Antilles Field, Douglass Campus, New Brunswick

Speaker: Rosemarie T. Truglio, vice president of education and research, Sesame Workshop (formerly Children’s Television Workshop), New York. Member, The Douglass Society (2005). Class of 1983.

• RUTGERS COLLEGE

Thursday, May 22, 1:15 p.m.
2,055 graduates
Location: Voorhees Mall, College Avenue, New Brunswick

Speaker: Rey Ramsey, co-founder and CEO, One Economy Corp., Washington, D.C. One Economy is a global nonprofit organization that delivers the power of technology and information to low-income people, giving them important tools to better their lives. He is a past chair of Habitat for Humanity International. Class of 1982. (Rey is correct spelling.)

Rain: Friday, May 23, 1:15 p.m., Voorhees Mall

• LIVINGSTON COLLEGE

Thursday, May 22, 1:30 p.m.
716 graduates
Location: Louis Brown Athletic Center, Livingston Campus, Piscataway

Speaker: Liza Kirschenbaum, founding state director of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), an agency that advocates for abused and neglected children, and former attorney at Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland and Perretti, LLP, Morristown. Distinguished Livingston Alumna (2006). Class of 1987.

• ERNEST MARIO SCHOOL OF PHARMACY

Friday, May 23, 9:30 a.m.
240 Pharm.D. degrees
Location: College Avenue Gymnasium, 130 College Avenue, New Brunswick

Speaker: Dr. Michael L. Carter, registered pharmacist and Board certified internist; U.S. vice president for pharmacovigilance (now the Department of Medical Compliance, Policy and Process), sanofi-aventis US. Member, Mario School Advisory Associate Board. Class of 1974.

• SCHOOL OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

Friday, May 23, 10 a.m.
512 graduates
Location: Lawn near College Pond (“Passion Puddle”), George H. Cook Campus, New Brunswick

Speaker: Eva J. Pell, the John and Nancy Steimer Professor of Agricultural Sciences, vice president for research and dean of the Graduate School, Penn State University. Doctorate in plant biology from Rutgers, 1972.

Rain: Same day, 10:30 a.m., Louis Brown Athletic Center, Livingston Campus, Piscataway

• UNIVERSITY COLLEGE-NEW BRUNSWICK

Friday, May 23, 7 p.m.
708 graduates
Location: Louis Brown Athletic Center, Livingston Campus, Piscataway

Speaker: Jane Oates, executive director of the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education and senior policy adviser to Gov. Jon S. Corzine.

IN NEWARK

• RUTGERS BUSINESS SCHOOL-NEWARK AND NEW BRUNSWICK

Tuesday, May 20, 10 a.m.
537 graduate degrees (480 undergraduate joint degrees are counted in their college totals)
Location: New Jersey Performing Arts Center

Speaker: Arthur F. Ryan, chair and recently retired CEO of Prudential Financial Inc. Recipient of an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

• Joint Convocation
  
  

        UNIVERSITY COLLEGE-NEWARK
        156 graduates

        Tuesday, May 20, 2 p.m.
        Location: New Jersey Performing Arts Center

        Speaker: Wolf Singer, renowned neuroscientist, director of the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research and founding director, Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies. Recipient of an honorary Doctor of Science degree.

• SCHOOL OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Wednesday, May 21, 10 a.m.
28 graduate degrees
Location: Golden Dome Athletic Center, 42 Warren Street

Speaker: Commissioner Andrew Hughes, United Nations police adviser and director of the Police Division in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

• COLLEGE OF NURSING

Thursday, May 22, 10 a.m.
160 graduates
Location: Golden Dome Athletic Center, 42 Warren Street

Speaker: Beverly Whipple, professor emerita, College of Nursing, who received three academic degrees from Rutgers: a Master’s in Education in 1967, a second Master’s in Nursing in 1987, and a doctorate in psychobiology in 1986. A renowned leader in the sexual health profession, she currently serves as secretary general/treasurer of the World Association for Sexual Health and is a board member of the Foundation for the Scientific Study of Sexuality.

• Joint Convocation

        GRADUATE SCHOOL-NEWARK
        209 graduates

        SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND ADMINISTRATION
        96 graduates

        Thursday, May 22, 2 p.m.
        Location: Golden Dome Athletic Center, 42 Warren Street

        Speaker: Yale H. Ferguson, Professor II of political science and co-director, Division of Global Affairs, Rutgers-Newark.

• SCHOOL OF LAW-NEWARK
  Friday, May 23, 10 a.m.
  247 graduates
  Location: New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 1 Center Street

Speaker: The Honorable Cory A. Booker, mayor, city of Newark.

IN CAMDEN

• SCHOOL OF BUSINESS-CAMDEN

Thursday, May 22, 9 a.m.
185 undergraduate degrees, 70 advanced degrees
Location: Susquehanna Bank Center, 1 Harbour Boulevard

Speaker: James Riesenbach, president and CEO, Autobytel Inc., Irvine, Calif. Class of 1989.

• SCHOOL OF LAW-CAMDEN

Thursday, May 22, 1 p.m.
270 graduates
Location: Susquehanna Bank Center, 1 Harbour Boulevard

Speaker: The Honorable Stuart Rabner, chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court.

• Joint Convocation:
  
  

        CAMDEN COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
        491 graduates

        GRADUATE SCHOOL-CAMDEN
        94 graduates

        UNIVERSITY COLLEGE-CAMDEN
        139 graduates

        Thursday, May 22, 6 p.m.
        Location: Susquehanna Bank Center, 1 Harbour Boulevard

        Speaker: Richard Aregood, senior vice president, the Marcus Group, Little Falls. Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni, 1993; Camden Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Leadership Council; Camden Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Class of 1965.