Rutgers Union Leadership Academy Graduates 21 Friday

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – For more than 50 years, the Rutgers University Union Leadership Academy (RUULA) has been providing educational programs and courses for rank-and-file union leaders throughout New Jersey. The academy’s curriculum equips union activists with skills to be successful in labor-management relations.

            Friday, May 16, the academy’s Class of 2008 – 21 union leaders – will graduate, having completed the eight-course program that comprises classes in union leadership, collective bargaining, grievance handling, labor history, politics, labor law, employment law and miscellaneous labor-management topics. The ceremony will be held 6:30 p.m. in the Critelli Auditorium of the Labor Education Center, 50 Labor Center Way, New Brunswick.

            The academy, offered by Rutgers’ School of Management and Labor Relations, also will present its Friend of Labor Education Award to Joseph Jennings, president of the Middlesex County Central Labor Council. Jennings is a business representative for IBEW Local 456 in North Brunswick, a three-term councilman in Jamesburg and a graduate of the National Labor College. “Joe is a labor leader that truly understands the importance of education in preparing future leaders of the labor movement,” said Academy Director Robert Angelo.

            The RUULA graduates and hometowns follow:

·         Thomas J. Calabrese, West Keansburg

·         Paulette Caputo, East Brunswick

·         Benjamin Clark, Mount Royal

·         Ana Csepes, North Brunswick

·         Liliana Franco, Egg Harbor Township

·         Kenneth Gold, Medford

·         Louis J. Hall, Vineland

·         Theressa L. Harvey, Pleasantville

·         Joseph F. Hinchey, Brigantine

·         John Lowden, West Berlin

·         Kenneth Marr, Medford

·         Maureen McArdelle, Absecon

·         Kevin P. O’Connor, Nutley

·         Janki Panchu, Montclair

·         Holland Raulston Jr., New Castle, Del.

·         John T. Silva, Levittown, Pa.

·         Jeffrey Smith, Pitman

·         Edward Sullivan, Toms River

·         Thomas Walsh, Cliffwood

·         Randal Young, East Orange

·         Jose N. Santana, Mays Landing.