Rutgers Media Relations

Rutgers Confers More than 14,000 Degrees at its 247th Commencement

The size of the graduating class set a Rutgers record for the fourth year in a row. Despite the rain, graduates said they look forward to a bright future and are ready to meet the adventures and challenges that lie ahead.

Rutgers Names Julie Hermann Director of Intercollegiate Athletics

Following a national search, Hermann was selected from a pool of 63 candidates. Her appointment is effective Monday, June 17. She is the first woman to serve in this capacity at Rutgers.

Rutgers Recognizes Achievements of Student Scholarship, Fellowship, Grant Winners

Rutgers recognized its Fulbright winners – the most it has received in a single year – along with students who received other prestigious awards during a ceremony Thursday.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Gives $12.5 Million to Rutgers to Support Integration With UMDNJ

The impending integration of Rutgers University with most of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey has received a major financial boost – a $12.5 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the university and the foundation announced today.

Rutgers’ Army ROTC Commissioning May 21

By summer's end, 30 cadets from Rutgers' Army and Air Force ROTC programs will be commissioned as second lieutenants.

Rutgers Law–Camden Student Carries on Grandmother's Tradition from Bulgaria

What inspired Inna Pokrovnichka to hold in her hands a hard-earned law degree is knowing that she’ll help others possess another valuable document: a passport.

Pokrovnichka, who will earn her J.D. from Rutgers Law–Camden on May 23, came with her family to the Garden State from Bulgaria when she was 11. Growing up as an immigrant, she learned of both the opportunities and the hurdles that often arise. As a Rutgers Law–Camden student, she put this distinct point of view into action by taking part in the Immigrant Justice Clinic with Joanne Gottesman, a clinical associate professor.

Rutgers to Host Career Day May 30

More than 150 public and private sector employers and more than 2,500 entry-level and experienced job candidates are expected to participate.

Rutgers Law–Camden Student Inspired by Mother’s Legacy, Discovering the Law for Herself

A law library can quickly become a kind of second home to any aspiring attorney. To Rutgers Law–Camden student Amanda Dalton, the space summons memories not only from her many hours spent studying, but flashbacks from her childhood.

On May 23, Dalton will receive her J.D.; her legal education at Rutgers–Camden, though, began when she was just five years old. While her mother Angela White Dalton, a 1995 alumna, was earning her law degree, Amanda could often be found in the back of class under a desk coloring. Nearly two decades later, Amanda knows full well the very real rigors of law school.

Wounded Iraq War Hero to Earn Bachelor's Degree from Rutgers-Camden; Will Participate in 4th Annual Jeremy Kane 5K Benefit Run

Sgt. Lester Orellana, an Army veteran of the Iraq War, will graduate from Rutgers–Camden on May 23 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.

It will be a busy month for Orellana, who will also be among hundreds who will take to the streets of Cherry Hill on June 9 to pay tribute to a fallen hero. The Jeremy Kane 5K Benefit Run, beginning at Cherry Hill High School East at 8:30 a.m., raises money for the Jeremy Kane Scholarship Fund, which supports student veterans at Rutgers University.

World’s Largest University-Based Biorepository Completes $11.8 Million Renovation

RUCDR Infinite Biologics, the world’s largest university-based biorepository, has completed an $11.8 million renovation project to create a new Genomics Technology Center, comprising 12,500 square feet of laboratory, office, and storage space.

Traffic Advisory for Rutgers-Camden Commencement Day on Thursday, May 23

National Trial Competition Finish Caps Notable Year for Rutgers–Newark Law Advocacy Programs

Rutgers Law–Camden Student Upgrades Family Alumni Tradition

The long haul of law school ends with those final steps to receive the J.D. degree. When Rutgers Law–Camden student Matt Wizmur walks across the Susquehanna Bank Center Stage on May 23 during commencement, he will recognize some familiar faces. In fact, for a few moments that stage will be a kind of family reunion.

Wizmur will receive his degree from his mother Judith ‘74, father Leonard ‘74, and sister Dina ‘06, all Rutgers Law–Camden alumni, and accomplished professionals. Judith is a federal bankruptcy court judge in Camden; Leonard is a bankruptcy lawyer in Marlton; and Dina is general counsel for an insurance company in New York.

Longtime Educator Expands Expertise - and Outlook - with Ph.D. in Childhood Studies

As Marla Wander tells it, she was stuck in a routine. She wanted to expand her expertise, while teaching basic and childhood psychology courses at Camden County College. She consulted a colleague, who told her about the new Ph.D. in childhood studies program at Rutgers–Camden. With her interest piqued, Wander accepted the challenge as a member of the program’s first cohort in 2007. She never looked back.

Having successfully defended her dissertation, Wander and her counterparts Lara Saguisag and Deborah Valentine will graduate on May 23 as the first Ph.D. graduates in childhood studies at Rutgers–Camden. “I am so excited to be one of the first childhood studies graduates, not only here at Rutgers–Camden, but throughout the country,” says Wander, who was born in Camden and has been a longtime Cherry Hill resident. “We are pioneers in the development of this program.”

Graduate Applies Marketing and Leadership Skills Learned at Rutgers–Camden to Career at Pepsi

Samantha McClernan is on the go.

Since completing requirements for her bachelor’s degree in marketing from the Rutgers School of Business–Camden in January, the Mullica Hill native has been hard at work for the Pepsi Beverage Company as a pre-sales account manager.

“I’m always on the road,” she explains excitedly on the phone as she heads to another meeting.

Among McClernan’s 100 clients are convenience stores in and around Harrisburg, Pa. Her responsibility is to ensure they have all of Pepsi’s latest products, to increase product sales, and to help her customers grow their business through competitive pricing and innovative products.

Rutgers, Mercer County Community College Partner to Offer Bachelor’s Degree-Completion Programs on West Windsor Campus

In a new partnership to be formalized May 30, Rutgers University and Mercer County Community College will expand opportunities for associate degree holders in the Mercer County area to earn Rutgers degrees on MCCC’s West Windsor campus.

The Language of Nursing

Language barriers can present an obstacle for nurses caring for patients who speak little or no English. To deliver the proper healthcare, communication is the key.

Andrea Fernandes takes pride in her ability to help Spanish-speaking patients understand questions and issues that may arise in relation to their health. It’s one of the many reasons she was inspired to pursue a career in nursing.

“It’s important to make that connection with patients,” says Fernandes, who will graduate from the Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden on May 23. “It makes a huge difference in how you deliver care.”

Fernandes recalls one of her first clinical experiences at Rutgers–Camden as an example of how she was able to help a patient who needed a translator.

Computer Engineer to Study Formation of Wikipedia-like Online Pools of Knowledge

Wikipedia is an example of the large-scale online knowledge repositories that a Rutgers professor will study with funding from the National Academies.

Rutgers Law–Camden Student Made the Tough Cut into U.S. Army JAG Corps

No doubt being a law student requires hard work and discipline. The military began establishing those values in Captain April Nees when she enlisted at 17. And now Rutgers Law–Camden has propelled the Tuckerton resident into an echelon she has long aspired to enter: the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General's (JAG) Corps.

Rutgers’ Stephen E. Ambrose Oral History Award Goes to Michael Beschloss

Presidential historian Michael Beschloss will receive the Stephen E. Ambrose Oral History Award from the Rutgers Living History Society Friday, May 17, on the Douglass Campus of Rutgers University.

Rutgers-Camden Awards First Professional Master’s Degrees

Like many business professionals, David Lopez understands that one can never stop gaining knowledge and experience that can be used to advance and revitalize a career.

“If we do not continually challenge ourselves and educate ourselves, then our specializations become our ruts,” says Lopez, a Gloucester City resident and auditor for the New Jersey Department of Treasury.

Lopez is a member of the first graduating cohort of the professional master of accountancy (PMAc) program at the Rutgers School of Business–Camden. This month, 17 professionals will be the first to graduate from Rutgers–Camden with a PMAc and 30 others will be the first to earn a professional master of business administration (PMBA).

Encore Performance: Student Commencement Speaker Earns Bachelor’s Degree after Returning to College

In 2006, Robin Parry was invited by a friend to attend a jazz fest in New Orleans. As she soaked in the city’s rich music and cultural heritage, she was struck by the level of destruction and decay wrought by Hurricane Katrina, particularly in the city’s Ninth Ward. But rather than stand idly by, Parry grabbed a hammer and pitched in to do her part.

Upon arriving home in Philadelphia, Parry was still taken by all that she had seen and was determined to do more. Shortly thereafter, she founded Philly to New Orleans, a nonprofit organization which held local benefit concerts to send Philadelphia artists and musicians to New Orleans to volunteer with local community-service organizations. Touching down in The Big Easy, the musicians worked to rebuild homes for displaced musicians, restore music venues and work on much-needed post-Katrina projects throughout the city. “If I say I’m going to do it, then I do it,” says Parry, a resident of Maple Shade. “I don’t say, ‘I want to do it,’ I say, ‘This is what I am going to do.’ Then I move mountains to get it done.”

Rutgers Facts-at-a-Glance

Rutgers has more than 408,000 living alumni in the U.S.

Storied Legacy: Children's Author Earns Ph.D. in Childhood Studies, Tenure-Track Position

Even as an undergraduate student, Lara Saguisag was busy rereading Alice and Wonderland while her classmates were studying Shakespeare. It wasn’t long before she too was capturing children’s imaginations, authoring the books Children of Two Seasons: Poems for Young People and Cat Eyes in her native Philippines.

As she enjoyed literary success, Saguisag increasingly sought to understand children’s literature on a more fundamental level. Consequently, after earning master’s degrees from Hollins University and The New School, she enrolled at Rutgers–Camden in 2007 as a member of the inaugural class of the new Ph.D. in childhood studies program.

Rutgers School of Social Work to Train Delegation of Senior Executives from Chinese Nongovernmental Organizations

The School of Social Work’s Institute for Families will train senior executives from China as part of its Nongovernment Organization Leadership program and also celebrate the first anniversary of its Huamin Research Center.

Commencement Facts 2013

When members of Rutgers' Class of 2013 receive their diplomas, the university will have awarded more than 500,000 academic degrees since Matthew Leydt received the first, a Bachelor of Arts in 1774.

More than Just Child's Play: Ph.D. Graduate's Research Focuses on History of Race, Play and Early Childhood Education in Philadelphia

As an undergraduate student, Deborah Valentine had her first teaching experience in the tranquil suburbs outside Chicago. After graduating with straight A’s from Wheaton College in Illinois with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, she landed her first fulltime teaching gig in a high-need, low-income, underserved neighborhood in the city. But the move proved to be more than just a change in address. Suddenly, the same time-honored methods that she had employed as a student we’re fruitless in her new environment. “I found that I had virtually no ability to successfully work in that environment, even though that is where I wanted to be,” says Valentine, who currently resides in Philadelphia.

The experience would send her mind reeling. Valentine wondered how these methods that she had studied in college became considered the best practices. She pondered what practices were transferrable from one context to another, and which ones weren’t. She brimmed with questions about how race, class and culture impacted effective educational practices, especially in relation to African American students who made up a large portion of the student population in Chicago.

Computer Engineer Returns to Rutgers–Camden for Degree in Physics

Twenty years after graduating from Rutgers–Camden with his MBA, Greg Perugini is back on the familiar campus to receive his bachelor’s degree in physics, a subject he always considered a hobby.

“The way my life has gone, my hobbies end up becoming my jobs, which is a good thing,” says Perugini, a Sicklerville resident. “I’d always had an interest in astronomy and physics.”

The 54-year-old former engineer for Apple Computer, Inc. says he took a couple of physics courses at Camden County College and then became interested in pursuing his bachelor’s degree in the field, so he enrolled at Rutgers–Camden. He’ll graduate on May 23.

Single Father Draws Inspiration from Daughter in Pursuing Chemistry Degree.

Sometimes, the best way to get through a full day of coursework and research is to stop what you’re doing and dance.

At least, that’s the advice Joe Dalessandro’s 6-year-old daughter Audrey has for her busy dad, who will graduate from Rutgers–Camden on May 23 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry.

Dalessandro, a Woodbury resident, is a single father who is raising young Audrey while working toward his goal of one day teaching college chemistry and mentoring young people just as he has been mentored at Rutgers–Camden. He says his daughter keeps him motivated.

The Power Within: Milligan Overcomes Personal Doubts to Become First-Generation College Graduate

September 1, 2011. Richard Milligan walks into his first Rutgers–Camden class – and nearly walks out. As Milligan waits for the class to begin, he feels as if his heart is going to pound out of his chest. “I was so nervous,” recalls Milligan, a lifelong resident of Salem. “It was always drummed into my head that I wasn’t education material.”

As Milligan tells it, he had always thought the deck was stacked against him. Hailing from working-class roots, he didn’t even know anyone who had a college degree. Education, he thought, well, that’s a dream for someone else. “I just always had this idea that it was a lofty goal that I could never reach,” he says.

Rutgers-Camden Graduate and Army Vet Helped Pave Way for Veterans Seeking College Degrees

Bryan Adams is quite candid about his struggle to adapt to civilian life after his Army service came to an end eight years ago.

“I was lost,” admits Adams, a Palmyra resident. “I was 21 years old and felt like I had already lived an entire lifetime. I couldn’t relate to anyone. I didn’t find anything enjoyable. I was in a dark place.”

At Rutgers–Camden, Adams was able to fill the void in his life and help light the path through college for other veterans. Now, as he prepares to graduate with the Class of 2013 on May 23, Adams reflects on his time at Rutgers–Camden with a sense pride and accomplishment.

Take Nothing for Granted: Bosnia Native Prepares for Law Career to Help Preserve American Liberties

Without hesitation, Alen Arnautovic summons the words to mind. “It’s my path in life that has led me to appreciate the rule of law,” says the native of war-torn Bosnia. “Where I come from, the rule of law failed. Society fell apart and neighbors turned on one another.”

Arnautovic was nine years old in 2000, when his parents brought him and his sisters, Sejla and Lejla, to the United States in search of a better life. Since that time, he has gained an immense respect and appreciation for the rule of law in his adopted country, as well as the tradition of law that American society has in preserving the order of the peace, peaceful transitions of power, and the rights of its citizens to know that which they are entitled.

Heavy Traffic Expected for Rutgers’ May 19 Commencement

All roads will lead to High Point Solutions Stadium and a universitywide celebration for graduates, their families and friends.

Commencement Pageantry and Color

Thousands of members of the Rutgers community, and their guests, will gather at High Point Solutions Stadium to celebrate the university's 247th Commencement on May 19.

Highly Motivated, Highly Employed: Rutgers Law–Camden Student Lands Three Top Jobs

Rutgers Retains Skadden for Independent Review of Men’s Basketball Program

Rutgers University announced Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP will take over for Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP in conducting an independent review of the men’s basketball program.