'Big Ten Academic Advantage Panel' to take place at the Rutgers University Visitor Center May 2
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers University will celebrate its entrance into the prestigious Big Ten Conference with a “Big Ten Academic Advantage Panel” on May 2 and “R B1G Party” July 1. The events are in addition to “R B1G Tour,” which was previously announced by the university’s Division of Intercollegiate Athletics.
The “Big Ten Academic Advantage Panel” will take place at the Rutgers University Visitor Center in Piscataway 10 a.m. Friday, May 2. Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany, Rutgers President Robert Barchi and University of Nebraska’s Faculty Athletics Representative Josephine Potuto, a Rutgers alumna, will address the academic advantages of Big Ten Conference membership. The event is open to the Rutgers community and will be moderated by Richard Edwards, Rutgers executive vice president for academic affairs and interim chancellor-New Brunswick. Various topics will be discussed, and the audience will have the opportunity to submit questions.
R B1G Party” will take place at High Point Solutions Stadium the evening of Tuesday, July 1, the date when Rutgers officially takes its place in the Big Ten. Commissioner Delany will be present at the event, which is free and open to the public. The celebration will take place on the field, with fans welcome to bring blankets to watch video board presentations and a fireworks display.
“R B1G Tour,” announced on April 4, features head coaches and officials traveling the region in the coming months. They will make 145 stops, including six premier stops, to showcase Rutgers as the birthplace of college football and commemorate Rutgers’ 145th season of play. Online registration for the premier events, as well as additional information on the officials who will attend, is available via the Rutgers University Alumni Association website at Ralumni.com/RBigTour14.
About the Big Ten Conference: The Big Ten Conference is an association of world-class universities whose member institutions share a common mission of research, graduate, professional and undergraduate teaching and public service. Founded in 1896, the Big Ten has sustained a comprehensive set of shared practices and policies that enforce the priority of academics in student-athletes’ lives and emphasize the values of integrity, fairness and competitiveness. Beginning July 1, the broad-based athletic programs of the 14 Big Ten institutions will feature almost 9,500 student-athletes on 350 teams in 43 different sports. The Big Ten will sponsor 28 official conference sports, 14 for men and 14 for women, including the addition of men’s and women’s lacrosse as official sports for the 2014-15 academic year. For more information, visit www.bigten.org.
About Rutgers University: Established in 1766, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is America’s eighth oldest institution of higher learning and one of the nation’s premier public research universities, serving more than 65,000 students in locations throughout the state.