Welcome and thank you for taking time from your busy schedules to join me in what I hope will be an open conversation about our campus.
We bill this as a “campus address,” which suggests formality, but we’re just not that sort of campus. We’re the kind of place where people talk casually and openly. So this year, I’m going to talk for a bit about some of the highlights of our past year, and then we’re going to continue our on-going conversation about our shared goals for Rutgers–Camden.
PRIDE IN RUTGERS-CAMDEN
This has been one of the most extraordinary years in the history of our campus. In 2010, we enrolled 6,337 students. That was a campus record, until this fall, when we have 6,595 students. Now, you know I’m going to say that having more students presents more challenges, but these are good challenges to have. I thank the faculty and staff for working so hard to attract and retain such bright students.
Our students choose Rutgers–Camden for our ability to deliver the world-class Rutgers experience in a personalized manner. A true indicator of the extraordinary excellence of our faculty is Dr. Jake Soll, a professor of history who won the 2011 MacArthur Fellowship. This “genius grant” is one of the most elite and prestigious honors that any scholar or creative person can earn. This is the first time that a Camden faculty member has won the MacArthur, and it places Jake among only a very few Rutgers faculty who ever have won this coveted award.
The MacArthur is a singular honor, but we define Rutgers–Camden pride on a daily basis. For example, our men’s soccer team made the national rankings – 16th in the country, in fact, according to a poll released last week.
Our student-athletes reflect our entire student body: They work hard, both in their studies and at their jobs, and they achieve many successes. What’s truly impressive is that, even with all of the commitments before them, Rutgers–Camden students step up to address needs as they arise.
Last spring, the world witnessed a catastrophe in Japan. Dr. Sean Duffy in the psychology department and a group of concerned students swiftly mobilized to assemble an art sale in Philadelphia that raised more than $5,000 to support the Japanese Red Cross. Similarly, the Criminal Justice Organization took a leadership role with other student groups to hold a kickball tournament in honor of Tyler Clementi in April; funds were raised to support anti-bullying causes, and Tyler’s parents joined us in honoring the memory of their son. And our law students continued to sacrifice their spring breaks to provide free legal support to Americans who are still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.
Rutgers–Camden increasingly commands national attention. In September, Washington Monthly magazine again ranked Rutgers–Camden among the top 100 master’s universities in the United States. Earlier this year, U.S. News & World Report listed our law school as one of the “10 law degrees with the most financial value at graduation.” And Forbes.com rated the law school 18th in the nation in terms of the mid-career success of our graduates.
These are just a few examples of Rutgers–Camden pride. For the sake of our discussion, I would like to focus on our achievements, opportunities, and challenges in the following areas: Student Support, Faculty Excellence, International Growth, Programmatic Growth, Civic Engagement, and Fundraising.
STUDENT SUPPORT
Let’s talk about student support by focusing on two numbers: 6,595 and 1,523. The first number is our current enrollment, a campus record as I earlier stated. The second figure reflects the number of students who graduated in May.
These students entered a tough job market, and our Career Center remains, more than ever, a focal point for these job seekers. Just yesterday, the Campus Center was jammed with students and employers connecting at our annual Fall Career Fair. At the law school, the career planning office increasingly utilizes social media to keep connected with recent grads. Both units offer aggressive training and support. Our alumni are stepping up to help our students network more than ever before.
While we help our new graduates, it takes just as much support to reach the point of graduation. We know that the best way to prepare a student for success in college is to connect with that student before she even takes her first class. We do so through our Office of New Student Programs which, this year, helped 3,000 new students and their family members prepare for scholastic and social success at Rutgers–Camden.
As President McCormick recently stated, enrollment growth at Rutgers is going to happen at the Camden and Newark campuses. This is a tremendous opportunity for us – more students means a more vibrant campus life, and critical mass upon which to build – but, as we all know, we’re going to have to channel our existing resources to accommodate this growth.
In an effort to focus those resources, I am pleased to report that Dr. Julie Amon has just started in the role of associate chancellor for academic services. In this position, which incorporates many of the responsibilities that had been held by Dr. Chris Dougherty, Julie will lead the campus’ efforts to promote successful academic outcomes for our students. She will oversee our growing off-campus and online programs; the Learning Center; the Educational Opportunity Fund; TRiO opportunity programs; the registrar’s office; and instructional computing services. She will work collaboratively with students, faculty, and staff to make certain that our services help our students remain in class and on schedule to earn their degrees. Welcome, Julie.
We have to continuously find new ways to serve our students. I’m proud of our work in the area of veterans services, which continues to grow. Our programs for international students are rising to meet the demands of increased enrollments in that area; we provide expanded orientation sessions and more workshops to help these students acclimate to university and cultural life in America.
You’ve certainly noticed the swift progress being made in the construction of the new graduate housing facility at Fourth and Cooper Sts. We intend to welcome our first residents into that building next August, and none too soon: demand for the residential Rutgers–Camden experience is at an all-time high. For the first time, we have taken the extraordinary measure of housing 50 students in the Crowne Plaza hotel in nearby Cherry Hill. While we’re making sure that the needs of those students are met, everyone will be best served right here on campus. We’re looking forward to the grand opening of the graduate housing facility next summer.
FACULTY EXCELLENCE
With so many new students, we need the faculty to teach them. This fall, we welcomed 26 new tenured, or tenure-tracked, faculty to our campus. That’s another impressive number. Twenty-six new faculty represents a significant infusion of intellectual capital into the life and reputation of our campus. This is the largest new “class” of faculty ever to arrive at once, and they represent the wide range of our academic strengths. They also include our new Arts and Sciences dean, Dr. Kris Lindenmeyer. We welcome you to Rutgers–Camden.
Our faculty increasingly reflects the rich diversity of our state. The campus Committee on Institutional Equity and Diversity, co-chaired by Dr. Laurie Bernstein and Prof. Kim Mutcherson, continuously reviews our efforts in this area. I ask that all of you support the efforts of this committee to ensure that we continue to recruit and, more importantly, advance a diverse faculty.
Faculty creativity is expressed through multiple channels. Our faculty-driven centers and institutes are commanding the attention of our scholarly peers and are attracting those colleagues to Rutgers–Camden, building our reputation as a research center. At the law school, the Institute for Information Policy and Law was launched last year to maximize our critical mass of expertise in that area; the institute will host its first major conference on campus on Nov. 4. Similarly, the Institute for Effective Education has just launched at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and will channel our multidisciplinary efforts to identify and assess best practices in education from early learning to higher education.
Rutgers–Camden has considerable research strength across many disciplines on matters related to the life and growth of America’s cities. This year, we created the Center for Urban Research to maximize those strengths and establish our campus as a national resource for innovation in this area. Dr. Paul Jargowsky, a widely respected scholar in the area of public policy, has joined our faculty and will lead this new initiative.
As individuals, our faculty build the reputation of our campus. Examples of how our faculty contribute to the world’s knowledge are too numerous to mention, but I’ll note just a few.
During the past year, Dr. Robert Schindler was recognized as one of the top pricing researchers in the world by the Journal of Business Research, which surveyed the articles, authors, and institutions that have contributed most to the topic of pricing over the past 30 years. The publication ranks Dr. Schindler as the fourth-most productive pricing researcher in the number of articles adjusted for multiple authorship and the 13th-most productive researcher in the absolute number of articles.
The acting dean of our School of Nursing, Dr. Joanne Robinson, was selected as one of only two New Jersey nursing professionals for induction as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, one of the highest honors that can be bestowed in that field.
And John Joergensen, a librarian at the School of Law, has been named to the 2011 Fastcase 50, a listing of the nation’s most provocative leaders in the fields of law, scholarship, and technology. He was honored for his pioneering leadership in the area of digital access to the law.
Tomorrow, we dedicate the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Early Learning Research Academy at 10 a.m., and I know that Dr. Gloria Bonilla-Santiago, the driving force behind this project, won’t mind that I reiterate my invitation for the entire campus to participate. This is a remarkable Rutgers facility, made all the more significant by the extraordinary opportunities for our faculty and students to observe infants and toddlers in action, contributing greatly to the body of research in the area of early childhood.
INTERNATIONAL GROWTH
The best universities thrive through a rich array of student and faculty experiences. For that reason, internationalizing our campus is a priority. Doing so will prepare our students for the realities of a global economy, and provide our faculty with new perspectives into their research and teaching.
Rutgers–Camden already has a strong background in global research, and our reputation is still growing. Allow me to mention just a few examples. Law Professor Dennis Patterson was named to the Law Panel for the United Kingdom’s Research Excellence Framework, where he is evaluating the scholarship of legal academic throughout the UK. Dr. Cati Coe in the anthropology department advanced her research into Ghanaian families. Dr. Eduardo Gomez in the public policy department regularly shares his insights into Brazilian health care through commentaries on CNN.com and in numerous other forums.
Our students also are engaged in international activity. Our International Studies Program continues to connect students with real-world global experiences without requiring them to abandon their personal and professional commitments. Moreover, our students are emerging as world leaders: for example, law students Brisa De Angulo and Parker Palmer created and run the A Breeze of Hope Center, which is the only place in Bolivia that specializes in providing comprehensive assistance for children who are victims of sexual abuse.
We’re doing a lot, but we can do more. School of Business Dean Jai Ganesh and I are exploring opportunities in India and Brazil, and the campus is developing strong relationships in Cuba. We have great strengths in areas of profound impact worldwide; during the coming year, we will work to find new ways to leverage those attributes for the growth of our campus.
To further these goals, I have created a permanent Committee on Global Research and Education. This committee, which is chaired by Law Dean Ray Solomon, will work to assess the numerous opportunities we have to expand our recruitment of students from abroad; to send our students on educational experiences around the globe; and to build partnerships with educational institutions around the world that will support our faculty and students. The committee met for the first time last Monday, and already we have numerous ideas for new initiatives to pursue. I am very excited about these efforts, and I am confident that two years from now we will see a significant expansion of our international activities.
To communicate all that we are already doing and to provide a forum for future efforts, we will be launching a campus website on international activities. Please look for it to go live in the next two weeks.
PROGRAMMATIC GROWTH
This past year was a milestone for the growth of our academic programs, with the signature achievement being the formal creation of the School of Nursing. I commend Acting Dean Joanne Robinson and the nursing faculty for their diligent work in advancing the curriculum and administrative structure of Rutgers’ newest school. We look forward to launching graduate programs in nursing during the 2013-14 academic year.
Last fall, Rutgers welcomed its first students into our PhD programs in public affairs and computational biology. We now have three active PhD programs that are setting new standards for doctoral education in their innovative multidisciplinary approaches. I am teaching several of the public affairs PhD students in my Land Use Law class this fall. They are high-quality students who already are making a difference in our community.
We continue to expand our reach in southern New Jersey. In the past year, we launched off-site Rutgers programs at Camden County College in Blackwood; Cumberland County College; and the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, thereby extending access to a Rutgers degree for New Jersey’s citizens and workers.
Similarly, the School of Business successfully launched new programs across the region: a Professional MBA program held in Princeton; a Professor Master of Accountancy program in Pennsauken; and a bachelor of arts degree in business administration, held at county college campuses. The business school also posted a milestone this fall, welcoming its largest freshman class to the campus.
Rutgers–Camden is committed to advancing skills and knowledge even beyond the traditional degree-granting programs. Law Dean Ray Solomon joined forces with the Newark law school to jointly offer continuing legal education programs through the new Rutgers Institute for Professional Education. Similarly, through our Institute for Management and Executive Development, Rutgers–Camden trains employees at such global business giants as Cisco, Caterpillar, and Graybar.
These are just a few examples of the numerous programmatic initiatives being undertaken on our campus right now. We are creatively working to bring our research and teaching strengths to more and more communities. I look forward to working with all of you to continue this growth.
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
Rutgers–Camden rapidly is emerging as a national model for how a research university can effectively integrate civic engagement into all aspects of campus life. Just a few examples:
The Center for Children and Childhood Studies is taking a leadership role in a partnership with Camden’s mayor and school district, as well as the Community Foundation of South Jersey, to develop an Out-of-School Time Initiative that will help Camden children with meaningful activities outside of their class times.
The law school continues to set new standards for pro bono and clinical experiences that benefit our students even as they serve our communities. On Oct. 29, the law school will host Citizenship Rutgers, a daylong event that will provide free citizenship application assistance to legal permanent residents seeking to become U.S. citizens. The law school also is creating pro bono projects to help non-profit organizations apply for 501(C)(3) status and to help Camden residents with estate planning.
In Arts and Sciences, we welcome our first cohort of Rutgers–Camden Civic Scholars. These 10 first-year undergraduates receive scholarships and make a commitment to a significant level of service to communities. We plan to add students each year so that we will eventually have up to 60 Civic Scholars to help create a culture of engagement on our campus. I had the pleasure of spending time with this group at the beginning of the semester. They come to campus having already done exemplary service in their communities, and I know that they will bring the same commitment to their work here.
Our efforts earn the respect of our neighbors. The Campbell Soup Company presented Noreen Scott Garrity, education curator for our Center for the Arts, with its annual Hometown Hero Award in recognition of her commitment to community-based arts education. Eve Klothen, assistant dean at the School of Law, joined former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell as a selected honoree during the 30th anniversary gala of Philadelphia VIP, which promotes equal justice in the city. These are just two of the many awards received by our faculty, staff, students, and alumni for their community work.
Last year, we introduced a partnership with three city public schools that connected more than 80 Rutgers students in programs serving more than 600 North Camden schoolchildren. During the summer, 40 Camden teenagers participated in the Aim High Academy, an intensive three-week college prep program held here on campus. As the new year starts, our faculty, staff, and students are actively engaged in expanding these initiatives.
Finally, the Hill Family Center for College Access will open later this year, and will provide support to Camden families preparing for college through SAT prep classes, mentoring from Rutgers students, and other programs. The center is supported by a significant gift from brothers Washington and George Hill, both 1961 graduates of our campus. The Hill Center will be co-located with a new branch of the Camden County Library on the lower level of the Paul Robeson Library, putting underutilized space to work. After the lower level renovations are completed, we will re-do the third floor to provide new space for individual and group study, while the Honors College relocates to 319 Cooper Street. When done, the Robeson Library will have undergone a thorough makeover that will serve it well for the coming decades. I hope you all have seen the wonderful new student computing center on the first floor of the library that opened last month to rave reviews. If you haven’t – and even if you have – I hope that you will join us for an official celebration later in the semester.
FUNDRAISING
The support for the Hill Family Center underscores that Rutgers–Camden is a worthy investment, even as the economic downturn presents tough challenges for fundraising. While private giving is down, we are nonetheless almost halfway toward our capital campaign goal of $46 million.
We need to redouble our efforts to reach that goal and, more importantly, build the resources that we need to advance Rutgers–Camden. Tracy Elliott joined our campus in August as assistant chancellor for development, assuming the local duties previously held by Jonathan Boiskin. Many of you already know Tracy, as she has worked with the campus for several years to increase our corporate and foundation support. Her efforts in that area have been exemplary, and I know that she will bring the same energy and creativity to her new tasks. Welcome, Tracy. During the upcoming year, the deans and I will be working closely with Tracy and the entire campus development team, as fundraising remains a critical priority. I ask that all of you join us to support these crucial efforts.
We have received private donor support for multiple endeavors, including scholarships in Arts and Sciences; a scholarship for students with disabilities; and much more. The law school is nearly 63 percent toward its campaign goal of $12 million, including the naming of the Clark Commons after 1979 graduate Donald C. Clark Jr. and support for our pro bono programs. But we have a lot more work to do to achieve our goals for private fundraising.
In the area of sponsored research, we compete in a more difficult funding environment. Nonetheless, our faculty command support from such major institutions as the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the U.S. Department of Defense.
As we work to increase outside support, we must never forget that our alumni are the biggest asset that we have. Our alumni are passionate about and loyal to Rutgers–Camden. Everything that we do builds on their successes and support. Throughout the entire Rutgers system, Camden alums are known for their enthusiasm and generosity of spirit. As a campus, we have lacked a focal point for that pride and spirit, but that situation is changing. While a new facility for current students is constructed, the historic American Red Cross building on Cooper Street – standing in front of the new graduate housing site – will be renovated into an Alumni House. We anticipate that the Alumni House will open later in 2012.
However, there’s no need to wait until 2012 to showcase your Scarlet Pride. Homecoming 2011 will be held on Saturday, Oct. 22, the same day as our undergraduate student recruitment Open House. Past and future Scarlet Raptors will descend upon the campus, and I invite you to join them.
CLOSING
2011 marks the 85th anniversary of the founding of the South Jersey Law School, the predecessor institution to Rutgers–Camden. We have a lot to celebrate in terms of our history and, certainly, in terms of our recent achievements. I look forward to working with you as we move Rutgers–Camden forward.