Rutgers University Breaks Ground for State-of-the-Art Academic Center on Atlantic Cape Community College Campus
New 22,000-square-foot facility will enable Rutgers to expand academic opportunities for students in Atlantic, Cape May and surrounding counties
The two-story, 22,000-square-foot facility, scheduled to open in fall 2012, will allow Rutgers to expand academic opportunities for students from Atlantic, Cape May and surrounding counties in such popular disciplines as psychology and criminal justice. The $7.5 million facility will house all Rutgers academic and administrative units at Atlantic Cape – including a new undergraduate degree program in social work beginning in the fall 2012 semester.
Rutgers has offered courses, taught by Rutgers professors, on the Atlantic Cape campus for the past five years. Since this partnership began, the number of students enrolled in Rutgers courses on the Atlantic Cape campus has jumped significantly – from 38 students in the 2006-07 academic year to a projected enrollment of 325 students this fall.
Once completed, the university’s new center at Atlantic Cape will be able to accommodate 2,000 students. It will feature 11 classrooms, a 20-seat computer lab and a student lounge.
“This state-of-the-art academic center clearly demonstrates Rutgers University’s commitment to a long and increasingly successful collaboration with Atlantic Cape Community College,” said Rutgers President Richard L. McCormick. “We are proud to be able to offer students from Atlantic, Cape May and neighboring counties the opportunity to obtain a world-class education from Rutgers University while remaining close to home.”
“For Atlantic Cape, this partnership will transform forever the role of this institution in enhancing the higher education environment for residents of our service area and our region,” said Atlantic Cape President Peter L. Mora.
Rutgers University currently offers eight undergraduate programs as part of its partnership with Atlantic Cape – ranging from nursing and political science to business administration and labor and employment relations. Rutgers also offers graduate courses in education, business administration, social work and liberal studies, as well as a certificate program in Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace.
Rutgers has established similar partnerships with Brookdale Community College in Monmouth County and Raritan Valley Community College in Branchburg. This off-campus concept grew out of a state Commission of Higher Education study in 1998 that identified underserved regions for four-year degree opportunities in New Jersey.
Each year, approximately 45,000 nontraditional students take advantage of Rutgers’ continuing professional education and lifelong learning programs – including more than 2,300 online and off-campus courses and course sections available to nontraditional students across New Jersey and beyond. Lifelong learning initiatives at Rutgers are coordinated by the university’s Division of Continuing Studies.
Established in 1766, Rutgers is America’s eighth oldest institution of higher learning and one of the nation’s premier public research universities. Rutgers is one of only two New Jersey institutions represented in the prestigious Association of American Universities.
Atlantic Cape is a comprehensive two-year nonprofit publicly supported educational institution serving Atlantic and Cape May counties in New Jersey. It enrolls more than 7,000 credit students and offers more than 45 career and transfer programs. Formed in 1964, Atlantic Cape was the second community college in New Jersey. It has campuses in Mays Landing, Atlantic City and Cape May Court House.
Media Contact: Greg Trevor
732-932-7084, ext. 623
E-mail: gtrevor@ur.rutgers.edu