Women's History Month 2020
In honor of Women’s History Month, Rutgers is celebrating the accomplishments of women from across the university who are marking their mark on the world in many different ways.
Nina Rodriguez Talks About Being the First Latina Editor of the Rutgers Law Review in Camden
"As the first Latina to hold this position on this campus, I am so humbled and grateful to be able to serve as next year's Editor-in-Chief! Representation matters, and I hope that this position will show others who come after me that people like myself belong in positions like Editor in Chief, too. There is always room for a "first", and I'm so happy I can be that for my school!"
The Rutgers University Law Review is the flagship law journal of Rutgers Law School and is a professional publication devoted to critical discussions of current legal problems. Rutgers Law Review has had 76 Editorial Boards. 27 of them have been led by women Editors in Chief. Newark has had two Latina Editors in Chief. And Nina Rodriguez has been named the first Latina Editor in Chief of Rutgers Law Review-Camden.
Jordan Casteel Won’t Let You Look Away
“I came back with intention: I’m going to paint black men as I see and know them. As my twin brother, as my older brother, as people that I love. I wanted to find a way to get other people to see them in their humanity.”
Nearly 31, Jordan Casteel, a professor at Rutgers-Newark, has attracted widespread acclaim for colossal portraits of friends and neighbors, works celebrated for their tenderness, keen social commentary and technical brio. Her first institutional show in New York — an exhibition of nearly 40 canvases spanning seven years — recently opened at the New Museum, The New York Times reports.
Securing Harmful Viruses Is a Calling for Rutgers Biosafety Officer
“It’s fascinating work because you help facilitate a wide range of biological research and clinical practice. I have to understand all the work that’s being done with biohazards at Rutgers so I can help researchers and clinicians minimize risk while still maintaining the flexibility they need to work effectively and efficiently.”
Most people, if asked by the boss to secure a facility stocked with vials of tuberculosis, would find a new job. Jessica McCormick-Ell found her life’s calling. She accepted the challenge and became — while still in her early 20s — the biosafety manager for the first level 3 biohazard research laboratory at what is now Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.
Despite Setbacks, Women Are Still Ready to Run for Office
If Elizabeth Warren’s withdrawal from the presidential race earlier this month dashed women’s hopes for a female presence in the White House, it also may have strengthened their determination to work harder to reach that goal. Jean Sinzdak, who for 15 years has overseen Rutgers’ Ready to Run ® training program for women seeking public office, says Warren’s move has galvanized women enrolled in the annual conference.
“I think the immediate effect [of Warren’s action] is redoubling women’s resolve. Certainly, a lot of people have reached out and said they are so saddened, and it made them realize we have to keep working to keep women’s voices at the table.”
C. Vivian Stringer Honored by N.J. General Assembly
"It's not about me, it's about the generations that will come after me. It's not about you as legislatures, it's about the young people who will come after you. I will continue to remember where I came from, who I am, and teaching those values to the youth of our community."
Rutgers head women's basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer was recently honored with a Joint Resolution by the New Jersey General Assembly.
Women's Rights Law Reporter Celebrates 50 Years and First Adviser Ruth Bader Ginsburg
“I didn’t know her, but I had heard that she was deeply interested in women’s legal issues. I thought to myself, why not ask. She immediately said yes, which surprised me because it was a big commitment.”
Elizabeth Langer didn’t know much about Ruth Bader Ginsburg 50 years ago – long before she became a pop culture icon on the U.S. Supreme Court affectionally referred to as the notorious RBG – when she was still a professor at Rutgers Law School. But as Langer led a group of 19 women in launching the first publication in the United States to cover women’s legal rights, she knew that Ginsburg, one of only two female tenured professors at the law school, might be their best chance to move forward.
Classically Trained Flutist Starts Group to Support Underrepresented Musicians, Artists
“When you’re the only minority performing on a stage to an entirely white crowd, it makes sense that you may begin to doubt whether you belong there, and this is one of the topics we hold discussions on with CREATE members. We help our members understand that they are needed.”
Sana Colter, a classically trained flutist at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, remembers growing up in Harlem, learning to play the flute and piano in fourth grade and thinking that she would have to stop because her parents couldn’t afford the lessons. Colter has dedicated her last year at Rutgers to creating a hub for underrepresented groups to meet in a supportive environment to discuss ways to overcome barriers to having artistic careers.
Park McArthur Inspires Young Artists as Rutgers' Tepper Chair
“She teaches us not just about making art, but about making it through the world. She teaches you about things that don’t usually get talked about and then finds a way to incorporate that into the class. It’s invigorating having someone there who’s gone through all this – it shows it can be done.”
As a conceptual artist, Park McArthur lives where the philosophical meets the visual. She turns fleeting thoughts into tangible objects, imbues ephemeral notions with sturdy existence. She brings ideas to life. As the newly named recipient of the Tepper Family Endowed Chair in Visual Arts, she’ll be doing much the same with students at Mason Gross School of the Arts over the course of her two-year term.
Newark Librarian’s Impressive Debut Novel Traces a Family From Colonial Jamaica to Today’s Brooklyn
“Let’s say that you are a sixty-nine-year-old Jamaican man called Stanford, or Stan for short, who once faked your own death. Though you have never used those words to describe what you did. At the time you’d thought of it as seizing an opportunity placed before you by God, but since your wife, Adele, died a month ago, you’ve convinced yourself her heart attack was retribution for your sin. So today you have gathered three of your female descendants in one house, even the daughter who has thought you dead all these years, and decided that you will finally tell them the truth: you are not who you say you are.”
And so begins a magnificent story, a family saga in which racism is threaded into its tapestry, ghosts live among us, and somehow, each person in this family tree is relatable. Maisy Card, a Rutgers University graduate, librarian at Newark Public Library and a Newark resident, has written a spectacular intergenerational novel set in colonial Jamaica that also takes readers to Harlem and Brooklyn 2020, The Star-Ledger reports.
Finding Art in Fences
“It just so happened my neighbor’s fence got knocked down during a storm. My husband helped to remove the fence, and I said, ‘You know what? I think I’m going to use this fencing for my thesis.’”
Lavett Ballard earned a Rutgers–Camden art degree in 2014. While earning an M.F.A. at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, she transitioned from painting to creating mixed media collages on fencing and other pieces of recycled wood. In early 2020, when she was asked to create a piece to appear on a cover of TIME Magazine, she initially didn’t believe the email. Her piece depicting Rosa Parks and four other women who led the Civil Rights-era bus boycotts appeared on one of the magazine’s “100 Women of the Year” editions in early March.
For the First Time, an NHL Game Was Broadcast and Produced Entirely by Women
"It’s a one-of-a-kind broadcast, on a day that everybody’s going to be celebrating women and all the milestones women have achieved in recent years. And the women who are involved in this broadcast, both in front of the camera and behind the scenes, are the best at what they do. These are women that have worked really hard to get where they are, and they deserve every opportunity to shine.”
When Kathryn Tappen was studying journalism at Rutgers in the early 2000s, she was one of a few women in her program. But she didn’t let that intimidate her. Instead, she tapped into her natural competitiveness, the same trait that once propelled the Morristown, N.J. native to walk on to the Scarlet Knights track team and earn a scholarship. In honor of International Women’s Day, she became a part of history when she anchored the country’s first NHL game broadcast and produced exclusively by women, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Iverson Talks to B-Ball Star After Practice, Makes Historic Invitation
"Be tough in the gym, and be tough outside of it."
Diamond Johnson is a Philly-area women's basketball star-in-the-making who is headed to Rutgers in 2020. She's the area's next big thing. A guy who knows a little about being Philly's next big thing, Sixers legend Allen Iverson, made Johnson's day with a personalized FaceTime call, and an invitation to make a little history the first girl or woman included in the fourth annual Allen Iverson Classic's new 24K Showcase event, NBC 10 Philadelphia reports.
