Welcome to Fall 2024 at Rutgers

Jonathan Holloway
President, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

September 3, 2024

Hello, I’m Jonathan Holloway. Let me start this new year at Rutgers—a year filled with hope and possibility—by wishing all of you a rewarding and successful semester.

I’m excited to see our campuses infused once again with the energy of our students. Many of you are brand new to Rutgers, and we’re glad you’re here. I’m eager for you to make new discoveries and lifelong friendships, challenge yourselves in new ways, and put your unique mark on our community. I hope every Rutgers student—undergraduate, graduate, and professional—has an exceptional experience this year.

Welcome back to our brilliant faculty. Your first-rate teaching, research, service, and clinical care are at the heart of our mission, and you inspire us all to strive for excellence. To those faculty who are joining us this year—thank you for choosing Rutgers; we are so grateful to have you.

To all our staff and administrators, who keep every part of this institution running year-round, who keep us safe, and who provide the very best support to our community of scholars, I thank you for all you do. And I wish you a great year ahead.

Together, all of you in our community—and this includes our alumni, our governing boards, our Rutgers families, and our donors—all of you help us stay true to our core values: access to academic excellence; an abiding commitment to community; and a belief in advancing the common good.

Let me end with a brief request. Universities are exciting places where the best minds discuss and debate really big ideas. As the year unfolds, I boldly hope and believe that Rutgers can be a model for the nation in exercising civil discourse. As we engage with each other, even around the most difficult topics, let’s advocate for our own positions with clarity and honesty, with respect, and with a willingness to truly listen to those who disagree. Please join me in making that happen.

This is going to be a great year to be at Rutgers. Let’s get to it!