Information for New Jersey's Policy Leaders
June 2008
Campus News |
Service to the State |
People in the Know
CAMPUS
NEWS
'Future Scholars' Come to Campus
Rutgers welcomed more than 130 eighth-graders and their parents from the university's home communities of Newark, Camden, New Brunswick and Piscataway in the inaugural Future Scholars Program, a groundbreaking initiative that aims to make a tuition-free college education possible for academically promising students who will be the first in their families to earn a four-year degree. Nearly 200 students have been accepted for the first year of the program which will add up to 50 rising eighth graders annually from each of the four communities where Rutgers' campuses are located. Rutgers' President Richard L. McCormick last September announced the establishment of the Rutgers Future Scholars Program as a way to expand opportunities for talented students from underrepresented communities to earn a college degree and reflecting the university's longstanding commitment to accessibility and diversity.
Rutgers Newark Celebrates 100 years
Rutgers Newark campus celebrated 100 years of quality higher education to the state of New Jersey with a gala celebration and fundraiser on June 19 at the Paul Robeson Campus Center, raising $160,000 for student scholarships at the Newark campus. The gala celebrated the transformation of two law schools, a business college and two colleges of arts and science into one of the nation's leading urban research universities and its legacy in the state's largest city. PSEG and Prudential were lead sponsors of the event, whose keynote speaker was Newark Mayor Cory Booker. Newark resident Clement Alexander Price, Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor of History who has taught at Rutgers–Newark since 1967, was the Master of Ceremonies.
Board of Governors Approves Construction of Solar 'Farm'
Rutgers' Board of Governors has approved the construction of a solar energy facility that will generate approximately 10 percent of the electrical demand of the Livingston Campus and reduce the university's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by more than 1,350 tons per year. The seven-acre facility, estimated to cost $10 million, is the first solar energy project of this size in New Jersey. Close to half of the cost of the project—$4.9 million—will be subsidized by a rebate through the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities' (BPU) Clean Energy Program, which has established a core rebate program aimed at public agencies and institutions to help them defer the cost of implementing solar projects. The remaining $5.1 million will be funded by the university which estimates that at the end of the 15-year incentive program, it will net a return of $6.6 million over its initial investment.
Bloustein Planning Program Jumps in Ranking
Rutgers' Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy was recently ranked at No. 4, up from the No. 8 spot, in an independent survey to determine the nation's top graduate programs in urban planning. This new ranking establishes Rutgers among the nation's elite universities for planning and public policy, led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California-Berkeley, and the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill. Included in the top ten are Cornell University, Harvard University and University of California-Los Angeles, among others. The survey, first published in 2006, was conducted by Planetizen, a Los Angeles-based planning and development network. The study was undertaken through surveys of planning professors and practitioners, current students and recent graduates.
SERVICE TO THE STATE
Continuing Education Credits for HR Managers
The Rutgers School of Business-Camden has been approved to award credits to help human resource management professionals maintain national accreditation. The Rutgers Accelerated Management Program (RAMP) now is authorized to award 35.5 credits in the category of “strategy” in accordance with the Human Resources Certification Institute (HRCI). HR professionals seeking HRCI accreditation must obtain 60 credits from approved programs every three years and participants can earn more than half of their required credits through the Rutgers program. Learn more by visiting
http://ramp.rutgers.edu/.
International Conference on Education and Inequality
The International Standing Conference for the History of Education (ISCHE) will hold is its first-ever gathering in the U.S., from July 23 through July 26, at the Rutgers' Newark campus. Approximately 250 education historians, from all over the world, will gather to examine issues impacting educational access, possible reforms to bridge achievement gaps, and how access—or lack of it—impacts social inequalities. “Education and Inequality: Historical Approaches to Schooling and Social Stratification” will also include a special session on the history of Rutgers in Newark, in honor of the centennial anniversary of the campus. For full conference program and other conference information, visit
http://ische30.newark.rutgers.edu/
PEOPLE IN THE KNOW
If you'd like to know more about:
How to Cope with Rising Food Prices, contact KATHLEEN MORGAN, chair of the Department of Family & Community Health Sciences at the Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station's Cooperative Extension. She can discuss money-saving tactics at the grocery store that can help people cope with rising food costs. Contact MORGAN at (732) 932-5000, extension 604. Information on coping with rising food costs can be found on the Family and Community Health Sciences web site at
http://njaes.rutgers.edu/health/grocery-costs.asp.
Looking for Rutgers expertise on a particular topic? Browse the
Rutgers Speakers Bureau:
http://ur.rutgers.edu/speakers/
For additional information and news, click on the following links:
Questions and comments, please contact
staterel@oldqueens.rutgers.edu
