Ramapo Profile: Accolades / Points of Pride
Ramapo College has received numerous accolades over the past few years and points to them with pride.
April 2008
The All-American Football Foundation presented an "Outstanding Associate Athletic Director Award" to Kathleen Finnegan (Athletics) for her outstanding performance in football.
January 2008
Stephen Schur (Marketing and Communications) reported that the judges in the CASE District II Accolades Awards program awarded Ramapo College a Bronze award for the news Web site.
December 2007
The College was reaccredited by the Middle States Commission of Higher Education (MSCHE) in June 2000. Membership in the Middle States Association follows a period of candidacy lasting up to five years and is only continued as a result of periodic reviews and evaluation of institutional achievements. In June 2005, the College submitted its Periodic Review Report (PRR) to the Commission. We were informed this week that the MSCHE accepted the College's Periodic Review Report and reaffirmed our accreditation for the next five years (through 2010).
The College's recruitment DVD, produced by the offices of Enrollment Management and Communications/Public Affairs, was selected to receive a CASE District II Gold Award. Awards will be presented at the gala and reception scheduled Monday, February 6 in Pittsburgh
November 2007
President Mercerannounced that the Accreditation Panel of the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC) voted unanimously to grant Ramapo College's Teacher Education Program "New Program Accreditation." At a meeting in Washington D.C. attended by director of Teacher Education, Alex Urbiel, the panel spoke highly of the quality of the Inquiry Brief we had submitted and, most importantly, of our program. The president of TEAC has indicated that he wishes to use our brief as a model in TEAC training sessions.
David Freund (CA) received the Henry Bischoff Excellence in Teaching Award for 2007. It recognizes a faculty member "whose work as a teacher embodies the best of Ramapo's teaching and learning culture."
Faculty and student collaboration on research projects at Ramapo College has resulted in nationally prestigious recognition for the college's bioinformatics program.
Dr. Paramjeet S. Bagga, Ph.D., a professor of biology and convener of bioinformatics, and Dr. Lawrence D'Antonio, an associate professor of mathematics, mentored the students participating in the research. Ramapo College students Melissa Hee Chung of Trinidad and Tobago, and Gadareth Higgs of the Bahamas, together with the professors, won first prize for their presentation, "G-Quadruplexes Are Conserved Near RNA Processing Sites of Proto-Oncogenes" at the Undergraduate Research Symposium held at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in October. Another Ramapo College student, Aileen Tolentino of Old Bridge, New Jersey, also worked on this project. Bagga noted that oncogenes have many important functions in the cells and that alterations in their function usually lead to cancer. The bioinformatics research team received additional accolades in October when a presentation, "Alternatively Process Sites in Apoptotic Genes Are Associated with Special G-Quadruplex Motifs" won first prize at the Metropolitan Association of College and University Biologists tri-state undergraduate research conference at St. John's University, NY. Ramapo College student Viktor Vasilev of Bulgaria presented the paper and was assisted with the project by the professors and another student, Oleg Kikin of Brooklyn, NY.
September 2007
Cathleen Davey (IA) announced that the Ramapo College Foundation received a 2007 CASE Award for Educational Fund Raising. This national award honors superior fundraising programs across the country. The award is for Overall Improvement, based on an analysis of three years of fund raising data. Out of 482 colleges and universities reviewed by CASE, only 17 institutions were recognized for Overall Improvement!
Mary Cicitta (MAC) reports that the College received two Awards of Distinction for its Viewbook and Campus Living Brochure presented by The Communicator Awards 2007 Print competition. The Communicator Awards is an international awards competition that recognizes outstanding work in the communications field.
May 2007
Wanda Kosinski (Testing and Placement Center) received an "Award in Appreciation for Her Outstanding Service, Dedication, and Leadership to the NJ Test Administrators Special Interest Group (NJ TASIG)" at the spring 2007 meeting held at Rutgers University. In addition to being a founding member of NJ TASIG, she served as chair from 1998 to 2006
February 2007
Ramapo College of New Jersey was listed in the February 2007 issue of Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine as among the "100 Best Values in Public Colleges." The ranking process places an emphasis on strong academics, as well as great value, with academic quality carrying more weight than cost. Kiplinger's looked at more than 500 public four-year colleges and universities in the country, using measures including the percentage of freshmen scoring 600 or higher on the verbal and math components of the SAT, student/faculty ratio and graduation rates. This is the second year in a row that Ramapo College received the designation.
The Anisfield School of Business's application for AACSB accreditation candidacy, the first step in the process, has been accepted. Carl Gooding, a professor at Jacksonville State University in Alabama, has been assigned Ramapo's mentor for the pre-accreditation phase of the project. Gooding has served as dean of the business school at other institutions. In addition, he has served on the AACSB board and has held a number of committee responsibilities with the association
Ramapo College received the 2007 Silver Accolade Award for News Website from the Council for Advancement and Support Education (CASE).
November 2006
The Admissions pages on Ramapo College's Web site were recognized as among the most highly rated in the country by the National Research Center for College & University Admissions (NRCCUA) 8th Annual Enrollment Power Index® (EPI), an analysis of the admissions Web sites of more than 3,000 post-secondary institutions. The research-based study rates how well the functionality and design of college and university admissions Web sites provide information to potential students and move them from prospect to applicant. The study graded the sites for each institution on a 100-point scale. Ramapo College was one of only 157 institutions that received an A.
New Jersey's Mayors Wellness Campaign (MWC) with its partner, the New Jersey State League of Municipalities (NJLM), announced the winners of the first "Aetna Mini-Grants" awarded to towns that have demonstrated a commitment to the principles of the MWC and pledged to get their town's citizens leading more active lifestyles. Garfield, in Bergen County, received a $500 grant because of its early support of the Mayors Wellness Campaign and its particular emphasis on putting "Youth in Motion." The town's Childhood Obesity Task Force created the F.U.N. (Fitness, Unity and Nutrition) Program in January of 2006 and launched the Ramapo and Meadowlands Survival (RAMS) camp, a collaboration between Ramapo College and the Meadowlands Environment Center, this past summer to teach Garfield teachers and students how to integrate fitness and nutrition activities into their academic curriculum, and ultimately, their everyday lives.
