FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT
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On May 15, we held our 51st commencement exercises and welcomed an additional 1,317 Ramapo graduates into a special organization: the Ramapo College Alumni Association. And what makes this organization special is the unique credential that each of the 25,031 Ramapo graduates share, a liberal arts education.
To me, a liberal arts education is education that enlarges and engages the mind irrespective of the particular career or profession one may follow. Simply put, our graduates are taught how to think critically in order to analyze and solve problems that confront them in the everyday world. In today’s economy that ability is more important than ever. At a time when a college degree is seen as an entry-level qualification - the equivalent of a high school degree in the 1970s - our students are not graduating with only one defined knowledge area or skill set. Rather, they know how to think analytically, to communicate effectively and to lead.
And, as you are about to read, they do just that. The sampling of alumni that follows is but a microcosm of our large number of graduates who have benefited from our four pillar approach to higher education: an interdisciplinary curriculum, international education, intercultural understanding and experiential learning. It is the impending emergence of these stories that make each commencement a special day in the life of Ramapo College.
PETER P. MERCER, Ph.D.
President, Ramapo College of New Jersey
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Richard McDowell '77 with Peter P. Mercer (center) and
Peter P. Mercer with Student Trustee Tom Ng on move in day
