Ramapo Magazine

Carolyn Merkel '78

Alumna Carolyn Merkel credits Ramapo’s personal touch and focus on giving students a well-rounded education with helping her to achieve. “It was a very supportive environment,” says the 1978 chemistry graduate. After Ramapo Merkel attended Columbia University where she received her Ph.D. in chemistry in 1983. “I wouldn’t have gone to graduate school if I hadn’t had someone urging me. All my Ramapo professors were wonderful, especially Grace Borowitz, a chemistry professor at the College.”

“At Columbia I really had a rough first semester,” Merrkel continues. “Most of the other students had gone to huge universities for their undergraduate degrees. Where they were taking things for the second time, I was struggling to learn them for the first time. A big part of what Ramapo did was make me feel like I could do it.”

At Ramapo “There was a sense of humanity about the sciences, a general love of understanding things, and an appreciation for things you can do with science to help people. It’s still like that today.”

This was part of her impetus for giving to the Annual Fund, which she has supported since 1992. Merkel also made a significant contribution to the Capital Campaign to benefit the Angelica and Russ Berrie Center for Performing and Visual Arts. The value of her gifts is tripled with her company’s two-to-one match.

“Another reason why I gave was that people came and talked to me personally. This is important to me since I get solicited over the phone a lot,” Merkel adds. “The Foundation people said they wanted to come and see what I thought. There weren’t five follow-up calls asking when I was going to write a check. That made a big difference.”

Merkel is the director of product development for McNeil Specialty Products in New Brunswick, part of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies. She started at the company 11 years ago as a group leader of analytical chemistry. In April, 1998 McNeil Specialty Products received approval to sell a new low-calorie sweetener, Splenda, in the United States.

Prior to working for McNeil Merkel worked in research for Pepsi, and completed post-doctoral work at the University of Texas in Arlington. She holds a master’s in management degree from New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Merkel has maintained her ties with Ramapo through Professor Borowitz and frequently visits the campus to speak with students in the Chemistry Club. “An important part of the Ramapo process is that you come out not being such a ‘gear head,’ she says. There was a sense of humanity about the sciences, a general love of understanding things, and an appreciation for things you can do with science to help people. It’s still like that today.”

“I was stunned to realize when I was in grad school that this wasn’t the norm,” Merkel continues. “It made a big difference as far as my outlook.” She is proud to say that the perspective of being “a Ramapo person” has helped her succeed.