December 20, 2020President's Post #194: Spring 2021 Reduction in Fees

Dear Students and Families,

Student fees for Spring 2021 at Ramapo College of New Jersey will again reflect a 30% reduction. The coming semester will surely bring with it continued challenges and the College recognizes that, due to the restrictions placed on us by the pandemic, we cannot provide our students with the full range of in-person student activities and programming that you have been traditionally accustomed to receiving.

I wish to reiterate, however, that, as Ramapo College continues to navigate through the pandemic, we remain committed to ensuring that we deliver on our promise of a high quality personalized educational experience. This commitment includes:

  • deploying state of the art technology and pedagogical practices to support virtual learning and hybrid instruction;
  • delivering creative and thoughtful programming to enhance extracurricular and civic engagement;
  • maintaining routine health and compliance measures to ensure safe environments for work, study, and personal growth; and
  • facilitating the accessibility of essential student support services such as advisement, counseling, and tutoring.

We have learned a great deal about individual, organizational, and community resilience throughout the past several months. Our students have demonstrated remarkable dedication to their academic careers despite the range of challenges and stressors posed by the events of 2020. Further, our faculty, staff and administrators have doubled down on their shared commitment to advance student success.

I continue to be immensely proud to serve as President of Ramapo College of New Jersey and I remain grateful for your continued trust, support, and optimism.

Looking forward,

Peter P. Mercer, President

Categories: Uncategorized

March 27, 2020President's Post #165: Video Message from Dr. Mercer

On March 27, 2020, President Mercer shared a video message with the College.

“We are Ramapo College,” he said.

“We exhibit the tremendous human qualities of ingenuity and perseverance and those will be brought to bear in ways that will vanquish the foe that is the Coronavirus.

I want to ask each of you to continue to keep faith with that effort, to do all that you can not only to support yourself and your immediate family members, but also those around you who may not have such supports.

If we can do that, and if we can continue to focus on all the aspects of college life which still exist and which will enable us to celebrate your successes and rites of passage, then we will all look back on this with a measure of satisfaction, and I wish that for all of us in our daily lives.”

Categories: Uncategorized

January 27, 2020President's Post #155: Welcome to the Spring 2020 Semester

Dear Students, Colleagues and Friends,

Welcome and welcome back to campus.

It was a joy to welcome 231 new Roadrunners to our College during the Winter Arching Ceremony last week. These new students join us from across the State and region and I am most pleased that they have selected Ramapo College for their undergraduate education because our College continues to achieve great things, to name a few:

  • Last week we launched the Ramapo Roadrunner Express, a free service providing the College’s first direct link to public transit hubs at the Garden State Plaza and Bergen Community College.
  • Earlier this month, we were recognized by Applied Behavior Analysis Programs as one of the best small colleges in the nation – and the only New Jersey institution – for students on the Autism Spectrum.
  • Later this evening, the Board of Trustees is scheduled to approve a series of new academic programs: new minors in Human Resources Management and in Sports Management, a new concentration in Higher Education in the Master of Education Leadership Program, and a new Master of Fine Arts in Creative Music Technology.
  • Our Dean of Students, Melissa Van Der Wall, was among those honored by the YWCA of Northern New Jersey during its annual Tribute to Women of Influence ceremony. Dean Van Der Wall was commended for developing a vibrant, resourceful and inclusive community within her direct areas of supervision, which include Residence Life, Student Conduct, Specialized Services, Violence Prevention, Health and Counseling Services, and the Center for Student Involvement.
  • Our Center for Health and Counseling Services has launched a Multicultural Student Advisory Committee focused on fostering attentiveness to the unique issues faced by culturally diverse students.
  • Our College earned a Gold Seal from the All In Campus Challenge for having a 2018 campus voting rate between 40-49% in the 2018 midterm election (up significantly from 15.6% in 2014) The College was honored at the Newseum in D.C.

These achievements are apropos given that we are at the halfway point of our yearlong 50th Anniversary celebration. Please join the festivities at our February 5 Spring Kick Off in the Konica Minolta Spectator Lobby of the Bill Bradley Recreation Center beginning at 4:30 p.m. where activities will abound for the family and stick around to cheer on the women’s and men’s basketball teams as they tip off against Kean University (5:30 and 7:30 respectively). At halftime, applaud the introduction of our new fight song!

I encourage your participation not only at the Spring Kickoff, but in as many of the 50th Anniversary programs as possible. The 50th Anniversary Task Force has worked to create a thoughtful schedule of events that will be appealing and informative for all of us.  Additional activities are highlighted below and more details can be found on our website:  www.ramapo.edu/50/calendar .

Last but not least, our Middle States self-study efforts will come to a crescendo February 23-26. Our visiting team, led by Dr. Ron Nowaczyk, looks forward to meeting in small groups and large forums with representatives from across our campus. Please take some time to review our Self Study, acquaint yourself with our General Education curriculum, and take stock of our progress under our Strategic Plan: Fulfilling Our Promise by visiting Dashboard 2021.

Best wishes for a fruitful semester.

Peter P. Mercer
President

Colloquium Series – The School of Social Science and Human Services
February 13, 2020 @ 4:00 p.m.- Padovano Commons
Join Professor Howard Horowitz for his lecture, “Making Sense of Place at Ramapo and in the West.” As a geographer, Professor Horowitz has always worked on developing an appreciation for “place.” This has included focusing on the local area through the Ramapo River Watershed Conferences, learning about the American West through 25 unique field programs, and examining cultures through the shared interdisciplinary course “The West Discovers the World.”

50th Anniversary Millicent G. Anisfield Lecture Series
March 11, 2020 @ 4:30 p.m. -Trustees Pavilion
Join William F. Dator, Chair of the Ramapo College Board of Trustees, Thomas W. Dunn, member of Ramapo College Foundation Board of Governors, and Edward Saiff, Dean of the School of Theoretical and Applied Science and 50th Anniversary Task Force Co-Chair, for this conversational program, “Ramapo College and Mahwah: 50 Years Together.”  In March 1970, Mahwah was selected as the site for Ramapo College.  Hear our panelists share their stories about this special fifty-year relationship between the community and the College. Audience participation is highly encouraged in this program.

Learning Commons Topping Off Ceremony
March 25, 2020 @ 4:00 p.m. – Learning Commons Construction Site
From the groundbreaking ceremony to placing the last beam of new steel, join us for these milestone occasions to herald in the new Learning Commons.

Colloquium Series – The Anisfield School of Business
March 26, 2020- Padovano Commons
Details forthcoming.

Day of Giving
April 13, 2020- The Grove
Build picnic tables that will be donated to local community organizations. The first 100 volunteers will receive a free t-shirt.

Colloquium Series – The School of Contemporary Arts
April 23, 2020- Padovano Commons
Details forthcoming.

50th Anniversary Dinner Celebration
April 29, 2020 @ 6:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. – Indian Trail Club, Franklin Lakes
Celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ramapo College! $50 tickets available beginning February 5.

Colloquium Series – The School of Theoretical and Applied Science
May 5, 2020-Padovano Commons
Details forthcoming.

Categories: Uncategorized

September 8, 2017President's Post #116 Welcome and Welcome Back

Dear Students, Colleagues, and Friends:

Welcome (and welcome back) to Ramapo College of New Jersey!

I often get a chuckle from the annual Mindset List issued by Beloit College. Included among the 60 items on the list for the Class of 2021 this year are:

  • Women have always scaled both sides of Everest and rowed across the Atlantic.
  • Men have always shared a romantic smooch on television.
  • They are the first generation for whom a “phone” has been primarily a video game, direction finder, electronic telegraph, and research library.

While these three characteristics, at first consideration, may seem a tad banal, they are representative of broader and deeper truths. First, regardless of gender, race, religion, disability, etc., our students arrive at Ramapo with a tenacious and inspiring belief in their own capacity. Second, they overwhelmingly bring with them a penchant for acceptance. And third, they are relentlessly connected to information in ways that make navigating volumes of stimuli both challenging and nuanced. So, students, you are wondrous creatures, and the Ramapo College administration, faculty, and staff are here to celebrate your tenacity, encourage your open-mindedness, and facilitate your intellectual growth.

We spent much of the summer preparing for your arrival and, in so doing, doing what we do best—serving as the state of New Jersey’s designated Public Liberal Arts College.  A recent article in The Atlantic asserted that a liberal arts education provides a path for an increasingly diverse array of students who seek to be “difference makers in society.” For example, at Ramapo, our Student Relief Committee was established by students last spring to assist their peers who are facing issues such as homelessness, food insecurity, and other financial hardships.  All students are encouraged to click here to complete the Committee’s brief Needs Assessment Survey, the results of which will be used to guide institutional decision making processes regarding housing, a food pantry, public transportation, etc.

Ramapo’s steadfast commitment to the liberal arts, academic excellence, small class sizes, faculty/student mentoring, access and affordability, and civic engagement were recognized recently by College Choice. An independent authority, College Choice ranked Ramapo among the top three colleges in the state, with Princeton University and Stevens Institute of Technology taking the top two spots, respectively.

So, while there is much to celebrate at Ramapo, there is also a tremendous amount of achievement in the offing. I look forward to your contributions to the College in the weeks and years ahead and I thank you in advance for your tenacity, your open-mindedness, and your appetite for learning.

Peter P. Mercer
President

Categories: Uncategorized

January 26, 2016President's Post #91: Welcome and Welcome Back

Dear Students and Colleagues:

Welcome (and welcome back) to campus.

Institutions of higher education have changed dramatically since their origins as training grounds for the clergy or the children of the bourgeoisie. Yet, despite the magnitude of those changes over time, higher education has managed to hold fast to many of its storied traditions. This commitment is known as commensalism, a word originally used to describe the practice of dining together but whose broader modern definition denotes, “the means by which a sense of community and long-term institutional loyalty is created.” It reflects our determination that academic training must be completed by providing students with broader social experiences. These social experiences often become significantly represented in institutional traditions.

Last week we welcomed 300 new students to Ramapo. Despite the bitter cold, the students, faculty, and staff rallied together and processed under the Arch in keeping with Ramapo tradition. Pursuant to another Ramapo College tradition, I will deliver my State of the College Address on January 27 at 1 p.m. in Friends Hall (SC 219). Please join me to hear about the many wonderful continuing achievements as well as the challenges ahead. Opportunities to come together over the next few weeks include:
• An information session on January 27 at 3 p.m. in SC157 regarding the revised Sexual Misconduct Policy Governing Students.
• The kickoff of African Ancestry Month on February 1 at 12:30 p.m. in Trustees Pavilion (space is limited.)
• The national tour of the 35th Annual Black Maria Film and Video Festival will come to campus on February 12 at 8 p.m. in the Sharp Theater.
• The Diversity Action Committee’s Diversity Convocation on February 24 at 3:30 p.m. in the Auxiliary Gym featuring Dr. Marc Lamont Hill.
• The President’s Advisory Council on February 26 at 11:30 a.m. in Trustees Pavilion.

Again, welcome to a new semester at Ramapo College.

Peter P. Mercer
President

Categories: Uncategorized

December 21, 2015President's Post #90: A Season for Inclusion

Dear Students, Colleagues, and Friends,

At this time of year when exams, essays and holiday events compete for our attention among the regular demands of everyday life, we are all conscious of the need to take a half step backwards and reflect on the closing of another year. It is my hope that, as members of Ramapo College, we share a unique sense of community that follows from Ramapo’s particular values and traditions that emphasize inclusion and mutual respect for one another’s differences.

Recent terrorist incidents threaten to abrade that fundamental communitarian element in ways that we must all resist. It is important, as we enter the holiday season, to reinforce our commitment to inclusion by reaching out to peers who may be feeling lonely or even alienated. Our Muslim colleagues, in particular, need to hear that they are valued just as all of us recognize that same need within ourselves. Now is the time to stand up and actively affirm the principles and beliefs that unite us.

I am proud to serve as your President and I thank you for your efforts in support of the College while wishing you the most tranquil and restorative of holidays.

Sincerely,
Peter P. Mercer
President

Categories: Uncategorized

September 24, 2014State of the College: Dr. Peter P. Mercer, President

September 17, 2014

Welcome.

It would be easy to conclude from surveying the popular media that higher education generally is in a desperate state. For example, this month’s Atlantic magazine has emblazoned on its cover the apocalyptic question “Is College Doomed?” It tells the story of the Minerva Project, whose aim is to replace the liberal arts college.

The author, one Graeme Wood, states that Minerva’s long term goal “is to radically remake one of the most sclerotic sectors of the U.S. economy, one so shielded from the need for improvement that its biggest innovation in the past 30 years has been to double its costs …”

Stuff and nonsense – Wood, it pains me to say, is actually a Canadian apparently of the sort who tosses off observations about the U.S. without much investigation or reflection. He is also a 2001 graduate of Harvard University, an experience which apparently has not worn well, at least for him. Doubling of costs over 30 years – since 1984 – pick an item – a restaurant meal, a pair of shoes, an automobile – and compare their cost profile over 30 years. Consider also higher education’s unending strata of accountability compared with most other field of business endeavors and our institutional adaptability has been remarkable. Of course we can do better and, yes, the environment is fiercely competitive but the broad brush doomsday scenarios are over the top and tiresome. Or as one might say in Newfoundland, only a “dotterel” would accept them at face value.

We continue to work at keeping our financial house in order as the College moves ahead on many fronts.

Allow me to highlight some of our more recent successes.

Some of you may have noticed that we are growing increasingly visible with our legislators. Last week, we hosted Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Senator and Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, at a ceremony honoring the memory of those lost on 9/11. The Senators also toured the G Wing renovations, which are funded, in part with bond referendum monies and the Senators and I discussed the importance of another bond issue and more comprehensive approach to funding capital expenditures, as well as operating expenses at New Jersey’s public colleges.

This week I visited Senator Booker’s office in Washington, D.C. to make the case for federal support for public bus service to the College so that students from urban centers throughout the region can reach Ramapo. I am hopeful that something will come of these efforts in the relatively near future to help us meet our strategic goal of increasing diversity among our students.

Tomorrow, Governor Jim Florio will speak at the College in honor of Constitution Day and the 350th anniversary this year of the State of New Jersey. He will speak at noon at the Berrie Center’s Sharp Theater, and I encourage you to attend.

On October 8, State Senator Sandra Cunningham, chair of the Senate’s Higher Education Committee, will visit and speak during a campus-wide Voter Registration Drive. Students, faculty and staff will have the opportunity to hear the Senator speak and register to vote at the Ramapo Arch from 1 to 2 p.m. We hope you can join us.

And on October 23, Ramapo College will hold its first-ever “RCNJ at the Statehouse” trip, a full day of activities to better acquaint students with our State government and issues affecting higher education. The trip will be held once a semester to ensure as many students as possible have the opportunity to participate.

We have also seen considerable developments to our physical campus. The third and fourth floors of G Wing are now open as well as renovated B Wing. A good amount of old furniture (desks, bookcases, etc.) from these wings were “free-cycled.” On Friday of last week, the Paterson School District brought a very large trailer to campus and picked up these goods. Special thanks to Steve Sondey, Claudy Jordain, and Aidan Murray for their support of this initiative.

The ground floor of the Adler Center for Nursing Excellence will have a gender neutral restroom. The space is scheduled for occupancy by April ’15. There will also be a gender neutral restroom and a Family Attendant room on the first floor of G Wing. Both spaces are scheduled for occupancy by the fall ’15 semester.

Also, the College Commons Working Group is now working with Ikon5, an architectural and engineering firm, on the site plans for the renovated carriage house.

Our impressive facilities are here to serve one purpose, student learning and our students continue to impress.

We received the largest number of applications and are home to the largest freshmen class in Ramapo’s history this year. This increase in demand has also yielded an increase in our average SAT score, has enabled us to maintain diversity at 30%, and has fostered an increase in out-of-state enrollment. We have also exceeded our graduate enrollment goal. In its first year, the MA Special Education program has even exceeded its targets. CIPL also exceeded revenue targets and has now generated positive revenue for the College for the first year.

This year will mark the first graduating class with Career Pathways in the Anisfield School of Business and the College is now launching the second Pathways program in the School of Humanities and Global Studies. I look forward to providing this meaningful program in all of our schools at some point.

The new Contemporary Arts Degree Completion Program launched this semester with a full cohort of sixteen students. The program uses the Contemporary Arts Contract major to offer a track in Professional Communication designed to build skills in the areas of written, oral, and visual communication.

And, the College was presented the Starfish Rising Star Award for the year 1 launch of Connect Advisement and Early Alert Software on Campus.

External recognition of our shared achievements has also been strong. We have increased a spot in the US News and World Report rankings and we were recently recognized as a “Public Ivy.”

Our visibility externally has also strengthened thanks to a purposeful and thoughtful social media strategy. Increases in our social media activity have been substantial and have included the #homesweetpo campaign, #capsoffRCNJ campaign from Commencement 2014, and a Twitter chat with Convocation speaker Sonia Nazario.

One additional note that I am particular pleased to share is that the Student Government Association has elected its first female president, Lauren Fuhring. Congratulations, Lauren.

In Academic Affairs we also have much to celebrate. Dr. Charles Steindel joined the Economics Faculty as a “Scholar in Residence”. Charles was formerly Chief Economist at the New Jersey Department of Treasury and before that he was a Senior Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The College reached an agreement with the New Jersey Small Business Development Center (NJSBDC) to open an affiliate office in ASB. The NJSBDC provides assistance to small business owners and entrepreneurs in New Jersey. In exchange for the support the College will provide to the NJSBDC of Bergen County (office space, clerical support, etc.) all Ramapo students and faculty will be able to take advantage of the Center’s seminars and consulting services at no charge.

In Nursing, Assistant Dean Kathy Burke was named an AACN/Wharton executive fellow and Professor Maisha Amen completed the Iron Woman competition on Sept 7 at Sandy Hook.

Dean Rosenberg has joined his family in publishing a chapter entitled “American Horror Story: Asylum and the Power of the Mad Monster” in Monsters in Society (Dauber (ed.), Interdisciplinary Press 2014).

The Gayle and Paul Gross Foundation recently awarded a $250,000 challenge grant to the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. In recognition of this gift, the Center is now called the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.

Professor Ira Spar helped in the development of the new “Assyria to Iberia at the Dawn of the Classical Age” exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In addition, the fourth volume to Professor Spar’s Cuneiform Texts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which he co-authored with Michael Jursa, was just published.

Dean Stephen Rice and Professor Meredith Davis have received for a third time a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to conduct two summer workshops for K-12 teachers on the history and culture of the Hudson River Valley.

Professor Ben Neill received a grant award in the amount of $46,000 from the Rockefeller Foundation MAP Fund, for new performance works for his new music/theater piece called “The Demo.”

Out talented CA faculty have also been busy.  Fall 2014 marks the kickoff of the new Ramapo College Concert Band under the direction of Dr. Chris Wilhjelm. Open to all students, the band meets on Tuesday evenings in the H-Wing Auditorium.

In June, Professor Mack Brandon directed a choral performance with an eighty-voice chorus at the Tumon Bay Music Festival in Guam. In other news from Guam, Professor Lisa Lutter received the island’s highest award, The Ancient Order of Chamorri (pronounced like Samurai), which recognizes persons who are not native to Guam, “who shall have contributed substantially to the betterment of the people of Guam, or who shall have demonstrated real and sympathetic interest in the people of Guam, its history, cultures, traditions and problems.” Professor Lutter is one of four persons in the past four years to be recognized with this honor, which is awarded by the Governor and Speaker of the Legislature jointly.

Professor Warner Wada has been invited to photograph all of the buildings designed by LeCorbusier in Ahmedabad and Chandigarh, India, using his pinhole camera technique, in a special documentation and exhibition initiative between the Ahmedabad Textile Mills Association and Ramapo College.

Professor Ann LePore is featured in the group exhibition, “Thou Art Mom,” opening tomorrow, September 18, at Pierro Gallery in South Orange.

As mentioned earlier, our students continue to push boundaries. A few examples:

Senior Danielle Corcione had her program proposal titled, “Diversity in Higher Education: A Student Perspective” accepted to present at the National Collegiate Honors Council in Denver, Colorado November 5-9, 2014.

In a state-wide initiative, Student Trustee Kevin Ng and Alternate Student Trustee Brandon Smith are connecting all of the student trustees in New Jersey. The goal of the initiative is to have a way for Student Trustees to communicate over the issues that state colleges are facing and to deliberate over how to best lobby for funding toward higher education.

In July, the College sent four students to Camp Pride, a summer leadership institute for LGBT students and allies that focuses on social justice action and inclusivity. Students returned from the camp with ideas on effective strategies toward helping Ramapo College sustain an LGBT-friendly climate. Student Vanna Garcia was selected to serve as a Pride Peer Leader for other students from around the country.

The Civic and Community Engagement Center hosted a successful Leaders-in-Service program. Over 30 first year students enrolled in the program, moved into the residence halls early, and engaged in a week of civic engagement activities and workshops.

The Center for Student Involvement hosted a tremendously successful Joint Student Leader Staff Training whereby over 200 student paraprofessional staff from Residence Life, CSI, CAAFYE, OSS, CHCS, Cahill, and SGA engaged in two-days of training about diversity, leadership, and communication.

Eddie Seavers, CSI, completed a year-long program leadership experience entitled Bergen LEADS. Eddie is the first Ramapo employee to participate in this highly regarded program.

It is no surprise that our impressive students go on to be impressive alumni. A few examples:

Theater program alumna Bethany Kay has a recurring role on this season’s “Boardwalk Empire.”
2014 Theater graduate Jessica Gouker is currently employed as Assistant Stage Manager for the National Tour of the musical “Beauty and the Beast.”

2014 Visual Arts graduate Jennifer Morrison participated in the June 2014 International Iron Conference in Riga, Latvia, with artists, professors, and students from around the world.

TAS reports that 50% of the 2014 graduates in Engineering/ Physics are in graduate school pursuing PhD’s on full scholarships at: Duke Medical, NJIT , Rutgers, and the University of Rhode Island.

Dr. Harshani Peiris, an RCNJ Bioinformatics Alumna recently published an article in an international peer-reviewed journal showing a correlation between immune system and tissue regeneration.

Dr. Garrett Dancik, an RCNJ Bioinformatics Alum, was the keynote speaker of the TAS Student Research Symposium (SRS) in April 2014. Garrett is now Assistant Professor of Computer Science/Bioinformatics, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Eastern Connecticut State University.

There is no slowing down at Ramapo either. This month alone will be host a series of diverse events on campus including but not limited to:
Ellie Krieger, Food Network Star and NY Times best-selling cookbook author, will deliver remarks at the Havemeyer Edible Garden dinner tomorrow night.

Ben Jealous, former director of the NAACP will speak on September 22 at 4:30 in Sharp Theater.

The Men’s Tennis Team will enjoy a Championship Ring Presentation on September 23 at 1pm in the Bradley Center lobby.

Rigoberta Menchú, 1992 Nobel Peace Prize recipient and activist for the rights of indigenous people in Guatemala, will deliver a lecture on the benefits of student engagement on September 24 at 1pm in H Wing Auditorium.

The President’s Advisory Council will meet on September 26 at 11:30am in the Alumni Lounges.

BMW North America President Ludwig Willisch returns to campus as a guest lecturer in the MBA program on September 30 in ASB.

I hope to see many of you at these and other events.

Thank you for your contributions to the college and thank you in advance, for another successful academic year.

Question and Answer

Categories: Uncategorized

March 28, 2013Hello world!

Welcome to Ramapo College of New Jersey Sites. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Categories: Uncategorized