Thera Carlin

Thera Carlin of Springfield, Ohio, is a History major with a minor in Human Rights and Genocide Studies. She has a GPA of 3.8.

“At Ramapo, I have worked hard to keep up on studies and promote healthy discussions amongst peers on difficult topics. Off campus, I have a part time job while also making time to participate in organizations such as SOAP, who combats sex trafficking.” Thera’s goal post-graduation is to join the Peace Corps and use her history degree to teach in underdeveloped countries. “In addition, I’d like to join human rights organizations that focus on refugees or sex workers.”

Awarded Scholarships

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2020

Clara and Morton Richmond Scholarship

Morton Richmond, an impoverished 23-year old, immigrated from Russia in 1926. He married Clara Richmond, who was born in Clinton, CT, and the two were married for 62 years. Morton became a prominent real estate investor who owned properties in Brooklyn, The Bronx and Queens, NY. In addition to managing her husband’s office, Clara was a homemaker who raised her four sons in New Rochelle, NY. She was also a talented mezzo-soprano who performed in numerous community productions and conducted the Women’s Westchester Chorale.

Mr. Richmond passed away in 2002 at the age of 100, and Clara died at age 98 in 2017.

Their son Stan is a longtime member of the Ramapo College Foundation Board of Governors, and serves on the advisory boards of the Friends of Ramapo and the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.

He created this scholarship to honor the memory of his parents, and to support students who are interested in understanding the origins, theory and practice of international human rights and the treatment of genocide as a crime under international law.

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Sykes Family Scholarship

Suzanne Sykes and her late husband, Donald, founded Marpac Industries Inc. in 1967. Marpac manufactured custom plastic containers for specialty chemicals, with offices in Waldwick, NJ and manufacturing sites in New York, California, Oklahoma and Ireland. After selling the company in 1998, Sue enrolled at Ramapo as a returning adult student. She earned her degree in American Studies in 2006 and remains very active with her alma mater.

Of her experience at Ramapo, she says, “The encouragement of the faculty was the probably the most surprising and most meaningful for me. I had some initial concern about how I would be accepted by other students, but it had not occurred to me how the professors might feel about an older student. I was put at ease and never felt uncomfortable. On several occasions, professors told me that they appreciated my presence in their classes, because it changed the dynamics and brought fresh perspectives. Needless to say, I was delighted.”

Sue was a volunteer counselor with the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), which provides small business mentoring and training, and is a former member of the Alumni Advisory Board of the School of Humanities and Global Studies. She now devotes her volunteer hours to various leadership roles in her church and the Ramapo College community. She established the Sykes Family Scholarship to benefit other returning adult students who are pursuing American Studies at Ramapo. She hopes that by completing her college degree as an older adult, she has set a good example for her five grandchildren that learning is a life-long rewarding endeavor.

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