Zurine Cadena Jimenez

Zurine Cadena Jimenez of Mount Arlington, N.J. is an International Studies major with a minor in Human Rights and Genocide Studies. She has a 3.96 GPA and is a member of Sigma Iota Rho.

Upon completing her Master’s Degree in Human Rights Studies at Columbia University, she aspires to obtain a position at UNICEF, in which she’ll work with regional and country offices to advance the early childhood education sectors in developing countries. “My life goal is to compose a peace education curriculum, emphasizing tolerance and equality.” She also hopes to extend her research on the Colombian civil conflict and 2016 peace accord, as well as partake in campaigns working towards the elimination of FGM and child marriage.

Additionally, Zurine has Associate degrees in both Studio Art and International Studies. She is currently a preschool teacher for Kindercare Learning Centers, and in her free time, she works on art pieces and writes poetry.

Awarded Scholarships

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2019

Fanale, Mary K. and Salvatore J. Memorial Scholarship

This scholarship will be awarded in Spring 2024. Please check often for application opening dates. 

After raising eight children, “I was excited when my husband suggested that I attend college and obtain that long-desired accomplishment of a college degree,” wrote Mary Fanale. So, at age 56, she enrolled at Ramapo, taking courses in the School of American and International Studies. For three years Mrs. Fanale reveled in her studies and was an active college student, serving as secretary of the Center for Returning Students. “I believe the feelings for older students … is so good that we fit in perfectly,” she said. Sadly she died in 1981 before finishing her degree. In memory of her contributions to the Ramapo community and to support other mature students who seek excellence in their studies, Mrs. Fanale’s husband and children established an endowed scholarship fund in her name. At Salvatore Fanale’s death in 2006 the Fanale children directed additional funds to significantly build the endowment. The Mary K. Fanale Memorial Scholarships recognize high-achieving female students who are New Jersey residents and are non-traditional college age.

Riesterer, Beate Returning Minority Women Scholarship

This scholarship will be awarded in Spring 2024. Please check often for application opening dates. 

When she retired in 1994, School of Social Science and Human Services professor Beate Riesterer asked that she not be given a gift, but that the money collected be used to start a scholarship fund. Those gifts, plus the proceeds from an on-campus tag sale organized by the students at the Women’s Center, garnered the funds to create this award. “The scholarship fund was a gift to me in honor of my contributions to the College, which I now pass on to deserving women,” Dr. Riesterer wrote in 1999.