News In Brief

Grand Opening: West Campus Village Student Residence Hall

NJCU continues to evolve into a “campus town” and the West Campus Village residence hall, which opened this spring, marks a giant step forward. Part of NJCU’s $325 million mixed-use redevelopment project, this 425-bed student living space features 2-bedroom (shared) and 4-bedroom (private) suites, and will include an on-site fitness center, restaurants, shopping and more. NJCU students will have access to existing campus amenities—dining, the University’s newly renovated athletics center, the Guarini Library with small group study spaces and academic support, access to the University health center, NJCU student clubs, Gothic Knights athletics—and exclusive events and activities just for West Campus Village residents—not to mention the vibrant culture of downtown Jersey City and its dynamic music scene, dining, and nightlife. Makes us want to be students all over again!

NJCU Partnership with Bayonne Public Schools Boosts Opportunities for High School Students

Twelve Bayonne High School students are earning college credits in specific, career-based tracks of study due to a unique agreement between NJCU and Bayonne Public Schools.

The NJCU School of Business is the first to partner with the Academy for Professional Studies at Bayonne High School (BHS) to offer a unique program through which high school students take courses that prepare them for college business programs or entry-level jobs in business.

Tracks of study in the program, offered at BHS, include advertising, accounting and finance, business management and entrepreneurship, business technology, and marketing.

Each program includes college-level courses and provides opportunities for students to explore career options and gain a competitive edge when applying for college. Electives in all tracks are open to all Bayonne High School students.

The college-level courses are taught by Bayonne high-school teachers. All courses and teachers must be approved by NJCU. Approvals are based on curriculum standards and faculty credentials.

The NJCU School of Business also offers a summer entrepreneurship program for the high school students and provides them with opportunities to work with University business professors and students.

The high school students enjoy a 70 percent discount on tuition, access to NJCU’s Summer Entrepreneurship Academy, and opportunities to: be a “student-for-the-day” at the School of Business or on NJCU’s main campus, participate in the activities of NJCU student clubs, and attend lectures by visiting professors and professionals in the field.

NJCU’s School of Business is currently working on offering similar programs at other area high schools, including Memorial High School in West New York, Hudson County Prep, and the Academy of Finance in Newark.

Habitat for Humanity

Fourteen NJCU students and two staff members participated in the Habitat for Humanity Collegiate Challenge 2016, an alternative spring break program, in Corpus Christi, TX, March 5-12. Since 2006, when 12 students helped build five Habitat for Humanity houses in five days in Columbus, GA, NJCU students have helped build more than 28 houses during spring break programs in California, Georgia, and Texas as well as locally throughout the year. The efforts are coordinated by NJCU’s Center for Community Service and Volunteerism.

Area Colleges and Universities Pack the House for 2016 Leaders of Today (LofT) Student Leadership Conference

Ninety-one students from NJCU and area colleges and universities were on campus on March 18 when the NJCU Student Development Team hosted the 2016 Leaders of Today (LofT) Student Leadership Conference.

Based on the theme, “Where Leadership and Pop Culture Collide,” the day-long program featured a motivational speech by Dr. Christopher Emdin, an associate professor at Columbia University; a leadership conversation with Angela Yee, host of the nationally syndicated radio show, “The Breakfast Club”; interactive student leadership workshops; a poetry performance by Mustafa Adbelrazeq; and a strolling and stepping performance by Mu Sigma Upsilon Sorority, Inc., Psi Sigma Phi Fraternity, Inc., and Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc.

Presenters included NJCU staff and student leaders from the Sword and Shield Leadership Society. Among the area colleges and universities represented were Stockton College, Long Island University-Brooklyn, Fashion Institute of Technology, Hudson County Community College, Montclair State University, Rutgers University, Kingsborough Community College, and Caldwell University.

Ryan Haygood, Esq. Delivers Keynote at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Luncheon

Ryan P. Haygood, one of the nation’s leading civil rights advocates and the third president and CEO of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, delivered the keynote address at NJCU’s 26th annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Luncheon. Based on the theme, “Breaking Down Walls of Hate: Still on the Battlefield,” the program celebrated the life and legacy of King and also featured the presentation
of the 2016 Martin Luther King Scholarship to Amanda Tobias, a bachelor of science in nursing student who has been previously honored by Jersey City for her work in the community, and the 2016 Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Service Award to Jennifer Mullan ’01, an NJCU psychotherapist who is coordinator of the nationally recognized Peers Educating Peers (PEP) program, co-founder and co-facilitator of the LGBTQIA++ Support Group, and a founding member of the Undoing Racism committee.

Professional Development Program in Dual TESL Certification and Bilingual Endorsement

Through the Division of Professional and Lifelong Learning, NJCU has been authorized by the Jersey City Board of Education to offer a “Professional Development Program in Dual TESL Certification and Bilingual Endorsement.” Approximately 30 teachers are enrolled as a cohort in the 30-credit, graduate-level program, which will be completed over a two- to-three-year span. The Division is also offering a new sequence of graduate courses in language arts literacy for general and special education teachers in grades six through 12.

Faculty Honored

NJCU Recognized as Top Producer of Fulbright Students. Four of the five NJCU students and alumni who were named semi-finalists for Fulbright U.S. Student Awards for 2016-17 have received the prestigious grants through the highly competitive program. Three were awarded the English Teaching Assistantship Fulbright grant to teach abroad: Tasha Egalite, a graduate student in early childhood and special education, Laos; Jessica Coke, ’16 majoring in history, Taiwan; and Sinia Amanonce ’15, an English and education major, Czech Republic.

Ivan de La Tour, ’16, a geography/geoscience major, was awarded the even-more competitive research grant to focus on water purification in Indonesia. Nicole Colon, ‘16, who majored in English, was a semi-finalist to South Korea, having been selected from more than 10,000 applicants, an accomplishment in itself. Established by the United States Congress in 1946, the Fulbright Program is the largest international exchange program in the country, offering opportunities for students, teachers, scholars, and professionals to study, teach, lecture, and conduct research in more than 155 countries worldwide. Sponsored by the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the Fulbright program selects participants on the basis of academic merit and leadership potential. Irma Maini, an NJCU professor of English, is the Fulbright Program advisor at the University.

Seven Students Earn Top Honors in NATS Festival of Singing

Seven students from the Caroline L. Guarini Department of Music, Dance and Theatre garnered awards in the New Jersey National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) 38th Annual Auditions, which drew 76 competitors from throughout the state and was hosted by NJCU in February.

NJCU winners included: graduate students LeAndre Scott, first place, and Sarah Blood, second place, in “Advanced Upper Women/Men”; freshman Kyle Blocker, first place in “Lower College Music Theater Women/Men”; senior Najee Esmond, first place in “Upper College Music Theater Women/Men”; Israel Hernandez, first place, and Al-Jabril Muhammad, second place, in “Junior Men”; and Elizabeth Smith, second place in “Junior Women.”

Just three short weeks later, Smith placed first and Hernandez placed second in the Hall Johnson Spiritual Scholarship Competition at the NJNATS Regional Conference at Montclair State University, making both eligible to move on to the national level in Chicago in July.

Founded in 1944, NATS is the largest professional organization of teachers of singing in the world, representing 7,000 members in more than 25 countries.

Clash of the Canvas

Two student artists “Clash on the Canvas”. Paula Sierra and Ron Wise battled it out during Clash on the Canvas, a campus contest between student artists who have one hour to create work in front of a live audience.
Clash on the Canvas began in 2014 and featured top artists from the New York City metropolitan area. This “Clash” between Sierra and Wise marked the fifth such program but only the second to be exclusive to NJCU students. By an audience vote, Sierra was declared this session’s winner and her painting was sold on the spot. Sierra was a featured artist at the inaugural NJCU LofT Leadership Conference. Selected works from Clash on the Canvas were exhibited in the Michael B. Gilligan Student Union Art Gallery in April.

NJCU Undergraduates Stand Their Ground against Law Students from Around the Globe

A team of three NJCU undergraduates representing the University’s pioneering Institute for Dispute Resolution (IDR) is one of only 30 selected from 200 international entries that has been invited to the CDRC (Consensual Dispute Resolution Competition) Vienna: The IBA-VIAC Mediation and Negotiation Competition, which will be held in Austria this summer. This marks the second time in as many years that an NJCU team has been invited to participate in this prestigious competition, which is sponsored annually by the International Bar Association and the Vienna International Arbitral Centre with The European Law Students Association.

This is the same NJCU team that placed a remarkable 34th out of 66 teams, comprised mostly of second- and third-year law students from top schools around the world, in the 11th International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Commercial Mediation Competition, February 5-10, in Paris, France.

The six-day competition, the ICC’s biggest annual educational event devoted exclusively to international commercial mediation, prepares future business leaders and legal practitioners to better meet the dispute resolution needs of an increasingly cross-cultural and global market.

During both competitions, teams are judged as they negotiate as council and client in real-life scenarios with the support of a mediator.

NJCU’s IDR at the School of Business promotes the use of international negotiation and mediation techniques in managing disputes in cross-border commercial, investor-state, and general conflict resolution forums. The IDR conducts applied research in international negotiation and mediation techniques and is a Qualified Mediation Assessment Provider for the International Mediation Institute.

NJCU Selected to Participate in Major AASCU Initiative to Redesign Student’s First-Year College Experience

NJCU is one of only 44 state colleges and universities from throughout the United States selected by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) to participate in the three-year “Re-Imagining the First Year of College” (RFY) project, a sweeping initiative aimed at transforming the first year of college to enhance students’ success in their undergraduate years and in the 21st century workplace.

The first year of college has emerged as the critical barrier to student success, the point at which undergraduate institutions experience the greatest loss of students. The project’s objective is to help participants–and ultimately the broader AASCU membership of 420 state colleges and universities–to implement changes that enhance the first-year student experience and increase retention and graduation rates, particularly among historically underserved populations.

“We are pleased that these AASCU institutions will commit their enormous talent and knowledge to the success of this initiative, which I believe will have a profound effect on undergraduate education in the 21st century,” said George Mehaffy, vice president for academic leadership and change at AASCU.

AASCU kicked off the RFY initiative in February with academic leaders attending its 2016 Academic Affairs Winter Meeting in Austin, TX. RFY is being funded by generous grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and USA Funds.

Blueprint for Tomorrow Gala

In March 2016, NJCU held its annual gala event, designed to raise funds for scholarship support. Three leading corporate partners Mack-Cali, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NPC), and Wyndham Worldwide and two acclaimed friends and benefactors of NJCU were honored at the “Blueprint for Tomorrow” Gala at The Hyatt Regency in Jersey City. The evening featured
performances by cast members of NJCU’s production of Hairspray.

2016 Presidential Lecture Series

The Presidential Speaker Series at New Jersey City University (NJCU) featured a tremendous lineup of speakers, beginning with “A Conversation with the Clarks” featuring members of the Clark family, often called the “first family of track and field four-time Olympian Joetta Clark Diggs, five-time Olympian Jearl Miles-Clark, three-time Olympian Hazel Clark, and world-renowned Olympic coach J.J. Clark.

The conversation was moderated by radio talk show host Bert Baron. In addition, the series featured entrepreneur Janice Bryant Howroyd, founder and chief executive officer of ACT•1 Group, the largest privately held, woman and minority-owned workforce management company in the United States.

Michael Moschen, one of the world’s leading jugglers also performed as part of the series. A MacArthur Foundation Fellow, Moschen has performed throughout the world, and is deeply involved in understanding and sharing the physical and mathematical principles that underlie his work.

The series concluded with renowned imaging scientist Carolyn Porco, the leader of the imaging science team on the Cassini mission presently in orbit around Saturn and part of the New Horizons mission on its way to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, spoke at the IMAX Theatre at Liberty Science Center.

NJCU Receives Gold NJ Smart Workplaces Award

NJCU received a gold New Jersey Smart Workplaces Award for 2015, marking the seventh consecutive year that the University has been recognized by the statewide program. Issued by the State of New Jersey and the New Jersey Department of Transportation, Smart Workplaces Awards recognize New Jersey enterprises that help reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality by voluntarily creating significant and innovative alternative commuting programs. New Jersey employers whose commuter benefits reach the State standard of excellence qualify for either platinum, gold, silver, or bronze awards. NJCU has previously won gold, silver, and bronze awards.

Four Students to Gain First-Hand Experience at Democratic National Convention

NJCU students Ana Acosta, Kennedy Affram, Laura Bustamante, and Ana Pena have been selected to participate in The Washington Center’s Democratic National Convention academic seminar, which will be presented in partnership with Temple University during the Democratic National Convention, July 17-29, in Philadelphia. The two-week seminar will combine formal instruction, guest lectures, panels, tours, site visits, and fieldwork assignments, giving students the opportunity to experience the convention from behind-the-scenes and to witness democracy in action at both the grassroots and national levels.

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