Renaming Our First-Year Seminars

April 18, 2008

Members of the Rutgers Community:

A gift of $3 million from Mr. and Mrs. John J. Byrne Jr. has become the keystone of our new First-Year Seminars program, established last fall as an important element of the transformation of undergraduate education at Rutgers–New Brunswick. In recognition of their generosity, and in their honor, the name of the program has been changed to Byrne Family First-Year Seminars or, more affectionately, “the Byrne Seminars.”

Jack Byrne’s generosity is matched by his record of achievement. After graduating from Rutgers College in 1954, he earned a master’s degree in math at the University of Michigan and then embarked on a remarkable career in the insurance industry. Jack Byrne’s personal connection with his Rutgers math professor, Joshua Barlaz, was a source of inspiration for learning and for fulfilling his ambitions.

In this spirit, the Byrne Family First-Year Seminars bring Rutgers’ greatest resource—our outstanding faculty—into an intimate educational setting with our incoming students. As we complete a successful inaugural year of the program, we celebrate the commitment of our donor and that of our many faculty who are contributing to undergraduate academic excellence at Rutgers. In addition to learning about the research done here, our first-year students are talking about exciting ideas and experiencing the joy of working in the research areas of their professors. This, too, is cause for celebration.

With pride and anticipation, we look forward to greeting the next class of students who will launch their Rutgers careers through the Byrne Seminars.

Richard L. McCormick
President
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey