Welcome to a New Academic Year

September 2, 2008
 

Dear Rutgers Students:

Welcome—or welcome back! I wish you every success as you begin the 2008–09 academic year.

We celebrate several pieces of recent good news. Two Rutgers graduates won Olympic gold in Beijing: Cappie Pondexter in women's basketball, and Carli Lloyd in women's soccer, where she scored the game-winning goal in the gold medal game. Earlier in the summer, we received word from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education that Rutgers has earned reaccreditation with high marks. And Rutgers continued to earn major federal grants, most recently for computer science and stem cell research.

The new year brings new opportunities on the New Brunswick Campus.

• Doug Greenberg begins his tenure as dean of the School of Arts and Sciences (SAS) and Jorge Schement as dean of the School of Communications, Information and Library Studies (SCILS).
   
• The SAS Office of International Programs has planned a yearlong series of events on human rights to mark the 60th anniversary of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
   
• We are preparing to host a national conference on diversity in higher education in December, cosponsored by Columbia University and the College Board.

I hope the year is one of great opportunity for each of you. To our newest students, I welcome you to Rutgers and know that you will have a rewarding experience. To our returning students, I hope that you enjoyed a pleasant summer and that this will be an especially fulfilling year.

One final note: I will present my Annual Address to the University Community on Friday, September 19, at 1:10 p.m. in the Rutgers Student Center on College Avenue on the New Brunswick Campus. Following my remarks, I will take questions from the audience and asked by email. You are welcome to attend the address or see the webcast via my website.

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