S E P T E M B E R 1 0 , 2 0 1 5 V O LU M E 4 I S S U E N O . 4 9

S T O C K T O N U N I V E R S I T Y

• Stockton University Ranked in Top 15 Public Regional Universities of the North

• Sara & Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center Named Top Center

• Staff Launch Men of Color Retention Initiative Mentor Program

• CARE Program Holds Orientation for Faculty, Staff Mentors

• Deeanna Button of CRIM Receives ACJS’ 2016 New Scholar Award

• Alex Marino Volunteers as Celebrity Chef at Taste of the Quarter

• Essential Learning Outcomes (ELO) Launches New Website

IN THIS ISSUE

Sara & Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center Named Top Center

Stockton University is in the Top 15 public Regional Universities of the North, ranked No. 12 by U.S. News & World Report in its 2016 edition of “America’s Best Colleges” released this week.

Stockton also was ranked overall at #53 out of 138 public and private Northern universities by U.S. News & World Report, one of the nation’s top sources of information on higher education. Stockton is ranked with universities offering both undergraduate and master’s programs in the northern region of the United States.

The annual report considers factors such as graduation and retention rates, assess-ment by peers, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources and alum-ni giving. Stockton’s graduation and retention rates have been rising impressively, with 87 percent of the freshmen who started in 2013 returning in 2014, the most recent year for which figures are available.

Stockton also has a total of 321 full-time faculty members this year, up from 304 last year, with over 90 percent of the fac-ulty holding the highest degree available in their field.

Stockton University Ranked in Top 15

The Sara & Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center was recently ranked No. 1 Holocaust center by the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education. The center was recognized for providing the most number of programs and persons impacted.

Last year, the center hosted 95 events, with over 18,000 people in attendance, including 6,216 students and 804 Holocaust survivors.

“The content of the efforts has been excellent and the follow up of students, community and educators has indicated a high level of learning and a commitment to act on those skills,” said Paul B. Winkler, executive director of the commission.

“The achievements of the Sara & Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center are a team effort under the leadership of Dr. Robert Gregg, dean of the School of General Studies,” said Gail Rosenthal, director of the center. “The center brings together ‘town

and gown’ for seminars, workshops and lectures. The success of the center is directly linked to the positive support of Stock-ton students, faculty, staff, community members, Holocaust survivors, and local educators.”

Gail Rosenthal, Randi Posner, a retiring teacher from Charles W. Lewis Middle School in Blackwood, N.J., and Maddy and Harvey Rovinsky of Longport, N.J., at a July 28 event where educators met with Holocaust survivors and received copies of their memoirs.

Public Regional Universities of the North

S E P T E M B E R 1 0 , 2 0 1 5 V O LU M E 4 I S S U E N O . 4 9

Stockton has launched a Men of Color Retention Ini-tiative (MCRI) under the auspices of the Office of the Dean of Students to help these students improve their six-year graduation rate. Collectively, men of color have the lowest six-year graduation rates and the high-est transfer rates at Stockton University, which sug-gests an institutional connections issue versus an aca-demic issue.

The MCRI committee is creating a support network for these students by interacting with them early and often. When students feel connected and supported, they tend to graduate sooner, members said.

The committee is comprised of: Pedro Santana, dean of Students; Stephen Davis, associate dean of Students; Gerald Martin, assistant dean of Students; Darius

Edwards, complex director; and Jonathan Johnson, associate director of Residential Life; Melvin Gregory, assistant direc-tor of Admissions; Tomas Itaas, assistant director of the CARE Program; Carlos Martinez, assistant director of Counseling Services; and Walter Tarver, director of the Career Center.

At a dinner on Sept. 1 in the Campus Center, 20 students heard from alumni Tony Chapman and Jonathan Torres, as well as current seniors including Ellis Bonds, about the importance of keeping academics as a top priority and surrounding them-selves with friends who are motivated to study first, then party later.

“We have to create a family,” Davis told them, “and develop the Stockton community that will get you to be the Stockton graduate we all need you to be.”

Santana shared his experience of growing up in a Dominican neighborhood in New York City with parents who weren’t able to further their own educations, but wanted that for him. He said he went to school for 13 hours a day to complete the junior and senior years of high school in one year.

“When I got on the bus to go to the University of Buffalo at the age of 16, all I could see was my mother’s eyes and my baby brother’s eyes,” Santana said. “My parents had so much invested in me and I wanted to be a good example for my brother, too.”

He told the students that one mantra helped him: “‘Excuses will cripple you’ - so no excuses. Help each other. This is your shot and with a lot of love, we welcome you to our community.”

The committee members plan to introduce the students to support persons throughout the University and make sure they know about all the resources available to them, from personal mentors to tutors to fellowships and career counseling. Anyone who would like to become involved in the program should contact the Office of the Dean of Students at ext. 4645 for more information.

Staff Launch Men of Color Retention Initiative Mentor Program

Jonathon Johnson speaks to students in Stockton’s new Men of Color Retention Initiative program, housed in the Office of the Dean of Students.

Stephen Davis, Gerald Martin, Walter Tarver, Jonathon Johnson, Pedro Santana and Tomas Itaas at the MCRI program dinner on Sept. 1 in the Campus Center.

S E P T E M B E R 1 0 , 2 0 1 5 V O LU M E 4 I S S U E N O . 4 9

Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice Deeanna Button was selected as the 2015 recipient of Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences’ (ACJS) Victimology Section’s New Scholar Award.

The award recognizes a member of the Victimology Section who shows outstanding merit at the beginning of their career. Distinguished Professor of Criminal Justice Janice Joseph nominated Button for the award.

In a letter addressed to Button, the awards committee wrote it was “impressed with the breadth of the scholarship record you have built in such a short time-frame since earning your Ph.D. We were even more impressed in how you have found ways to bridge your research on LGBQ victims with your service at your college, as well as in the community, thereby making your research accessible to a broader audience and ultimately to have helped change policy regarding LGBQ youth.”

Button will receive the honorary plaque at this year’s Victimology Section general membership meeting which will be held during the ACJS annual meeting in Denver in March.

“I’m very honored to have been selected for such a wonderful award,” Button said. “Many thanks to my colleague Janice Joseph for nominating me and the awards committee for recognizing my work.”

CARE Program Holds Orientation for Faculty, Staff Mentors

Deeanna Button of CRIM Receives ACJS’ 2016 New Scholar Award

Faculty and staff members kicked off this semes-ter’s Coordinated Actions to Retain and Educate (CARE) Program at the mentor and mentee ori-entation held in the Campus Center Event Room on Sept. 9.

Tomas Itaas, assistant director of Student Reten-tion & Assessment, led the orientation for the CARE program, which was designed to assist stu-dents with overall academic and extra-curricular experiences at Stockton. About 100 students are participating in the CARE program this semester, he explained.

Thomasa Gonzalez, vice president for Student Affairs, welcomed about 20 of the 59 participat-ing faculty and staff mentors, thanking the mentors for their dedication and commitment to students.

“Students are the most important part of our mission here at Stockton,” she said. “This program has no budget, but because of your dedication, it is one of our most effective programs. I appreciate what you do.”

Lauren Wilson of Student Development; Cynthia McCloskey of Academic Advising; Christy Cunningham of the Career Center; and Lauren Fonseca of the Tutoring Center informed mentors of initiatives and services within their respective departments.

First-time mentor Juana Zegarra, an adjunct instructor in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, looks forward to learning more about the entire student experience at Stockton.

Lisa Warnock, coordinator of Event Services, is mentoring again for the second year.

“I’m eager to meet my student mentee,” she said. “He’s been responding instantly to everything I send, but he’s been busy in class so we haven’t actually met yet. I worked in Residential Life before Event Services, so this is a great way for me to interact with students again.”

Faculty, staff and student mentors in the CARE program met in the Campus Center Event Room for orientation on Sept. 9.

S E P T E M B E R 1 0 , 2 0 1 5 V O LU M E 4 I S S U E N O . 4 9

We want to know about things going on in the Stockton community. Do you have an unusual hobby? Did one of your co-workers win an award or perform outstanding public service? Births, weddings, graduations and the like are all good things to submit to The Stockton Times.

Contact the editor at 609-626-5521 or email StocktonTimes@stockton.edu.

News about distinguished students can now be found at Distinctive Stockton Students. To contribute a news item for the blog, please contact the editor at distinctive@stockton.edu.

Send Us Your News!

Alex Marino Volunteers as Celebrity Chef at Taste of the QuarterAlex Marino, assistant to the Provost for Atlantic City instruc-tional sites, served as a celebrity chef at the 8th annual Taste of the Quarter at Tropicana Casino & Resort in Atlantic City on Aug. 24. More than 20 Tropicana restaurants, bars and eateries teamed up for the event, which benefits the United Way of Great-er Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey in Atlantic County.

“All of the proceeds from the Taste of the Quarter go to the United Way’s Impact Fund,” said Marino, who serves as chair of the local United Way in Atlantic County.

The impact fund aims to deliver long-term solutions to the re-gion’s education, income, health and basic needs challenges.

“This year, 900 people attended, and we were able to raise $24,000 for the United Way,” he said.

Marino, who is an Atlantic County freeholder-at-large, has vol-unteered as a celebrity chef at the fundraiser for four consecutive years.

Several members of the Stockton community attended the event.

Joseph Rubenstein, Alex Marino and Jennifer Barr at the 8th annual Taste of the Quarter in Tropicana Casino & Resort on Aug. 24. Marino served as a celebrity chef at the fundraiser.

Essential Learning Outcomes (ELO) Launches New WebsiteEssential Learning Outcomes (ELO) recently launched a new website which reflects Stockton’s progress with ELO piloting and implementation.

The new site features include resources and rubrics, an archive of newsletters and research by Stockton faculty and staff.

“Creating and launching this website has required significant collaboration,” said Assistant Provost Carra Hood. “Thanks so much to John Smith, assistant to the Provost; Joe D’Agostino, associate director of Web Communications; Karen Quinn, assistant supervisor in Graphics; and Jena Brignola, professional services specialist in Graphics, for their teamwork and their talent with design and technology. The website would not have been ready for the start of the 2015-2016 academic year without their input and hard work.”

To view the new website, click here.