April 20, 2026

Dear William Paterson Faculty and Staff,

I am pleased to share two exciting pieces of news regarding the May 28 Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony at Newark’s Prudential Center. First, N.J. State Senator Benjie E. Wimberly will give the Commencement address and receive an honorary doctor of humane letters degree. A Paterson native and a strong supporter of higher education, Senator Wimberly is the first African American to serve in the New Jersey Senate from Passaic County. He serves on the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee and the Senate Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. He has served as director of recreation for the City of Paterson since 1998. Prior, he was a special education teacher and coach at Eastside High School. I know he will have wisdom to share and words to inspire our graduates.

At the ceremony, I will also have the pleasured of presenting the President’s Medallion, the highest honor available at William Paterson, to Vice President for Student Development Miki Cammarata. The President’s Medallion is awarded to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the University community and who provide a positive role model through their outstanding service. As she prepares to retire after 12 years of dedicated service to the University and our students, I can think of no more deserving example than Dr. Cammarata. 

A reminder that the first candidate to be our new Vice President for Student Development will be on campus today and tomorrow for a series of meetings and an Open Forum. Please click here to see the email I sent Friday, which has all the details.

Thank you to everyone who came out to Thursday’s Enrollment & Budget Forum and Tuition & Fees Hearing. A special thanks to Vice President for Finance & Administration and CIO Kirsten Loewrigkeit and Vice President for Enrollment Management George Kacenga for providing a lot of complex data in a clear and efficient manner, and to Board of Trustees Chair Michael Seeve for joining us to participate in the hearing and take questions. Please click here to view the presentation slideshow. As I said at the event, we are not out of the woods yet, but we can see the clearing. We are making strong enrollment gains and are in a better fiscal position than we have been for years, which should motivate us all to keep doing what we know is working on behalf of our current and prospective students.

Turning to enrollment, as of Saturday, we have 4,159 students registered for the Fall semester, representing a 1% decrease from this time last year. Main campus, full-time undergraduate registration is 3.01% ahead of this time last year, and main campus graduate full-time registration is 7.02% ahead. Please make sure to focus your efforts on helping students register before the end of the Spring semester. Domestic new student applications sit at 12,647, which is 3.11% ahead of last year, and new domestic first-year applications are at 8,985, 2.46% ahead of last year. There are currently 450 domestic first-year students deposited, which is 3.85% behind this time, last year. Yield for our incoming student cohorts will be critical toward meeting our enrollment goals, so the campus' support in these areas will be essential, as always, especially with our upcoming Spring Open House and Adult Learner Information & Networking Session taking place this Saturday, April 25. We have 544 RSVPs for this event, which is 4.6% ahead of last year. 

This week’s WP: We are Proud – Congratulations to all our senior intercollegiate student-athletes and club sport participants on their careers as William Paterson students and Pioneer competitors representing the Orange and Black! The Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and Recreation honored their accomplishments at a ceremony last week, where 56 senior intercollegiate student-athletes, 15 club sports seniors, and one senior who participated as both, were honored.

In addition to celebrating each of the seniors, several awards were bestowed that evening. Women’s basketball senior Renee Wells received the Roland Watts Award, given to a student-athlete who has demonstrated outstanding dedication and effort in their sport. Volleyball senior Kristian Glenn received the Senior Scholar-Athlete Award, given to the graduating senior student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA. Bowling team senior Chris Cugliari received the Senior Scholar-Athlete Award. Men’s soccer won the Pioneer Spirit Award, given to the student-athlete(s) who exhibited unparalleled pride and enthusiasm. In addition, 48 seniors received the Academic Excellence Award for maintaining an undergraduate cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better. And Dr. Miki Cammarata was acknowledged for her dedicated support of WP athletics and Pioneer student-athletes as both Vice President for Student Development and a fan. Congratulations, as well, to Director Kristen Foley and her entire Intercollegiate Athletics and Recreation team of coaches and staff, along with everyone across campus who has supported the success of these seniors. 

The Athletics ceremony was just the start of Senior Sendoff Season, so thanks to everyone who is helping to organize or otherwise support these events and the students they celebrate. Let’s make all of these occasions joyous ones for our senior Pioneers!