September 23, 2024

Dear William Paterson Faculty and Staff,

I hope everyone is doing well during this especially busy time of the semester. With so much going on in and out of your classrooms and offices, I want to draw your attention, in particular, to three upcoming events. This Thursday, September 26, I will host the semester’s first Office Hours for faculty and staff at 12:30 p.m. in the Hobart Manor Green Room. Then, on Tuesday, October 1, bestselling author and humorist David Sedaris will speak as part of the Distinguished Lecturer Series. There are still some seats available, but they are selling fast, so please click here to purchase tickets at a reduced employee rate if you would like to join us for what promises to be an entertaining evening. Finally, on October 3, we will host First Thursday in one of several special locations for the event this year. Please join us from 4:00-5:30 p.m. in UC211, where we will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Student Center. 

Turning to enrollment and retention, for Census I, our total enrollment is currently 5.14% ahead of this time last year at 9,942, which is 16.9% below our Census II goal. Main campus continuing enrollment is 8.1% below goal, compared to 3.3% behind goal last year. Continuing WP Online enrollment is 2% ahead of goal and 24.35% ahead of this time last year. First-year enrollment continues to trend well, with 1,038 students enrolled to date for the Fall semester, which is 17.55% ahead of last year's Census I. Main campus retention is currently 1.2% ahead of this time last year. 

We also have a lot of recent achievements to recognize across campus. Congratulations to Vice President George Kacenga and his Division of Enrollment Management and Student Success team, which hosted the Passaic County College Fair last week, drawing more than 1,500 attendees, including more than 500 students, who connected with a total of nearly 200 colleges and universities. Hosting these fairs is an especially great way to showcase our beautiful campus and strong offerings to prospective students and their families.

Congratulations to Neil Grimes, education and curriculum materials librarian in the Cheng Library, and everyone involved in the Real Men Read initiative, which is a 2024 Emerging Strategies Honoree as part of the Library of Congress Literacy Awards. The recognition includes a $5,000 award to the program to foster “literacy initiatives in their early stages of development that demonstrate significant creativity and promise in their approach to literacy.” Read, Excel, Achieve, and Lead (REAL) Men Read provides community engagement from male mentors and helps to encourage young boys to read.

Congratulations, also, to Vice President Stuart Goldstein and his Marketing and Public Relations team on winning five trophies recently at the 56th Annual NJ Ad Club Jersey Awards, including “Best of Collateral" and First Place for WP Powerhouse Multimedia Advertising Campaign (together with our agency, Ologie). The “Best of Collateral” was the top winner among that entire category of awards, including more than 100 individual winners. It recognizes the MPR/Ologie Powerhouse advertising campaign including print and digital billboards, bus ads, train ads, digital ads, and the landing page. It is great to see this work, which is successfully strengthening our brand, be recognized in the industry.

We have celebrated our wonderful diversity and powerful history at several recent events. On September 13-14, more than 100 Pioneers joined us for Black Alumni events honoring the 50th Anniversary of Black Studies at William Paterson. Following a Friday evening reception, alumni, faculty, and staff gathered Saturday morning for a walking tour of campus, beginning with the unveiling of a special plaque, which tells the story of the Black Student Union members whose 1969 protests led to the creation of the Black Studies program. It is the only academic program born directly of student initiative. I encourage you to check out the plaque the next time you are in the area of Raubinger Hall. Saturday also included Communiversity Day. It was great to see folks from every college and division come together to socialize and welcome alumni to the pre-game tailgate.

Last week also saw the kickoff event for our Latinidad Celebration 2024. The Latinidad community is a large and growing part of William Paterson, and I encourage everyone to check out Pioneer Life and take part in one of the events planned throughout the month. 

This week’s WP: We are Proud – Congratulations to Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and University Relations Guillermo de Veyga, Vice President for Student Development Miki Cammarata, and Associate Vice President Francisco Diaz, along with Director Donna Minnich Spuhler and the Campus Activities, Service and Leadership team for organizing and hosting last week’s New Jersey Ballot Bowl Kickoff. The Ballot Bowl is a friendly, nonpartisan competition among N.J. institutions to register the most college students. It is sponsored by New Jersey Lieutenant Governor Tahesha Way, who joined us for the event, as did several other elected officials, as well as New York Giants Kayvon Thibodeaux and Bobby Okereke, and Pio and their fellow college mascots from across the state. Most importantly, it attracted hundreds of William Paterson and other college students from our region to hear about the importance of voting and to register or check their registration status and make plans to vote. Thanks also to SGA President Teddy Lockhart and Trustee Idida Rodriguez for sharing their perspectives on the importance of voting. Thanks, as well, to Vice President Stuart Goldstein and his Marketing and Public Relations team for helping to generate and facilitate extensive positive media coverage of the event by NJ Spotlight News, WCBS, and The Record. Our student journalists also provided great coverage. When more college students vote, the issues that matter most to them get more attention, and we all win.

Have a great rest of September.