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My niece posted pictures to Facebook the other day of her two young children prior to departing for their first day of school. On the wall at our home in Indiana are pictures of our children’s first days over the years. Beyond holidays and birthdays, for parents, these are probably the photographs most routinely taken annually.
If your picture collection is like mine, this ritual ends with the goodbye moment when a child is first dropped off at college or heading out the door on the first day as a new college student if a commuter. For the now young adult, beyond the likely irritation of the photo-op desire, going to college is nevertheless up there as a rite of passage for them, and among the most consequential actions they will take in life. I recall my move-in day in 1981 at the University of Vermont with a mix of excitement, and great anxiety. Can I be successful here? Will I be successful here? Am I a fraud for even trying? For older adult students, such worries can be even stronger. I struggled, perhaps failed at this before; will it be different now? Can I balance this with my job and family responsibilities? What is a Blackboard?
Our new students, as you know, went through that initial ritual last week, some when they moved into their residence hall, others on the first day of class, and still others when they went online to unpack the details of a first course. For our Main Campus students, last week’s warm embrace at Welcome Day was a joy, aided by faculty and staff name badges normalizing the college experience, some festooned with stickers and badge ribbons signaling that many of us are not so different from them. Welcome Week activities have continued such messaging, and with the new addition of College Welcome events, making for a good start to the academic year.
Colleagues, we are back to school. Continue to engage our students in all the ways you know how, perhaps via continuing to wear your name badge for a few weeks. Early and positive connection matters as it lays an even stronger groundwork for their perseverance when things get tough and they confront those bad tapes in one’s head.
For your viewing pleasure, I have included a WP move-in picture from 1982 drawn from The Beacon and then one from 2025. Some things never change! Enjoy and thanks for what you do in the classroom and outside of it to make this a special place.
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Academic News
Strategic Planning Process This Fall. As the President mentioned in his State of the University Address, academic year 2025-26 will be a big moment of reflection on our future, and to build a new five-year Strategic Plan for approval by the Board of Trustees in June of next year. It will take us through 2030. Be watching for input opportunities to share thinking within the five emergent areas of (1) Access and Affordability, (2) Strategic Growth and Collaboration, (3) Enhancement of Academic Offerings and Support Services, (4) Infrastructure and Technological Advancement, and (5) Building Community, both internally and externally. This fall will also be an opportunity to finalize a master plan for the physical infrastructure of the University going forward.
Academic Affairs Address. Please mark your calendars for the annual Academic Affairs Fall Address Zoom Link on Friday, September 5 from 12:00 to 1:45 p.m. Provost Powers will kick it off by laying the groundwork for our fall focus on strategic planning, discussing and seeking input on what we see as or can be competitive advantages for us, as well as key drivers of strategic action, and map out priorities for academic year 2025-26. Each of the college deans will then follow suit from their perspectives including insights on the future of the disciplinary sectors of their colleges.
UCC News. As a result of the good work of many who proposed and carefully reviewed UCC 2.0 courses last year, UCC 2.0 is officially launched. Congratulations! We do have another busy year ahead though. As curriculum committees, review panels, and the UCC Council reconvene this year, there are proposals in the pipeline that need to be a priority. In addition, we still need new proposals for UCC Areas I, J, K, L, M, and N. In order to allow enough time for a new UCC 2.0 course to complete the review process before we open the Fall 2026 schedule for registration. Please submit proposals in Curriculog by November 14. Please reach out to Curriculog@wpunj.edu if you need immediate help entering or editing a proposal. A schedule of virtual Curriculog help sessions will be announced shortly.
Office of Sponsored Program News. OSP was actively engaged this summer. In addition to realizing approximately $1.7 million in new grant awards since May 1, and 15 new applications reflecting $5.4 million in requests, OSP provided Cayuse training sessions and sponsored webinars linked to federal changes and has been working with the internal auditor on a review of business processes and sponsored program policy. The office will keep engaged with national trends and strategic practices of other institutions to assist in utilizing funding to the fullest.
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Facts & Figures
Each August, the Chronicle of Higher Education puts out its annual Almanac. Here are a few noted facts and figures from the just-out 2025 issue and that utilize the most recent data available:
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14 states in 2025 signed into law anti-DEI legislation, on top of the 14 that did so in the past two years. None are in the Northeast.
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Almost one-third of all U.S. bachelor’s degrees awarded across 38 fields were in two disciplinary areas: business, management, marketing and related support services (364,371) and the health professions and related programs (251,097).
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Nearly one-third of New Jersey households speak a language other than English. Only Texas, with a modest proportion more, and California (nearing 50 percent) have a greater proportion.
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There were an estimated 111,084 high school graduates in New Jersey in 2024-25. Of those that even go to college (approximately 70 percent), roughly 40 percent go to college out of state. Hence, roughly 85 institutions in New Jersey (public, private, for-profit, two- and four-year) battle it out for around 47,000 potential new first-year students every year.
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Quotables
Summer is always a good time to catch up on reading. Here are some noted quotes from books or articles I read this summer. What was your favorite read this summer, from either a book or an article with respect to something linked to higher education or a quote from it? Would love to hear it; drop me an email.
"The work we do in college isn’t showcasing and arguing for preformed opinions. It is identifying, exploring, and attempting to answer challenging questions with integrity."
—Lara Hope Schwartz, Try to Love the Questions
"Open AI wants to embed its tools into every facet of college."
—Natasha Singer, "AI on Campus: Casting Chatbot as Study Buddy,"
The New York Times
"While LLMs [large language models, or AI] offer immediate convenience, our findings highlight potential cognitive costs. Over four months, LLM users consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels. These results raise concerns about the long-term educational implications of LLM reliance and underscore the need for deeper inquiry into AI's role in learning."
—Kosymyna, et al. article testing generative AI on learning
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The Provost’s Office is Brenda, Claudia T., Claudia C., Jonathan, Kara, Rhonda, Sandy, and Josh. You can reach us at
973.720.2122 • provost@wpunj.edu
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