Honors College Impact Report | 2019

The Honors College Our Impact and the Future

2019

Curiosity. Knowledge. Purpose.

Dear Friends of the Honors College, What an eventful four years it has been. In August of 2015, construction wrapped up at 5 Seminary Place and the Honors College at Rutgers University–New Brunswick opened its doors to an inaugural class of over 500 high-achieving students.

Now, these same students have graduated from Rutgers, moving on to prestigious graduate programs, coveted professional positions, international fellowships, high-impact community engagements, and new roles as Rutgers alumni.

That first September, we introduced our new class to our mission curriculum, the Honors College Forum, with its emphasis on critical skills and team-based social innovation. Students designed new technologies and initiatives, responding to challenges posed by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Supported by peer and faculty mentors, dedicated academic advising, student leadership opportunities, and professional development, the students quickly distinguished themselves.

With the opportunity to further develop their ideas after their first year, multiple teams launched from the Honors College Innovation Lab, pitching their

prize-winning plans at national and international competitions, including a

team that placed in the top ten at the global Hult Prize competition in London.

Other students went into advanced research, made public service commitments, and presented their work at our interdisciplinary Capstone Showcase. Four

admission cycles later, our most recent class is even more selective, raising the overall academic profile and reputation of Rutgers-New Brunswick yet again.

With the help, support, and partnership of colleagues, donors, Rutgers alumni,

parents, and students, we have built a nationally esteemed Honors College in just a

few years. As we prepare for the future, reflecting on the past and building upon the foundation we’ve established, we wanted to share this snapshot of our impact on our students, on Rutgers, and on the world.

Thank you, as always, for your support. We look forward to discussing with all of you how our momentum carries us onward as we continue to attract and educate some of the top academic talent in the world.

Matt Matsuda Academic Dean

Paul Gilmore Administrative Dean

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Background As envisioned by the University Strategic Plan of 2014, the Honors College at Rutgers– New Brunswick was created as part of an overall emphasis on raising the University’s

academic profile and reputation as it joined the Big Ten Academic Alliance, completed

its integration with the former University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and embarked on major capital construction and fundraising initiatives.

Charged with attracting and retaining top student talent within New Jersey

and from beyond, the Honors College has transformed the student experience,

building on a legacy of honors education at Rutgers–New Brunswick by offering something unprecedented.

More than an academic program, the Honors College is a complete living-and-learning experience, uniquely drawing together diverse students and faculty from the School of Arts and Sciences, School of Engineering, School of Environmental and Biological

Sciences, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers Business School, and Mason Gross

School of the Arts. Each year, 500 high-achieving first-year students form a wide-ranging

and inclusive community together with live-in faculty fellows and onsite deans and staff.

In subsequent years, liaisons, faculty, professional staff, and mentors connect students and affinity groups to Rutgers at large through cohort communities, fully integrating

the intellectual, professional, and personal development missions of both academic and student affairs, creating a four-year experience.

With both academics and student affairs in one living-learning community, the Honors College is driven to provide students with an interdisciplinary academic experience and co-curricular programs to learn the essential skills—critical thinking, problem

solving, social interaction, persistence, creativity, and introspection—that will help them contribute to society and succeed as alumni and professionals.

We, as a society, are asking a lot of our young people. Facing the uncertainties of a world defined by 9/11, the Great Recession, climate change, accelerating technologies, and

workforce upheavals across an interconnected globe, they instinctively recognize that

no single major or curriculum can prepare them for their own futures. They experience

the pressure of attending the “right” college, or lining up the “perfect” job at graduation, while being challenged by the world they will inherit.

At the Honors College, we prepare our students to meet those challenges by guiding them to explore and build their own paths and commitments. They learn that

personal success and changing the world are possible together—and that both require interdisciplinary learning and sophisticated technical and human skills. We provide

those by drawing on every discipline and form of expertise, in order to prepare students for complex, multi-dimensional challenges. At the same time, the Honors College staff delivers an extensive network of customized support: in-house academic advising, professional development, wellness programs, personal mentoring, and more.

With our mission-driven focus and the structural and institutional features of the Honors College, we are uniquely positioned to respond effectively to the changing needs of our students, society, and the world in the twenty-first century.

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Our Mission

To give students an education where intellectual curiosity, hands-on knowledge, diversity, collaboration, and giving back are central to their experience so that they may ultimately have a career with purpose.

Our Impact •

AS A MAGNET for attracting and retaining top students from New Jersey and

across the nation, Honors College recruitment efforts have attracted approximately 30% more high-achieving students per year. Since we began, the average SAT of Rutgers–New Brunswick has increased more than 100 points.

•

AS A LABORATORY for the University as a whole: the first honors entity at

Rutgers–New Brunswick to unite the six admitting undergraduate schools; a living-

learning community with complete integration of academic and student affairs; and a major partner for collaboration with the Office of Undergraduate Admissions,

Douglass Residential College, Rutgers Global, the school-based honors programs, Residence Life, the Aresty Undergraduate Research Center, the Byrne Seminars,

Student Affairs, the Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement, among others.

•

AS AN ENGINE for creating more resources for all of the University’s students,

by attracting business and industry leaders committed to pipeline, research, and

workforce development initiatives with highly skilled and educated young talent.

•

AS A LEADER, in just four years, being recognized as a model for other AAU and Big Ten Academic Alliance honors colleges, being invited to and hosting national

meetings. One of only three Big Ten honors colleges to be ranked in the highest tiers

by Inside Honors.

•

AS A LAUNCH PAD for exceptional accomplishment. In our short history, Honors College students have already captured major national and global awards and

fellowships, including the Schwarzman, Truman, Goldwater (three in two years), and Fulbright, and recognitions from the Hult Prize and Clinton Global Initiative University.

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Attracting Top Talent

HONORS COLLEGE ACTIVE STUDENT POPULATION FALL 2019

EXCELLENCE AND DIVERSITY One of the chief goals of the Honors

At the same time, the Honors College

University’s overall academic reputation

and diversity are connected. In creating

New Jersey while attracting increasing

than any other honors program in the

out-of-state and abroad. By any measure,

students admitted to our six participating

and our six partner schools, including

factors including academic achievement,

program, we have succeeded. In the

familial circumstances. Our student body

founded, the average SAT at Rutgers-

Brunswick, one of the most diverse

points, with the average student’s SAT

year approximately 10% of our incoming

88th percentile. Each year, 85-90% of

students, with many more being in the

that the Honors College impacted their

college in the US. Approximately one-

third of them indicating that they would

for need-based aid, and about 11% are

each class, invitations to the Honors

among the financially neediest students.

College has been to help improve the

demonstrates that academic excellence

by retaining more top students from

a student community more diverse

numbers of high-achieving students from

Big Ten, the Honors College invites

with the help of University Admissions

schools through a holistic evaluation of

their funding of the merit scholarship

service commitments, and personal and

four years since the Honors College was

largely mirrors that of Rutgers–New

New Brunswick has gone up over 100

research universities in the world. Each

moving from the 83rd percentile to the

students are first-generation college

Honors College incoming students report

first generation of their family to attend

decision to attend Rutgers, with a full

third of our students would qualify

not have otherwise chosen Rutgers. With

eligible for Pell grants, placing them

College have become more selective, with

Nearly one-fourth of our students come

consistently around 1500 and the median

33 different states, Puerto Rico, and more

the average SAT of the incoming class

above 1510. Those scores rank among the

SEBS 11%

SAS 52% MGSA MGSA EMSOP RBS SAS SEBS SoE

100 90

from beyond New Jersey, representing

90

60 80 70

50 60

30

20 20

10 TEN COLLEGES WITH THE HIGHEST AVERAGE SAT SCORES

10

AVERAGE SAT

AVERAGE SAT

00

AVERAGE SAT

1340

1530 1500 1496 1490 1490

67.9

2018 RU-NB, 1299

2017 RU-NB, 1294

2019 RU-NB, 1304 2018 RU-NB, 1282

2015 RU-NB, 1226

2017 RU-NB, 1276

2016 RU-NB, 1229

1300 1280 1260 1240 1220

1550

AEVERAGE SAT SOURCE: DATA BASED ON US NEWS & WORLD REPORT (SEP. 2019) AND HC ENTERING CLASS OF 2019

2014 RU-NB, 1216

2016 RU-NB, 1207

2015 RU-NB, 1215

With HC

Without HC

46 46

46

43

43 43

39.8

39.8

39.8

27 21.3

27

27 23.7 23.7

23.7

22.3

20.5

13.2

17.3 11.1

HC-NB RU-NB UM-CP UM-CP UI-UC UMich MSU HC-NB HC-NB RU-NB UI-UC IU UMich

PSU IU

20.2

20.2

20.2

19.9 19.9

19.9 21.3

18

21.3 18

URM

1218 12

DIVERSITY

URM

17.3 17.3

22.3

1213.2

20.5

11.1

DIVERSITY

1320

2019 RU-NB, 1317

1470 1470

1500

SoE

67.9 67.9

30 40

1450

SEBS

70

than 10 countries.

50

1400

SAS

DIVERSITY AND UNDERREPRESENTED POPULATION PERCENTAGES OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN THE HONORS COLLEGE AND AMONG THE MOST DIVERSE PUBLIC BIG TEN UNIVERSITIES

40

1450 1450

RBS

80

(see chart).

1460 1450

EMSOP

MASON GROSS SCHOOL OF THE ARTS ERNEST MARIO SCHOOL OF PHARMACY RUTGERS BUSINESS SCHOOL SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES SCHOOL OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

100

exceeding most Ivy League institutions

RU-NB HonorsCollege College RU-NB Honors Harvey Mudd College University of Chicago Johns Hopkins Washington, St. Louis Harvard Carnegie Mellon Columbia Vanderbilt

EMSOP 4%

RBS 15%

highest of any university in the country,

Caltech MIT

MGSA 3%

SoE 15%

1200 1180

NOTE: DIVERSITY STUDENT POPULATION CONSTITUTES ASIAN, MORE THAN ONE RACE, AFRICAN AMERICAN, LATINO/HISPANIC, AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKA NATIVE, AND HAWAIIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER. UNDERREPRESENTED STUDENT POPULATION CONSTITUTES AFRICAN AMERICAN, LATINO/HISPANIC, AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKA NATIVE, AND HAWAIIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER.

WIDER IMPACT

SCHOLARSHIPS

Beyond the Honors College, our efforts

The merit scholarship program funded by

Rutgers’ overall academic reputation,

at Rutgers–New Brunswick overall. Led

Office, and generous donors has played

their selecting us. As we move on, we

have had a deep impact on recruitment

by our Dean of Admissions and Director of Marketing, in concert with University Admissions, we reach out to thousands of academically talented high school

students each year through a series of mailings emphasizing the quality of

students and opportunities at the Honors College and at Rutgers as a whole. While

many of these students eventually receive invitations to the Honors College, many do not. Each year, approximately 500

students who have received our mailings and are not admitted to the Honors

College nonetheless join the Rutgers–

New Brunswick student body, usually

without any merit award, in the process helping to contribute to our overall

academic reputation. The Honors College student body on its own has raised the

average SAT for Rutgers–New Brunswick by between 11 and 22 points, but this “spillover” effect of attracting more

top students who are not in the Honors College helps to explain the overall increase of more than 100 points.

the participating schools, the President’s a major role in leading these students to choose Rutgers over our main

competitors, which include Cornell,

Princeton, UPenn, NYU, Carnegie Mellon, Northeastern, and Drexel. Each incoming class has received an aggregate total of approximately $7.5m in scholarships

for their first year, with their individual awards from the participating schools continuing as long as they maintain

their GPAs. In addition to school-based scholarships, two new students each

year receive funding as Harvey Schwartz

Scholars, and this year, through a donor’s support, we have inaugurated the

Opportunity Scholarship to fund Rutgers Future Scholars who join the Honors

and its diversity as key reasons for

look forward to working more closely

with Institutional Research, University

Admissions, the schools, and our donors, in developing more holistic ways of reviewing our candidates and more

strategic ways of using our scholarship funds to strengthen our student body’s diversity in every way, including

academic interests, socioeconomic background, and geography.

Special thanks to Harvey Schwartz (LC ’87) and Annie Hubbard for their support of the Harvey Schwartz Scholarship, to Mia Park (RC ’87) for funding the Opportunity Scholarship, to Gary Chropuvka (RC ‘93) for establishing the Goldman Sachs Scholars Fund, and to Joshua Landes (RC ’84) for his continued and generous support of our emergency fund.

College. Select Honors College students receive scholarship support through Goldman Sachs Scholars Fund, the

Johnson & Johnson Women in STEM2D

Fund, as well as a fund created by a large anonymous donation, and, in extreme

situations, an emergency fund supported by other students, parents, and donors.

At the same time, the majority of our students rank the Honors College,

When Steven Haverlock (’19, SAS/HC) was considering college in the spring of 2015, his choice came down to an Ivy League school or the Rutgers Honors College. Now embarking on a career in human resources with a Fortune 100 company, his decision to join the inaugural class of the Honors College led to an incredible four years, from performing with the Glee Club, to serving as an Honors College Ambassador, to being recognized with the Chancellor’s Champion of Diversity and Inclusion Award. He continues to serve the Honors College as a consultant for our Gen HC program.

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Mission-Driven Curricula AN EDUCATION FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

THE FORUM AND INNOVATION LAB

The Honors College curriculum

The Forum is the mission course of the

of the twenty-first-century world.

students with a common academic

highlights the complexity and diversity Through it, we stress a global vision,

with a strong emphasis on intercultural competencies, local and international

knowledge, and working with diverse communities. Live-in faculty fellows have brought perspectives from

history, engineering, communications, and environmental science, as well as deep interests in crafts, cooking, and

music. Faculty from across the schools teach coursework as Interdisciplinary Honors Seminars or departmental

honors sections. Our contract course

system allows professors to initiate new curricular offerings on an

individualized basis. We place experiential learning at

the foundation, beginning

with our mission course, and emphasize the importance of undergraduate

research opportunities.

Sulis, a team of three Honors College students and one recent Rutgers graduate (from left) Ari Mendelow (‘18, SOE), Yuki Osumi (‘20, SAS/HC), Anurag Modak (‘20, SAS/HC), and Sarah Pomeranz (‘20, RBS/ HC/DRC), competed in the 2018 Summer Accelerator Program in London for the Hult Prize, often called “the Nobel Prize for students,” surpassing approximately 25,000 teams worldwide to finish among the top 10. Their innovative water purification device was conceived in the Honors College Forum and nurtured in the upper-level Honors College Innovation Lab, before moving on to prototyping and field testing in two communities in India.

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Honors College, providing first-year experience. Through project-based

learning leading to a social innovation idea that tackles one or more United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals

(SDGs), the course introduces students to the importance and challenges of global problem-solving in local contexts and

3.81 Average GPA of our first class of graduating Honors College Scholars

to their roles as “Innovation Citizens.”

year, the most committed and innovative

speakers and also features small breakout

course, led by our Director of Innovation.

collaboration among the entire Honors

onsite Maker Space, teams professionalize

the breadth of schools and disciplines

guidance of a team of entrepreneurs and

the essential questions defining human

and work to commercialize their ideas by

learn how to transform ideas into action.

social innovation ventures, these teams

and the UN SDGs, we provide a vehicle

innovation competitions, with remarkable

to develop traits and non-cognitive

Innovation Lab, teams have secured over

social awareness, persistence, creativity,

first place at the Newark Innovation

contribute meaningfully to society and to

place at the NJ Tech Council Innovation

The Forum brings in distinguished guest

teams move on to our Innovation Lab

sections that emphasize interdisciplinary

Through the Innovation Lab and our

College cohort, as students representing

their projects to launch under the

work together to investigate some of

venture investors. As they plan, strategize,

existence in the twenty-first century and

transforming their concepts into actual

Through our focus on social innovation

begin to compete in entrepreneurial and

for all first-year Honors College students

success. In just the first three years of the

skills—critical thinking, problem solving,

$75,000 to support their projects, winning

and introspection—that allow them to

Acceleration Challenge, a shared second

succeed in life.

Challenge, the Engaging Race Award

Each year, through the Forum, more than

Scholars, invitations to the KIND

social innovation projects in both oral

and acceptance to the Clinton Global

from the National Society of Collegiate

100 teams create and pitch their ideas for

Foundation Entrepreneurship Summit,

and written form. In their sophomore

Initiative University. Most notably, Sulis (see panel) finished in the top 10 in the global Hult Prize competition.

INTERDISCIPLINARY EDUCATION In addition to the Forum and other honors classes, all Honors College

students are required to take at least

one Interdisciplinary Honors Seminar, offered with the school-based honors

programs through the School of Arts and Sciences and School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. Faculty from

our partner schools offer these seminars,

SUMMER READING AUTHORS PAUL FARMER To Repair the World, co-founder of Partners in Health, global health expert, Harvard professor AMARA LAKHOUS Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio, distinguished Algerian-Italian-American novelist JOSHUA DAVIS Writer, journalist, film-producer, magazine publisher, author of Spare Parts, an account of undocumented high-school teenagers, robotics, and “the battle for the American Dream”

STEVEN PINKER Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, renowned cognitive scientist and public intellectual, Harvard professor AMITAV GHOSH The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable, award-winning Indian-American novelist and writer

providing students with an opportunity to think about complex problems and issues across disciplinary boundaries

EXPERIENTIAL AND INTERNATIONAL LEARNING

trajectories. For the faculty, the seminars

expand our students’ learning well beyond the traditional classroom. Working

research or for course development,

collaborations with the Cancer Institute, the Children’s Hospital, and other

undergraduates to join them on

& Johnson and Colgate Palmolive, we have exposed our students to a range of

these courses, our students build upon the

class participated in formal, faculty-supervised research during their time at

topics from “Presidential Elections in

school and the job market. All of our students must complete a senior capstone,

Human Anatomy” to “Russian Literature

as they develop their own ideas and projects under the extensive support and

disciplinary lenses. In the past three years

national and international conferences and to publish in professional journals.

expanded for Honors College-Douglass

Equally important in complementing classroom learning with real world

intensive, donor-funded January course

Rutgers and the United States. Working closely with Rutgers Global and with the

(STEAM) that involves a week-long stay

experiences, we provide support for our students to study abroad from Chile

museums, laboratories,

service-learning trips over summer, winter, or spring break dedicated to community

or outside of traditional disciplinary

At the core of our mission is leveraging the power of experiential education to

are often a springboard for their own

with partners such as the Aresty Research Center and developing innovative

while offering access to promising

programs in the medical school as well as corporate partners such as Johnson

collaborative research projects. Through

research opportunities. Through our support, nearly 75% of our first graduating

foundation of the Forum as they explore

Rutgers, helping them to explore their interests and hone their skills for graduate

US History” to a “Molecular View of

emphasizing sustained research in a discipline (or as fits an interdisciplinary focus)

and Revolution,” through a variety of

engagement by faculty. The experiences have led many of our students to present at

this interdisciplinary focus has been

Residential College women through an

experience in the lab, the field, and the archive is expanding learning beyond

on the intersection of science and art

help of endowed scholarships and an Academic Adviser with a portfolio in global

in New York with hands-on visits to

and Kenya to the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Many also participate in

and studios. More than a third of the students

in our first graduating class finished with

either double-majors,

double-minors, or both.

work around food insecurity, sustainability, or public health. They

RECENT INTERDISCIPLINARY HONORS SEMINARS WITH EMBEDDED TRAVEL

also take Interdisciplinary Honors Seminars linked to week-long

Anti-Apartheid and Civil Rights, South Africa

Poland, China, and South Africa. In our first graduating class,

China’s Capitals Across Time, China Dominican Transnational Cultures, Dominican Republic

honors faculty-led experiences around the world, immersing

themselves in political, social, and cultural issues in Brazil, Spain, nearly 25% of the students pursued study abroad.

Special thanks to John Adams (RC ’65) and The Foundation for the Advancement of Justice through Education for their support of the HC Forum, Navesink Wealth Management for funding the Annual Navesink Lecture, and Barbara Rodkin (DC ‘76) for funding the DRC-HC STEAM project.

Special thanks also to James Dougherty (RC ’74, GSNB ’75) and Mia Park (RC ’87) for their support of study abroad scholarships.

Medieval Cluny, Christendom and Islam, France

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Community and Leadership

Approximately

20,000

BELONGING AND RESPECT:

Service Hours Completed by the Inaugural Class in the first 3 years

A SCHOLARLY COMMUNITY

While the Honors College facility is our

That first year also allows us to more

center of Honors College programs and

students to the range of resources and

students’ first home on campus and the events, we emphasize to our students

that the Honors College is not a building; it is first and foremost a community.

With our focus on community, we strive to imbue our students with a sense of belonging and respect, working with

them to accept the challenges that our diversity of backgrounds, beliefs, and

perspectives bring. In the first year, all

our students reside in the Honors

College building, providing them with a tight-

knit community of similarly

high-achieving, dedicated, and hard-working students

and with a

foundation for

the rest of their

time at Rutgers.

SaraAnn Stanway (’19, SAS/HC/DRC), Riley Link (’19, SAS/HC/ DRC), and Katie Parrish (’19, SEBS/HC/DRC) were on a mission this summer with The Dream Project to cross the country by bike to help raise $40,000 for Elijah’s Promise in New Brunswick. Thirty-five hundred miles later they are ready for what’s next. Katie, a recipient of the Chancellor’s Research Excellence Award and the Chancellor’s Leadership Award, continues to volunteer while pursuing work in sustainability and climate change. SaraAnn, a computer science major, is working for Bloomberg, and Riley continues to work to address food insecurity through a one-year Emerson National Hunger Fellowship.

intentionally and intensively expose

opportunities we and the University provide. Our students are Rutgers

students—they participate in almost every activity our large University provides,

HONORS COLLEGE STUDENT LEADERSHIP GROUPS

from Division 1, club, and intramural

sports to Greek life, from professional

organizations and student government to arts and performance troupes and

community service organizations. Because our students are members and leaders of the larger University community, their

community expands outward into honors cohort housing across the campuses in

their sophomore and following years. We continue to support them with advising,

• • • • • • • • • •

Student Advisory Board HC Ambassadors HC Ally HC Alumni Society Diversity Peer Educators Community Liaisons Mentors-in-Residence Mentoring Pod Program HC Media Team Alumni and Employer Engagement Board

•

HC Serves

professional development programs,

mentored research opportunities, and coand extra-curricular activities. With the

continuation of the school-based honors programs and the inauguration of the

Honors College, Rutgers–New Brunswick has doubled its honors population to

nearly 1,000 entering students each year.

signature HC Speaks events, for example, we bring experts on controversial topics

into the community to share insights and to help our students practice modes of

civil discourse even when they are most impassioned. Through our Diversity

Peer Educators program and our Student

We emphasize the centrality of

community to the Honors College

from our recruitment efforts through

Wellness Committee, our students engage with each other—and advise us—on

graduation and

beyond. In both

our curriculum and our programming, we work with

our students to

understand what being a part of

our community

means. Through our

how we can create an inclusive and healthy

CHANCELLOR’S OUTSTANDING SERVICE AWARD WINNERS Kaitlyn San Miguel (2018) Sam Snyder (2018) Nick Brennan (2019) Annie Zhang (2019)

environment where they all can strive together

to do their best, not as competitors, but as colleagues.

STUDENT

LEADERSHIP AND

STUDENT LEADERSHIP AND SERVICE More than 150 Honors College students serve their

peers as student leaders within the community each year, on the Student Advisory Board, as mentors, as ambassadors, as learning assistants in our mission class, and more. At the core of this community

are the organic relationships that develop from

intellectually motivated students living and working together, relationships strengthened by an array of

structured programs such as Faculty Fellows dinners,

monthly Coffeehouses where students perform, and annual events such as the Winter Ball and the Class of 1970 Geek Week activities.

While our emphasis is on fostering a strong bond among our students, many of these events are open to all Rutgers students, and we stress to our students the importance

of building collaborative relationships with others, both in and outside of the walls of

the Honors College – and into the community. As such, all Honors College students are required to perform at least 30 hours of approved community service, a commitment

that many of our students greatly exceed. Beyond their requirement, our students have

led the way in service and philanthropy, founding A2E, a tutoring program at Roosevelt

A2E is a tutoring program founded by first-year Honors College students in 2015 who had a desire to connect with the New Brunswick community and fill a void in elementary school children’s everyday life skills and school work.

Now in its fourth year, the program has involved hundreds of Rutgers student volunteers who tutor students of the Roosevelt Elementary School several days a week in partnership with the New Brunswick-based non-profit Youth Empowerment Services. Following the launch of the program, two of the founding students, Eshan Kaul (left, ’19, SEBS/HC) and Nick Pellitta (’19, SAS/ HC), presented their work at the Clinton Global Initiative University, and have gone on to RWJ medical school and the Schwarzman Scholarship, respectively.

Elementary School in New Brunswick, that draws on more than 100 student volunteers each year from across RU-NB, and winning distinction as individuals through the

Chancellor’s Outstanding Service Award (two of three students honored in 2018, two

of three in 2019), and as a group by consistently placing among the leaders for Rutgers Dance Marathon, Rutgers Relay for Life, and Rutgers Giving Day.

HONORS COLLEGE ALTERNATIVE BREAK SERVICE TRIPS NEW ORLEANS Project Lazarus, housing and support for people living with HIV/AIDS

WEST VIRGINIA Growing Green: Urban Farming in a Food Desert with Grow Ohio Valley

WACO, TEXAS World Hunger Relief Farm

NEW BRUNSWICK Our Community, Our Home: Understanding and Serving New Brunswick, Education, Food Insecurity, Homelessness

Support for Success The Honors College attracts some of the most talented students from New Jersey, across the United States, and beyond. At the same time, we ask a great deal of them—not

only to maintain stellar academic credentials but also to grow and develop as complete

human beings as they explore their interests and the problems of the world that they are inheriting. For them to have the greatest chance of success, they need a multi-layered

system of support involving their peers, the Honors College and its campus partners, and our broader community, family, and friends.

75% of graduating Honors College students held internships while at Rutgers

Providing expanded access to personal advising and mentoring, an immersive living experience, and the advanced learning and research opportunities befitting an AAU

institution, the Honors College offers a fully integrated support

system, organized to engage students in every dimension of their experience throughout their years at Rutgers and beyond. Whether managing the particular

needs of student athletes, underrepresented

students, professional school candidates, or

individuals in identity transition, the Honors College supports students individually and holistically, looking at the implications of class scheduling, housing and residence

life, support or self-care services, financial aid ramifications, personal and academic

advising, and professional development

even beyond graduation­­­—all through

one office.

Honors College students (L-R) Alex Nguyen (‘21, RBS/HC), Zaynab Khan (‘21, SAS/HC), and Justin Lee (‘21, RBS/HC), who make up the Derma Dapper team, took their iPatch concept all the way to center stage in just a few months to become finalists in L’Oreal’s Brandstorm Innovation Challenge in Paris.

Competing against 90 teams as one of two to represent the United States, the team’s concept utilizes controlled heat-assisted drug delivery technology to treat dark under-eye circles while delivering melatonin as a sleep aid.

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Gary Rodkin (RC’74, MBA) never stops giving back to Rutgers, serving as Vice Chairman of the Board of Overseers and as Executive in Residence, while also sharing his support and his years of experience with Honors College students. Having served for 10 years until 2015 as CEO of Fortune 200 company ConAgra Foods, and currently serving as Fellow of Executive Education at Harvard Business School where he earned his MBA and as Chairman of the Board for Feeding America among several other key posts, he meets with Honors College students for an annual masterclass focused on preparing them for leadership at Rutgers and beyond. He presented the Honors College Convocation address to the inaugural graduating class in May, 2019.

WEEKLY FACULTY FELLOWS PROGRAMS MMM AND FAMILY DINNERS Music, Machines, and Munchies with Professor Aaron Mazzeo, Jonina Mazzeo, and their children, family dinners, and guests OPEN KITCHEN WITH DEAN MATSUDA A chance for students to come together in preparing a meal CHILI WITH CHAYKO Chili and other treats, plus special guests, with Professor Mary Chayko CRAFT NIGHTS Knitting and other crafting for service with Professor JeanMarie Hartman

ACADEMIC ADVISING, STUDENT AFFAIRS, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT This kind of integration is mirrored in our

program), and with

Success Collaborative (SSC) predictive

opening their homes to

Advising office, which piloted the Student analytics advising platform at Rutgers– New Brunswick, and is charged with

providing support to students pursuing

majors across the University. Beyond the

six admitting undergraduate schools, the Honors College supports students and

shares resources with Douglass Residential College, the Office for Diversity and Academic Success in the Sciences

(ODASIS), Rutgers Future Scholars, and

RU-1st. The Honors College team embod-

live-in faculty fellows

the students and introducing them to other

faculty. We also deliver sup-

port to our students through our

many campus partnerships, such as

with Counseling and Psychological Ser-

vices (CAPS), through which we have an embedded counselor-in-residence

available in the building for drop-in appointments for students.

ies this range, with backgrounds in the

One of our students’ most important

Fund (EOF) program, academic advising,

ni network. Beyond donations and finan-

state-sponsored Educational Opportunity student affairs, the corporate sector,

residence life, multicultural program-

ming, service learning, student access,

and professional development. As such, support for our students comes in a

variety of forms, from the individualized and dedicated academic advising staff and a Dean of Professional Develop-

ment, through advanced Honors College students acting as mentors-in-residence and HC Ally (a one-on-one mentoring

resources is the Rutgers University alum-

Akshay Kamath (‘19, SAS/HC) has presented alongside Bill Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative University, been chosen among an international pool of 3,000 to attend the MIT-Harvard Medical School Healthcare Innovation Bootcamp, and recognized as a Forbes Under 30 Scholar. He has been on a path with purpose throughout his life, from volunteering at soup kitchens and in homeless shelters when he was younger to serving as vice president of the Rutgers chapter of Circle K, an international service organization, and leading a medical and public health mission trip to Panama.

During his years at Rutgers, he focused on bringing the Nutrifier, a device imagined in the Honors College Forum and developed in the HC Innovation Lab, to children who need it most.

cial support, Rutgers alumni have given

their talents and time to our student body

in a variety of formats, especially in terms of career development. Sharing their sto-

ries and expertise through master classes and more casual dinners and gatherings,

Rutgers alumni provide our students with tangible examples of the success they can achieve, of the different and unexpected

routes life takes, and of the importance of community and hard work.

SELECTED HONORS COLLEGE FORUM PRESENTERS ZACK BRISSON

Co-founder and chief strategist, REBOOT, a seminal social impact organization working with global actors and agents in government, civil society, and philanthropy.

DAVID BROZA

Israeli singer and songwriter renowned for dozens of folk, rock, and pop albums and his commitment as a peace activist.

Recognized as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF.

JULIA BUNTAINE

International artist-innovator in neuroscience and studio art, founder of SciArt magazine, and inaugural director of STEM+Art for Douglass women at the Honors College.

JOY BUOLAMWINI ◊

Computer scientist, digital activist, entrepreneur, and researcher at MIT Media Lab; Hidden Figures Award winner, Algorithmic Justice League founder, and social expert on artificial intelligence.

HOWARD R. CABOT, J. D. ]

Internationally recognized trial lawyer and human rights advocate at Perkins Coie and moral leadership professor known for defending a Guantanamo Bay prisoner in a landmark case.

GARY COHEN ]

Executive vice president, global health and president, board foundation, Becton Dickinson & Co. Recognized corporate social responsibility advocate and leader of collaborations between international agencies, governments, and NGOs.

] RUTGERS ALUMNI

BATOOL HASSAN ]

AMY TOWERS

DAVE ISAY

DR. NINA VASAN ◊

Director of Leadership, Acumen Fund, runs global fellows programs, partnerships, and trainings for international leaders to address poverty and social injustice through microfunding and business development.

Founder, the award-winning global oral history project StoryCorps; NPR correspondent, author, speaker, and radio producer with six Peabody Awards and a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship.

TANIA LEON

Renowned Cuban-born composer and conductor noted for her work related to education, politics, art, culture and Latino society. Highly regarded artistic director and arts adviser for multiple organizations.

LARRY RUFF ]

Board Director, former CEO of Eat Real, and Vice Chair of Fair Trade, USA. Noted speaker recognized for work with responsible companies and farmers and conscious consumers, and a lead certifier of Fair Trade products.

NICK SAUL

Humanitarian and philanthropist, former hedge-fund manager, board member for UNICEF, Human Rights Watch, and founder of NGO Nduna, providing aid to African countries for food security, HIV/AIDS, education, conservation, and wildlife restoration.

Renaissance woman: Harvard BA in Government, Harvard Medical School MD, Stanford MBA, co-author of Do Good Well: Your Guide to Leadership, Action, and Social Innovation, and founder of Brainstorm, integrating community health care with brain research.

SHANKAR VEDANTAM ◊

Host of the nationally syndicated Hidden Brain NPR podcast series, journalist, and author of The Hidden Brain, popular science writer on human cognition, psychology, and social, economic, political, and cultural behaviors.

VILLAGE PLAYBACK THEATRE

Improvisation company, utilizing drama, music, movement, and overlapping narratives to build personal storytelling experiences with audiences. Recognized for work with artists guilds, prisons, schools, and community centers.

President and CEO of Community Food Centres Canada, noted food and social justice activist and author. Former executive director of The Stop Community Food Centre for access to healthy food, gardening space, and resources for low-income communities.

◊ NAVESINK WEALTH MANAGEMENT ENDOWED HONORS COLLEGE SERIES GUEST LECTURERS

11

Into the World A LIFE WITH PURPOSE The central goal of all that we do for our students—from academic advising to social

events, from study abroad scholarships to research opportunities—is to put them in the

Fall 2018 PERCENTAGE OF GRADUATING STUDENTS WHO COMPLETED ALL HONORS COLLEGE REQUIREMENTS

63.70%

57.90%

best position to find a life with purpose. With our first graduating class, we are beginning

63.7

to see all those plans come to fruition, as our students leave Rutgers to begin careers, to

volunteer in their communities, and to continue their education. As our first alumni, they will play an essential role in continuing our success, and as we move forward, develop-

57.9

ing and maintaining strong connections with our alumni, as well as the broader Rutgers alumni community, will become increasingly important. Working closely with the Honors College Alumni Society and its co-chairs, Annie Zhang (‘19, SAS/HC) and Krishna

Varre (‘19, SAS/HC), we are already planning events for the coming year and ways for our new alumni to remain involved through recruitment, networking, and social programs. In the future, this network will become an incredible resource for our students as they move out into the world.

Nationwide NationwideAverage Average HC-NB HC-NB Inaugural InauguralClass Class SOURCE: PUBLIC UNIVERSITY HONORS

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A LABORATORY FOR THE UNIVERSITY

In the past four years, the Honors

Rutgers–New Brunswick. In this and

new team-based innovation project curric-

laboratory for the University as a whole,

College has served as a place to develop

ula; to create a unique community integrating residence life, academic programming, and student affairs initiatives; to bring

together faculty and students from across

our six schools; and to connect Rutgers as a whole with leading alumni and corporate partners. The Honors College offices of Academic Affairs and Student Affairs work in tandem, developing and

supporting initiatives in professional development, service learning and

community engagement, first-generation

support, and upper-class engagement and retention initiatives.

By coordinating services and initiatives across units and schools, the Honors

College models methods for creating a more integrated student experience at

other ways, the Honors College acts as a a place to experiment with innovative

co-curricular programs and initiatives that can potentially be scaled. Because of our cross-school structure, we have unique strategic partnerships to develop

coursework for students with medical school faculty and scholarships for dedicated initiatives to support women in STEM fields with Johnson & Johnson. Further

alliances across the University

are in development in the form of Living Labs in partnership with

the School of Environmental and

Biological Sciences, new research

opportunities, and the expansion of the Innovation Lab to encompass more students.

Krishna Varre (’19, SAS/HC) and Annie Zhang (’19, SAS/HC) have an important job—as co-chairs of the Honors College Alumni Society for the inaugural graduating class of the Honors College, they will be helping to build the alumni experience and working with the next class of seniors to help them transition to life after college. Krishna is newly employed by Vanguard and Annie by Becton Dickinson.

Into the World MOVING FORWARD

As we engage our fifth class, we recommit ourselves to our central goal of being the most diverse, well-rounded, integrated honors college in the US, with some of the top students, quantitatively, but, more important, some of the students most likely to make a positive impact on the world due to their commitment to curiosity, knowledge, and purpose. All of our other goals follow directly from this imperative.

Development

In partnership with the Rutgers University

closely with Rutgers Future Scholars

similar programs, and further accentuating

endowment for scholarships and operating

to identify and reach potential, often

and wellness in all its facets.

College and Rutgers opportunities.

Student experience

support for global experiences; providing

Moving forward, we will be guided by

vide a space—through programming, ad-

suing research opportunities; and creating

school districts are we having the most/

students are empowered to explore their

especially underrepresented students?

than avoid failure and meet others’ expec-

choosing to attend rather than coming to

Our goal is for students to truly embrace

most attractive to those who did attend?

ity, social impact, diversity of background

sions, we will continue to develop an

but also in their everyday experiences

from school visits by student ambassa-

ing this ability is working closely with our

social media campaigns and on-cam-

abroad opportunities with Rutgers Global

students. The second step in this process

ors Program, to leadership training and

Foundation, we will work to increase our expenses significantly. Our top funding goals involve endowing the Innovation

Lab course; increasing scholarships and

more financial support for students pur-

a fund to enable lower-income students to pursue unpaid internships.

Recruitment and retention

Our recruitment goals are interlinked:

to maintain the level of academic talent we have established in terms of tradi-

tional metrics such as average SAT and

to strengthen our ability to identify and

attract out-of-state and underrepresented

groups, in terms of location within New Jersey, ethnicity/race, socioeconomic status, and academic interest. In

doing so, we will continue to work

Simran Fernandes (’19, RBS/HC/ DRC), now a full-time Assistant Brand Manager for Johnson & Johnson, is a true citizen of the world, having lived in both Mumbai and the United States and traveled extensively. With a major in marketing, a minor in economics, and a concentration in global business, she got her professional start at J&J, working there for eight months as an undergraduate student.

and community-based organizations overlooked, students regarding Honors

and developing our support for diversity

We will further refine our ability to pro-

data from our first four years—which

missions, advising, and curricula—where

least success in attracting students,

interests and develop who they are rather

Where are the students in these groups

tations or follow pre-determined paths.

Rutgers? What made the Honors College

the values at our core—intellectual curios-

Partnering with Undergraduate Admis-

and thought—not just in the classroom,

innovative, multi-pronged approach—

during their years at Rutgers. Key to build-

dors and physical mailings to targeted

partners across the University, from study

pus events—to attract a wide array of

and the School of Arts and Sciences Hon-

is retention, by expanding and

building on our initiatives for first-generation students as well

as RU-1st and

residence life programs with University

Student Affairs. Of particular focus in the

coming years is developing more fully and clearly the ways that the Honors College comprises a four-year experience

integrated within the larger University.

Faculty engagement

Our greatest resources are our people,

specifically the University’s faculty and our students, and the essence of much

of our work is providing opportunities

and experiences connecting students and faculty. Working with the school-based

honors programs, as well as the individual schools and the Office of the Provost,

we plan to expand faculty engagement in honors teaching and mentoring, in support of our different co-curricular programs, and in research. Building

of our program,

offered by programs such as the Byrne

academics, to study abroad opportunities

Research Center, we aim to strengthen the

we will be compiling the tangible

undergraduates through a variety of more

placement, and the like—to judge our

leading the way for more engagement with

need to evaluate. Working closely with

on the opportunities and experiences

from advising and

First-Year Seminars and the Aresty

and service-learning. In the next months

connections between research faculty and

results—employment, graduate school

intensive and intentional interactions,

impact and identifying gaps in areas we

the entire undergraduate student body.

Institutional Research and the assessment

Assessment

goal is to devise innovative ways to

we have begun a rigorous assessment

student affairs can work together to create

Three Honors College seniors in the School of Engineering—(from left) Bobby Randolph, Katie Welch, and Michael Nitzsche—had the opportunity to intern at NASA centers around the country last year, working on projects ranging from lunar-orbit space stations to supersonic airplanes and 3D printing with new materials.

Bobby, who could pilot a plane before he could drive a car, participated in aerospace engineering competitions through the Rutgers AIAA and won a $10,000 grant for his project during his internship. He is now pursuing a PhD at Texas A&M, while Michael is doing so at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Katie, a Brooke Owens Fellow ‘19, is now employed by Astranis Space Technologies in San Francisco.

offices of several campus partners, our

With the graduation of our first class,

analyze how academic programs and

program that aims to generate tools

the best student outcomes.

and data for evaluating every aspect

15

Aasha Shaik (’20, SAS/HC/ DRC) is a global citizen. The most recent Truman Scholarship recipient from Rutgers, Aasha, with support from the Honors College, studied abroad this past year in France, where she volunteered in refugee camps, using the Arabic she learned as a Critical Language Scholar in Jordan the previous semester. Aasha gives as much to her local community as to those abroad, serving as an RA in the Honors College and as president of the Rutgers chapter of the Petey Greene Prison Program. The Chancellor recognized her with a Revolutionary Award in only her sophomore year.

This summer, she was selected by UN Women to be a member of the Beijing +25 Youth Task Force where she is the only American among 30 chosen from a field of 2,500 applicants to serve as changemakers for gender equality.

Adora Moneme (‘19, SAS/HC/DRC), an exercise science major, has been honored

by RU Athletics for leading the women’s soccer team as a student athlete. She is in medical school now at the University of Pennsylvania, hoping to work with children as a pediatric physician. She participated in the Bridging the Gaps program at Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California last year.

16

For Jonathan St. Ange (’19, SAS/HC), leadership means learning to listen. Over the past three years as a resident assistant, he’s tackled tough situations, mentored younger students, experienced people from different places and points of view, and built community through conversations.

This year he is working in Distinguished Professor Monica Driscoll’s lab in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry researching how neurodegenerative diseases spread in the brain and applying to PhD programs.

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey 5 Seminary Place New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1281

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