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THE TOWER
FEB. 13, 2014
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THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF KEAN UNIVERSITY
Death class gains widespread fame
FITNESS TRENDS PG. 9
By Alexandria Addesso
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Death in Perspective professor Dr. Norma Bowe has gained international recognition for the recently published book “The Death Class: a True Story About Life.” The book that follows Bowe’s death class and focuses on several student’s in particular, has received great reviews since it was released on Jan. 14 and turned Bowe into a local celebrity after being interviewed on MSNBC, PBS and NPR just to name a few, with a possible movie version of the book in the works. After reading a Kean student newspaper article about Bowe’s Death in Perspective class LA Times journalist Erika Hayasak contacted the professor and began sitting in on her classes. By September 2008 Hayasaki’s article on the class made it to the front page of the LA Times. Hayasaki continued to sit in on Bowe’s class for the next four years, with a tape recorder and notebook in hand, and ended up taking it herself before eventually writing the book. “Watch out for this lady she walks around with a tape recorder at all times,” said Bowe at a discussion, Q&A and book signing event held on Jan. 23 in the University Center’s Little Theatre, “even in bathrooms.” On the day of the event the theatre was packed with former Death in Perspective students from a wide variety of semesters of the 14 years
Bowe has taught the class at Kean. Although the class was offered at Kean, as well as other universities, before Bowe began teaching it, she added elements of philosophy, health, religion and biology. The most impactful addition to the class according to her students was definitely field trips. The field trips consisted of visits to funeral homes, cemeteries, hospices, prisons and the viewing of a live autopsy. When asked what was her least favorite of all the trips Bowe replied that it was the autopsy because of all the coordinating needed as well as all the young people she has seen on the table. However, for many of her students the autopsy has been the most influential trip. “This class has changed my life,” said Grace Campbell, a student who took the class last semester and had experienced ridicule throughout her life for being biracial, stated that after going on the autopsy trip and watching a middle-aged man who died from an overdose being cut open for examination, she realized that everybody is literally the same on the inside. Bowe cited the cemetery trip to be her favorite because it taught her students to no longer hold their breaths when they passed cemeteries. “Cemeteries took on a whole new meaning for me after taking this class,” said Hayasaki who then stated that she has been meaning to revisit a cemetery simply to sit and write.
“Watch out for this lady she walks around with a tape recorder at all times...even in bathrooms.”
Project ReAdmit helps college dropouts finish their degrees By Josephine Brown
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Photo: Alexandria Addesso
The Death Class: a True Story About Life book.
When Chantal Borgella started her college education in 2004 at Kean University, she did not anticipate that she wouldn’t graduate. But four years into her studies and only six credits from earning a bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in public administration, she dropped out of college. Borgella has accumulated 122 credits as a double-major student. “I was out of school for five years,” said Borgella. “I dropped out in 2008 due to financial reason. My parents could no longer afford to pay my tuition.” Many students like Borgella have had to endure one barrier or another in their quest to earn a college degree. While some are able to overcome the different challenges faced, others resign to their fate and never earn a degree in their intended major. Incomes, family background and societal barrier have somehow played a role in preventing students from realizing their educational goals. According to Complete College America, one out of two students seeking to attain a bachelor’s degree will not achieve it. Complete College America is a national nonprofit organization established in 2009. Its mission is to ensure an increase in “the number of Americans with quality career certificates or college degrees.” The organization intends “to close attainment gaps for traditionally underrepresented populations.” Borgella was able to return after five years of absence through the Project ReAdmit program created by Joy Moskovitz, assistant vice
aid is granted only to those eligible for it and requires satisfactory academic progress to be approved. While financial aid rejects students with failing grades, Project ReAdmit accepts them. Through the Academy Amnesty Policy, unacceptable grades of Project ReAdmit’s recipients are removed from their student record. These students are then allowed to take the course afresh. At the present time only College of Humanities and Social Sciences, as well as College of Visual and Performing Arts students, can participate in the Project ReAdmit
“I have brought people back from the 1980s to complete their college degree...” president of Academic Affairs at Kean. Project ReAdmit is a program aimed at helping former Kean students to return to school and complete their degree. The idea stemmed from a similar program featured in “Higher Education News,” a publication” that Moskovitz reads. The program’s outreach started at Kean in the fall of 2010, while readmission of its recipients began in the spring of 2011. “I have brought people back from the 1980s to complete their college degree,” said Moskovitz. “With Project ReAdmit, the credit does not expire. Only their statuses as students expire.” To be readmitted under this program, students must have earned at least 90 credits and been out of the school system for two years. Those serving in the military are also eligible.
Students under Project ReAdmit are not required to meet the current program requirements. Their transcripts are reviewed to determine which catalog year would move them closer to graduation. It could be the year of their original admission, or the current catalog year. Their completed courses are adjusted to fulfill their present degree requirements. Moskovitz retrieved the records of former students who met the readmission requirements, and these students were then sent notices through the mail. Borgella said she has never met Moskovitz, but did receive an email from her requesting that she return to complete her program. “She just emailed me one day in 2010 and stayed on top of me until my return for the fall 2013 semester,” Borgella said. The reapplication fee is waived under Project ReAdmit. Financial
program. “But I hope to include others, like the College of Business and Public Management, in the future,” said Moskovitz. She said that a total of 21 students have graduated since the inception of the program in 2011. Borgella intends to graduate in the spring of 2014. She currently works as an Assistant to a Public Relations Manager and Director at the Epic Record Label in New York. Borgella has expressed difficulty in juggling work and school. She is a full time employee as well as a student. “Being able to balance school and work is an obstacle in itself,” said Borgella, “but it teaches me time management.” Josephine Brown, an adult student, graduated in January with a degree in Communication.