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When Janis Schwartz made the decision to retire from her position as executive director of alumni relations, she knew she wanted to say thank you to the institution she says has given her so much. She also wanted to pay tribute to her parents, who instilled in her both the importance of an education and the impact of philanthropy.
Schwartz, who retired on February 1, 2020 after serving in her position at the University since 2008, has established the Paul and Ruby Bernstein Memorial Scholarship, an endowed fund that will provide a scholarship for a student who demonstrates outstanding leadership and academic excellence.
“Education was so important to them both, but neither had a four-year degree,” says Schwartz. Her father, Paul, a contracting officer for the federal government, was a World War II veteran. He had started college and couldn’t afford to stay in school. Her mother, who went to secretarial school, worked as an administrative assistant at Sikorsky Aircraft to put Schwartz through college. They were also involved in service: Paul as a police commissioner and as chief commander of his local VFW post, and both Paul and Ruby as volunteers at the veteran’s hospital in West Haven, Connecticut.
“I was the first in my family to earn a four-year degree,” says Schwartz, who graduated from Douglass College at Rutgers University in 1978 with a bachelor’s degree in public and organizational communication—the same year her father earned an associate’s degree from the University of Bridgeport. “Many of the students at William Paterson are also first-generation college students. I am proud that this scholarship fund in the name of my parents will help many students earn a degree. It’s something no one can ever take away from you.”
Schwartz, who joined the University community in 2007 as assistant director of alumni relations, says she has enjoyed the wonderful alumni she met and developed relationships with over the years. “Hearing their stories, seeing their love for the University, seeing how their lives have changed—these relationships will last beyond my tenure.”
She is proud of what she and her “talented and dedicated colleagues” in the alumni relations office accomplished. “We were given a lot of creative freedom to engage alumni,” she says. Some of those initiatives included the transition to electronic communication and social media; the establishment of regional alumni groups in Florida and Washington, DC; the growth of the Young Alumni Council; and a strengthened 50th reunion program, which has resulted in the creation of endowed scholarships by the classes of 1965 and 1966.
Schwartz also worked with alumni Maureen Conway ’66 and Jean Aires ’64, MA ’88, to develop the first alumni strategic plan in 2010, which was cited in the University’s Strategic Plan 2012-2022. She was also recognized in 2014 by the University’s Directors’ Council for leading “thoughtful and innovative alumni programming.”
“This position has truly been the greatest of my personal and professional life,” says Schwartz, who also holds a master’s degree in administrative science from Fairleigh Dickinson University and previously held positions at the Girl Scout Council of Bergen County and the Paramus Public Schools, among others. “I am so honored that so many alumni let me into their lives and shared their stories. I never would have met all these wonderful people if I hadn’t been part of the William Paterson University family.”
Now, through her donation, Schwartz is paying it forward. “I have heard from so many alumni, ‘William Paterson changed my life,” she says. “I believe in these relationships, in this University and its mission. I know it works.”
