INFORMATION FOR
New Jersey State Senator Benjie E. Wimberly will give the Commencement address at William Paterson University’s 2026 Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony on Thursday, May 28. The ceremony will be held at 12:00 noon at the Prudential Center in Newark. Wimberly will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters degree.
“We look forward to hearing from Senator Wimberly at our Commencement ceremonies and presenting him with an honorary doctorate,” says WP President Richard J. Helldobler. “Given his role as a champion of public higher education and his diverse background as an educator, coach, mentor, and public servant, I know that Senator Wimberly’s words will resonate with our graduates as they prepare to launch their own careers, and put their William Paterson degrees to use in service to their families and communities and to our State and our nation.”
More than 3,600 bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree candidates are expected to be recognized at the University’s Commencement events. A President’s Medallion will be presented to Miki Cammarata, the University’s vice president for student development, who is retiring after 12 years of service at the institution.
In addition to the undergraduate ceremony, ceremonies will be held for master’s and doctoral degree candidates in Wightman Stadium on William Paterson’s campus in Wayne on Wednesday, May 20. The College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and the College of Science and Health will hold their graduate degree ceremony at 10:00 a.m., followed by the Cotsakos College of Business and the College of Education at 5:00 p.m.
Alumni from the Class of 1976 will be present at the undergraduate ceremony along with members of the Pioneer Society, which consists of alumni who graduated at least 50 years ago.
Wimberly, who was elected to represent Legislative District 35 in the New Jersey Senate through a special convention in January 2025, is the first African American to serve in the New Jersey Senate from Passaic County. Senator Wimberly serves on the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee and the Senate Military and Veterans Affairs Committee.
Previously, he served for six terms in the New Jersey Assembly, also representing the 35th District. During his tenure in the Assembly, he served as Speaker Pro Tempore from 2022 to 2025, and as Deputy Speaker from 2016 to 2021. He served as vice chair of the Budget Committee, with additional committee leadership and memberships including Housing, Transportation, the Joint Committee on the Public Schools, Chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Justice and Equal Employment Opportunity, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, and the New Jersey State Employment and Training Commission.
Born and raised in Paterson, Senator Wimberly has served as director of recreation for the City of Paterson since 1998. Prior, he was a special education teacher and coach at Eastside High School. As head baseball coach at Eastside High School, he led the team to the Passaic County championship and Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League title in 1993. Two of his players signed Major League Baseball contracts: Carlton McKenzie (Pittsburgh Pirates) and Danny Singletary (Arizona Diamondbacks).
He also served as head football coach at Paterson Catholic from 1995-2009, where his teams won seven state championships and eight league titles, and he coached numerous players who joined the collegiate ranks and three NFL players: Victor Cruz (New York Giants), TJ Clemmings (Minnesota Vikings) and Al-Quadin Muhammad (Tampa Bay Buccaneers). As head football coach at Hackensack High School from 2012 to 2020, he won three league championships.
Senator Wimberly’s athletic awards include the 2012 Amateur Football Award from the Passaic County Chapter of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame; the 2020 New York Giants Lou Rettino Coach of the Year Award; and the 2022 Change Maker Award presented by the New York Jets. In 2024 he was inducted into the NJSIAA/NJCA Coaches Hall of Fame, and he has been inducted into the Passaic County Technical Institute-Vocational School Hall of Fame and the Paterson Old Timers Hall of Fame.
In 2024, Senator Wimberly founded the Paterson Recreation Girls Flag Football League. In addition, he serves as president of the New Jersey Minority Coaches Association, which fosters a more active role in recruitment of minority coaches.
A life member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., he is a member of the Rev. Frank Napier, Jr. Scholarship Committee, and serves on numerous boards and commissions. Senator Wimberly has been recognized with more than 450 awards, citations, proclamations, and resolutions, including the Lifetime Achievement Award presented by President Barack Obama in 2017.
Senator Wimberly is a 1989 graduate of Virginia State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology. He holds a certificate as a teacher of students with disabilities from William Paterson University.
About William Paterson University
William Paterson University, located in suburban Wayne, is one of New Jersey’s top-ranked regional public universities and one of the largest producers of college graduates in the state. With more than 12,000 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students, including a growing adult learner population, the institution is an engine for social mobility. One of the most diverse universities in New Jersey, William Paterson is designated as both a Hispanic-Serving Institution and a Minority-Serving Institution; more than 40 percent of students are the first in their families to attend college. William Paterson is among the national leaders in helping prepare economically disadvantaged students for good paying jobs, ranked no. 55 of nearly 1,400 institutions nationally in the CollegeNet 2025 Social Mobility Index, and no. 43 for social mobility in the Regional Universities-North category in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026 edition of Best Colleges. Students benefit from personalized teams of experts and mentors, small class sizes, and numerous research, internship, and clinical experiences. The University is a powerhouse for its students, the community, New Jersey, and beyond, with 92,000 alumni around the world who are leaders in the arts, business, healthcare, sports, the media, public service, science, and education.
