INFORMATION FOR
Good afternoon, everyone! Let’s keep the applause going for our wonderful student singer and musicians Grace Casio, Marley Vaught, Damian Castaneda, Gregg Martin, and Roberto Cisneros! Thanks also to Professor David Philp for arranging that wonderful performance of a special William Paterson version of Demi Lovato’s Confident, a song that speaks to our moment, because there’s NOTHING wrong with being confident, and we have reason to be just that!
Before I go on, please also join me in thanking the entire Shea Center and IRT teams, along with everyone who played a role in hosting and producing today’s address.
So, welcome to the Fall 2025 semester at William Paterson University! This morning, we collectively welcomed our newest Pioneers, and now it is my pleasure to personally greet you—our wonderful, caring faculty and staff—as we kickoff a new academic year. I know you have all been working hard to plan for it, and I will be talking a lot today about long-term, University-wide planning. I also hope that we were all able to prepare for the busy year ahead by relaxing and recharging over the summer, which somehow seems to defy time and become a little shorter every year.
Personally, I know that I am excited as I begin what I am calling my Golden Presidential Year, which is akin to your golden birthday. Your golden birthday is when you turn the same age as the date of your birth. So this my eighth academic year as your eighth president, hence I am referring to it as my Golden Presidential Year. And since golden birthdays max out at 31, I’m jumping at the chance to celebrate this milestone!
Which is easy, because I am more energized and inspired than ever by our students and everything that we have done together with such dedication to ensure their success. Because of you, more students are getting a great William Paterson education, graduating to build better careers and lives for themselves and their families, and strengthening New Jersey and our local communities. Thank you for everything you do! You are making a real difference!
It's always rewarding work. We also know that it’s never been easy, and it’s certainly not going to get any easier. When I stood before you on this stage back in January, we were still weeks away from a new administration in Washington, DC. All we knew was to expect the unexpected. But I would venture that only the most cynical among us could truly claim not to be…surprised…shocked…maybe even dumbfounded? by what has transpired since, at least in terms of what it means for higher education. The Chronicle of Higher Education has been tracking the Trump Administration’s higher ed agenda—and it’s kept them quite busy. They’re tracking 48 separate actions across civil rights, immigration, policy, and research that have serious consequences for higher education—that’s more than one-and-a-half actions per week since President Trump’s inauguration.
While many have directly targeted high-profile institutions like Harvard and Columbia, others have serious and far-reaching implications for all of higher education, including William Paterson. Things like stricter federal financial aid rules, which could limit access; like the order to dismantle the kind of DEI programs that help our population of students succeed; and like the increased scrutiny and restrictions being applied to international students, which threaten the great progress we are making to grow this population on our campus.
I will talk about some of these in greater details later on, but for now I want to encourage everyone to keep in mind something that many of you have heard me reference elsewhere, which comes from the late author and educator Stephen Covey. It’s the concept of “Circle of Concern/Circle of Influence.” In short, there is a big, wide world of things that we can—and do—worry about, but a much smaller subset of things that we actually have influence over. In a world where the only certainty is uncertainty, our collective work and—I would argue—our personal sanity are best served by focusing on those things within the “Circle of Influence” that we can actually control.
I am proud to say that we have been doing a great job of this, which is a big reason that we’ve had a lot of transformational success in recent years. We realized we couldn’t control the regional decline in our traditional 18-year-old student population, but we could launch WP Online and go after new markets in New Jersey and beyond. We certainly couldn’t control a global pandemic, but we could and did adapt our campus to safely bring back our students sooner than most of our peer institutions and provide them with ever-stronger support systems to help them succeed.
We were able to do these things thanks to smart, strategic, long-term planning and nimble responsiveness to the constantly changing, day-to-day realities of our University and our diverse and dynamic student population. So, today I want to spend some time talking about how we will close out our current, three-year Strategic Plan, which sunsets at the end of this calendar year. Then, I want to devote a bit more time talking about what I’m thinking in terms of how we’ll approach a new strategic plan to carry us forward through 2030. To those of us born in the 1900s, the year 2030 may sound like the introduction to a piece of futuristic science fiction, but—believe it or not—it is less than five years away!
So, I’ll sketch out a proposed timeline that will provide plenty of opportunities for every William Paterson constituency to be heard and provide feedback. I also want to talk about some of the major themes that we should be thinking about in the coming year, at least some of which I imagine will end up in the new Strategic Plan.
First, though, I want to update you on where we are in terms of enrollment and retention and then talk about the budget and overall financial picture, before going on to cover some of our many recent highlights. Given our great record of success over the past several years and given the energy and dedication I see every day on the part of faculty and staff, I am looking forward to another great year at William Paterson. And so should you!
As I alluded to at the top, last month marked the start of my eighth year as the eighth President of this great University. It has been both the toughest and the most rewarding experience in my more than 35 years working in higher education. I know this year will be no easier, but also no less fulfilling. As you may be aware, the number eight is an auspicious symbol around the world. The Beijing Olympics famously opened at 8:08 and 8 seconds on the eighth day of the eighth month in 2008 to capitalize on the number’s good fortune. Many cultures look to the number eight as a symbol of symmetry and unity. So, I am choosing to see that as a good omen for this year, despite political and economic environments that are characterized more by chaos and disharmony.
But, folks, I am not here to deliver the State of the Union address! I’m here to deliver the State of the University address—remember, circle of concern/circle of influence—so let’s dive in.
Given the disruptions to international recruitment and enrollment and the new, more restrictive federal financial aid landscape, we will be very conservative with enrollment projections so that we are not caught short.
As of this morning, our overall student body currently numbers 9,793, which is up about 2.9 percent, compared to this time last year, with continuing students up about 4 percent, and new students up about 1.7 percent. The Class of 2029, which we welcomed to campus this morning, currently sits at 1,002 first-time, full-time, first-year students.
WP Online continues to grow, with current enrollment of 4,087 students. That represents 6.9 percent growth, year-over-year. WP Online also saw a 7.4 percent increase in new transfer students.
Overall, main campus continuing student headcount is up nearly 1 percent, and the degree-seeking continuing population is up just 0.2 percent. That’s ahead of last year, but about 6 percent away from the target for this population.
Main campus is still 2,166 students shy of our updated goal—a big number, but it does include nearly 1,900 dual enrollment students who we expect to register by Census 2, when we are confident the WP Online enrollment goal will also be met.
This does not include the many international students who deferred to the spring semester because of the ongoing visa restrictions or those reconsidering studying in the U.S., altogether. Still, the new class represents 17 of New Jersey’s 21 counties, 14 states and territories, and almost as many countries—13!
Now, we can’t control the lack of visa appointments, but we can—and are—seeing about deferring until spring; circle of concern/circle of influence. Remember that we have a goal of increasing international students to 5 percent of the overall, main campus population in the next two years. We currently have 236 international students enrolled from 49 countries, up more than 18 percent year over year, 83 of them are new international students registered for the fall, despite the many obstacles. Talk about Will. Power!
That’s a credit to them and to Vice President George Kacenga and his Enrollment Management team, who have done an outstanding job generating interest in William Paterson abroad and turning that interest into increased international deposits, which stood at 111—an impressive 63 percent increase over last year—before visa appointments started drying up. While we may not be up in international enrollment as much as we had projected, we are up—a lot—and we will continue working to build on that success. Congratulations to Josh Buland and Emily Plaskow for their great work!
We also can’t create more 18-year-olds, but we can be more aggressive in capturing our fair share of the market, and we are making progress in this area, as well. We can also be laser-focused on the “some college, no degree” market, which still has great potential for growth and where we moved aggressively to be first in the marketplace in serving this distinct population.
We are also growing our ReUp population, where we have 45 new students this fall and 176 persisting. In terms of number of graduates, we are second of four-year institutions and fourth overall in New Jersey. Great news!
And let’s take a moment to consider what we’ve done in the graduate space. Between 2019 and 2023, for example, we had the number one graduate enrollment growth in New Jersey, and we were in the top 5 percent nationally and in our Carnegie Class. And from 2023 to 2024, we grew at almost twice the rate of the next highest—Rutgers—and nearly three times the rate of Montclair. Truly impressive numbers! Let’s keep it up!
We have more work to do and we are far from finished, but we are a long way from where we started, so congratulations to Vice President Kacenga, AVP Steve Quinn, AVP Susan Astarita, and the entire team! Let’s give them a round of applause!
In addition to encouraging enrollment news, there is also positive first-year retention data. First-time, full-time main campus retention is at 73.4 percent, in striking distance of our 75.5 percent goal. Congratulations to Vice President Miki Cammarata and the Student Development team, including Carmen Ortiz and the Advisement Center and EOF, Linda Refsland and the Academic Success Center, Stacey-Ann Brown and Financial Aid, Student Enrollment Services, and Lisa Brenenson and the Registrar’s Office for leading these efforts.
Now, let’s talk finances. When it comes to the budget, perhaps the best way to sum things up right now is that it’s going to be squishy. I know squishy isn’t where we like to live—and as Vice President Kirsten Loewrigkeit will tell you, CFOs really hate squishy—but it’s where we have to be for now. So let’s all just take a deep breath and acknowledge that reality, which really applies to everything right now, to one degree or another.
As I communicated over the summer, the latest State budget was a mixed bag for us in terms of our own budget. On the negative side of the ledger, we were awarded less than half—$3.25 million—of our requested $7.5 million in workforce stabilization funding. On the positive side, thanks to our improved metrics in the Outcomes-Based Allocation (OBA) formula, we picked up nearly 11 percent more in OBA funding than last year, which means an additional $1.5 million.
Also, 75 percent Summer TAG was restored on the State level, which we did not include this in our own budget because it was still not funded as of our last Board meeting. So, we will make those adjustments to the proposed budget, which the Board will consider for approval next month. It’s a modest gain, but it’s something.
More promising is the $250 million pot of State funding for deferred maintenance grants for public higher education, which will give us the opportunity to apply for and utilize a share of those monies, which would ease pressure elsewhere on our budget. This will be a competitive process, but I am very confident that we will be able to present a compelling application. When the playing field is level, we’ve gotten very good at competing, so stay tuned for more on this.
Perhaps the most encouraging fiscal news is that, for the first time in recent history, we believe that—though the audit remains incomplete—we will ultimately post an approximately $3.9 million surplus to the cash reserve from the past fiscal year. This is a really significant achievement, and we should give ourselves a round of applause. But I do want to caution everyone again on what I said earlier about enrollment. We are still projecting a structural deficit for this year that is slightly higher than we anticipated in June, given international and domestic enrollment challenges. We projected a $6 million deficit at the June Board meeting, and now that’s looking more like $7 million. The Cabinet and I will be working with all of you to reduce that number over the coming months. But—man oh man!—when you look back on that $31 million deficit we had just a few short years ago, getting to a $3.9 million surplus seemed unimaginable. Maybe that lucky number eight is starting to pay off already.
Look for an upcoming invitation to the November 13 Enrollment and Budget Forum, where there will be a lot more timely details. VP Loewrigkeit is going to spend some time walking you through last year’s budget to detail where we saw gains and misses that led to that surplus. But it means our financial picture is still heading in the right direction, but we are not out of the woods just yet!!
Let’s turn now to some very visible and concrete highlights from across our beautiful campus, where you may have noticed a brighter-than-ever orange glow thanks to our work over the summer to build a stronger brand.
As the video I shared last week and these photos show, we have worked to accentuate our vibrant and distinctive brand for recruitment prospects and their families when they tour the campus and attend events like Open House. Upgrades include adding orange along with popular University images, especially Pio, to entryways in the Student Center, Shea Center, and select residence halls, where we’ve also brightened up lobbies. We created a big and bold “Powerhouse of Progress” graphic in the Speert Lobby, along with adding other bright WP images in the Student Center and renaming the food court as Pioneer Food Court, featuring images from our great athletics teams. We added other WP banners outdoors, and there are now even more orange Adirondack chairs around the campus, which are a big hit. We are repping the orange and black like never before!
What may be my favorite addition is this incredible and very large image of Pio to the Student Center steps outside the bookstore. We are also working on updated branding in the freshly painted arena in the Rec Center and will continue to look for new ways to extend our dynamic brand and enhance the campus experience for everyone. Thanks to Vice President Stuart Goldstein and his Marketing and Public Relations team, especially Bob Verbeek, for leading this great work.
Behind great branding, we are making significant progress enhancing campus infrastructure, with several high-profile physical plant projects either completed or advancing toward completion. The most prominent among these—as everyone got a glimpse of firsthand at Convocation this morning—is the ongoing construction of the Recreation and Health Sciences Center. This transformational project will more than double the size of the building with a two-story extension.
The state-of-the-art facility will seamlessly integrate with the current structure and feature a new health clinic with examination and counselor rooms, academic classrooms, a gymnasium, and of course a new swimming pool. It underscores our commitment to fostering physical and mental wellness for students, faculty, and staff, as well as positioning the campus as a hub for academic, athletic, and health services. We are on track for a June 2027 completion.
Elsewhere, the Campus Facilities Master Plan was fully updated this year to include a stronger vision for supporting sustainable growth and modernization. It integrates and aligns strategic goals for academic, administrative and recreational spaces and includes a detailed roadmap for future campus development, expanded pedestrian pathways, and enhanced campus connectivity. It also includes “11 Big Ideas,” such as relocating the Cotsakos College of Business and the College of Education back to main campus, repurposing spaces for modern teaching needs, and creating a primary campus entrance. We will discuss the plan with the campus community this semester, so that everybody will be aware of what’s happening, especially those who will be directly impacted.
Some other quick campus highlights: Community Policing offices were built in Speert Hall to better support campus safety initiatives and foster collaboration between campus police and the University community. We were also awarded a $249,000 Trees for Schools grant, which will fund the planting of native trees and the creation of shaded outdoor learning and gathering spaces across campus. So a lot of great campus improvements that have been made with more to come. I want to thank Vice President Loewrigkeit and AVP Jim Shelley and their Administration and Physical Plant Operations teams for their great work on our beautiful campus.
As always, we have a lot of other great things happening that we should be proud of. Much of it is easy to see, but there are also a lot of amazing accomplishments that happen, bit by bit, in places all across campus and online that can be harder to grasp as a whole. So, when I had the chance to review a recent report that summarizes so much of the great work happening on the part of our students and our success in increasing their success, I knew I wanted to share it with you. As a reminder, it all starts with this statement:
“William Paterson University understands what students need to succeed and how to guide them to successful careers and lives. We have built an innovative and comprehensive system of support focused on academics, career development and campus life, customized to meet students’ individual needs.”
Let’s first look at some of the many ways we are delivering on this commitment in terms of inputs and related outcomes. The key initiatives that are driving student success begin with:
Collectively, these efforts have led to a 6.9 percent increase in retention, from 67.5 percent for the 2020 cohort to 74.4 percent for the 2023 cohort. Our retention gains since 2019 put us at number one in New Jersey and among the top 10 percent of our Carnegie Class and in the top 15 percent among all four-year publics in the nation! That deserves a round of applause!
Within this overall number are some even more dramatic increases for specific populations, where we are closing achievement gaps that have existed for too long. Black student retention increased more than 13 percent between 2021 and 2024 to nearly 66 percent. And Hispanic student retention increased nearly 10 percent over the same period to more than 77 percent; this outpaces the University average! That statistic proves we are truly a Hispanic Serving Institution. Persistence and four-year graduation rates for the 2021 cohort increased 5 percent, compared to three years earlier, to 31 percent. Our retention gains should drive continued growth in the graduation rate, and getting more students across the line sooner is really what it is all about.
Inside these achievements lies another metric that deserves special attention. With our Success Teams focusing on each student as an individual, they can more quickly and effectively identity students who are struggling, which is where our strategic investment in retention coaches is paying huge dividends. In 2024, academically challenged students who connected with their coach demonstrated an amazing 42 percent increase in persistence to 87 percent! That means more students staying on to continue working toward their degrees, and more evidence that our approach is working.
Another key change we have made – another input – is the
This change reflects the incredible growth in adult degree completers that has been enabled by WP Online, which has been transformational for William Paterson. And this population is one of the best examples why. In just four years, we have grown to enroll more than 3,200 adult learners across WP Online and main campus—another measure in which we are number one in New Jersey, as well as number two in our Carnegie Class, and in the top 20 among all four-year publics in the country.
Thanks to our great faculty and dedicated adult-learner supports, third-term undergraduate online persistence has consistently been between seven and ten percentage points higher than other online programs, nationally, and currently stands at 73 percent. We are succeeding by offering a quality program in a flexible format that’s attuned to the job market and that works for working adults. And we’re offering credit for prior learning, which has gone from 200 credits awarded in 2021-22 to nearly 3,000 credits awarded last year. Congratulations to Associate Provost Rabbitt, Johanna Prado, Amanda Vasquez, and everyone in the college who are doing such great work supporting this growing population.
All of these efforts are adding up to a stronger, reinvigorated William Paterson that is delivering on its mission to put more life-changing college degrees in the hands of the diverse array of students who we serve. That’s something we can all be proud of and celebrate. And we should be confident. Because, hey, there’s nothing wrong with being confident based on the data that shows that what we are doing is working!
We haven’t gotten here by luck or by accident. We got here with smart, focused strategies deployed with a growth mindset and a willingness to take more calculated and bigger risks. Some of the lyrics in the song Grace sang so wonderfully go, “But you’ve had us underrated,” and it’s true that too often our peers, our competitors, our public officials and others have underrated William Paterson. Now, they do so at their peril. But that’s on them. Circle of concern. The bigger sin is, too often, we have underrated ourselves. And that’s on us, circle of influence. But no more!
Look at all the great achievements I just mentioned. We have so many things to brag about in terms of student success and external recognition, all of which speak to our ever-developing culture—a culture that is both the product and source of a newfound confidence. Confidence that we know what our students need and how to deliver for them. Our prospective students and their families see it, and it’s resulting in increased enrollment and retention. Our representatives see it, and its resulting in an increased willingness to go to bat for William Paterson in Trenton. The media see it, and it’s resulted in increasing recognition from the likes of Forbes, NJBIZ, and U.S. News and World Report, where we’ve climbed 30 spots in the “Best Colleges” for our region in just the past four years. That’s a steep climb to our highest ranking ever! And the only way you pull yourself up a steep climb is through hard work and confidence! So, we can and should stay humble, hungry, and smart and still put a little swagger in our step. We’ve earned it. A renewed sense of confidence will not only make us feel better, it will also help us build further on our success and put more daylight between us and our competitors.
Many of the successes I’ve just mentioned stem from two of the five pillars in the current Strategic Plan, specifically Adult Learning and Attrition—where, by the way, we exceeded the goal of reducing attrition by 10 percent over three years. So, recognizing the importance of strategic thinking and planning, I now want to turn to those topics.
In introducing our current plan three years ago, I wrote the following: “This carefully considered plan will help our University meet the demographic and other challenges we face by leveraging its traditional strengths in student success while also adapting to serve new markets in our select online programs.” Folks, we developed a solid plan and—as I detailed when I spoke to you here in January—implemented it with a great deal of success. Here are a few additional examples that have been realized since I spoke to you seven months ago: On the Adult Learning pillar, we implemented updated academic forgiveness, world language, and other policies, which address specific needs of returning adult learners. On the Alternative Credentials and Certificates pillar, 626 digital badges have been awarded for completing undergraduate certificates, we held the first certificate award ceremony in May, and certificate enrollment for this fall currently stands at more than 1,000. And on the Decolonization pillar, we completed and distributed the Black Taskforce Report and affinity group models, which will help ensure that all voices on campus are heard, will be presented to the Faculty Senate and University Council for recommendations this fall. Thanks to Chief Diversity Officer Jeanne Arnold for her leadership.
I want to thank the executive sponsors and the working groups for each pillar for keeping up the good work right through the conclusion of the plan, and I want to thank Vice Presidents Cammarata and Goldstein for taking over the closeout of the plan over the next few months.
Now, for all the success, we have been transparent about where there have been misses. And misses are to be expected. If you accomplish everything in your plan, chances are it wasn’t ambitious enough. We will miss the mark sometimes. We will make mistakes—and learn from them. But one thing William Paterson University will never suffer from again is a lack of ambition. To help us aim even higher for our next plan, I am pleased that Vice President Kacenga and College of Education Dean Dr. Amy Ginsberg have agreed to co-chair the new Strategic Plan committee, and I am confident that they will guide us toward the best plan for this University at this time. We will be naming the entire Steering Committee in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, please join me in thanking our co-chairs for taking on these important leadership roles!
As a reminder, this new plan is focused on creating a competitive edge in the marketplace, so let’s take a few minutes to layout the timeline. Over the summer, the Cabinet, co-chairs, and I worked to finalize what we’re referring to—per our work with EAB—as the five frames that we will focus on and which will comprise the plan’s overall framework. So, from pillars in the current plan to frames in the next one. The Cabinet, associate and assistant vice presidents, the deans and associate deans all worked with EAB to develop a very useful SWOT analysis and came up with four frames that will help us leverage our strengths, address weaknesses, take advantage of opportunities, and manage threats. In discussion with the Cabinet this summer, we added a fifth frame. I will explain why later on. I’ll list them, along with some potential items for goals and action items that the Cabinet and I have brainstormed, which we should consider and which I hope will spur additional ideas from the campus community. The frames are:
So, lots to chew on, but it should provide plenty of food for thought and dialogue as the process gets underway. Starting with these frames, the Steering Committee, under the leadership of Dr. Kacenga and Dr. Ginsberg, will conduct an extensive series of listening sessions and surveys in September and October with everyone in the colleges, staff, the Student Government Association, University Council, Faculty Senate, the Foundation Board, Alumni Executive Council, College Advisory Councils, and Board of Trustees to ensure that every stakeholder group and every individual member of the William Paterson community has the chance to contribute. And contribute I hope you all will. The more people who engage in this process, the more voices that are heard, the stronger the plan that will emerge and the more confident we can be that we will succeed.
Then, in November, December, and January, the responsible parties will draft the goals, action steps, and Key Performance Indicators for the plan. I should mention that we will develop a template for each frame so that these goals, action steps, and KPIs align with each other and the overall plan. I am calling this a 5-5-5 plan: five years; five frames; five goals in each frame; and a maximum of five action items under each goal. Being hyper-focused will bring us better outcomes and more confidence. These draft elements will then be shared back with the various stakeholder groups for their feedback over the course of January and February. That feedback will inform the next version of the plan, which will be prepared starting in March and readied in time to be presented to the Board at its spring meeting and, with its approval, implemented beginning in September 2026—one year from now.
Now, I want to talk a bit about a couple of the themes that we will be considering in the new plan, which will most likely go into one of the Strategic Plan frames in some form. To begin with, consider this: 30 percent of New Jersey high school graduates don’t go to college. And of those who do go to college, only 30 percent stay in the state. Are we going to strategically invest further in retention of the existing students or focus more on the 30 percent who say they’re not going to college?
Now, let’s get back to culture, which is why we wanted to add a fifth frame. It’s no secret that we’ve taken a lot of hits over the past several years. Yet during that time, we have worked together to create a strong, resilient culture; one that’s built upon the growth mindset, a willingness to take risks, and persistence, which mirrors the Will. Power that our students demonstrate every day. Whichever path we choose to pursue, it is this culture that will give us a competitive advantage. How do we invest more in our faculty, staff, and students to enhance and maintain our unique culture.
Let me take a moment to explain why this is so important, and it starts with what is at once great and not so great about public higher education in New Jersey—and that is decentralization. AFT President Sue Tardi and I have been able to partner on a lot of good things for both AFT members and the University. And we should all thank her for her leadership. But not many of you will be surprised to learn we do disagree on a few things. For example, the union and I disagree on the need for more oversight for higher education. More oversight means more red tape and that means more time to get programs approved. In some centralized systems, like New York, they restrict what you can offer, and I just don’t think that is good for individual institutions. The only ones that win in that structure are the research institutions.
Decentralization allows us more flexibility to create new and exciting programs and support services. Imagine if we were told, “I’m sorry, but Thomas Edison already does online education, so you—William Paterson—cannot.” A lot of us would not be here right now. That is how systems operate. I know, I spent 22 years in one as both a faculty member and administrator!
Here is what is not great about decentralization. Any “hot” academic program can fairly easily be reversed engineered by another university in New Jersey and be on the market within 18 months. Any student success program can similarly be replicated and offered by a competitor. If you see Carmen Ortiz around campus, ask her about how another university’s student success plan looks a lot like William Paterson’s! When you have had the largest retention growth in the State, others want to replicate it. But here is what you can’t reverse engineer overnight—culture.
Because, unlike any technology or particular academic or student success program, culture cannot be quickly or easily replicated by our competitors. Earlier this year, I was asked to contribute to the introduction of a white paper by the bestselling higher education author and writer Jeff Selingo entitled, Transforming Campus Culture: The Path to Online Innovation at Regional Universities. It was an opportunity for me to share my thoughts on some of the strategies that we have used in successfully launching and growing WP Online. It arose from and reenforced our growing reputation for the success of WP Online, and more fundamentally, our reputation for the strong culture which has enabled this and many other accomplishments.
What else does culture look like? When the Cheng Library’s Real Men Read Program puts mentors into our local schools to encourage young people to read and is recognized for its success by the Library of Congress—that’s a product of our Pioneer culture. Shout out to Neil Grimes and Dean Owusu-Ansah and the whole Library team! And thank you to all who participate in the program.
When the College of Science and Health launches the ASPIRE Program to encourage and support the recruitment and retention of women and underrepresented students into the STEM fields and is recognized with Inspiring Programs in STEM Award, that’s the Pioneer culture in action. Congratulations to Dean Venkat Sharma, Program Coordinator Rose Mitchell, and the entire ASPIRE team!
When adult students write in unsolicited to say how grateful they are for that “small act of kindness that had such a significant impact,” or that “William Paterson has exceeded my expectations and has allowed me to level up in my career, all while still working full time and being a mom,”—that’s our Pioneer culture at work.
And when the College of Education takes modest University seed funding to grow its Aspiring Educators program from 12 students to 64 in just four years so that more diverse student populations can ultimately have more diverse teachers in their classrooms, that’s our Pioneer culture at work. Shout out to Dean Ginsberg, Associate Dean and program founder David Fuentes, and their whole team.
Our distinctive culture will enable us to achieve so much more, and we will continue to leverage it in everything we do. That’s why Building Community—our fifth frame—is so important.
Where, then, are we going to strategically invest for growth? These are key questions we will answer over the course of this year both inside and outside the Strategic Plan process. I do realize that some of these things require money. I plan to ask the Board of Trustees for a strategic investment to support the plan from the cash reserves that I believe will promote growth. And we will continue our assessment practices and phase out both academic and non-academic programs that are not bringing added value or an ROI to the University. This does not mean layoffs. It might mean retooling or reassigning the workforce. Should reassignment be necessary, we will of course honor the processes laid out in our collective bargaining agreements for changes in job assignments.
Folks, I know it has not been easy these past few months, especially seeing the good work we do educating and supporting our students being attacked and undermined. Of course, we have to keep up to date on the flurry of changes out of Washington and, as I’ve said, we will always operate in accordance with the law. We will also continue to operate in the best interests of our students. So, regardless of what happens in Washington or Trenton, for that matter—there is a gubernatorial election this year—we will remain anchored by our values. Values that remain fixed in our mission to serve the diverse population of students who we enroll in the best way we know how—and in the way based on the successes I have shared and the data, we know that’s working!
We know what we are doing, and we’ve got the numbers to back it up! What’s wrong with being confident? Nothing’s wrong with it, so let’s embrace it. Let’s do everything in this new “golden” academic year and beyond with a well-earned confidence. Our students will notice, the State will notice, the region will notice, and the country will notice. What’s wrong with being confident—nothing! Thank you and have a great semester!
