21-01-2011 03:06 300 years of the Medical School in Trinity

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300 years of the Medical School in Trinity - Video

TRENTON - Rutgers University's fight to keep its name tied to its Camden campus reached Trenton on Monday when the school's president told legislators he did not support Gov. Christie's plan to fold the campus into Rowan University.

"Given our choice at Rutgers, if we could pick and choose among the recommendations . . . we would not want to turn over the Rutgers-Camden campus to Rowan University," Richard L. McCormick said at a hearing of the Senate Higher Education Committee.

His remarks drew loud applause from dozens of students and alumni in Rutgers red who sat among the audience of about 100.

"I can't imagine that either the Rutgers board of governors or the board of trustees would willingly relinquish the campus, nor would I recommend that course, if there were the possibility of choosing among the recommendations."

But it was unclear how much of a choice Rutgers might have in weighing the recommendations issued last month by Christie's higher-education committee.

The task force's plan calls for an overhaul of the state's university system, integrating facilities among Rutgers, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and Rowan. Christie immediately embraced it, saying it would create a robust public-university system with greater research capacity.

But so far, there is no road map or price tag.

Sol Barer, chairman of the task force, told the panel that an implementation team was working out the details.

If Christie submits the plan to the Legislature, the two chambers would have 60 days to reject the measure.

Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester) supports the concept but will not weigh in formally until he sees the details, a Senate spokesman said.

Rutgers says it believes its board of trustees must approve "the moving of any parts of the university that existed before 1956," according to Peter McDonough, a spokesman. The Rutgers-Camden campus was founded in 1920, then called the South Jersey Law School and the College of South Jersey. It became part of Rutgers in 1950, according to the university's website.

Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rutgers-Camden students have been up in arms since Christie backed the plan, which would fold Rutgers-Camden into Glassboro-based Rowan. About 50 students marched in circles Monday in a courtyard just outside the committee room. Their signs, which read "Keep Rutgers in South Jersey" and "Save Camden," could be seen through the room's window.

Although McCormick criticized the task force's plan for Rutgers-Camden, he praised its proposal to integrate three North Jersey medical facilities with Rutgers, a transfer that he estimates will cost at least $40 million.

Rutgers already shares space and faculty with the three facilities: the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, the School of Public Health, and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey. And they all are in New Brunswick or Piscataway, so it "makes sense" to bring them together, McCormick said.

McCormick proposed a collaboration between Rutgers-Camden and Rowan that would allow both schools to keep their names but expand their offerings - a plan already in discussion behind the scenes, according to Democratic sources.

Sen. Paul Sarlo (D., Bergen) said he did not understand why the task force wanted to merge Rutgers-Camden, which has a business school and a well-regarded law school, with Rowan. While other merger plans were revealed in a September interim report of the task force, the proposed Rowan takeover of Rutgers-Camden surprised many.

"It almost seems to me it was . . . an afterthought. 'We'll throw that in just to sweeten the pot,' " Sarlo said. "This is the first we've all heard of this."

Barer said Rowan was already affiliated with the newly accredited Cooper Medical School, which is to begin classes this summer, and it has more students (12,000 vs. 6,500 at Rutgers-Camden). Camden is just a satellite campus for Rutgers, Barer said.

"If we put everything together . . . we are then forming a school that has a critical mass and has the potential to grow into a major university there," Barer said.

Rowan University's interim president, Ali Houshmand, told the Senate panel that the schools need to pool their resources to capture the 30,000 to 35,000 of the "best and brightest high school graduates" who leave the eight South Jersey counties to go to college out of state.

Houshmand said he was open to collaborating with Rutgers-Camden in whatever way state officials decided was best: "We are sitting in here waiting for the Legislature and the governor to speak exactly what they want us to do."

Sarlo asked Houshmand if it would be a "deal breaker" if the Rutgers-Camden School of Law were taken out of the equation. The law school is a center of opposition to the merger proposal.

"I don't see it as a deal breaker," Houshmand said.

Over the last six decades, as other businesses and entities left Camden, Rutgers stayed, expanding in the troubled city, McCormick said during his testimony.

"We've made the campus an increasingly sought-out place in Camden," he said.

Contact staff writer Joelle Farrell at 856-779-3237, jfarrell@phillynews.com, or @joellefarrell on Twitter.

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Rutgers president pushes to keep Camden campus

Read more: Local, KCOM, ATSU, Kirksville Missouri Medical School Names New President, Dr. Craig Phelps Named President, A.T. still University, Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dr. Jack Magruder

KIRKSVILLE, MISSOURI -- Craig Phelps, D.O., FAOASM, has been named the new President of A.T. Still University. The appointment was announced by Clyde Evans, Ph.D., chairman of the A.T. Still University of Health Sciences (ATSU) Board of Trustees.

Dr. Phelps, a 1984 graduate of ATSU’s Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine (KCOM), became provost of the University’s Arizona campus in 1998, where he led the team that developed that campus and its three academic units: the Arizona School of Health Sciences, the Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health, and the School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona (joining KCOM and the School of Health Management on the Kirksville, Mo., campus). In 2010 Dr. Phelps became the University’s first executive vice president for strategic initiatives; he has been working with Dr. Magruder and key ATSU leaders to develop the Missouri School of Dentistry & Oral Health, as well as other programs.

After a brief vacation, Dr. Phelps will visit both ATSU campuses in the next several weeks and meet with students, faculty, and staff as he begins the transition. He also plans to meet with alumni groups, community members, and friends of the University.

Dr. Phelps will take over as President on July 1, 2012 following the retirement of current President Dr. Jack Magruder.

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ATSU names new president

WASHINGTON TWP. — In the quiet, pre-dawn dark of Sunday morning, the cafeteria at Orchard Valley Middle School was anything but.

Bustling, alive and illuminated, it was the hectic scene of the annual Helping Hands Super Bowl Hoagie Sale. Put on by the district middle schools’ Future Acts club and the high school’s Changing Our World project, the sale raises tens of thousands of dollars for children in the community facing serious and costly medical procedures.

Turning any corner in the cafeteria, while dodging trays of lettuce and heaps of cold cuts, hundreds upon hundreds of volunteers didn’t think twice about the job ahead of them. From students and teachers to parents and alumni, the township was out en masse to make more than 4,000 hoagies, starting before 5 a.m., hoping to beat last year’s mark of raising more than $30,000.

Whether they were responsible for layering the provolone or wrapping the finished product up tight, there was a focused dedication on every face in the Orchard Valley cafeteria. For the students, it’s a focus their teachers don’t often see on them at 7 a.m., let alone 7 a.m. on a Sunday.

“It’s great to see all these kids up at the break of dawn,” West Buonadonna said. His daughter, Taylor, was a recipient of the hoagie sale funds for two years before passing away from a rare form of bone cancer in November of 2010. He and his four daughters came out in full force in the early morning hours of Super Bowl Sunday to be help families they can relate to all too well.

“In dealing with the other [recipient] families, it reminds us of where we were, and we’re showing them that now, we’re here to support them,” Buonadonna said.

While Heather Finn, a teacher and Future Acts advisor at Orchard Valley, had a hand in getting the much-hyped event underway, as she stood in the back of the cafeteria taking the scene in, she almost couldn’t comprehend the immensity of morning. “It’s breathtaking. It brings tears to my eyes and chills to my arms,” she said about the turnout and dedication of the students. “It’s unbelievable.”

Jill Nawoyski, a junior at the high school, is one of those students.

For the past four years, she’s been coming out before dawn to volunteer for the hoagie sale. The early start doesn’t bother her one bit.

“It doesn’t matter how early you have to wake up. It’s just important to be here and help out,” she said.

This year, she was stationed in the Orchard Valley kitchen, writing heartfelt notes of thanks for each party tray of hoagies. At $50 each, the trays are a big help to the day’s overall sales.

“It’s something small, but it’s getting the word out and letting them know they’re supporting important,” Jill said.

High-schooler Matt D’Alessandro also didn’t mind that early wake-up call. In fact he said, he was ready and raring to go. “I was wide awake, yelling ‘Let’s make some hoagies!’” he said as he waited for more trays of lettuce and tomatoes. “It’s really good, even if you’re just helping one person.”

The hoagie sale will benefit five community members in all, and ninth-grader Abby Burr is one of them. When asked what it meant for her to see hundreds of volunteers—many she never met before—hard at work to help make her an her family’s lives better, she could barely hold back her tears.

“It means a lot, that a lot of people really do care and want to support us,” Abby said, standing alongside fellow recipient, seventh-grader Alexis Waters.

In years past, Alexis had heard of the hoagie sale but was never quite sure what it was about.

“I thought it was just for the Super Bowl,” Alexis said. Now that she’s seen the extent of the sale’s true meaning, however, she’s astounded.

“They’re here for us. They might not know us, but they’re here for us. It means a lot,” she said.

Tenth-grader Michaela Healy has been a recipient of the hoagie sale funds for the past five years. Suffering from hydrocephalus, where water builds up on her brain, Michaela has to fly to California constantly in order to receive the surgeries she needs to stay alive. The hoagie sale has been an immense help to her family, not just financially, but spiritually and emotionally as well. So, bright and early, her family was at the middle school, doing whatever they could to give back.

“I can’t put into words what that means to me. All I can do is say ‘Thank You,’” Michaela’s father, Michael Healy said. “It’s astounding. Every year I’m at a loss for words.”

Angela Donato, a 2007 graduate of Washington Township High School, was a student volunteer back in her days in the district. But coming out to volunteer again was especially crucial for her this year.

Last June, Donato’s sister, Toni Bolis, and her unborn son, RJ, were killed by a distracted driver in a car accident on Pitman-Downer Road. Since then, she said, the community outpouring of support has been overwhelming. Moments like the hoagie sale are her chance to return some of that love.

“I try to make sure to reach out and help families however I can,” Donato said. “It’s rewarding, and makes me feel good to see all the kids. Since June, the students have done so much for my sister that they didn’t even know. It’s my way of saying thanks.”

While the event is an overwhelming township tradition, students from Clearview Regional also got in on the giving this year for the second Super Bowl in a row.

“I love it. I’ve been making hoagies for awhile, now I can make them for a cause,” Clearview Senior Dane Kozlosky said, adding that the trick is to make sure the cheese and tomatoes are spread apart just right.

He and his Clearview classmates agreed that while their school doesn’t have as big of a showing as Washington Township, their ranks are steadily increasing each year.

“Its growing. It’ll expand more in the future at Clearview,” Dane said.

The sale itself is expanding so quickly that even the tiniest members of the township community want to lend a hand. A handful of toddlers and preschoolers, children and grandchildren of teachers in the school district, gathered around boxes of wrapped hoagies in the hallways of the high school—where the hoagies were distributed and picked up—to put the finishing touches on them. Luckily, it was a finishing touch they were familiar with —stickers.

“The idea is to start them early, to help them realize what it means to help other people,” Connie Baker, a guidance counselor at Orchard Valley said.

Her granddaughter, Eleanor Lawyer, was one of the handful of toddlers helping out. And since their trial run of getting them involved went so smoothly, they’re hoping they can bring even more tiny troops in to help next year, Baker said.

“It’s never to early to start.”

But while volunteers can never start too early, some residents coming by to pick up a last-minute hoagie were a bit too late. Even after eleventh-hour shipments were brought in to meet the high demand as the day went on, before the clock struck 2 p.m., every single hoagie was gone.

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Washington Township hoagie sale a super venture

The statements follow days of pressure from Rutgers-Camden alumni, faculty, and students, who are urging the university's boards of trustees and governors - McCormick sits on both as a nonvoting member - to vote against the proposal.

At Thursday's question-and-answer event in Camden, Pritchett's comments drew riotous applause from hundreds of students, faculty, and alumni crammed into a campus auditorium.

"Let me be clear about this. I am opposed to the takeover of my campus, of our campus," Pritchett said.

"I agree South Jersey and our campus need more resources. I want to applaud the committee for recognizing that. But not this way," he said, referring to the governor's higher-education task force's recommendations.

Last week, Christie announced plans to overhaul the state's higher-education system, moving assets among Rutgers, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and Rowan with the aim of creating what he said would be a stronger public university system that could rival the best public universities in the country.

"Rutgers is good, but not great," he said of the university, which has campuses in Newark, New Brunswick, and Camden.

The governor's office did not return a phone call Thursday for comment.

The proposal for South Jersey involves merging Rutgers-Camden into Glassboro-based Rowan, creating a split campus that would include a law school, two business schools, and the soon-to-open Rowan-Cooper Medical School in Camden.

The concept is to create a research university that would both expand the historically low number of higher-education seats in the region and create an institution that could attract biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

Read more here:
Rutgers-Camden chancellor denounces merger plan

A question-and-answer event drew hundreds, many clad in Rutgers red and bearing signs declaring "Save Rutgers-Camden."

"Let me be clear about this, I am opposed to the takeover of my campus, of our campus," Pritchett said at the meeting.

"I agree South Jersey and our campus needs more resources. I want to applaud the committee for recognizing that, but not this way," he added, referring to the governor's higher-education task force.

Last week Christie announced plans to overhaul the state's higher education system, moving assets among Rutgers, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and Rowan with the aim of creating what he said would be a stronger public university system that could rival those in other states.

"Rutgers is good, but not great," he said of the university, which has campuses in Newark, New Brunswick, and Camden.

The proposal for South Jersey involves merging Rutgers-Camden into Glassboro-based Rowan 20 miles away, creating a split campus that would include a law school, two business schools, and the soon-to-open Rowan Cooper Medical School in Camden.

The concept is to create a top-ranked research university that would both expand the historically low number of higher education seats in the region and create an institution that could attract biotech and pharmaceutical companies to the region.

But among the 6,000 students at Rutgers-Camden, the prospect of leaving the Rutgers system after more than 60 years has proved to be widely unpopular.

Student groups are planning to travel to Trenton on Monday to protest.

The university's alumni association staffed a table on campus Thursday instructing students to contact the university's boards of governors and trustees, who under state law have authority to block the proposal, according to Rutgers.

Much of the opposition in Camden revolves around losing the Rutgers name.

"It's like an executive at Procter and Gamble saying we should change the name of Crest and Tide today. They would be asked to hand in their resignation at the end of that day," said Steve Geonnotti, a Rutgers alum who attended Thursday's event.

Contact staff writer James Osborne at 856-779-3876 or jaosborne@phillynews.com.

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Rutgers-Camden chief opposes Christie merger plan