Location: Rutgers University–Camden

Charles “Chuck” A. Wright III beams when talking about his new role leading fundraising and alumni engagement efforts at Rutgers University–Camden. “I love the focus here on underrepresented and first-generation students,” Wright says. “These students have big dreams and they go after them. To be able to support their dreams is exciting.”

Wright began his tenure on May 15 as Rutgers–Camden’s vice chancellor for advancement and as a Rutgers University Foundation vice president for development, which includes serving on the Foundation’s executive leadership team. His career path has included leadership roles in higher education fundraising at The College of New Jersey, Peirce College, Villanova University, and Widener University.

“Chuck is a consummate fundraising professional, known for his warmth and ability to connect with people,” says Kimberly A. Hopely, Rutgers executive vice president for development and alumni engagement and president of the Foundation. “With decades of experience in higher education advancement and nonprofit development, Chuck is a proven leader with strong relationships in Philadelphia and South Jersey.”

Rutgers–Camden Chancellor Antonio D. Tillis says, “He is the ideal leader to advance our university’s priorities in annual giving, alumni engagement, and corporate relations. He is a proven innovator who will engage our network of more than 55,000 alumni—along with our nonprofit and corporate partners—in ways that enhance the academic excellence of Rutgers–Camden while promoting educational access and successful outcomes for our students.”

Previously, Wright served as chief development officer at Philabundance, where he drove the Philadelphia-based hunger relief organization to exceed its annual fundraising goal with months to spare in the fiscal year. “I am truly grateful to Chuck for his incredible work this past year at Philabundance,” says Loree D. Jones Brown, CEO at Philabundance and a former chief of staff at Rutgers–Camden. “As the region’s largest hunger relief organization, fundraising is a critical part of the work we do, and Chuck helped to put our team into an even stronger position moving forward. We wish Chuck all the best at Rutgers and are happy he will be a partner already working with Philabundance to provide food to the community, including the pantry at Rutgers–Camden.”

A native of Pittsburgh who graduated from Villanova University in 1990, he worked for his alma mater in admissions and then development roles, ultimately serving as Villanova’s associate vice president for development. His most recent higher education role was at The College of New Jersey as chief development officer and associate vice president for college advancement.

Wright has long been committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education, and often has mentored professionals of color who work in advancement roles. “Inclusion needs to be embedded in everyday life,” he says. “I think it’s important to be open and inclusive in conversations and invite folks to the table who may have different opinions.”

In 2020, the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District II Board honored his efforts by creating the Charles A. Wright Opportunity and Inclusion Award. The annual award recognizes advancement professionals who display leadership in fostering inclusion and diversity within the profession, on their campus, or within the surrounding community.

At Rutgers–Camden, he follows Endia DeCordova in the vice chancellor for advancement role. DeCordova has been named Morgan State University’s vice president for institutional advancement and executive director of its foundation.

Wright says he was excited that his first day at Rutgers–Camden coincided with commencement ceremonies celebrating the Class of 2023. He says he plans to meet with as many Rutgers–Camden alumni as possible as he digs into his new role. “I’m really looking forward to engaging them in the life of the institution,” Wright says.

Although Esmeralda Diaz-Calderon will graduate from Rutgers University–Camden in May after going straight through in four years, her connection to the university dates back nine years. A Rutgers Future Scholars participant since she was in the seventh grade, the Camden resident credits the program, which allowed her to attend tuition free, with helping her to prepare for college and to excel, which she has certainly done.

She will be the first in her family to graduate from college. (Her parents immigrated from the Dominican Republic to Camden in 2000, the year before she was born.) A double major in criminal justice and political science, she traveled to London, Dublin, and Belfast for a Learning Abroad course in March 2022, and, in May, she’ll travel to Amsterdam for another course. She says in kindergarten she decided that one day she wanted to become an attorney. In August, she’ll follow up on that dream when she begins law school at Drexel University in Philadelphia on a full scholarship.

What’s a day in her life like in her final semester as a Rutgers–Camden student? We asked her to share an account of a busy day. Here is what she did on Wednesday, March 29, 2023.

By Esmeralda Diaz-Calderon, as told to Sam Starnes GSN’04.

7 a.m.

I wake up and think about my day. I need about half an hour to get started. After a while I get up and just throw my hair in a bun and put on clothes and go to the gym.

8 a.m.

I arrive at the Salvation Army Kroc Center, which is near my home where I live with my parents, in the Cramer Hill section of Camden. I do cardio for an hour. I’ve been doing that every day, seven days a week, for a year and a half. I’ve lost 125 pounds from two years ago.

9 a.m.

I go home and take a long shower, do my makeup, my hair, and pick out my outfit. It’s a ritual I do every day.

10 a.m.

I arrive at campus and go to the cafeteria and sit at the red tables until my friend Nathan gets out of class and meets me about 11. That’s my homework time. I check my email, review my homework, and do anything I have to do for school.

11 a.m.

Nathan comes over and we eat lunch and talk. I also chat with multiple miscellaneous friends who pass by.

12:30 p.m.

I clock in online to my job as a Rutgers Future Scholars cohort adviser. I mentor about 15 Camden ninth graders in the program. I reach out to them via text to see how they’re doing in school and if they need any help or anything. I also have to prepare lesson plans because we go into the schools to teach lessons about college prep and college readiness.

I’ve been working as a mentor in the program for all four years that I’ve been a student at Rutgers–Camden. I love it. I’m very well-connected to my scholars. They always text me right back. It’s like I’m an older sister to them. They all call me “Miss Ezzy.”

I enjoy it because feel like I am returning the favor that the Rutgers Future Scholars program did for me. It essentially just got me ready for college. From the age of 13 to the age of 17, I was here every summer, and I knew the campus like the back of my hand by the time I got here. They helped me with my FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), with tutoring, and with applying for college. They helped me with literally everything. Even when I was a student here, they helped me with my LSAT (Law School Aptitude Test.)

2 p.m.

I go to my “Ethics of Criminal Justice” class with Dr. Nathan Link, a professor of criminal justice, in the Fine Arts building. I’ve learned a lot from him. He’s awesome. We are reading a book he assigned called Locked In, and I’m learning a lot about prosecutors and how the amount of discretion they have can impact communities of color. I believe want to become a prosecutor after law school.

3:20 p.m.

After class, I go to the Starbucks in Campus Center. I order my favorite, a grande vanilla latte with sweet cream foam and light ice.

4 p.m.

I have a meeting with Dr. Beth Rabinowitz, a political science professor. I’m doing an independent study with her on nationalism, and I’m reading her writing about it. I’ve taken three classes with her. She’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met in my life. I look up to her as a mentor, and she supported me when I applied to law school.

4:45 p.m.

I leave campus and drive straight to the Cherry Hill Mall, where I’m due at work at the Sephora store at 5 p.m. I work until 9 p.m. on Wednesday. My specialty is fragrances because I can smell lots of perfumes without getting a headache. I’ve got a little encyclopedia for perfumes. I also help with skin care products. I started there in August 2021 and worked through December 2021, but I took time off when I did an internship with the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General in the spring semester of 2022. I went back to Sephora in February and plan to work there through the summer until I go to law school. While I’m at the mall, I get a smoothie—the vanilla blue sky. That saves my life.

9:20 p.m.

I get home and have a bite to eat and take a shower and do my skincare routine. I do a little bit of homework and make sure I’m ready for my classes for the next day.

11 p.m.

By 11, I’m in bed, where I watch TikTok, TV, and YouTube. By midnight, I’m asleep. It has been a long day and I’m tired. I’m looking forward to graduating and later in the summer moving to Philadelphia, where I’ll live while attending law school.

The Day in the Life series details the challenges and hectic daily itineraries of Rutgers students in programs that benefit from donor support, such as the Scarlet Promise Initiative and Rutgers Future Scholars.

Making the transition from high school student to college student is both a rite of passage and also a challenge. To expand opportunities among students pursuing an engineering degree, Rutgers School of Engineering’s Engineers of the Future program includes a summer preparatory residency for incoming Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) and Engineering Opportunity Program (EOP) students.

The residential EOF Summer Institute gives students early exposure to School of Engineering academics, introduces them to a supportive community and network of resources to help them navigate the engineering curriculum, and provides each student with a personalized, holistic plan for success.

The Program  

“The most exciting thing to me about the EOF summer program is seeing the difference in our students between move-in orientation and the closing program symposium,” says Michael Brown, access programs assistant dean and director of School of Engineering’s EOF/EOP program. “Our students walk into the program with little knowledge about the Rutgers student experience—and often questioning their ability to attend college or an engineering program.”

He adds, “By the end of the program, they’re presenting research projects to the engineering community, navigating engineering resources independently, and have created a network of friends, mentors, and advisors. This growth marks the beginning of a new life trajectory for both the students as well as for their families.”

A Bridge to a Community 

Prior to her first year, biomedical engineering major Anmarie Aquino took part in the EOF Summer Institute Program. In summer 2022, she returned to the program as an EOF summer counselor. Helping to connect students with the EOF community was just one of her responsibilities. She worked to “make sure the upcoming freshmen were safe and helped them adjust to college life and blossom into the aspiring engineers they are today,” she says. “I enjoyed seeing their growth throughout the summer.”

For mechanical engineering major Layla Morisseau, the summer 2022 program gave her experience with college level work and living before her first semester. “It really helped me adjust and prepare me mentally for the work to come,” she says.

A Bridge to Lasting Connections 

Like Aquino, fellow EOF summer counselor Maniyah Dixon was pleased to be part of the Summer Institute students’ growth. “They come into the program and by the end of the month they gain so many important skills, such as time management, stress management, and study skills,” says the mechanical engineering major. “They learn how to navigate different curriculum sites and had built relationships with their advisors, who they knew they can go to with any problems—even those not academically based.”

Most important, she says, students “learn to depend on each other if they need to, and that they have a support system as well as a family at Rutgers while they are away from home.”

Dixon—who plans to apply to be a summer counselor again in 2023—notes that the students especially enjoyed and valued the connections they made with the many student organizations that were present, and with new friends in EOF.

They also connected with her. “To this day some students still ask me for advice,” Dixon says. “I didn’t expect this, but I’m happy they’re comfortable enough to reach out to me when they need help.”

Brown says the Engineers of the Future program plays an important role in the lives of the engineering students. “As a program we are most proud that our students have faced numerous challenges and overcome the odds to join us at SOE,” he says. “On the journey to graduation, they will continue to face barriers, but with the support of our office and peers we know they can persist. We have a proven track record of high program completion and graduation rates. These are amazing students who will land amazing jobs with top companies.”

The School of Engineering’s Engineers of the Future program includes New Jersey’s Educational Opportunity Fund which gives financial and academic assistance to low-income New Jersey residents with demonstrated potential and academic and/or creative promise who meet financial requirements to receive grants from the state-funded program, while the Educational Opportunity Program serves students in underrepresented populations who may not qualify for EOF but who are eligible for the same services and support.   

This story originally appeared on the Rutgers School of Engineering news page.

Kenya Johnson’s college path started in 2016 when she enrolled at a private university where she realized in her first year that she and her family could not afford the tuition despite receiving some financial aid. To avoid being burdened with enormous student loan debt, the Newark native returned home and earned an associate’s degree at Essex County College while working part time. She then enrolled at Rutgers University–Newark in fall 2020 as a transfer student and has benefitted from financial aid, including a grant from Rutgers’ Scarlet Promise Initiative program.

Johnson is on track to finish her degree this semester, and she already has a job waiting for her after she graduates. The senior majoring in leadership and management in the Rutgers School of Business will join Prudential in Newark in July as an insurance and retirement associate. This role is part of a leadership development program that will allow her to work in different areas of the company before settling into a permanent position. She learned about the opportunity as a fellow in the Braven Leadership and Career Accelerator program, which has a partnership with Rutgers–Newark and Prudential.

What’s a day in Kenya Johnson’s life like as a Rutgers–Newark student? We asked her to share an account of a busy day. Here is what she did on Tuesday, February 7, 2023.

 

By Kenya Johnson, as told to Sam Starnes GSN’04

8:30 a.m.

I woke up with my dog, Ginger, a 13-year-old Shi Tzu, at the foot of my bed. I’ve had her since I was 12-years old. She barked at me, which is how she tells me she’s ready to go out. I take her out and give her water and feed her. That’s the first thing I do every day.

8:45 a.m.

After Ginger is happy, I make myself some tea and eat a cereal bar and some fruit and start to get ready for my day. My classes on Tuesdays are not until late afternoon and at night, but I always have a meeting of some kind in the morning to prepare for before I am due at work.

10 a.m.

I attended a Zoom meeting from home with a staff member from the Student Life and Leadership Organization to plan for upcoming events for P.E.Y.T. Womyn, which stands for Pretty Educated Young and Thriving. I’m on the executive board, and our goal is to empower women on campus and support them with events. We have an event coming up about self-care, and we also have a community engagement day. I enjoy these events and getting to know and supporting others on campus. I’m also active in the Rutgers Undergraduate Women in Business group.

10:45 a.m.

After my meeting I walk to campus, which is a 10-minute walk from the home where I live with my parents and brother in University Heights, just up the hill from campus. (My brother Christopher Johnson also is a Rutgers–Newark student.) I occasionally take the RU–N shuttle bus, but today it was a nice day, and I don’t mind walking.

11 a.m.

I start work in the Office of Enrollment Services in Blumenthal Hall, a federal work study job I’ve held for a year. I work in the call center department, which involves answering the phone and handling questions and concerns about financial aid, billing services, and other issues. I take down students’ information and document their requests and help them find solutions.

The phone is always ringing, and lately, more people are coming in the door. One day last year I fielded more than 50 calls. I’ve learned a lot in this job, including how to handle a lot of tasks at one time, and also how to balance work and school. I’m also learning about how to work with people from different backgrounds and personalities. You have to be patient and try to understand what the person is going through. I’ve learned a lot about effective communications.

Noon

On my lunch break, I walk to Halsey Street and buy some tea and come back and sit at a table on the second floor of Blumenthal Hall. I like to walk around then sit for a bit and take a break after a busy morning of answering phone calls.

1 p.m.

I finish the afternoon answering the phone and taking down information from callers. It’s a hectic afternoon, and two-and-a-half hours go by fast.

3:30 p.m.

I clock out and walk a half mile across campus to the Rutgers Business School tower at One Washington Park. Although it’s later in the afternoon, my day is only half done and my class time is just starting. I have two classes that start at four and run up to nine o’clock.

4 p.m.

My “Business Strategy and Policy” class focuses on strategies businesses use. I’m part of a group focusing on a case where we are looking at Netflix versus Disney when it comes to their streaming services. Reading that case study was interesting. I’m looking forward to our presentation about it.

5:20 p.m.

My class ends and I walk over to Starbucks to get a cup of coffee. Sometimes I get something to eat, but I don’t have much time until my next class. It seems like the minutes go by so fast.

6 p.m.

At six, I’m right back in class. This time it’s my “Global Management and Strategy” course which meets until nine. We are looking at businesses from around the country and the world and studying how they operate. I like the articles the professor chooses for us to read, including a recent one that discussed the growth of Chick-fil-A during the pandemic. I feel fortunate that I’m able to learn about so many different types of businesses in my courses, and I know it will help me when I start my job at Prudential this summer.

9 p.m.

I take the shuttle bus back home. I use the Transloc bus tracker app on my phone which shows me the exact location of the bus, so I know how long I have to wait.

9:15 p.m.

Back at home, I visit with Ginger, thankful that my family helped take care of her during the day. I get a bite to eat, and take a shower. I look over my coursework and prepare for the coming days. I’ve got a microeconomics midterm coming up soon I need to be ready for, so I spend some time studying for it.

10 p.m.

By now, I’m ready to relax and watch TV for a while. I watch an episode of 90 Day Fiancé, one of my favorite shows. Ginger lets me know with a bark that she’s ready to go to bed. I put her up on the end of the bed and she starts snoring. She is so funny to me.

11 p.m.

I turn off the TV and pick up a book I started reading recently. I read for a while from Coretta Scott King’s autobiography, My Life, My Love, My Legacy. I didn’t know she had an autobiography until recently, so I picked it up. I knew a lot about Dr. King, but I realized with many public figures, we don’t know about the woman’s side of the story. I wanted to learn more about her.

Midnight

It has been a long day, and I drift off to sleep with Ginger snoring at my feet. Tomorrow will be another busy day. I’m happy that I’m making progress on my goal of graduating and look forward to launching my career at Prudential this summer.

The Day in the Life series details the challenges and hectic daily itineraries of Rutgers students involved in the Scarlet Promise Initiative. This wide-ranging program provides equitable access to a Rutgers education and a bridge to success, giving each student the leg up they need to change the trajectory of their lives while offering them opportunities to better the world.

 

There’s a good chance that Jerry Pinkerton and Amber Jagielski could have spent four years on Rutgers–Camden’s compact campus and never crossed paths.

He was a biology major and she was studying business. His classes were in the morning, hers in the afternoon. But in the fall of 1997, they would meet in a first-year Honors College seminar, and they were dating by the end of the semester. They would go on to participate in the same volunteer programs and attend Honors College field trips together. By the time they graduated, they were engaged, and a year later, they were married. “I don’t think we would have had a class together if not for the Honors College,” says Amber SBC’01, who has worked as a financial analyst and accountant.

Jerry CCAS’01 has only good things to say about the Honors College program, which provided him the outlet to meet his future wife and set the groundwork for his career as an emergency room doctor. “There was a real sense of camaraderie, like you were part of something that was special,” he says.

Members of the inaugural class of Rutgers–Camden’s Honors College, the Pinkertons, who live in Williamstown, New Jersey, represent the kind of motivated, civically engaged, and high-achieving students that the program has produced over the last quarter century. Marking those 25 years of achievement, the university is planning a day of events on March 22 to celebrate the Honors College.

Expanding Student Horizons

Each spring, Honors College administrators cull through the SAT and ACT scores, GPAs, and advanced placement and honor courses of accepted Rutgers–Camden students, identifying between 80 to 100 candidates whom they invite to join the program as incoming first-year students. In addition, roughly 25 rising sophomores recommended by their professors or who complete an application are invited to join the Honors College, and a small group of transfer students are accepted each year as well. Students must take five courses in the Honors College throughout their four years, plus participate in honors events and campus or community service activities each semester.

The goal, says Lee Ann Westman, Honors College director since 2019, is to provide an enriching experience in an intimate setting. “We’re asking them to be more intentional about their college experience,” Westman says. “We’re encouraging students to do things they might not otherwise do. They only have four years, and we want them to jump in with both feet right away.”

The Honors College was first conceived not only to attract a higher caliber of students to Rutgers–Camden’s campus, program founder Allen Woll says, but also to allow the faculty to teach more appealing courses. “We didn’t have to twist too many arms,” says Woll, head of the Honors College for its first 15 years. “Professors taught subjects they were interested in or sometimes tried out new courses that might later be incorporated into the regular curriculum. In the seminar setting, students got to know their professors very well. It raised the boat for everyone.”

Woll, a professor emeritus of history who began teaching at Rutgers–Camden in 1975, has generously established the Allen and Myra Woll Scholarship Fund, one of three scholarships that support students in the Honors College.

A Welcoming Home on Cooper Street

When Timothy Martin, an associate professor of English, took over the Honors College directorship in 2012, the growing program housed in the library was looking for a more permanent home. Promised the second floor of 319 Cooper Street, Martin lobbied for a thoughtful redesign of the previous “all cubicle, CIA-like space,” with more windows, transparent walls, and “a general airiness of place.”

The resulting new home for the Honors College on Cooper Street was a resounding success. “It created a real sense of community where the students had a kind of home on campus,” Martin says. “The building was where everything happened: classes, advising, and being friends together.”

The move also helped institutionalize a fully established advising program, which Martin says is one of the most important Honors College offerings. Students meet with dedicated advisers to discuss everything from personal matters to graduate school applications.

The Honors College’s close-knit, seminar-style classes and advising staff have been the most valuable for Jordan Adhiambo, a senior from Atlanta majoring in accounting in the School of Business–Camden who entered the program as a sophomore. Soon after he joined the Honors College, COVID-19 forced most classes online. Still, Adhiambo took solace in his online honors seminar, where he and fellow classmates created a video archive of incidents of police brutality.

The following year, when he was going through a hard time personally, he says the Honors College pulled him through. “I wasn’t in a good head space, and they were very understanding, providing a bridge for me and my professors,” says Adhiambo, recently elected president of the Rutgers–Camden Student Government Association. “By the spring semester, I came back strong and have been there ever since.”

High achievers like Adhiambo and his classmate Malaysia Nelson reflect the disproportionate number of prominent positions Honors College students hold on campus, from club leaders to commencement speakers. A political science major from Vineland, New Jersey, Nelson is president of her sorority and B1GS, an organization for first-generation college students.

The college senior also serves as a constituent advocate for New Jersey’s 5th legislative district and has begun applying to law schools. For her, the service requirement of the Honors College was the most attractive element. “I’m someone who loves to serve people,” Nelson says. “And in college, we don’t always think about giving back. You’re held responsible in the Honors College. They’re always pushing you forward, preparing you to take that next leap.”

An Invaluable Network

Beyond the rewarding experience, Honors students earn a few perks: a gold stole to wear over their graduation gowns and an impressive line to add to their resumes. The greatest benefit, though, is the network of alumni they join.

Alice Alfano can attest to the value of the Honors College alumni network. Facing graduation in 2020, Alfano learned that Becky Holloway CCAS’02, a member of the Honors College’s second graduating class, had reached out to the program to say she was “looking for a rock star in marketing” for her start-up company. She was given Alfano’s name. This fall marked Alfano’s second anniversary of working for Malbek, a contract management firm that has grown to 100 employees.

While she is thankful for the job connection, Alfano says the Honors College has meant even more. “It impacted the way I think about college,” says Alfano of Cherry Hill. “As a very shy person, it got me out of my comfort zone. It gave me the opportunity to talk to people from different majors and outside my social sphere. I got to know so many more people on campus. It was a great experience.”

Details about the March 22 event celebrating the Rutgers–Camden Honors College’s 25th anniversary are forthcoming. If you have questions about the event, email alumni@camden.rutgers.edu or call 856-225-6028.