New Jersey City University (NJCU) officially launches the NJCU Center for the Arts to bring its performing, visual, film, and literary arts activities under one creative umbrella, and to promote and support exhibitions and performances both on and off-campus. NJCU has also formed an Arts Advisory Board whose mandate is to take a leadership role in shaping the cultural landscape of the arts in Jersey City and the Region.

Long considered a cultural hub of metro-north Jersey, NJCU boasts an accomplished international faculty in many disciplines, from music to theatre, to media and visual arts, and literature. These professionals mentor students, sharing their knowledge and passion, and also invite renowned guest artists to campus. The NJCU Center for the Arts’ mission is to expand NJCU’s arts and cultural identity, profile, resources, educational opportunities, and outreach programs and initiatives.

To read more stories about NJCU, scroll down:

NJCU Awarded $5.7 Million Grant from U.S. Department of Education
NJCU Launches the Urban Education and Teacher Unionism Policy Project
NJCU Hosted ‘An Evening with Bill T. Jones’ on November 15

“We all know that nurturing and sustaining the arts is a challenge in every university and every community across America and abroad,” said NJCU President Sue Henderson. “I want to be sure that we at NJCU do all we can to meet the daunting challenges facing the arts and cultural communities in this area. To this end, we are creating the NJCU Arts Advisory Board.”

The newly formed Arts Advisory Board is comprised of 23 key individuals in the community who are dedicated to enhancing cultural opportunities in the region. Sharon Ambis, Chair of the Arts Advisory Board, comments, “The NJCU Arts Advisory Board is poised to become a partner with other key stakeholders in Jersey City to enhance the cultural vitality of our community through a series of programs and initiatives that will add value to artists, arts organizations and audiences.”

A complete roster of the Arts Advisory Board and their professional affiliations is listed below.

To highlight its increased focus on the arts, the University’s Keynote Presidential Speaker is Tony Award-winning choreographer and artistic director Bill T. Jones. On Tuesday, November 15, Mr. Jones will reflect on his remarkable 40+ year career in the arts, and candidly discuss the dilemmas of self and identity as seen from the point of view of an artist who constantly asks the question: “Am I in this game and how do I stay in this game? The game in question is that of a life lived in the arts.”

At a recent meeting, the NJCU Arts Advisory Board identified initiatives it will develop and implement over the next 12 months:

A Cultural Vision Plan for Jersey City: NJCU, in partnership with other stakeholders will develop an asset map, identify asset gaps, and create a Cultural Vision Plan which identifies key steps towards furthering the cultural vitality of Jersey City.

Arts Workshops: A series of workshops and panels featuring experts in fundraising, marketing, board development and programming from successful New Jersey and New York cultural institutions. Workshops will be offered at no charge to Jersey City artists and arts organizations.

Performances and Lectures by Distinguished Artists and Speakers: NJCU will continue its free Presidential Speaker Series at the Liberty Science Center in spring 2017. Past speakers have included theoretical scientist and author Michio Kaku, Pulitzer Prize-winning Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, and planetary scientist Carolyn Porco. Plans are underway for the annual NJCU Alumni Jazz Big Band Concert at J. Owen Grundy Pier in September 2017.

Jersey City Mayor Fulop notes, “NJCU is a leading partner in our efforts to further enhance the cultural landscape of Jersey City. NJCU faculty and students, working in tandem with the newly formed Arts Advisory Board, bring the City access to scholars and professionals in the arts, talented students eager to expand their horizons, and an Advisory Board comprised of arts and civic leaders. This creative collaboration when combined with other artists and arts organizations which partner with NJCU, will create an artistic force that is bound to raise cultural achievement to new heights.”

Arts Advisory Board Members of the NJCU Center for the Arts

· Sharon Ambis, Director of Marketing, Jersey City Medical Center–Chair

· Beth Bogush, Executive Producer, The Astaire Awards

· Luca Cusolito, Creative Director, Division of Communications, City of Jersey City

· Bea Daggett, Director of External and Strategic Affairs, Paper Mill Playhouse

· Dr. Marsha Dubrow, CEO, The Dubrow Group

· Steven Fink, NJCU alumnus and CEO, SummerTech and Coditum, SUNY Purchase

· Philip Fortenberry, NJCU alumnus, pianist, and Associate Conductor of Jersey Boys, Las Vegas

· Dan Frohwirth, M.D., Founding Member, Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy, and Board Member, ProArts and the Open Sky Museum

· Craig Goletz, President, Jersey City International Television and Film Festival

· Maureen Goletz, Executive Director, Jersey City International Television and Film Festival

· Christine Goodman, Founder and Executive Director, Art House Productions

· Susan Haig, Creative Director, New Jersey Arts News

· Ben Jones, visual artist and NJCU Professor Emeritus

· Stefania Panepinto, artist, art advisor, and gallery owner, Panepinto Galleries

· Al Parinello, NJCU alumnus, arts producer, former broadcast entrepreneur, and Board Member, NJCU Foundation

· Brian Platt, Director, Jersey City New Innovation Team, City of Jersey City

· Linda Quentzel, Executive Director, Hudson County School of Technology (HCST) Foundation, and Director of Development, HCST

· David Rodriguez, Executive Vice President and Executive Producer, NJPAC

· Mark Shulman, Senior Vice President and General Manager—Northeast, AEG Live

· Paul Silverman, Principal, Silverman Building

· Catherine Sippin, Assistant Director, Mana Contemporary

· Don Jay Smith, arts promoter and public relations and fundraising specialist for the arts, LKS Associates, Inc.

· Susan Wagner, Senior Coordinating Producer, NBC News Medical Unit

The NJCU Center for the Arts Winter/Spring calendar of events will be announced in December 2016. For NJCU’s Center for the Arts Fall 2016 Calendar of Events, visit www.njcu.edu/arts.

NJCU Awarded $5.7 Million Grant from U.S. Department of Education

New Jersey City University (NJCU) has been awarded a $5.7 million U.S. Department of Education Title III grant through the Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) Program.

The five-year grant (Project STEM: Evidence-based Approaches to STEM Enrollment, Retention and Graduation at an Urban Public Hispanic-Serving Institution) will enable NJCU to implement a program of interventions intended to increase the number of Hispanic and low-income students attaining degrees in six STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields at the University.

In announcing the grant award, NJCU President Sue Henderson stated, “This generous federal grant will impact significantly the future of STEM in New Jersey and beyond. By increasing Latino participation in the STEM professions, we will take an important step towards strategically building our nation’s workforce, strengthening our scientific community, and advancing global research and innovation.”

NJCU Provost and Academic Vice President Daniel J. Julius said, “The awarding of this grant represents an important step forward for NJCU as the University continues to achieve excellence in STEM fields. Our talented and committed faculty are absolutely essential to our ability to fulfill and enhance our mission for our students. The award will fund scientific equipment that will further the top-notch research our faculty are undertaking with our students.”

Dr. Julius continued, “This exciting initiative will also bring into alignment NJCU student success initiatives and our plans to enhance innovation and competitiveness, and provide a foundation for career success.”

The overall goal of the initiative is to increase graduation rates and enhance the educational experience of STEM majors through improved laboratory facilities and academic support services. About 56% of NJCU’s undergraduate students belong to underrepresented minority groups, and 52% of NJCU’s undergraduates are transfer students, largely from six nearby minority-serving community colleges.

The grant provides over $750,000 in funding toward the purchase of state-of-the-art scientific equipment and software; the outfitting of student study spaces in NJCU’s Science Building, currently under construction and renovation; and the installation of lecture capture technology in science classrooms.

The project will enable the University to introduce an innovative Summer STEM Academy for rising sophomores and incoming transfer students, and greatly expand student research opportunities. Each year, dozens of NJCU students will conduct cutting-edge research with faculty and gain hands-on, real-world experience with modern laboratory equipment, helping to prepare them for careers in research-related fields.

Project Director Dr. John Grew, Chair of NJCU’s Biology Department, describes how sustained growth in NJCU’s STEM programs has built on ten prior years of Title III support. That support provided access to sophisticated facilities, technology and instrumentation to several thousand STEM students through educational and research activities and yielded over one hundred student research presentations at regional and national scientific conferences. Over that period of time, NJCU’s STEM programs grew to approximately 14% of its undergraduate population and now number approximately 900 students.

The purpose of federal Hispanic-Serving Institutions – Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (HSI STEM) and Articulation Programs is to increase the number of Hispanic and other low-income students attaining degrees in the fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics; and to develop model transfer and articulation agreements between two-year and four-year institutions in such fields.

NJCU Launches the Urban Education and Teacher Unionism Policy Project

New Jersey City University formally launches The Urban Education and Teacher Unionism Policy Project with publication of the first Policy Brief explaining the Project’s mission. NJCU continues its commitment to urban schools, students, and teachers by creating a space for dialogue among scholars and activists about the intersection of urban education reform and teacher unionism. The Policy Project will publish concise, research-based critical analyses of issues to further strong, mutually respectful alliances between teachers unions and communities of color about historic inequalities in education.

The Policy Project has a distinguished advisory board of leading scholars and activists. Dr. Lois Weiner, Professor of Elementary and Secondary Education, serves as the project’s director, and brings a long record of scholarship and advocacy about both teacher unionism in K-12 schools and the education of urban teachers.

For more information – http://www.njcu.edu/academics/urban-education-and-teacher-unionism-policy-project.

NJCU Hosted ‘An Evening with Bill T. Jones’ on November 15

New Jersey City University (NJCU) presented an evening with Tony Award-winning choreographer Bill T. Jones as he reflected on his illustrious life in the arts.

“An Evening with Bill T. Jones” took place on Tuesday, November 15 in the Skyline Room of the NJCU School of Business, located at 200 Hudson Street, Harborside Plaza 2, Jersey City, N.J. 07311.

Revered as one of the top choreographers and artistic directors of modern time, Mr. Jones shared an intimate conversation, candidly unpacking of the processes of art-making, along with the dilemmas of self and identity as seen from the point of view of an artist who constantly asks the question: “Am I in this game and how do I stay in this game? The game in question is that of a life lived in the arts.”

With a forty plus year career in the performing arts, Mr. Jones has choreographed and performed worldwide, receiving countless awards and recognition including the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors.

The event marked the first program in NJCU’s 2016-2017 Presidential Lecture Series, which was presented by NJCU’s Center for the Arts.

For more information about the visual, performing, and literary arts at NJCU, visit www.njcu.edu/arts.