Ramapo College of New Jersey
Ranked by U.S. News & World Report as fifth in the north in the Top Public UniversitiesMaster’s category, Ramapo College of New Jersey is sometimes mistaken for a private
college. This is, in part, due to its unique interdisciplinary academic structure, its size
of approximately 5,700 students and its pastoral setting in the foothills of the Ramapo
Mountains on the New Jersey/New York border.
Established in 1969, Ramapo College offers bachelor’s degrees in the arts, business,
humanities, social sciences and the sciences, as well as in professional studies, which
include nursing and social work. In addition, Ramapo College offers courses leading to
teacher certification at the elementary and secondary levels. The College also offers
three graduate programs as well as articulated programs with the University of
Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and New York Chiropractic College.
Undergraduate students choose to concentrate their studies in one of five schools with
more than 700 course offerings and 40 academic programs. Ramapo College boasts an
average student/faculty ratio of 18:1 and average class size of 23, affording students the
opportunity to develop close ties to the College’s exceptional faculty.
The College’s mission is focused on the four “pillars” of a Ramapo education:
international, intercultural, interdisciplinary and experiential, all of which are
incorporated throughout the curriculum and extracurriculum. The international
mission is further accomplished through a wide range of study abroad and student
exchange links with institutions all over the world through the New Jersey State
Consortium for International Studies (NJSCIS). Additional experiential programs
include internships, co-op and service learning.
A campus-wide building program during recent years has resulted in the completion of
the Anisfield School of Business academic facility, a central feature of the main entrance
to the campus; the Bill Bradley Sports and Recreation Center, with its 2,200-seat arena,
fitness center, climbing wall, track and dance/aerobics studio; the Overlook and Laurel
residence halls and the Village apartment complex. The Angelica and Russ Berrie Center
for Performing and Visual Arts, completed in 1999, houses performance theaters, art
galleries and specialized spaces devoted to fine arts, computer art, photography, theater,
dance and music. The Sharp Sustainability Education Center is scheduled for
completion in 2008. The Salameno Spiritual Center will be completed by 2009.
In addition to Ramapo’s ranking in U.S. News, the College recently was recognized by
two national publications. An article in the February 2008 issue of Kiplinger’s magazine
named Ramapo College among the top 100 public colleges and universities. Ramapo
College also is one of 212 institutions recommended by The Princeton Review in the
“Best in the Northeast” section in the 2009 edition of The Best Northeastern Colleges.
Dr. Peter Philip Mercer became the College’s fourth president on July 1, 2005. The
College is governed by a Board of Trustees who are appointed by the Governor of the
State. The Reverend Dr. Vernon C. Walton is the chairman of the board.
OPENING
Wednesday,
CONVOCATION
September 17, 2008
1 p.m.
NATALIE
ANGIER
Best-selling Author of
The Canon:
A Whirligig Tour of the
Beautiful Basics of Science
Arena,
Bill Bradley Sports and
Recreation Center
NATALIE ANGIER was born in New York in 1958. She
attended the University of Michigan for two years and then
transferred to Barnard College in New York. While in college,
Angier studied English, physics and astronomy. At the age of
22, Angier was hired as a founding staff member for Discover
OPENING CONVOCATION
September 17, 2008
President’s Welcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dr. Peter P. Mercer
President
The Ramapo College summer reading experience serves to engage new
students in a common academic activity that accentuates critical reading,
discussion, and writing skills. The summer reading is a common thread
among all 34 courses in the First-Year Seminar Program.
National Anthem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adam Posluszny
Class of ‘09
Director, Mack Brandon
Professor of Music
The summer reading experience is not restricted to first-year students.
The entire College is encouraged to participate by reading the selected
book and discussing it so the campus might share a common academic
experience.
Magazine, which Time Inc. launched in 1980, where she
specialized in writing about biology.
Angier also worked as the senior science writer for Time Magazine, an editor at
the now-defunct women’s magazine, Savvy, and a professor of journalism at
New York University’s Graduate Program in Science and Environmental
Reporting.
In 1990, she began working for The New York Times, and the following year she
First-Year Seminar Summer Reading Program
won a Pulitzer Prize for beat reporting. Angier has also won numerous other
awards, among them the American Association for the Advancement of Science
award, the Lewis Thomas award, the General Motors International award and
Greetings and Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dr. Beth Barnett
Provost, Vice President for Academic Affairs
the Barnard Distinguished Alumna award.
In “The Canon,” Angier draws on conversations with hundreds of the world’s top
scientists, and her own work as a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The New
York Times, to create a thoroughly entertaining guide to scientific literacy. It is
vital reading for anyone who wants to understand the great issues of our time—
“An Afternoon with Natalie Angier”
Best-selling Author of
The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science
from stem cells and bird flu to evolution and global warming. While covering
the major scientific disciplines: physics, chemistry, biology, geology and
Question/Answer Session
astronomy, we learn what’s actually happening when our ice cream melts or our
coffee gets cold, what our liver cells do when we eat a caramel, why the horse
Gift Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas Ng
Student Trustee
reveals evolution at work, and how we’re all made of stardust.
Angier’s sparkling prose and memorable metaphors bring the science to life,
reigniting our own childhood delight in discovering how the world works. “Of
Alma Mater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jenna Myers
Class of ‘09
Director, Mack Brandon
course you should know about science,” writes Angier, “for the same reason Dr.
Seuss counsels his readers to sing with a Ying or play Ring the Gack: These
Closing Remarks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dr. Peter P. Mercer
things are fun and fun is good.”
Angier lives in Takoma Park, Md., with her husband, Rick Weiss, who covers
science for The Washington Post, and their daughter, Katherine Weiss Angier.
Excerpted from http://www.natalieangier.com.
Book signing follows immediately after presentation.
Please remain seated for the duration of the program.
Every year, a book is chosen by faculty, students, and staff as the Summer
Reading to be read by all incoming freshmen and a significant number of
other members of the College. The summer reading for the class of 2012
is “The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science by Natalie
Angier.”
“The Canon” distills the scientific canon to the absolute essentials,
delivering an entertaining and inspiring one-stop science education.
Angier interviewed a host of scientists, posing the simple question
“What do you wish everyone knew about your field?” “The Canon”
provides their answers, taking readers on a joyride through the
fascinating fundamentals of the incredible world around us and
revealing how they are relevant to us every day.
All first-year students will use this summer reading as an initial common
subject that they will discuss and debate, using “The Canon” as a guide to
the explorations of the scientific process. As many of the scientists
interviewed by Angier encouraged, first-year students will be challenged
to embrace the world as they find it, not as they wish it to be.