Dean John Griffin Presents the FASC Fall 2024/Winter 2025 Newsletter

Explore this Newsletter

Department and Program and Highlights
Faculty Highlights
  Appointments
  Awards and Honors
  Exhibits
  Fellowships
  Grants
  Leadership Positions
  Media Appearances and Mentions
  Memberships
  Mentorships
  Presentations
  Promotions and Tenure Appointments
  Publications
  Training Programs
Alumni Highlights
Staff Highlights
Student Highlights

Happy New Year! 2025 promises big things, such as the celebration of the Year of the Arts and events such as SPARK!: Showcase of Projects, Art, Research, and Knowledge, which is a reimagining of Research Week. First, however, I invite you to look back at the Fall 2024 semester, as well as the brief but productive Winter 2025 semester. Once again, our faculty, staff, students, and alumni have been remarkably successful, bringing pride to all of us here on the Camden campus. Notable achievements from our faculty include Dr. Gloria Bonilla-Santiago, Professor of Public Policy and Administration, receiving the Rutgers Lifetime Contribution Award; the publication of Analog Superpowers: How Twentieth-Century Technology Theft Built the National Security State by Dr. Katherine Epstein, Associate Professor of History; and Dr. Catherine Grgicak, Henry Rutgers Chair Associate Professor of Chemistry, being awarded the Peter M. Schneider International Society of Forensic Genetics Fellowship.

Our staff, students, and alumni also achieved great things: Chrissy Beswick and Julie Roncinske in the FASC–Office of the Dean were both selected to leadership programs; current MFA student Bronwen Everill’s latest book, Africonomics: A History of Western Ignorance, was published by HarperCollin UK; and Sienna Zeilinger (GSC ’23 and Director of the Writers House), won the 2024 Florida Review Editors’ Prize in Creative Nonfiction.

I look forward to what is sure to be an exciting Spring 2025 semester!

—

John Griffin, Dean, Faculty of Arts and Sciences–Camden

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Department and Program Highlights

Department of Chemistry

A new mass spectrometry (MS) suite has been established by the Department of Chemistry. Located in the Science Building, Room 111A, the suite features state-of-the-art instruments including GC-MS, LC-MS, and MALDI-TOF. 

The Department of Chemistry welcomed the following new faculty members:

• Dr. Santanu Malakar, Assistant Professor
• Dr. K.J. Winchell, Assistant Teaching Professor

Department of Childhood Studies

The Department of Childhood Studies welcomed the following new faculty members:

• Dr. Naomi Fair, Assistant Professor
• Dr. Marilisa Jiménez García, Associate Professor     

Community Leadership Center

Investments in Puerto Rico: Through the leading efforts of Dr. Gloria Bonilla-Santiago, the College of Arts and Science has engaged with programs targeting children and educators in Puerto Rico. This effort is aligned with the work of the newly created LEAP Social Enterprise, a nonprofit charter management organization working to upscale and replicate the work of the LEAP Academy in Puerto Rico. This effort is reaching approximately 2,000 students enrolled in five LEAP Schools in Puerto Rico. Dr. Santiago has replicated the successful Alfredo Santiago Scholars Program and amplified the use of Early College to prepare students for college while building partnerships with the higher education community in Puerto Rico. The inaugural school in Puerto Rico will graduate its first 12th graders in 2025, and already, a cohort of 10 seniors are admitted and preparing to attend college at Rutgers–Camden. Dean John Griffin visited the schools and projects in Puerto Rico in November 2024. He invited the students to apply with a commitment of early admission for those considering Rutgers–Camden as their higher education home. Dean Griffin and Dr. Santiago also hosted a reception for Puerto Rico-based alums and influential stakeholders with resources to support these efforts.

Paralleled to the work with schools and children, Dean Griffin and Dr. Santiago received the great news that the Puerto Rico Department of Education approved the Rutgers–Camden graduate offering through the Masters in Teaching Arts programs. This program will facilitate the participation of Puerto Rico-based educators in an online offering that will lead to graduate certificates in special education and school leadership. The approval through the Puerto Rico Department of Education opens the door for teachers to tap into—existing federal funds to support their tuition. An active campaign for recruiting the first cohort will be launched in early 2025.

Partnership with Paraguay and the Universidad Nacional de Asuncion: As a direct outcome of the collaboration with the Universidad Nacional de Asuncion in Paraguay, three graduate students are completing graduate degrees and experiences at Rutgers–Camden.  Benito Ortega Torres received a Graduate Assistantship as part of his work in the doctoral program in Public Affairs/Community Development. He is placed to do research at the Community Leadership Center. Shirley Irizarry has enrolled in the PhD program in Public Affairs and is currently working with the LEAP Early College Program as part of her research.  Funding for this graduate assistantship was secured through the Community Leadership Center and the FASC–Office of the Dean. Johnny Aquino is currently a teaching assistant at the graduate school in the Department of World Languages and Cultures. This effort builds on the campus’s strategic vision of increasing international collaborations. Graduate student exchanges significantly contribute to international cooperation by sharing knowledge, expertise, and perspectives across different research environments, fostering personal connections between researchers from diverse backgrounds, and laying the groundwork for future collaborative projects through early exposure to various research cultures and methodologies.

Early College: 105 LEAP Academy seniors have joined our campus this Fall 2024 as Early College participants. Joining another 25 students completing Dual College Enrollment courses, the critical mass of LEAP students provides the opportunity for the campus to widen its college pipeline by exposing students and building intellectual knowledge for students who have been historically underrepresented. Dean John Griffin, Dean Donna Nikitas, and Dean Monica Adya have admitted 75 LEAP Students from the Early College program alongside the admissions office to ensure that these students receive early admission offers to confirm their attendance at our campus. Research shows that students who take dual enrollment courses, which count for both high school and college credit, are more likely to pursue postsecondary education. Early College students are also more likely to graduate from high school and enroll in college than students in similar groups who are not enrolled in an Early College program.

Digital Studies

On September 14, the Digital Studies Center (DiSC) teamed up with the IDEA Center for the Arts to host the 4th Annual Johnson Park Arts and Music Festival, which features Camden-based vendors and musicians.

DiSC is now home to the AI Ethics Lab, led by Dr. Nate Walker. Dr. Walker is leading a team of undergraduate researchers in identifying moral challenges in Artificial Intelligence and actively developing practical strategies to foster responsible technology that benefits both humanity and the environment: https://aiethicslab.rutgers.edu/. His work builds upon his recent certification as an AI Ethics Officer and research appointments at the University of Oxford’s Institute for Ethics in AI and the Unit for the Ethics of Technology at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. His research also builds upon his experience serving OpenAI’s Human Data Team as an expert AI trainer, providing expertise in First Amendment and human rights law to ensure the safety and accuracy of frontier models.

Department of Education and Teacher Preparation

RAPID Initiative: The Department of Education and Teacher Preparation faculty have secured an MOU with the NJ Department of Education to analyze and update program coursework that leads to the Preschool through Grade Three teaching license.  The Fall 2025 licensure code changes include detailed descriptions of the integration of literacy instruction into several pre-service courses and the expansion of mathematical pedagogy for early learners.  The Department used the MOU funds to create an Advisory Board to inform program changes, purchase curricula, and literature to prepare teachers more effectively for today’s classrooms, and create state and local training modules on topics ranging from best practices in literacy to a first-year teaching for pre-and in-service teachers.

MAT Program Updates: As a result of the upcoming licensure code changes for students entering Fall 2025 and beyond, the Master of Teaching program has updated all courses.  The Early Childhood sequence will increase from 33 credits to 36, and the Elementary concentration will now require 33 credits.  These credit increases will include courses with an increased emphasis on literacy instruction and the integration of literacy throughout the curriculum.  The Secondary concentration will remain at a required 30 credits but will be comprised of updated coursework.

Camden Partnership: This current academic year, the education department partnered with the Camden Education Fund (CEF), a local non-profit organization dedicated to improving the Camden public school system.  In conjunction with CEF through their Camden Teacher Pipeline initiative, the Department placed 4 student teachers, interested in urban education, in Camden city schools for their clinical practice year.  These students were paired with schools and cooperating teachers after an extensive interview process and will participate in extra professional development with CEF throughout the school year.

Department of English and Communication

The Department of English and Communication welcomed Mr. Tom McAllister as a new assistant teaching professor.

Department of Health Sciences

The Department of Health Sciences welcomed Dr. Joanna Kallan as a new assistant teaching professor.

Department of History

The Department of History welcomed the following new faculty members:

• Dr. Jesse Bayker, Assistant Teaching Professor
• Dr. Carly Goodman, Assistant Professor

Department of Mathematical Sciences

The Department of Mathematical Sciences welcomed Dr. Longmei Shu as a new assistant professor.

Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities (MARCH)

This fall, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities (MARCH) brought Mercy Romero, associate professor of criminology, law and society at the University of California, Irvine, to Rutgers–Camden as the Chancellor’s Distinguished Visiting Scholar. Over two weeks, Romero led a series of programs centered on the narratives of place, relationships and city that emerge from her book Toward Camden. During lectures, workshops and conversations, Rutgers students and professors, Camden community members, and fellow artists and scholars discussed methods of research, storytelling techniques, and what it means to be in community. You can read more here.  

MARCH also launched PROOF, a humanities makerspace, this fall. PROOF provides space and resources to support humanities research grounded in critical making and hands-on experimentation where you learn by doing. This semester, PROOF welcomed its inaugural student researcher, Sophia Westfall, who is researching the connections between the material culture of print and the wider environment by experimenting with ecologically-minded approaches to making ink, paper, and more. As part of her research, Sophia has run a series of public workshops on campus and presented her findings at a research talk in Camden at the Paul Robeson Library on Monday, December 9, from 11:20 am – 12:20 pm, and at the Annual Meeting of the Bibliography Society of America in January 2025.

Department of Public Policy and Administration

The Department of Public Policy and Administration welcomed Dr. Clinton McNair as a new assistant professor.

Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice

The Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice welcomed Dr. Christina Jackson as a new assistant professor of sociology.

Department Visual, Media, and Performing Arts

The Department of Visual, Media, and Performing Arts welcomed Mr. Alejandro Loureiro Lorenzo as a new assistant teaching professor of photography.

Faculty Highlights

Appointments

Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice

• Ms. Kimberlee Moran, Associate Teaching Professor of Forensic Science, was appointed Executive Secretary of the MidAtlantic Teaching Faculty Alliance.

Awards and Honors

Department of English and Communication

• We Must Not Think of Ourselves, by Lauren Grodstein, Professor of English and Creative Writing, was a New York Times Editor’s Choice, People’s Book of the Week, a Best of the Year in several lists, and the Today Show Read with Jenna pick for December 2023.
• Pat Rosal, Professor of English and Creative Writing, was named a Lamont Poet at Exeter Academy. He was also selected as a Georgia Circuit Poet, and toured ten colleges and universities throughout the state in February and April.

Department of History

• Dr. Carly Goodman, Assistant Professor of History, received the following awards for her book, Dreamland: America’s Immigration Lottery in an Age of Restriction (UNC, 2023):
  • Edgar S. Furniss Best Book Award from the Mershon Center for International Security Studies; and the
  • Immigration and Ethnic History Society First Book Award.  

Department of Public Policy and Administration

• Dr. Paul Jargowsky, Professor of Public Policy and Administration, was honored by Building One New Jersey, a coalition of religious groups, labor unions, and individuals working for progressive policies in the State, on December 12, 2024. He was honored as their “2024 Steadfast and Loyal Friend,” for being an “important ally through his support and important work, and as an insightful and deeply principled thought leader and practitioner and courageous advocate for the realization of a fully inclusive and just society.”

Department of Public Policy and Administration/Community Leadership Center

• Dr. Gloria Bonilla-Santiago, Professor of Public Policy and Administration and Director/Founder of the Community Leadership Center, received the Rutgers Lifetime Contribution Award. Dr. Bonilla-Santiago also received the Clement A. Price Human Dignity Award.

Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice

• Dr. Julio Alicea, Assistant Professor of Sociology, received the following awards:
  • Maureen Hallinan Graduate Student Paper Award from the Sociology of Education Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association. The award was for his paper, “Placing Youth in the ‘Spatial Turn:’ An Intersectional Analysis of Youth Experiences in a Changing Neighborhood;” and the
  • Rutgers Research Council Social and Racial Justice Award.
• Dr. Christina Jackson, Assistant Professor of Sociology, received the Community Champion Award from West Mount Airy Neighbors, for her work connecting with public school parents and renters to lead sessions and strategize for stronger neighborhoods and classrooms. 

Department of Visual, Media, and Performing Arts

• The Philadelphia Artists’ Collective, the theater company of Mr. Damon Bonetti, Lecturer of Theater, won three Barrymore Awards: Outstanding Ensemble in a Play, Outstanding Direction of a Play (Charlotte Northeast), and Outstanding Choreography/Movement in  a Play (Eli Lynn).

Exhibits

Department of Visual, Media, and Performing Arts

• Ms. Anabelle Rodriguez Gonzalez, Lecturer of Art History, curated the following exhibits:
  • “Prima Materia” for the Rowan University Art Gallery & Museum, which was open from November 7, 2024 – January 4, 2025.
  • “Desde San Juan Bautista,” the first official collateral event exhibition of contemporary art from Puerto Rico, at the Biennale di Venezia, which is known as the “Olympics of Art.” 

Fellowships

Department of Chemistry

• Dr. Catherine Grgicak, Henry Rutgers Chair Associate Professor of Chemistry, received the Peter M. Schneider International Society of Forensic Genetics Fellowship.

Department of History

• Dr. Nick Kapur, Associate Professor of History, received the Japan Foundation Research Fellowship, which will fund his research in Japan in spring 2025.

Grants

Department of Health Sciences/Prevention Science Program

• Dr. Jamie Dunaev, Associate Teaching Professor of Psychology, along with Mr. Travis DuBose, Assistant Teaching Professor of English; Dr. Jennifer Oberle, Associate Teaching Professor of Biology; Ms. Kimberlee Moran, Associate Teaching Professor of Forensic Science; Dr. Nathan Fried, Associate Teaching Professor of Biology; and Ms. Tracie Paulson, Associate Teaching Professor of Biology; received a Mutual Mentoring Grant from the University Equity and Inclusion Office, in order to host a conference entitled Off the Tenure Track: Building an Education-Forward Academic Career.

Department of Public Policy and Administration/Community Leadership Center

• Dr. Gloria Bonilla-Santiago, Professor of Public Policy and Administration and Director/Founder of the Community Leadership Center, received the following grants:
  • Three million dollars for the Early Learning Research Academy from the Department of Education and the City of Camden; and
  • $175,000.00 from JumpStart to support the college interns at the Early Learning Research Academy.

Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice

• Dr. Julio Alicea, Assistant Professor of Sociology, along with Dr. Andrew Abeyta, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Dr. Yoona Kang, Assistant Professor of Psychology, and Dr. Tamara Nelson, Assistant Professor of Psychology, received the Mutual Mentoring Grant for the proposal “The Social Science Squad (SSS): Bringing a Global Lens to the WEIRD Problem.”
• Dr. Christina Jackson, Assistant Professor of Sociology, received the Leeway Foundation’s Art and Change Grant. This funding will enable Dr. Jackson to work with the Philadelphia Clef Club of Performing Arts to create “Stepping in Time,” an audio storytelling tour of historic jazz venues in North Philadelphia that will highlight important facts and utilize creative storytelling. This tour will deepen emotional connection with these cultural centers through an immersive experience of audio storytelling.
• Dr. Daniel Semenza, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, received the following grants:
  • A three-year $525,000 grant from the Stoneleigh Foundation; and
  • A grant from the National Institute of Health – National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, for the project, “Secondary Analysis of Add Health and Ecological Data to Assess Violence Exposure and Dental Healthcare Utilization,” in the amount of $358,966.00.

Department of World Languages and Cultures

• Dr. Ana Laguna, Professor of Spanish, received the following grants:
  • NJ Health Foundation grant, “Improving Birth Outcomes of Hispanic Women in New Jersey,” and the
  • Chancellor’s Grant for Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration at Rutgers University–Camden, for “Translation and Cultural Adaptation of a Diabetes Family Coaching Intervention for Spanish-speaking Hispanic/LatinX Populations.”

Leadership Positions

Department of World Languages and Cultures

• Dr. Ana Laguna, Professor of Spanish, directs the Spanish for Health Program. 

Media Appearances and Mentions

Department of Political Science

• Dr. Kelly Dittmar, Associate Professor of Political Science, was interviewed by a variety of media outlets regarding the 2024 election cycle:
  • NPR: “The data show women are making gains in elected office in the US” and “13 States Will Have Women Governors Next Year, a New Record.”
  • ABC News: “Number of women who are state lawmakers inches up to a record.”
  • CNBC: “How Trump’s victory could change abortion rights in America.”
  • Newsweek: “Sexist language surges online as Harris battles Trump.”
  • The Washington Post: “Seeking a historic win, Harris faces a familiar foe: sexism.”

Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice

• Dr. Daniel Semenza, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, filmed a segment on gun violence and school security for CBS’ Eye on America, which aired nationally on November 20, 2024.

Memberships

Department of History

• Dr. Emily Marker, Associate Professor of History, joined the following boards:
  • Advisory Board of the American Friends of the Documentation Center of Austrian Resistance (DÔW)
  • Editorial Board of the Journal of the History of Children and Youth.

Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice

• Dr. Julio Alicea, Assistant Professor of Sociology, was elected to serve as a Council Member (three-year term) of the Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities of the American Sociological Association.

Department of World Languages and Cultures

• Dr. Ana Laguna, Professor of Spanish, is a member of the following:
  • Fulbright Screening Committee;
  • Communications Director for the Cervantes Society of America; and
  • Chief Officer of the Cervantes Public Project.

Mentorships

Department of English and Communication

• Dr. William FitzGerald, Associate Professor of English, served once again as a faculty mentor at the Naylor Workshop for Undergraduate Research in Writing Studies, an annual weekend event at York College of Pennsylvania that brings undergraduates from across the country to advance their research projects. 

Presentations

Department of Computer Science

• Dr. Sheikh Rabiul Islam, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, presented three papers at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Big Data Conference in Washington, DC, in December 2024:
  • Paper 1: Anoop Adusumilli, Sheikh Rabiul Islam, Iman Dehzangi, and June Kim, Leveraging Large Language Models and Deep Learning for Detecting Illegal Insider Trading. Accepted in IEEE Big Data 2024: The IEEE International Workshop on Large Language Models for Finance
  • Paper 2:  Kuber Sarwal, Sheikh Rabiul Islam, Algorithmic Lending Bias: Evaluating the Fairness of Historical Redlining in Loan Approvals. Accepted in IEEE Big Data 2024: Undergraduate and High School Symposium
  • Paper 3:  Neha Mohan Kumar, Fahmida Tasnim Lisa, and Sheikh Rabiul Islam, Prompt Chaining-Assisted Malware Detection: A Hybrid Approach Utilizing Fine-Tuned LLMs and Domain Knowledge-Enriched Cybersecurity Knowledge Graphs. Accepted in IEEE Big Data 2024

Digital Studies

• Dr. Jim Brown, Associate Professor of English and Director of the Digital Studies Center (DiSC), presented at the 2024 Conference of the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts. Dr. Brown shared some of his ongoing research into the early history of net art and pre-Internet social networking experiments.
• An interdisciplinary group of scholars at DiSC – Dr. Jim Brown (Digital Studies/English and Communication), Dr. Anthony Wright (Childhood Studies), Dr. Selim Cakmakli (Economics), Dr. Jovanna Rosen (Public Policy), and Mr. Dylan O’Donaghue (Public Policy) – organized a series of lectures that address how groups and networks can address the challenges of decentralized organizing. Supported by a Dean’s Conference and Symposium Grant, the series started in November with a talk from Dr. Will Payne, Assistant Professor of Geographic Information Science at Rutgers-New Brunswick. Dr. Payne discussed how digital platform data like local reviews from Yelp can help researchers, policymakers, and residents understand and anticipate dynamics of urban redevelopment and demographic change.

Department of English and Communication

• Dr. William FitzGerald, Associate Professor of English, presented a paper, “This Means War: The Weaponization of Prayer and Prophecy in the Public Square” at the biennial conference of the Rhetoric Society of America in Chicago, Illinois.
• Dr. Holly Blackford Humes, Professor of English, presented an essay “Katniss in Oz: The Hunger Games and Wizard of Oz,” at Charloz: A Celebration of Wizard of Oz, at The Oz Club/NEH in Charlotte, NC.
• Dr. Jillian Sayre, Associate Professor of English and Director of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities (MARCH), made the following presentations in Fall 2024:
  • In October 2024, presented research on early national treasure digging and spiritual ecology in a paper titled “What lies beneath: Excavating the Early National Landscape in May Martin, or the Money Diggers (1835)” at the Annual Conference of the Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers in Washington, D.C.
  • In November 2024, presented research from her current book project on Indigenous horror in paper titled “‘I’m not sorry you’re seeing this’: Indigenous Horror and the Extractivist Abject” at the Annual Conference of the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts in Dallas, TX.
  • Additionally, in January 2025, Dr. Sayre will discuss critical making pedagogy on the panel “Book History on a Budget” at the Annual Meeting of the Bibliography Society of America in New York, NY.

Department of Health Sciences/Prevention Science Program

• Dr. Kristin August, Professor of Psychology, co-presented the following research:
  • “Social support in a low-income community: Links with perceived stress, pain, and functioning,” at the International Association of Relationship Research conference, in Boston, Massachusetts;
  • “Considering additive and interactive effects of body appreciation, self-compassion, and gender on health behaviors among college students,” at the Appearance Matters 10 Conference, in Bristol, U.K.;
  • “Understanding of ‘diet culture,’ body image, and interest in weight loss,” at the Appearance Matters 10 Conference, in Bristol, U.K.;
  • “Exploring body image among transgender and non-binary adults: Considering positive body image,” at the Appearance Matters 10 Conference, in Bristol, U.K.
• Dr. Charlotte Markey, Professor of Psychology, co-presented the following research:
  • “Confident Parents, Remarkable Students: Focus on Body Image,” at St. Ursula’s School in Cleveland, Ohio;
  • “Finding Peace with Body Image: A Conversation with Dr. Charlotte Markey and Jason Wood,” sponsored by ANAD and Rutgers University.
  • “How to Balance the Urgency of Climate Change and Our Research Agenda? Adapting to Climate Change, Weathering Body Image, and Eating Concerns,” at the Université de Caen in Normandie, France.
  • “Explicit, implicit, and internalized weight bias: Relations with self-perceptions of weight and current dieting,” at the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
  • “Considering additive and interactive effects of body appreciation, self-compassion, and gender on health behaviors among college students,” at the Appearance Matters 10 Conference, in Bristol, U.K.;
  • “Understanding of ‘diet culture,’ body image, and interest in weight loss,” at the Appearance Matters 10 Conference, in Bristol, U.K.;
  • “Exploring body image among transgender and non-binary adults: Considering positive body image,” at the Appearance Matters 10 Conference, in Bristol, U.K.

Department of History

• Dr. Carly Goodman, Assistant Professor of History, gave a talk at the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Ramapo College of New Jersey on November 25, 2024, on “Foundational Concepts: Refugees and Human Rights.”
• Dr. Emily Marker, Associate Professor of History, hosted the 50th anniversary conference of the Western Society for French History in San Francisco, November 14-16, 2024, as President of the Society. Dr. Marker also gave an invited talk at the Goethe Institute in Washington DC in the lecture series “Double Exposure: What Constitutes A Society Based on Solidarity?” on November 22, 2024.
• Dr. Andrew Shankman, Professor of History, delivered the following lectures:
  • “The Origins of the First Amendment,” at The National Constitution Center, Philadelphia, on September 21, 2024; and
  • “The U.S Legacy of the Marquis de Lafayette,” at The National Constitution Center, Philadelphia, on September 28, 2024.

Department of Psychology

• Dr. Courtenay Cavanaugh, Professor of Psychology, along with undergraduate psychology students she has mentored, presented the following research:
  • “Sex/gender differences in the associations between adverse childhood experiences and intimate partner violence with mental disorders and attempted suicide: Variations by race/ethnicity,” presented at the 2024 International Society for Traumatic Stress Conference in Boston, Massachusetts.
  • “Sex/gender differences in the associations between adverse childhood experiences and intimate partner violence with mental disorders among adults who have experienced homelessness,” presented at the 2024 Violence Prevention Research Conference in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
  • “Sex/gender differences in the associations between sexual orientation discrimination with past year drug use disorder among sexual minority adults,” presented at the 2024 Violence Prevention Research Conference in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
• Dr. Robrecht van der Wel, Associate Professor of Psychology, presented, “Does temporal binding reflect Sense of Agency (SoA) or memory processes? Insights from implicit and explicit measures in a goal-directed action paradigm” at the 65th meeting of the Psychonomic Society, in New York, New York, on November 21, 2024. This work was co-presented with Amir Lindor (CCAS ’26) and Fatemah Mahdinia, a current prevention science doctoral student.

Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice

• Dr. Laura Napolitano, Associate Professor of Sociology, presented the following research:
  • “Supporting Incarcerated Parents and Families: A Collaborative Approach Across Academic, Correctional, and Community of Borders,” at the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities annual conference.
  • “Incarcerated Parents in a Local Jail: A Collaborative Investigation,” presented at the American Society of Criminology’s annual meeting in San Francisco, California.
• Ms. Kimberlee Moran, Associate Teaching Professor of Forensic Science, was invited to make the following presentations:
  • To speak about forensic archaeology at Umeå University in Sweden. Her talk was part of the research seminar series in archaeology;
  • “The Science in Forensic Science,” at the University of Maryland Baltimore County;
  • “Bones and Bodies in the Graveyards,” at the Old Pine Conservancy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;
  • “Tales from the Crypt: What Does it Mean to be Dead?” at the Moorestown Public Library; 
  • Guest lecture about the Whispering Woods archaeological site in Salem County to a history class a New York University; and served as a
  • Panelist for the session “New Boards – Making it Work and be Successful” at the National Association of Forensic Science Boards in Albany, New York, in November 2024.
• Dr. Daniel Semenza, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, was the keynote speaker for the Coalition for a Safer Delaware’s Fall Forum on Gun Violence and Public Health on November 18, 2024, in Wilmington, Delaware. 

Department of World Languages and Cultures

• Dr. Carla Giaudrone, Associate Professor of Spanish, has been an invited speaker at the:
  • Fifth Virtual Encounter of the Red Iberoamericana de Investigación en Humanidades Ambientales (RIHUA) at Universidad de Córdoba, Argentina, in June 2024;
  • South American Institute for Resilience and Sustainability Studies (SARAS) in August 2024; and
  • Presented with Dr. Yessica Ivet Cienfuegos Martínez (Universidad Autónoma de México) on a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) project exploring gender perspectives in the U.S. and Mexico during the Universidad de Flores’ Innovative Teaching conference in September 2024.
• Dr. Ana Laguna, Professor of Spanish, has made the following presentations:
  • Keynote Speaker at Cervantesfest, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Forthcoming in April 2025;
  • “Healing Cervantes,” University of New Mexico and the Cervantes Institute of New Mexico Albuquerque, September 2024;
  • “Spanish for Health as a Program,” University of Oulu, Finland, August, 2024;
  • “Cervantes and Domestic Violence,” University of Milan and the Cervantes Institute of Milan, March 2024;
  • “Cervantes, contador de imperios,” University of Texas-Austin, November 2023;
  • “In the Name of Love: Cervantes’ Play on Captivity,” Renaissance Society of America, March 2023;
  • “Lost Beyond La Mancha,” Keynote speaker, Florida International University, April 2023.
• Dr. Silvia Perez-Cortes, Associate Professor of Spanish, presented:
  • “Promoting Critical Language Awareness in Spanish teaching programs,” at the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) convention, in Philadelphia, PA, from November 22-24th, 2024;
  • “Quality over quantity: The Role of Interactivity and Turn-Taking during shared reading among Latino families,” at the UIC Bilingualism Forum at the University of Illinois-Chicago, from October 23rd-25th, 2024;
  • “Getting real: (Racio)Linguistic and Cultural Biases among Latinxs,” at the 1st Escaleras Summit at Rutgers University-Camden, on September 26, 2024.

Promotions and Tenure Appointments

Department of Biology

• Dr. Jennifer Oberle was promoted to Associate Teaching Professor of Biology.
• Ms. Tracie Paulson was promoted to Associate Teaching Professor of Biology.
• Ms. Charlene Sayers was promoted to Associate Teaching Professor of Biology.

Department of Childhood Studies

• Dr. Marilisa Jiménez García was promoted to Associate Professor of Childhood Studies.

Department of Philosophy and Religion

• Dr. Margaret Betz was promoted to Associate Teaching Professor of Philosophy.

Publications

Department of Childhood Studies

• Ethnic Studies and Youth Literature: A Critical Reader (SUNY Press), co-edited by Dr. Marilisa Jiménez García, Associate Professor of Childhood Studies, and Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez, is coming out in July 2025. 

Department of English and Communication

• Dr. William FitzGerald, Associate Professor of English, published the fifth edition of The Craft of Research (University of Chicago Press), the leading guide to writing research-based papers.
• Dr. Ophelia Eryn Hostetter, Associate Professor of English, published:
  • A co-edited volume, “Teaching Beowulf,” (w/ Larry Swain), in September 2024;
  • “Lost in (Re)Translation: The Exeter Book Riddles,” a collection of creative translations, is under contract with punctum books, with an anticipated publication date of Fall 2025;
  • Along with Dr. Claire Stricklin, Assistant Teaching Professor of English, contributed a chapter, “Trans/Fluctuations: Exeter Book Riddle 38 as Tabletop Card Game,” a hybrid creative-critical project, accepted for publication in Beyond Medieval Archives, edited by Francesca Brooks & Carl Kears (forthcoming University College London Press, 2025);
  • In Spring 2024, three of Dr. Hostetter’s creative translations from the Exeter Book Riddles [#7, 15, 26] were published in DoubleSpeak, a journal of creative translation [out of UPenn];
  • Three of Dr. Hostetter’s creative translations from the Exeter Book Riddles” [#5 & 22] were published in The New England Review 45.1 (March 2024); and
  • Dr. Hostter’s chapter, “The Meter’s Forward Strut: On the Unexpected Fascinations of the Order of the World” was accepted for publication in B-Sides, edited by Melissa Ridley Elmes (forthcoming punctum books, 2025).
• Dr. Holly Blackford Humes, Professor of English, published:
  • “E. T. A. Hoffmann: Childhood,” for E. T. A. Hoffmann in Context. Literature in Context Series. Ed. Joanna Neilly and Polly Dickson. Cambridge UP, forthcoming. To launch the collection and celebrate Hoffmann’s 150th birthday, Dr. Humes will be helping with a conference on Hoffmann at Oxford in July 2026, with focus on the influence of his Nutcracker and Mouse King on children’s fantasy; and
  • the historical chapter, “Screen Puppetry: Toys in the History of Stop-Motion Animation.” Toys and Stories in Interplay. Ed. Mark West and Kathy Merlock Johnson. The collection (forthcoming) will be launched alongside the 30^th anniversary of Pixar.
• Dr. Jillian Sayre, Associate Professor of English and Director of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities (MARCH), published a review of Marie Balsley Taylor’s Indigenous Kinship, Colonial Texts, and the Contested Space of Early New England in American Literary History.

Department of English and Communication/Creative Writing

• Algonquin Books will publish A Dog in Georgia, by Lauren Grodstein, Professor of English and Creative Writing, in 2025.
• Song So Wild and Blue: A Life with the Music of Joni Mitchell, by Paul Lisicky, Professor of English and Creative Writing, is forthcoming in February 2025, from HarperCollins.
• Pat Rosal, Professor of English and Creative Writing:
  • Wrote the introduction to the new Penguin Classic’s edition of the novel Dogeaters, written by Jessica Hagedorn;
  • Published “Yes It Will Rain,” on the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day Series; and
  • His poem “Where the Ocean Ends,” anthologized in We the Gathered Heat: Asian American and Pacific Islander Poetry, Performance, and Spoken Word.

Department of Health Sciences/Prevention Science Program

• Dr. Kristin August, Professor of Psychology, co-authored the following journal articles:
  • “An exploratory examination of medical and nursing students’ intentions to discuss body image, weight, and eating disorders with their patients,”Journal of Eating Disorders, 12;
  • “Predictors of collaborative coping in couples managing type 2 diabetes: Illness factors, relationship factors, and interdependent personality traits,”Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 41; and
  • “Loneliness and expanding social ties in later life: Motivation, perceived success, and implications for emotional well-being,” Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 79.
• Dr. Charlotte Markey, Professor of Psychology, published Adultish: The Body Image Book for Life (Cambridge University Press.) Dr. Markey also co-authored the following journal articles:
  • “An exploratory examination of medical and nursing students’ intentions to discuss body image, weight, and eating disorders with their patients,”Journal of Eating Disorders, 12;
  • “Predictors of collaborative coping in couples managing type 2 diabetes: Illness factors, relationship factors, and interdependent personality traits,”Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 41.

Department of History

• Analog Superpowers: How Twentieth-Century Technology Theft Built the National Security State, by Dr. Katherine Epstein, Associate Professor of History, was published by the University of Chicago Press in October 2024.
• Dr. Carly Goodman, Assistant Professor of History, published a piece at Made by History in Time, on November 12, 2024:  “The 2024 Election Was the Culmination of America’s Love Affair With Rolling the Dice.”

Department of Psychology

• Dr. Courtenay Cavanaugh, Professor of Psychology, along with undergraduate psychology students she has mentored, co-authored “Sex/gender differences in the associations between adverse childhood experiences and intimate partner violence with mental disorders and attempted suicide: Variations by race/ethnicity,” accepted for publication in Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice and Policy.
• Dr. Robrecht van der Wel, Associate Professor of Psychology, co-authored the following journal articles:
  • “Is emotion perception altered by gaze direction, gender appearance, and gender identity of the perceived face?” Emotion (Washington, D.C.);
  • “Perception, action, and social cognition.” In Carlston, D.E., Johnson, K., and Hugenberg, K. (Eds.). Oxford Handbook of Social Cognition. Oxford Press;
  • “Regulation of automatic imitation: domain-specific vs. domain-general control processes,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. Co-authored with Dr. Sean Duffy, Associate of Psychology;
  • “A slow limit: Extensive motor training cannot overcome a limit on the production of slow and smooth motion,” Journal of Neurophysiology; and
  • “The one exception: The impact of statistical regularities on explicit sense of agency,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. 

Department of Public Policy and Administration

• Dr. Michael Hayes, Associate Professor of Public Policy and Administration, and Prayesh Kandel, a doctoral student in the public affairs program, co-authored “High Stakes: A Quantitative Analysis of Local Cannabis Policies and Residential Property Sale Prices in New Jersey,” in a special Fall 2024 issue in the Journal of Policy Studies. 
• Dr. Paul Jargowsky, Professor of Public Policy and Administration, has been selected to author or coauthor five entries in the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Social Measurement, 2^nd Edition, including “Descriptive Statistics,” “Ecological Fallacy,” “Omitted Variable Bias,” and “Statistical Inference” (both frequentist and Bayesian).

Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice

• Dr. Julio Alicea, Assistant Professor of Sociology, published “Predatory DEI: How Racialized Organizations Exacerbate Workplace Racial Stratification through Exploitative Diversity Work” in the journal Social Problems.
• Dr. Nathan Link, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, edited a volume published by the American Society of Criminology.
  • Dr. Link also co-authored a book chapter, accepted by the Division on Corrections and Sentencing of the American Society of Criminology. This work was co-authored with two graduate criminal justice students, both of whom were formally incarcerated.
  • Dr. Link co-authored “Reframing the debate on legal financial obligations and crime: How accruing monetary sanctions impacts recidivism,” in Criminology.
• Dr. Cynthia Saltzman, Lecturer of Anthropology, wrote, “Revisiting the Boycott Campaign at the American Anthropological Association: A Divisive and Destructive Effort to Delegitimize Israel and Undermine the University Mission,” published by the Academic Engagement Network (AEN) as a pamphlet.
• Dr. Daniel Semenza, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, finalized a book contract with Princeton University Press for the book The Toll it Takes: Gun Violence and the Crisis of Public Health in America.
  • Additionally, Dr. Semenza co-authored “Gun Violence Exposure and Population Health Inequality: A Conceptual Framework,” in Injury Prevention.
• Dr. Sarah Tosh, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, served as guest editor of the special issue of Critical Criminology: The Criminalization-to-Deportation Pipeline in the United States.

Department of World Languages and Cultures

• Dr. Carla Giaudrone, Associate Professor of Spanish, published “Civilización sostenible y barbarismo extractivo: nuevas configuraciones de viejos binarismos (Argentina 1920-1930),” in Hispanófila (Fall Issue no. 202).
• Dr. Ana Laguna, Professor of Spanish, published the following journal articles:
  • “Healing Cervantes.” In Cervantes Futures. Vanderbilt University Press, 2024;  
  • “Rebelde con pausa. Teresa de Cepeda’s Approach to Curiosity.” Special Issue on Curiosity in Early Modern Iberia. Edited by Marina Brownlee, 2024;
  • “Cervantes, contador de imperios.” Boletín de la Biblioteca Menéndez Pelayo. Special Issue on Cervantes, más allá del Quijote. Edited by José Montero Reguera and María Zerari, Universidades de Vigo and Sorbonne Université,2023; and
  •  “‘El vizcaíno fingido’ and the Basque Colonial Enterprise.” E-Humanista edited by Ignacio Arellano Torres 9/10 (2023): 210-222.

Training Programs

Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice

In November 2024, Ms. Kimberlee Moran, Associate Teaching Professor of Forensic Science, ran a two-day cultural resource management training program for the United States Department of Agriculture. One day was spent in the classroom and the other day was spent at the Whispering Woods site in Salem County. Native American artifacts excavated include pottery, fire-cracked rock, stone flakes, and a hammer stone.

Alumni Highlights

Creative Writing Program

• Jacob Camacho (GSC ‘15) received a Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative (NAISI) Artist Fellowship at Brown University.
• Michael Deagler (GSC ‘14)’s novel Early Sobrieties was recently longlisted for the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Award for Excellence in Fiction.
• Deena ElGenaidi (GSC ‘16)’s debut novel Dust Settles North is forthcoming from Bindery Books.
• Brook McClurg (GSC ‘18) joined the tenure-track faculty at San Jose State University in Fall 2024.
• Tjizembua Tjikuzu (GSC ‘21)’s poetry chapbook “Bantustan Blues” will be published in 2025 with the African Poetry Book Fund in collaboration with the University of Nebraska Press.
• Sienna Zeilinger (GSC ‘23), Director of the Writers House, won the 2024 Florida Review Editors’ Prize in Creative Nonfiction and was named the recipient of the 2024 Ohio Book Awards’ Walter Rumsey Marvin Grant for emerging writers.

Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice

• Audrey Wilson (GSC ’24) accepted a full-time job at the Petey Greene Program, which is a national nonprofit focusing on tutoring the incarcerated and the formerly incarcerated. She is the New Jersey Field Manager.

Department of World Languages and Cultures

• Cristopher Prieto (CCAS ’21), who is as a Housing, Justice and Organizing specialist at the Housing and Community Development Network of NJ organized a national panel titled “Overcoming Barriers: Making Homes Affordable and Accessible for Undocumented Residents.”
• Vanessa Ruiz Perez (CCAS ‘24) participated in the MSP Pre-Law Scholars Program, organized by Rutgers Law.

Staff Highlights

Faculty of Arts and Sciences-Office of the Dean

• Melinda Aviles was promoted to Coordinator of Administrative Services.
• Patricia Barber joined the Office of Academic Advising as an administrative assistant.
• Chrissy Beswick was selected for the HERS (Higher Education Resource Services) Leadership Program.
• Julie Roncinske was selected for the Rutgers University Leadership Academy.
• Maged Youssef was hired as a business specialist.

Student Highlights

Creative Writing Program

• Bronwen Everill (current MFA student)’s latest book, Africonomics: A History of Western Ignorance, was published in Fall 2024 by HarperCollins UK.

Department of Education and Teacher Preparation

• The dedicated students in the current MAT Clinical Research Seminar, part of the department’s Special Education concentration, are currently conducting action research projects in their classrooms based on areas that they want to improve. This fall, we are happy to highlight four of our dedicated MAT students who are, in turn, changing the lives of their students, one action research project at a time:
  • Nicholas Meehl: Nick works in a school dedicated to special needs students. In his classroom, Nick is exploring mindfulness activities in the afternoon to help his students with self-regulation strategies. 
  • Rachel Pessolano: A former Rutgers–Camden Teacher Preparation Program graduate, Rachel recently returned to complete the MAT, Special Education concentration. Rachel is a teacher in a self-contained classroom, and she is examining alternate sensory tools that can be used to decrease self-harming behaviors in her students.
  • Courtney Murphy: Courtney is an elementary teacher in a local suburban school district in an inclusion classroom. Her project focuses on how to increase both productivity and engagement in students who are exhibiting defiance. 
  • Evelyn Fernandez: A preschool educator in a local school, Evelyn is incorporating multisensory activities during literacy instruction and measuring the effectiveness of these methods on improving reading skills with her students.

Department of English and Communication

• Siobhan Collins and Dana Foedich are completing their master’s degrees in English in January 2025. Their respective Capstone projects are “Social Justice Writing: A Curriculum” and “Post-Apocalyptic Literature.”
• Gretchen Purvis (CCAS ’25), will be giving her first conference paper on Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Pet Sematary by Stephen King at the Northeast Modern Language Association conference in March.

Department of History

• Dolly Marshall (CCAS ’23 and current graduate history student) received the Emerging Leaders in Historic Preservation Award, by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, in recognition of her public history work, particularly in preserving Black cemeteries in southern New Jersey.

Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities (MARCH)

• Through the PROOF humanities makerspace at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities (MARCH), Sophia Westfall (CCAS ’26) is researching the connections between the material culture of print and the wider environment by experimenting with ecologically-minded approaches to making ink, paper, and more. As part of her research, Sophia has run a series of public workshops on campus and presented her findings at a research talk in Camden at the Paul Robeson Library on Monday, December 9, from 11:20 am – 12:20 pm, and at the Annual Meeting of the Bibliography Society of America in January 2025.

Prevention Science Program

• Joseph Abbas, who is currently in the prevention sciences doctoral program:
  • contributed to developing and testing the Psychosocial Risk Management (PSRM) tool for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); and
  • co-presented “Socioeconomic determinants of diabetes-related disability: Unveiling the intersections through quantitative analysis and integrating technology for sustainable health solutions,” at the World Conference on Multidisciplinary Research and Innovation WCMRI-2024, Singapore.
• Catherine Heitz, who is currently in the prevention sciences doctoral program, co-authored, “Citizen-drive firearm safety policies in a rural Pennsylvania county,” in Crime and Delinquency.
• Fatemah Mahdinia, who is currently in the prevention sciences doctoral program, co-authored “Sense of agency: Towards empirically driven measures and understanding,” in Proceedings of the Cognitive Science Society. Fatemah also made the following presentations:
  • “Sense of agency: Towards empirically driven measures and understanding,” at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, July 26, 2024; and
  • “Sense of agency: Towards empirically driven measures and understanding,” at the 65th annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society, New York City, NY, USA, November 22, 2024.
• Dua Malik, who is currently in the prevention sciences doctoral program, co-authored “An exploratory examination of medical and nursing students’ intentions to discuss body image, weight, and eating disorders with their patients,” for the Journal of Eating Disorders. Dua also co-presented:
  • “Exploring body image among transgender and gender diverse adults: Considering positive body image and the pursuit of gender-affirming surgery,” at the Appearance Matters 10 Conference, in Bristol, U.K. 
• Megan Mason, who is currently in the prevention sciences doctoral program, co-authored “Predictors of collaborative coping in couples managing type 2 diabetes: Illness factors, relationship factors, and interdependent personality traits” in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. Megan also co-presented:
  • “Social support in a low-income community: Links with perceived stress, pain, and functioning,” at the International Association for Relationship Research (IARR) Conference in Boston, Massachusetts.
• Mariah Scott, who is currently in the prevention sciences doctoral program, was invited to speak at the Health and Human Services Sickle Cell Disease Summit: Empowered and Thriving SCD Warriors and Communities at the White House, on September 24, 2024. Additionally, Mariah made the following presentations:
  • “Community Health Equity Research and Promotion Initiative: A Journey of the Lived Experience from the Sickle Cell Disease Community,” at the 52^ndAnnual SCDAA 2024 Convention, in Atlanta, Georgia; and
  • “Sickle Cell Disease Federal Legislations,” at the 12^th Statewide Sickle Cell Symposium in Jersey City, New Jersey.
• Penny Telesford, who is currently in the prevention sciences doctoral program, presented “Gendered racism and Black maternal health: Understanding the role of Superwoman Schema,” at the Black Maternal Health Conference and Training Institute in Atlanta, Georgia.
• Kiersten Westley-Henson, who is currently in the prevention sciences doctoral program, co-authored “Exploring the Role of Fear, Civic Disengagement, and Economic Disenfranchisement Within Communities that Experience Gun Violence,” in Psychological Reports.

Department of Psychology

• Graduate psychology student Xuanzhou Du received the Chancellor’s Grant for Student Research.
• Dr. Robrecht van der Wel, Associate Professor of Psychology, presented, “Does temporal binding reflect Sense of Agency (SoA) or memory processes? Insights from implicit and explicit measures in a goal-directed action paradigm” at the 65th meeting of the Psychonomic Society, in New York, New York, on November 21, 2024. This work was co-presented with Amir Lindor (CCAS ’26) and Fatemah Mahdinia, a current prevention science doctoral student.
• Along with Dr. Courtenay Cavanaugh, Professor of Psychology, Reese Mabolis (CCAS ’25), Jeniska Rivera (CCAS ’24 and current graduate psychology student), and Sarah Mireles (CCAS ’23), co-authored “Sex/gender differences in the associations between adverse childhood experiences and intimate partner violence with mental disorders and attempted suicide: Variations by race/ethnicity,” accepted for publication in Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice and Policy. These same students co-presented this research at the 2024 International Society for Traumatic Stress Conference in Boston, Massachusetts.
• Reese Mabolis (CCAS ’25) and Angelica Sanchez Benito (CCAS ’26), along with Dr. Courtenay Cavanaugh, Professor of Psychology, presented “Sex/gender differences in the associations between sexual orientation discrimination with past year drug use disorder among sexual minority adults,” at the 2024 Violence Prevention Research Conference in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
• Jeniska Rivera (CCAS ’24 and current graduate psychology student), received the Bunche Award, which provides her with full funding for her participation in the Rutgers–Camden master’s program in psychological science. Along with Dr. Courtenay Cavanaugh, Professor of Psychology, Jeniska also presented “Sex/gender differences in the associations between adverse childhood experiences and intimate partner violence with mental disorders among adults who have experienced homelessness,” presented at the 2024 Violence Prevention Research Conference in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Department of World Languages and Cultures

• Raizel Febles (CCAS ’27) and Amaya Solar (CCAS ’27), alongside Vivianna Bordon (CCAS ’25), presented at the 1st Escaleras summit during Hispanic Heritage Month at Rutgers University–Camden. They presented “Not Cocky but Confident: Combating Expectations of Humility and Gratitude”.
• Raizel Febles (CCAS ’27), Amaya Solar (CCAS ’27), and Vivianna Bordon (CCAS ’25) also presented at the Latinx Leads, the largest national gathering of Latinx student leaders and campus-based advisors to address the most critical topics of diversity and social justice challenging the Latinx community within colleges and universities in November 2024.
• Karla Paredes Vargas (CCAS ’26) took part in the 2024 Rutgers Scarlet Service Internship (RSSI) Program.