New partnerships in the works
By Laura D.C. Kolnoski
OCEANPORT – New Jersey City University, based in Jersey City with a two-year-old campus on Fort Monmouth, continues enacting measures to regain its financial footing and keep the Oceanport campus open, including offering its facilities to outside groups.
“We are in conversation with various organizations and agencies regarding use of our space to maximize nonacademic revenue,” said Donna Adair Breault, Ph.D., acting provost and chief academic officer, citing talks with public entities and private and nonprofit organizations with teaching and training needs. Specifics are expected to be announced during the spring semester, she said.
Most of the facility will be available for partnerships, according to Ira Thor, NJCU senior director of university communications and media relations, noting the school already hosts events by groups including chambers of commerce. Breault said school officials are also working with the area’s community colleges, businesses and social agencies to determine student and community needs to better serve the Oceanport campus.
NJCU faced a financial crisis last June when it announced a multimillion-dollar deficit and the board of trustees considered vacating the campus in the fort’s renovated Squier Hall along Parkers Creek. Gov. Phil Murphy launched a state investigation into the school’s finances as resignations, layoffs, pay cuts to upper management, furloughs and reductions to supplemental instruction were instituted. Other cost containment efforts involved budget reductions, organizational consolidation, elimination of vacant positions and hikes to tuition and fees.
In January, with some 200 students enrolled in Oceanport, acting NJCU interim president Andrés Acebo said the campus would remain open, provided enrollment increases. The pre-pandemic enrollment goal was 750 students. NJCU opened in August 2021 with about 300 students. Currently, Thor said, enrollment is “stable.”
“We are committed to serve Brookdale Community College, Mercer County Community College, Middlesex College, and Ocean County College,” Breault said. “Students need completion programs, particularly in academic areas like criminal justice, fire science, security studies, education and business. We have heard their hopes of developing strong articulation agreements to support students’ degree completion.”
Thor said new partnerships are always being sought. Interested parties may contact Wanda Rutledge, who is leading the effort, at wrutledge@njcu.edu, or the office at communications@njcu.edu.
Feds Fund Online Nursing Education
Nurses are in high demand while those seeking to enter the profession have increased the demand for online education. Last week, NJCU announced it will receive $782,000 in appropriations to revamp the university’s online nursing of ferings.
According to a press release, the funding “will enhance the university’s ability to provide equitable access to high-demand online nursing education and ultimately graduate highly qualified nurses.” By 2030, New Jersey is projected to have a shortage of 10,000 nurses, the release noted, the third most severe in the country.
“The 2023 funding bill we passed at the end of last year contains… $181 million for community projects throughout the state,” said U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-13). “This funding supports the preparation needed for nursing students to have successful careers in our healthcare system from the comfort of their home, saving them money.” The online program, he added, allows students to flexibly balance family, work, school, and other priorities.
“NJCU has a storied history of providing and championing equitable access and pipelines to education, including educating nurses,” Acebo said. “This strategic investment… enhances the reach of the institution’s mission of meeting our students wherever they are… and exit to serve a state in desperate need of nurses after the pandemic.”
The 92-year-old public institution once known as Jersey City State is considered a top college for improving students’ upward economic mobility. In the 2021 Nursing School Almanac rankings, NJCU Fort Monmouth was ranked the No. 1 prelicensure Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program in the state, and was recognized as an Apple Distinguished School for 2022-2025 for its iNurse Initiative in the accelerated BSN degree program.
Faculty will transition in-person courses to online format, providing flexibility for working professionals as well as students in the one-year, Accelerated Nursing Program. Included will be remote and online instruction, flexible tutorial and mentoring schedules, advanced simulation technology, and academic and nonacademic support.
Academic Reorganizations Continue
Further changes to academic affairs announced by Breault “reflect a reduction in administrative layers and renewed focus on student success and retention,” she wrote, adding, “I also collapsed the administrative structure within the Office of the Provost.” A focus on graduate program growth has resulted in a new unit, Graduate Studies and Adult Learning, headed by Dean Wanda Rutledge, Ph.D., supporting strategic growth in both graduate education and non-credit programming. Breault said there are other opportunities for NJCU to provide non-credit support for the community through the Adult Learning sector.
The unit will “reimagine and build upon” previous work of Continuing Education and Professional Development and Lifelong Learning, providing opportunities related to workforce and professional development.
Fund NJCU Rally
During a Fund NJCU rally Monday in Jersey City sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers Local 1839, a crowd estimated in the hundreds – including Acebo, professors, students, and elected officials – called for more funding for the university.
Calling NJCU “a pathway to the middle class,” keynote speaker and AFT president Randi Weingarten said, “This is a state that prides itself in having one of the best educational institutions in the country. We need to make this state keep its commitment.” She urged the audience to contact legislators in Trenton and Washington, D.C. to advocate for increased financial support.
“If the state will choose to invest in the university like the federal government is, we will be firmly on our way to recovery,” said Thor. “We are hopeful the state will come through with the funding needs the university has long requested. We will learn more as the budget season progresses this spring.”
The article originally appeared in the March 16 – 22, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
