| April 2005 Stockton Home | President's Office Home |
Stockton Master Plan To Transform Campus
“The plan, though conceptual and subject to change, is an excellent document for planning purposes as we look forward to keeping Stockton in a leadership position nationally among public Liberal Arts Colleges,” President Herman J. Saatkamp, Jr. said. “The plan deals with our most pressing need for classrooms, student affairs and administrative space and does so in a fiscally responsible way.” The plan focuses development for the College adjacent to the Campus Green, which would become the new focal point and welcoming center of the College. It would be located where Parking Lots 4 and 5 presently are. There would also be a science building as well as a College Center as part of the visual and geographic landmark for Stockton. The parking lots would be replaced with several garages. The plan is currently underway with preliminary work taking place for the F-Wing “Overbuild”, 29,000 gross sq. ft. of academic space. Other conceptual plans would include:
President Saatkamp said infrastructure upgrades are part of the plan, such as telecommunications, radiant electric distribution and emergency power. “Although this plan is subject to change and will no doubt evolve over time, it is an excellent blueprint as we chart the course for the future of the College,” he said. Click here to read the complete Master Plan and see detailed renderings. Federal Grants To Bring Nearly $1 M In New Funding To Stockton
“The announcement of these grants is good news not only for Stockton and its programs, but for the people of Southern New Jersey,” said President Herman J. Saatkamp, Jr. We will be delivering much-needed services and again demonstrating our partnerships with state and local elected officials and civic leaders.” The training grant from the Department of Labor’s Business Services Division totaled $414,000. It provides funding for one year to Stockton as the lead organization to provide training to a consortium of three casino properties: Caesars Entertainment, Sands and the Tropicana. The consortium, known as Consortium for Leadership and Service Supervisory (CLASS) matches the amount invested by the corsortium members whose employees will be trained. In all, more than 3,000 frontline casino employees will be trained for the enhancement of their customer service skills by the grant. The Primary training site for the grant will be the Carnegie Library in Atlantic City. Directors of the grant are Drs. Israel Posner and Lewis Leitner, as part of the Southern Regional Institute, directed by Dr. Harvey Kesselman. In addition to providing the training, the CLASS team will seek to build partners with organizations that have interest in regional tourism and hospitality, including the Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority, Atlantic County Government and Spectrum Gaming Group, a leading consultant in the gaming field. The $503,238 Department of Transportation grant to the Bay Waters Alliance, which includes Stockton’s Coastal Research Center and The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, enables the stewardship of the state’s bay waters and intracoastal waterways to be regionalized. The funds provide the stability for dredging to be on an ongoing basis. Dredging is a fundamental activity for maintained waterways as a means to deal with natural erosion and run-off. Without such maintenance navigation hazards will occur in the bays and Intracostal Waterway, affecting the economics of the region. Proper maintenance also enables recreational use of these waters to promote New Jersey’s tourism industry. Through the help of the grant, the Bay Waters Alliance will maintain these waterways, support new and ongoing research initiatives and prioritize bay water sites in need of dredging. Dr. Stewart Farrell and Dr. Mark Mihalasky of the Coastal Research Center are directors of the grant. The program also includes extensive contracts with numerous New Jersey municipalities for coastal research and assessments.
Stockton Hosts District 2 Legislative Conference
About 100 community members attended a Legislative Conference hosted on campus March 22 featuring talks by Senator William L. Gormley, Assemblymen Frank Blee and Kirk W. Conover. All of the lawmakers represent New Jersey’s Second Legislative District. Stockton President Herman J. Saatkamp, Jr., initiated the event and acted as moderator. It was organized to provide a forum for a wide variety of topics, give access to community members for questions in an informal setting and serve as yet another example of President Saatkamp’s “Stockton on the Shore” initiative of forging relationships with local leaders and residents. Senator Gormley appreciated the chance to speak to so many Stockton community members, stating, “You are important to the region not just as educators, but as taxpayers and as people who contribute to the economy and area businesses.” Gormley pledged to work with the College to seek Pineland Commission approval as the College’s development plans are implemented for the campus and surrounding area. Assemblyman Blee addressed the need for Stockton to receive a more equitable share of higher education funding, and talked about his previous success in lobbying for additional funds based on Stockton’s enrollment and fiscal responsibility. Blee reaffirmed his support for a higher education bond issue that would provide state funds for college and university capital projects. Assemblyman Conover spoke about the importance of higher education funding in a state where K-12 funding has been given a much higher priority. “My college training in business gave me an excellent foundation,” said Conover, who recounted his days as a graduate student at Wharton helping local clamming boat operators with their balance sheets. “I remember when it was time to graduate and my classmates were getting offers from high-powered firms, my phone would ring and it would be the owner of a clamming operation telling me he didn’t want me to graduate because he needed help with the books.” President Saatkamp said he hoped the Legislative Conference would become an annual event at the College. Stockton Hosts Holocaust Awareness Program
Hundreds of area students attended a program at the Performing Arts Center, viewed poignant photos of concentration camps by Karl Koenig at the Art Gallery and heard oral histories from survivors at the annual Holocaust Awareness program recently at the College. The event, held in conjunction with Atlantic Cape Community College, the Holocaust Resource Center and the Jewish Federation of Atlantic and Cape May Counties, took on a new look this year. “We wanted to change the focus away from an awards competition back to an educational event,” said Jan Colijn, Dean of General Studies. “One of the best ways to do that is to learn from Holocaust survivors as a resource for teaching about it.” The event featured opening remarks by Stockton President Herman J. Saatkamp, Jr. and was attended by Paul B. Winkler, Executive Director of the State of New Jersey’s Commission on Holocaust Education. It included talks by several Holocaust survivors in small workshop settings, providing the students opportunities for interaction and questions. The Art Gallery exhibit of Koenig’s photographs was held throughout March and included special tours and an opening lecture “Auschwitz and Learning” by Dr. Carol Rittner, along with “What You See is Far From What it Was,” the reflections of survivor Dr. Murray Kohn. Stockton thanks the Sam Azeez Museum of Woodbine Heritage and Marsha and Herman Zell for their funding of the educational programs connected with the exhibit.
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