President Emphasizes ‘Building a Community of Opportunity’ at Inauguration

Joe Bertolino wants to build a community of opportunity — for everyone — at Stockton.

“My role, and my goal, here at Stockton is to build meaningful, impactful relationships. Relationships that strengthen our bond with the community; that enable our students to develop into engaged, effective citizens with a passion for lifelong learning; that bolster the positive development of New Jersey,” he said.

Without the traditional pomp and circumstance of an inauguration ceremony, Bertolino was formally installed as the sixth president of Stockton on Friday, April 12, 2024. The celebration, including a parade, confetti cannons and a taco bar, was in keeping with the laid-back style of Bertolino, who welcomes being addressed as “President Joe.”

“To see individuals from every stage of my life here today is overwhelming and humbling. I am a product r continuing to pay it forward,” Bertolino said to an audience of nearly 750 faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members.

“Today, I am charging all of you, all who are part of Stockton, to do the same for someone else. By building a community of opportunity, we provide the space and resources that enable our students, faculty and staff to grow, thrive and be a part of something bigger. No opportunity is too small, and no opportunity is too large. When we do certain things, or build certain relationships, we may be providing others with opportunities that we don’t even realize,” he said.

Bertolino brings more than 30 years of experience in higher education to Stockton, serving previously as president at Southern Connecticut State University and Lyndon State College in Vermont. He was vice president for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs at Queens College/City University of New York and dean for Community Development at Barnard College in New York.

Bertolino said in the months since becoming president on July 1, 2023, he had taken time to meet and listen to all of Stockton’s constituencies to shape his plans for the future.

“Our vision is for Stockton to become the college of choice in South Jersey. The first choice for prospective first-year and transfer students. The destination of choice for renowned faculty and academic trailblazers. The college of choice for partnerships with local and regional leaders in business. The first choice for donors, friends and supporters to contribute to our work,” he said.

 

Regional Summit an Anchor for Local, State Arts Organizations

As an Anchor Institution in the resort, Stockton has positively impacted the community and the local economy.

But President Joe Bertolino believes the University’s impact should go beyond that, including serving as a catalyst for artistic and cultural expression in southern New Jersey. That’s why he introduced a Regional Arts and Cultural Summit on April 8, 2024, just four days before his inauguration as Stockton’s sixth president.

“As an Anchor Institution in Atlantic City, Stockton University is dedicated to community engagement and recognizes the opportunities that supporting the arts brings,” he said before a group of about 150 local and state arts representatives at the John. F. Scarpa Academic Center in Atlantic City. “We know the arts and cultural expression have the potential to bridge real and imagined divides in our neighborhoods and around the world.”

Bertolino said the summit was designed around the theme of his inauguration— “building a community of opportunity.” Performances by Stockton student musicians and a group of student dancers kicked off the event before a keynote address by John Schreiber, the president and CEO of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

The attendees then took part in smaller breakout sessions to discuss issues such as funding support, the arts and its role in healing, the arts and the impact it can have on education and the power of the arts as a catalyst for social change and community involvement.

“Our goal is to collect ideas and strategies that will be useful to others interested in the arts to do what we all know, intuitively, to be true: The arts give us a hopeful way to think about our world, perhaps too infrequently explored by too few people,” said Ian Marshall, the dean of Stockton’s School of Arts and Humanities.

Some of the panelists included Stockton faculty, such as Mariana Smith, an associate professor of Art, and from organizations that support the arts, such as Jeremy Grunin, the president of the Grunin Foundation.