Office of Public Relations

Pomona, NJ 08240

 

Stockton Receives Nearly $2 Million in Grants to Support Programs

 

Coastal Zone Research, Hospitality Industry Training Programs, and Stocktons Community of Scholars Program All Benefit From State and Federal Funding

 

For Immediate Release

Thursday, April 21, 2005

Contact: Tim Kelly

Stockton Public Relations

(609) 652-4950

 

GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP, NJ Three grants recently added close to $2 million in new funding to programs at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.

The grants include a two-year award of $605,000 from the New Jersey Department of Transportation to the Coastal Research Center, Natural Sciences and Mathematics Division, a one-year award of $414,000 from the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development to Management Development and Professional Services, Professional Development and Continuing Education Program, and a four-year award of $879,992 from the United States Department of Education to the Community of Scholars Program, General Studies Division.

This is good news not only for Stockton, but for the people of Southern New Jersey, said President Herman J. Saatkamp, Jr. We will be delivering much-needed services and demonstrating our partnerships with elected officials and civic leaders.

The New Jersey Department of Transportation grant comes through their newly created I Boat New Jersey program within the Office of Maritime Resources. The funds were awarded to study maintenance dredging needs and sediment management in New Jerseys bay waterways. The grant will support a joint research effort between Stocktons Coastal Research Center and Ocean & Coastal Consults, Inc., a geotechnical and consulting firm that employs one of Stocktons recent Marine Science graduates. The Bay Waters Alliance of Coastal New Jersey, a matching-fund partner, is providing 10 percent of the award. The Alliance is a non-profit, public-interest educational organization concerned with the safe usage, navigation and maintenance of bay waters in the counties bordering the ocean. The Coastal Research Center is a science and coastal education advisor to the Alliance.

Dr. Stewart Farrell is Director and Founder of the Coastal Research Center. Dr. Mark J. Mihalasky, appointed Director of Research this past July, is Principle Investigator of the grant. Established in 1981, the Coastal Research Center provides federal, state and local governments and shore communities with high-quality shoreline-change research, and coastal monitoring and surveying services. The Center is the States designated resource for geotechnical data and studies and operates with an annual budget of more than a half million dollars.

The NJ Department of Labor and Workforce Development grant will support community-based training for the hospitality industry. Management Development and Professional Services will lead a training program for the employees of a consortium of three casino properties: Caesars Entertainment, Sands and the Tropicana. The consortium, known as Consortium for Leadership and Service Superiority (CLASS), matches the amount invested by the consortium members whose employees will be trained. In all, more than 3,000 frontline casino workers will receive training for the enhancement of customer service skills through the funding of this grant. The primary training site for the casino workers will be the Carnegie Library in Atlantic City.

Drs. Israel Posner and Lewis Leitner, Vice Presidents of Management Development and Professional Services, are the grant Directors. Management Development and Professional Services is a branch of Stockton's Professional Development and Continuing Education Program, and is housed within the Southern Regional Institute. This grant is all about consortium building, which is what the Southern Regional Institute has stood for since its inception, said Dr. Kesselman, CEO of the Southern Regional Institute. The fact that this grant is renewable annually is a feature that will allow us to nurture and sustain it well into the future. The mission of Management Development and Professional Services is to serve individuals in Southern New Jersey interested in developing, enhancing or changing their careers by providing education and training to improve the knowledge, skills and abilities of managers and professionals.

The United States Department of Education grant will support Stocktons unique program serving first-generation, low-income and disabled students. The objective of the General Studies Divisions Community of Scholars Program is that its participants succeed in college through academic and social enrichment activities, such as tutoring, skills and informational workshops, access to a lending library for textbooks, access to laptop computers and graphing calculators, and involvement in cultural activities, just to name a few.

We also concentrate on providing mentoring relationships with our students, many of whom are first-generation college students, said program Director Paulette Forbes-Igharo. What we frequently run into are students who may have outstanding abilities but do not have the self-confidence to believe in themselves. They initially do not think of themselves as college students. We help them to focus on their development in this way so that their natural abilities are able to blossom. When they go through the program they not only graduate, but many go on to graduate or professional school.