For Immediate Release; with photo on flickr

 

Contact:         Maryjane Briant
                        News and Media Relations Director
                        Galloway, N.J. 08205
                        Maryjane.Briant@stockton.edu
                        (609) 652-4593
                        stockton.edu/media

Galloway, N.J. - The Bricklayers & Allied Crafts of New Jersey today pledged a gift of $25,000 to the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy Endowment to support the work of the center at Stockton University.

Richard Tolson, director of the union, is a founding member of the Hughes Center Steering Committee and grew up in Ocean City near the home of Ambassador William J. Hughes, for whom the center is named.

“We’re proud to be associated with the university and certainly with the Hughes Center,” Tolson said. “I’ve been associated with the Hughes family for my whole life. It’s absolutely an honor to support this work.”

“The Hughes Center provides unique research and a forum for discussion of public policy and economic issues in the region and state, engaging citizens and policy makers to encourage civic engagement and a stronger voice for southern New Jersey in public debate,” said President Harvey Kesselman. “The Hughes Center and the university deeply appreciate this gift, which will support critically important work benefiting the people of New Jersey.”

"I have known Rich and the Tolson family for his entire life," said Ambassador William J. Hughes. "His commitment to the Hughes Center as a founding member of the steering committee and his union's contributions over the years, have been a tremendous help in carrying out the center's work."

The Bricklayers & Allied Crafts union has supported the center since its inception in 2008 with a total of $18,150 in previous donations.  

The trades union also contracted with the Hughes Center to complete two projects utilizing Stockton faculty and staff, including research on the “underground economy” earlier this year. A 2008 project included developing an informational pamphlet on the historical and economic impacts of trades unions in southern New Jersey.

The pledge will be fulfilled in $5,000 yearly installments over five years, beginning this month.

For more information about Stockton University’s William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy, visit Stockton.edu/hughescenter.