Galloway, N.J. - Stockton University President Harvey Kesselman on June 7 outlined plans for the university’s planned residential campus in Atlantic City as well as new construction projects at the Galloway campus, at the New Jersey Alliance for Action’s annual higher education capital construction event in Edison, N.J.

Kesselman addressed the Alliance, which is comprised of over 2,500 of the state’s top corporate, labor, professional, academic and governmental representatives.

Other speakers at the event included: New Jersey Institute of Technology President Joel Bloom; New Jersey City University President Sue Henderson; Rider University President Gregory G. Dell'Omo;  William Paterson University President Kathleen Waldron; Rutgers University Executive Director of University Planning and Development Institutional Planning and Operations Frank Wong; Middlesex County College President Joann La Perla-Morales; Stevens Institute of Technology VP for Facilities & Campus Planning Robert Maffia and N.J. Secretary of Higher Education Rochelle Hendricks.

Stockton’s planned new Atlantic City campus would increase the university’s already significant presence there, benefiting students and contributing to the city’s renaissance, Kesselman said. The site is at the intersection of Atlantic, Albany, and Pacific avenues, with residences for about 520 students overlooking the beach and Boardwalk.

The project is a public-private partnership with the Atlantic City Development Corp., or AC Devco, Kesselman explained. The non-profit is modeled off of New Brunswick Development Corp., which successfully expanded Rutgers' campus.

Funding sources for the Atlantic City campus include more than $50 million in bonds from the Atlantic County Improvement Authority from proceeds of almost $70 million in  tax credits issued by the N.J. Economic Development Authority; $17 million from the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA); state bond funds for higher education construction; and $18 million from Stockton’s sale of the Showboat.

A parking garage will be topped by new offices for South Jersey Gas, with 879 parking spaces for use by the university, South Jersey Gas and the public. An academic building will accommodate up to 1,800 students.

The university plans to open the Atlantic City campus in 2018 with about 1,000 students, with room for future growth, Kesselman said.

On Stockton’s main Galloway campus, an expansion called the Unified Science Center 2 will provide an additional 56,700 square feet in a three-story structure, with science labs, classrooms, a greenhouse, a vivarium, a gross anatomy lab and faculty offices, Kesselman said.  The $28.6 million expansion of Stockton’s current Unified Science Center will be supported by $21.465 million in funding from the Building Our Future Bond Act approved by voters in 2012.

The second academic facility – a 36,000-square-foot classroom building – will house a sustainability lab, health science simulation space, exercise science space and offices, he noted. The $18 million facility will receive $13.5 million in funding from the bond issue.

The first classes in both facilities are expected to be held in spring 2018.

Along with Stockton’s existing Campus Center and Unified Science Center, the new buildings will form an Academic Quadrangle facing Vera King Farris Drive, Kesselman explained. The Quad will provide a central location for students to study and meet between classes, as well as space for the university community to gather for campus events.

Kesselman also talked about Stockton’s geographic expansion in other areas, with instructional sites in Manahawkin in Ocean County, Woodbine in Cape May County and Hammonton in western Atlantic County.

He outlined Stockton’s extraordinary growth since the first classes in 1971, with a record enrollment last fall of 8,674 undergraduate and graduate students, 94 percent of whom attend full-time. He noted that the institution, which became a university in 2015, employs 320 full-time faculty, with 70 new members hired in the past three years.

The quality of its faculty and small class sizes have led to successful outcomes for students, he said: 88 percent of Stockton’s 2015 graduates were employed or in grad school within six months of graduation.

For more information about Stockton University, visit Stockton.edu.