2022–2023
FROM THE PRESIDENT
FROM THE PRESIDENTs we embark on a new academic year, Monmouth’s 90th as an institution of higher learning, I feel it is important to reflect on our remarkable achievements from the past year. Our commitment to integrating excellence and access continues to be the driving force behind our mission, and I am pleased to share with you some significant milestones in this effort.
Last fall, we welcomed an incoming first-year class that set new institutional benchmarks for academic preparedness. Equally important, nearly half of the Class of 2026 are first-generation students and/or come from low-income households as measured by Pell Grant eligibility. Our efforts to integrate excellence and access gained further momentum last spring from an anonymous $21 million gift, the largest in the University’s history. The gift established a scholarship program that will help us recruit and retain high-achieving students facing financial hardship, changing the life course of deserving individuals for generations to come.
Throughout the previous academic year, we continued making strategic improvements to our campus infrastructure, updates that will ensure we are providing our students with first-rate facilities. I was proud, therefore, that Inside Higher Ed lauded our continued success at enhancing our campus and increasing student aid while remaining financially strong.
FROM THE PRESIDENT
FROM THE PRESIDENTs we embark on a new academic year, Monmouth’s 90th as an institution of higher learning, I feel it is important to reflect on our remarkable achievements from the past year. Our commitment to integrating excellence and access continues to be the driving force behind our mission, and I am pleased to share with you some significant milestones in this effort.
Last fall, we welcomed an incoming first-year class that set new institutional benchmarks for academic preparedness. Equally important, nearly half of the Class of 2026 are first-generation students and/or come from low-income households as measured by Pell Grant eligibility. Our efforts to integrate excellence and access gained further momentum last spring from an anonymous $21 million gift, the largest in the University’s history. The gift established a scholarship program that will help us recruit and retain high-achieving students facing financial hardship, changing the life course of deserving individuals for generations to come.
Throughout the previous academic year, we continued making strategic improvements to our campus infrastructure, updates that will ensure we are providing our students with first-rate facilities. I was proud, therefore, that Inside Higher Ed lauded our continued success at enhancing our campus and increasing student aid while remaining financially strong.
Excellence.
Access.
AmBition.
Monmouth University has all three
alancing excellence and access might be the trickiest feat in higher education. College presidents know all too well that pursuing one of these goals often comes at the expense of the other. Try too hard on rankings, and accessibility suffers; try too hard on accessibility, and rankings suffer.
A historic giftExpanding Educational Access
n March, Monmouth announced the largest single gift in its 90-year history, an outright gift of $21 million from an anonymous donor. The gift will establish a new scholarship program that will aid generations of undergraduate students who meet specific academic and financial criteria by helping provide access to a private university education that would otherwise be financially challenging or unattainable for them.
modernizing infrastructureExcellence Enhanced
ith its blend of historic charm and modern amenities, Monmouth has long been recognized as one of the nation’s most beautiful campuses. Yet the University remains committed to enhancing its infrastructure to provide top-tier facilities for students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Several projects were completed during Academic Year 2022-2023 that are enabling the University to take fuller advantage of its existing infrastructure to best serve its constituents.
AthleticsNew Conference, New Heights
ith Monmouth’s first year in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) complete, one thing is clear: The move to the new conference was a game-changer, showcasing the University on a larger scale and raising the bar for our athletics programs.
Urban Coast InstituteLeading the Way in Coastal Resilience
ith support from $1.5 million in state funding, Monmouth’s Urban Coast Institute (UCI) is leading a collaborative effort aimed at enhancing coastal resilience in the Garden State.
SPRINGSTEEN ARCHIVESCelebrating
Music Icons
he Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music hosted the inaugural American Music Honors on April 15, honoring several of the greatest American singers and musicians of all time.
Faculty & Student Achievement
Monmouth Researchers Are Working on First-of-Its-Kind Fisheries Monitoring Plan Survey
eith Dunton, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Biology, and Jason Adolf, Ph.D., an endowed professor of marine science (above, left to right), are working on parallel studies that will help determine whether the development of offshore wind has an impact on fish populations along the east coast.
Thanks to a $1.2 million grant awarded through the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Research and Monitoring Initiative (RMI), Adolf is leading a team conducting a first-of-its-kind study that uses genetic materials extracted from the ocean to determine whether the development of turbines and power infrastructure has an impact on fish populations and demographics, as well as the diversity of organisms in wind lease areas located in the waters off the New Jersey coastline.
The team will sample the waters before, during, and after construction for DNA shed by marine life in the area and compare the findings with data gathered through traditional trawls and fish-tagging methods.
New & Noteworthy
Inside Higher Ed Praises Monmouth’s Strong Fiscal Health
recent top story on the website of Inside Higher Ed, one of the industry’s leading news publications, proclaimed Monmouth “The Rare Debt-Free College,” lauding the University’s track record of enhancing infrastructure and increasing student aid while incurring minimal debt.
“While most financially healthy higher ed institutions tend to carry some level of debt, Monmouth is unusual in resisting the urge to borrow even as it continues to develop its campus and invest in student aid,” the article notes. “Monmouth counts only $1.3 million in debt, which officials said is part of a state loan subsidy program. Otherwise, the balance sheet is clear, which leaders say has long been a strategic priority.”
The article goes on to explain that Monmouth’s disciplined financial approach and “steadfast commitment to operating with little to no debt on the balance sheet” has been made possible by “the development of a healthy capital reserve fund” and a “focus on self-financing projects and leveraging internal funds, grants and gifts to fund development.” It also highlights a similar news report by North Jersey Media Group in 2022 that ranked Monmouth second, behind only Princeton University, in an independent financial assessment of New Jersey’s private colleges and universities.
University Leadership | Academic Year 2022–2023†
Edward W. Christensen, Ph.D.
Vice President for Information Management
William G. Craig, CPA
Vice President for Finance
Charlene K. Diana, Esq.
Acting Vice President and General Counsel
Annette Gough ’16
Executive Assistant to the President and Board of Trustees
Amanda Klaus ’09
Vice President for University Advancement
Robert D. Mc Caig, Ed.D.
Vice President for Enrollment Management and Marketing
Emily Miller-Gonzalez, J.D.
Chief of Staff
Mary Anne Nagy ’91M, ’01M
Vice President for Student Life and Leadership Engagement
Timothy Orr
Acting Executive Director for Campus Planning and Facilities Management
Zaneta Rago-Craft, Ed.D.
Director, Intercultural Center; Advisor to the President on Diversity and Inclusion
Robyn Salvo
Associate Vice President for Human Resources
Pamela Scott-Johnson, Ph.D.
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Jeffrey Stapleton
Director of Athletics
Joseph Coyle, Ph.D.
Interim Dean, School of Science
Raj Devasagayam, Ph.D.
Dean, Leon Hess Business School
David Hamilton Golland, Ph.D.
Dean, Wayne D. McMurray School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Wendy Harriott, Ph.D.
Interim Dean, School of Education
Robin Mama, Ph.D.
Dean, School of Social Work
Nancy Mezey, Ph.D.
Dean, Honors School
Sara Shultz, Ph.D.
Interim Dean, Marjorie K. Unterberg School of Nursing and Health Studies
Jeana M. Piscatelli ’01, ’02M, Chair
John A. Brockriede Jr. ’07, ’10M, Vice Chair
Leslie Hitchner, Vice Chair
Christopher Maher, Treasurer
Tasha Youngblood Brown ’97, ’03M, Secretary
Miles J. Austin III ’19
Michael V. Benedetto, Esq., ’90
Thomas D. Byer ’67
John C. Conover III
Karyn F. Cusanelli ’89 (Ex officio)
Mary Vaden Eisenstadt
Stephen E. Gerard ’89M
Jeremy Grunin
Raymond G. Klose ’77
George Kolber
Mari C. Kovach ’82, ’86M
Patrick F. Leahy, Ed.D. (Ex officio)
Nancy A. Leidersdorff ’97
Dean Q. Lin, FACHE
Alaina L. Love ’79
Lisa McKean
Thomas J. Michelli
Valerie Montecalvo
Tavit O. Najarian, Sc.D.
Christopher W. Shaw
Mark J. Skesavage ’11M
Carol A. Stillwell
Marianne C. Hesse
Harold L. Hodes ’65
William B. Roberts
Stanley S. Bey ’59
Alan E. Davis, Esq.
Paul S. Doherty Jr. ’67, ’04HN‡
Judith Ann Eisenberg
Alfred L. Ferguson, Esq., ’13HN
Frederick J. Kaeli Jr. ’61
Henry D. Mercer III ’87, ’17HN
Stephen M. Parks ’68, ’07HN
Charles T. Parton ’01HN
Michael A. Plodwick ’82
Thomas A. Porskievies ’82, ’86M
Steven J. Pozycki ’73
Alfred J. Schiavetti Jr. ’11HN‡
Robert B. Sculthorpe ’63
Rose Knapp, DNP, RN, APN-C, Chair Associate Professor, Department of Nursing
Diane Eitel-Wortman, Chair Executive Secretary, Campus Planning and Facilities Management
Alexa Kopczynski, President
†As of June 30, 2023
‡Deceased
