• In June 2004, we graduated 880 students in degree and certificate programs, our highest number ever and nearly 14% more than our previous record last year.
   
• Nearly 10,000 students registered for credit courses in 2003-04, up almost 20% from the previous year; in the West Essex Campus alone the increase was 9%.
   
• Student enrollment at FOCUS, one of our long-term community partners, rose by 41% this past year.
   
• The college once again received a clean audit from its external auditors.
   
• The county and the state have made a major commitment to ECC by approving $12 million in funding for the construction of an 800-space parking deck which will be built on Lot D, next to the Physical Education Building.
   
• The College received $1.6 million in new grants this past year.
   
• New degree programs in Energy Utility Technology, the first of its kinds in Northern New Jersey, and Biotechnology were approved and are currently underway.
   
• Our Radiography program secured an eight-year accreditation and 2003 graduates achieved a 100% passing rate on the licensing exam. Similarly, our Nursing program received the maximum eight-year accreditation. We remain the largest supplier of registered nurses for Newark and other urban hospitals in this area.
   
• ECC’s chapter of Phi Theta Kappa has won the ultimate “five star” designation and captured many Middle States leadership positions during the last three years.
   
• Our client base and training programs expanded considerably in our various customized training programs offered through the Division of Community and Continuing Education.
   
• Training, Inc. was instrumental in bringing in $450,000 in grant funding and benefactions to run programs which provide short-term training for the unemployed in our community.
   
• Under a new alternate route program initiated at the ECC Police Academy, tuition paying students can qualify to enroll in the Basic Police Training course and thereafter seek employment with any police force in the state. Construction of a new firing range at the Police Academy is also nearing completion.
   
• The women’s soccer team won the Region 19 Championship for the first time in ECC history, and the women’s track team scored major triumphs at the Collegiate Invitational Track Meet, the Millrose Games, the Penn Relays, and a second place at the outdoor nationals.

Summer Enrollment Increase

5th Day student enrollment totaled 3,798 in Summer I 2004, up 16.8% from Summer I 2003, and Summer II enrollment was 1,648, up 10.7% from Summer II 2003. At the West Essex campus alone, Summer I enrollment was 394, up 5.9% from Summer I 2003, and in Summer II it was 281, up nearly 20%.

NJ STARS Program and Other Recruitment Initiatives Yield Results

Seventy-two Essex County high school seniors who graduated in June 2004 in the top 20% of their class have enrolled at ECC for the fall semester. The college tested 200 eligible students, and so more may avail themselves of this opportunity to receive free tuition to attend ECC under the new New Jersey STARS (Tuition Assistance Reward Scholarship program).

The college has also registered 600 students who attended various Instant Admit Day programs which were held to increase the number of students coming to college directly after high school. Another 42 students have applied to ECC after attending the recent Latino Open House. There were also 200 calls made to the college toll free information line as a direct result of targeted Latino television ads promoting the college.

World-wide access to our college website has also yielded results. The college received inquiries this past year from countries in Africa as well as South America, Austria, Bosnia, India, Germany, Norway, Poland, Russia, and Sweden as the direct result of our website. Some of those individuals have made their way to ECC.

ECC’s Nursing Department Awarded Three-Year Grant

ECC’s Nursing Department has been awarded a three-year federal Health and Human Services grant totaling $745,444. ECC is the only New Jersey institution to receive this Nurse Education, Practice, and Retention award. The funding is part of a $10.1 million initiative to expand the nation’s supply of qualified nurses, especially in urban centers, and promote diversity in the profession. Funding for ECC is $291,071 for the first year of the grant. This initiative will be implemented at ECC as the “Minority Healing Hands Career Ladder” program.

The funding will enable us to expand our Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) Certificate program, create a bridge between CNA and our Licensed Practical Nurse degree program, and help strengthen our tutoring and mentoring system for students. It will support ECC’s initiative with Cathedral Health Services, Inc. that was started in December 2003 with the aid of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funds, to train more RNs for area urban hospitals.

Nursing Professor Gale Gage will be the project director. The grant will fund an LPN program director. It will also cover the cost of consultants to design preparatory review courses for entrance tests for nurses and for certifications tests for nursing assistants.

Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement Project

California-based public agency MESA (Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement) USA together with the Hewlett-Packard Company is providing resources for ECC’s Center for Technology (Division of Engineering Technologies and Computer Sciences) to pilot the use of mobile technology in math and science classrooms and promote the success of underrepresented minority students in the engineering and math fields. Resources for this Community College Diversity in Engineering program include $62,000 in equipment donated from Hewlett-Packard, to be housed in a special computer center in Room T233 at the Newark campus. The entire project grant to set up the Center is $69,500. Engineering Professor Mustapha Sandi will serve as director of the Center which is scheduled to be open and running in January.

The Center will include six computers with specialized software. Students will have access to 18 notebook computers and ancillary equipment to work on specialized engineering and computer science class work. Mentoring and tutoring will also be offered at the Center and students will have access to scholarships earmarked for engineering majors.

New Scholarships for Nursing Students

The Nursing Department received last month $20,000 for scholarships from the Odessa Chambliss Quality of Life Fund. The fund is in memory of Odessa Chambliss, an Essex County resident and nurse who died from cancer in 1996. The fund is administered by Chambliss’s four children: Vivian Hailes, Lucille Harrison, Velma O’Neal, and Roy O’ Neal. Her grandchildren include basketball superstar Shaquille O’ Neal of the Miami Heat. The family gave our nursing department a donation in 2000 as well. Nursing students who are residents of Newark’s Central Ward (where the O’ Neal family used to live) have priority for the scholarships which will provide both tuition assistance and funds for textbooks to students who meet financial and academic criteria.

Opening of Multimedia Language Resource Center

The Bilingual Studies Department has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the New Jersey Commission of Higher Education that will be used to transform Room 1105 at the Newark campus into a state-of-the-art language resource center. The lab will house 30 new computers and workstations equipped with a wide variety of software to assist students whose primary language is not English. Tutors and mentors will be available at the lab to assist students. ECC has nearly 600 ESL students and the most prevalent foreign languages of these students are Spanish, Haitian/Creole, Portuguese, and French, according to a recent survey.

Adult Learning Center Meeting Community Needs

ECC’s Adult Learning Center served over 1,200 students in need of adult basic skills and English as a second language in 2003-04, its third year of operation. The program, which has been awarded $564,500 from the New Jersey Department of Labor for 2004-05, will continue to serve students at five locations: the college’s main and West Essex campuses, District 1199J in Newark, Ironbound Community Corporation and YouthBuild, both in Newark. “Many of our students continue in the program for more than one year and then enroll in the college to obtain an associate degree,” noted Gail Cameron, Director of the Center. For further information, contact the main office at (973) 877-1894.

City of Newark Community Development Block Grant

The College received its first Community Development Block grant from the City of Newark, thanks to the efforts of trustee Reverend Levin B. West, Social Sciences Division Chair Mamie Bridgeforth, and Dean of Students Susan Mulligan. This $30,000 award will provide scholarships support for low-income Newark residents.

Faculty News

ECC professor Dr. Frederic Halper, Division of Social Sciences, has been appointed a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University for the Fall semester. His appointment was sponsored by Professor Patrick Cavanagh of Harvard’s Vision Sciences Laboratory in the Psychology Department. Halper, who has done extensive research in visual perception, an area of psychology that was also the focus of his doctoral dissertation, will conduct further research at Harvard on his subject specialty, attend various colloquia, and review the research of post doctoral fellows in the psychology department. In recent years, Halper’s research has taken him to Turkey, Italy, and Egypt. He has also analyzed the work of the Belgian artist Rene Magritte in terms of known principles of perceptual organization. He will be returning to ECC in the spring semester equipped with information and resources for ECC students.

Athletics

Olympic Medal Winners

For historical information on the athletic accomplishments of both Williams and Smith, click here and here.

Another Olympic Success

Another former ECC track star Alleyne Francique (Class of 2000) was the flag bearer for his home country of Grenada at the Summer 2004 Olympics opening ceremonies in Athens. He made it to the finals in the 400-meter run on August 23 and fell just short of winning the bronze medal by finishing fourth behind three Americans. For historical information on Francique’s medals at Olympic Games and World Championships, click here and also here.

 

Alumni Update

Jerome Winston Powell (Class of 1994) received his baccalaureate in Philosophy and English from NYU, got his law degree from the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) School of Law in 2003, passed his New York State Bar exam in 2003, and is presently an attorney in New York City with Hughes Hubbard and Reed LLP, working with a pharmaceutical defense team.

Mahib Sylla (Class of 1994), who was a security guard at ECC, received his B.S. in Engineering Technology from NJIT (1999) and his M.S. in Telecommunications Management from Steven’s Institute of Technology (2002). Sylla has worked as a Systems Engineer for AT &T in Staten Island and is currently employed as a Network and Telecommunications Administrator at Pharmaceutical Formulation Inc. (branch of International Chemical Corporation) in Edison, New Jersey.

Jeannette Calderon-Arnold (Class of 1991) received her B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers-Newark (1993), graduated from Seton Hall Law School (1996), worked in the Mayor’s office in East Orange as a compliance officer, and then moved on to her current position as Assistant Corporate Counsel for the City of Newark. While in law school, she worked for ECC’s Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) department and taught political science courses at West Essex. In her current job, she reviews contracts, resolutions, and ordinances for the City of Newark and also litigates for the city.

Announcements

New Dual Admissions Program with Montclair State

ECC students can move directly into Montclair State University’s highly selective Teacher Education Programs after completing certain prescribed courses at ECC, under a new dual admission program agreement with the four-year institution. Qualified ECC students can bypass the existing two-step process that requires students to be admitted to Montclair State and then submit an application to the program during the first year at the university. Instead, qualified ECC students must complete a separate application process through the ECC Transfer Center to enroll at Montclair State. Learn more about this and other transfer programs by contacting the ECC Transfer Center in Room 4100. The Center will be announcing student information sessions this month.

Cooperative Education Updates

Liberty Tax Service:

The Office of Cooperative Education has partnered with the national income tax preparation firm, Liberty Tax Service, to offer a free 50-hour income tax training program for accounting students at ECC. Students will be required to take mid-term and final exams and awarded a certificate upon successful completion of the course. Successful candidates may be exempted from Accounting 231 (Federal Income Taxation) by taking a qualifying exam. Liberty Tax Service will select students to work in marketing, franchise management, and income tax preparation positions during the 2005 tax season. Those who are co-op eligible will receive credit for the work experience and training.

Jackson Hewitt Tax Service:

Jackson Hewitt Tax Service will return to ECC this year to provide an enhanced 24-hour income tax training program. The course which is free of charge will be open to students of all majors. Successful candidates will be considered for positions as Tax Preparers during the 2005 tax season.

For more information on both tax training programs, contact the Office of Cooperative Education at (973) 877-3453.

Co-op Newsletter

The Co-op Program will publish its first newsletter on a quarterly basis starting in Fall 2004. The publication will provide information on cooperative education, program news and successes, and upcoming events.

Upcoming ECC Events

Contact Information

This newsletter is prepared by the Office of Publications and Production in cooperation with the Office of Public Relations. Comments and suggestions are most welcome. Please address them to Dr. Lekha Keister at lkeister@essex.edu.