Thomas Kean, “Father” of EOF, Will Be Keynote Speaker at Celebration at Rutgers University in Newark on March 26
(Newark, NJ, March 11, 2008) – For the past 40 years, Rutgers-Newark students have established a family support system within the Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) Program that has enabled thousands of them to obtain a college degree."It was the EOF [Program] that helped me focus, gave me a place to go and guided me," says Brenda Lopez, a former EOF student and now director of the Student Support Services Program, Academic Foundations Center, which works with EOF students on the Rutgers-Newark campus.
EOF, which was established in 1968 by an act of the New Jersey Legislature, was designed to provide academic assistance and financial support to academically or economically disadvantaged New Jersey residents attending the state's colleges or universities. The Newark program, which is under the auspices of the Academic Foundations Center, will celebrate its 40th anniversary with a free public program on Wednesday, March 26, at the Paul Robeson Campus Center's Essex Room, 350 Martin Luther King Blvd., from 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. The keynote speaker will be former New Jersey Governor Thomas H. Kean, the primary sponsor of the legislation that created the New Jersey EOF Program, in addition to EOF alumni.
Lopez praises the program for giving her the opportunity to attend Rutgers University and for keeping her focused on her academic abilities. Lopez, like many past Rutgers University EOF alumni, cites the program for its guidance, its unconditional attention, and its commitment to empower students.
The EOF program has been successful in gearing many of its students in the right directions in either their careers or life. Rose Bailey-Byers, assistant dean, EOF, describes it as a safe haven for many past and present students. Miriam Montalvo, an alumna of both Rutgers-Newark and New-Brunswick EOF programs, recalls the immense support system that the program provided in her early years as a Rutgers student. Montalvo is now paying it forward by managing the READY scholarship program, another of the many undergraduate support programs provided through the Academic Foundations Center to help students achieve academic success and leadership development.
Yvette Ortiz-Beaumont, administrative assistant, Office of Campus and Community Relations at Rutgers-Newark, shares those views. "The EOF program was my home-away-from-home family that enabled me to focus on a path of success and empowerment that I never knew could exist," says Ortiz-Beaumont.
In the last 40 years, the EOF Program has established itself as a family unit that maintains ties with both new and past students. "They are like my second family, people I can go to both with school problems and with everyday problems," explains Nicole Pfleger, an EOF alumna.
Paul Robeson Campus Center is wheelchair-accessible, as is the Rutgers-Newark campus. Rutgers‑Newark can be reached by New Jersey Transit buses and trains, the PATH train and Amtrak from New York City, and by Newark City Subway. Metered parking is available on University Avenue and at Rutgers‑Newark's public parking garage, at 200 University Ave. Printable campus maps and driving directions are available online at: http://www.newark.rutgers.edu/maps/index.php
Media Contact: Carla Capizzi
973/353-5262
E-mail: capizzi@rutgers.edu