Rutgers Day Programming Changes

(NEWARK, NJ June 21, 2007) -- The Rutgers-Newark Honors College graduated a record 64 students at the May 17 Newark College of Arts and Science (NCAS) and University College (UC) joint commencement.

High-achieving students in NCAS and UC must apply to the Honors College, a four-year college within a college. The program teaches students to think more critically and develop their analytical skills. Seniors must have completed a challenging final honors capstone project and scored a B+ or better to graduate.

Not surprisingly, many of these high-achieving graduates are moving on to pursue graduate studies at prestigious schools such as the University of Pittsburgh Medical School and the University of Pennsylvania. Still others will be working at firms such as Lehman Brothers, Deutsche Bank and Prudential, while one graduate will be conducting research with the National Institutes of Health. Still another will be working in Florida in an international conservation program that rescues big cats such as tigers and leopards.

Below is a list of the graduates and their respective hometowns.

HONORS COLLEGE GRADUATES FOR 2007 (Honors Colleges graduates who are also new members of Phi Beta Kappa, the national honors society, are marked with an **)

Bergen County, NJ

Diana El-Neemany, Bergenfield; Jon-Michael Ennis, Englewood; Leila Faridhosseini, Leonia; Evrim Arslan, Lodi; Abigal Persad and Andrey Yusupov, both of Fair Lawn; Iskra Boneva, Fort Lee; and Carolyn Kloepping, Hackensack

Burlington County, NJ

Aminah Harris, Willingboro

Camden County, NJ

Marquita Smith, Lawnside

Essex County, NJ

Lara Farhat and Maryam Zarabadipour, both of Bloomfield; Domiquei Carroll, Maplewood; Farihah Perwez, Millburn; Stephanie Bernardes, Danny Roque and Onyinyechukwu Uchime, all of Newark; Joseph Dwyer and Anthony Restaino, both of Nutley; Yetunde Balogun, Orange; and Richard Ram, Verona

Hudson County, NJ

Sarah Eisa and Karolina Lula**, both of Bayonne; Sidrah Abbasi, Catherine Dimiane, Aileen Gavina, Amna Khan**, Ibrahim Khan**, Nidhi Khanna, Davina Khatri, Bianca Madrid, and Sadia Sheikh, all of Jersey City; Joan Waller**, Kearny; and Pedro Figueroa, North Bergen

Middlesex County, NJ

Juliette Deen, Avenel**; Yasmine Kulesza, Carteret; Sara Saad, East Brunswick;

Kingsuk Ganguly, Vidhi Kapoor, and Khushbu Shah, all of Edison; and Hassan Qureshi, Piscataway

Morris County, NJ

Emmanuel Apor, Long Valley; Ekaterina Dobryakova**, Morris Plains; and

Sneha Pendse, Parsippany

Passaic County, NJ

Paola Quiroz, Leonardo Selvaggio and Evelyn Urban, all of Clifton; Yevgeniy Spevak, Wayne; and Jesse Starrick, West Paterson

Somerset County, NJ

Meesha Edwards and Deptina Valree, both of North Plainfield

Union County, NJ

Vanessa Flores, Kristina Carla Lopez and Arnaldo Serrano**, all of Elizabeth; Sergio Bichao, Hillside; Jowita Wtorek and Mark Writz, both of Rahway; and Michael Billich, Prescilia Isedeh and Ogechi Onyeani, all of Union

Warren County, NJ

Damilola Sobo**, Stewartsville

Out of State

CONNECTICUT: Nicole Powdar, New Milford

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Erin Borry, Nashua

NEW YORK STATE: Amanda Capobianco, East Northport; Apiwat Romayanantakit, Elmhurst; Meridyth Bergman, Malverne

WYOMING: Christina Joan Nielsen, Fort Bridger