William Paterson University, officially The William Paterson University of New Jersey, is an American public university located in Wayne, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1855, William Paterson is the second oldest of the nine state colleges and universities in New Jersey. William Paterson offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees through its five academic colleges. During the fall 2016 semester, 9,103 undergraduate students and 1,480 graduate students were enrolled.
William Paterson is the sixth largest producer of college graduates in New Jersey. In 2016, the University graduated more than 2,500 students. It is the third most diverse public university in New Jersey and nearly 30 percent of students are the first in their families to attend university.
Location
William Paterson University is located on a 370-acre hilly, wooded campus in northern New Jersey in the suburban town of Wayne. The campus borders on High Mountain Preserve as well as the boroughs of Haledon and North Haledon, nearly 1,200 acres (4.9 km2) of wetlands and woodlands, and three miles (5 km) west of the historic Great Falls in Paterson. New York City is 20 miles (32 km) to the east, the Jersey Shore is an hour’s drive south, skiing is 30 miles (48 km) north, and the Meadowlands Sports Complex is a half-hour drive away.
History
William Paterson University was founded in 1855 as the Paterson City Normal School. For more than a century, training teachers for New Jersey schools was its exclusive mission. In 1951, the University moved to the present campus. Originally known as Ailsa Farms, the site was purchased by the State of New Jersey in 1948 from the family of Garret Hobart, twenty-fourth vice president of the United States.
The original manor house was built in 1877 in the style of a castle, and was the home of John McCullough, a Scottish immigrant who made a fortune in the wool industry. It was later purchased, enlarged and made the weekend retreat and summer residence of the Hobart family. Today the building is known as Hobart Manor and is home of the Office of the President and the Office of Institutional Advancement. Hobart Manor was designated a national and state landmark in 1976. The building is reported to have sightings of ghosts from time to time.
The University changed its name to Paterson State Teachers College when it relocated from Paterson in 1951. In 1966, the curriculum was expanded to include degree offerings other than those leading to a teaching career. In 1971, it was renamed The William Paterson College of New Jersey. The change of name honored William Paterson, who was the state’s first senator, its second governor, and a United States Supreme Court Justice appointed by President George Washington, and reflected both the institution’s beginnings in the city that also bears his name and the legislative mandate to move from a teachers' college to a broad-based liberal arts institution.
The Commission on Higher Education in June 1997 granted William Paterson university status.
Dr. Kathleen Waldron, the former president of Baruch College and a former senior executive at Citigroup, is the seventh president of William Paterson University. She took office August 2, 2010 to replace the retiring Arnold Speert, who had served as the school's president since 1985 and oversaw the further expansion of William Paterson's curriculum and campus.
President Waldron launched the William Paterson University Strategic Plan 2012-2022, which adopted revised mission and vision statements, and developed a set of five core values for the University: academic excellence, creating knowledge, student success, diversity and citizenship.
Academics
The university is organized into five academic colleges: College of Arts and Communication, Cotsakos College of Business, College of Education, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and College of Science and Health, offering undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees.
- The College of the Arts and Communication grants a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Art History, Art Studio, Communication, Music and Music with Popular Music Emphasis; a Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.); a Bachelor of Music (B.M.) in Performance, Jazz Studies, Music Education, Emphasis in Music Management, and Sound Engineering Arts; a Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.); a Master of Arts (M.A.) in Professional Communication; and a Master of Music (M.M.) with concentrations in Jazz Studies (Performance or Arranging), Music Education and Music Management.
- The Cotsakos College of Business, named in honor of Dr. Christos Cotsakos ‘73, an entrepreneur, former chairman of the board and CEO for E*TRADE, and generous benefactor to the University, grants a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Accounting, Finance, Financial Planning, Global Business, Management, Marketing and Professional Sales; a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Economics and a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) with concentrations in Accounting, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Marketing and Music Management.
- The College of Education grants a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Early Childhood Education, Elementary Education and Secondary Education; a Bachelor of Music (B.M.) in Music Education; a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Physical Education; a Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) in Elementary Education, Secondary Education; and a Master of Education (M.Ed.) in Curriculum and Learning, Educational Leadership, Literacy, Professional Counseling, and Special Education. Students may also pursue a certificate in early childhood, elementary, secondary, and special education.
- The College of Humanities and Social Sciences grants a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Africana World Studies, Anthropology, Asian Studies, Criminology and Criminal Justice, English, French and Francophone Studies, Geography, History, Latin American and Latino Studies, Legal Studies, Liberal Studies, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Spanish, and Women’s and Gender Studies; a Master of Arts (M.A.) in English, History, Public Policy, Political Science/Public Policy and International Affairs, Clinical and Counseling Psychology, and Applied Sociology; and a Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) in Clinical Psychology.
- The College of Science and Health grants a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Biology, Chemistry, Communication Disorders and Sciences, Computer Science, Environmental Science, Kinesiology, Mathematics, Nursing, Physics and Public Health; a Master of Science (M.S.) in Biology, Biotechnology, Communication Disorders, Exercise and Sports Studies (Exercise Physiology, General and Sports Pedagogy), a Master of Science in Nursing (M.S.N.) in Administration, Adult/Gerontology Nurse Practitioner, Education and Family Nurse Practitioner; and a Doctor of Nursing Practice (D.N.P.). Pre-professional programs are available in dentistry, engineering, law, medicine (which includes dentistry, optometry, podiatry, and veterinary medicine|veterinary science), pharmacology, physical therapy, and speech-language pathology.
The Honors College offers tracks in Biopsychology, Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology, Cognitive Science, Humanities, Life Science and Environmental Ethics, Management, Marketing, Music, Nursing, Performing and Literary Arts, and Social Sciences, as well as independent study.
Faculty
The institution’s faculty includes recipients of awards and grants from the Fulbright Program, the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies. William Paterson counts 41 Fulbright scholars among its faculty.
Accreditation
The University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, Commission on the Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs, Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, National Association of Schools of Art and Design, National Association of Schools of Music, and National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, among others.
Facilities
William Paterson University's buildings include:
- University Hall, an 80,000 square-foot academic building which opened in January 2016 and was funded in part by the Building Our Future Bond Act, is a mix of general-use classrooms, dedicated laboratories, and clinical spaces for programs in nursing, communication disorders, and public health.
- The David and Lorraine Cheng Library is the academic knowledge center of William Paterson University.
- The expanded and renovated 232,000-square-foot Science Complex features nearly 100 research labs and 50 teaching labs.
- The 1600 Valley Road Building, which includes interactive classrooms, the Russ Berrie Institute for Professional Sales with its professional sales laboratory, and the Financial Learning Center (a simulated trading floor).
- The University Galleries at the Ben Shahn Center for the Visual Arts presents exhibitions of contemporary art, oversees the University's art collections and offers educational programs.
- The Power Art Center accommodates an array of studio arts, including three-dimensional design, photography, sculpture, ceramics, printmaking, woodworking, and painting.
- The Nel Bolger, RN Nursing Laboratory is a patient simulation laboratory suite in Hunziker Wing. The lab features computerized patient simulation mannequins, a control station for operating the mannequins, robotic digital cameras to record students practicing patient care techniques, television screens to display the lab sessions, one-way mirrors to allow viewing by professors, and editing facilities for creative electronic DVDs for evaluations of student progress.
- Other laboratories devoted to arts and sciences and large areas for environmental research include Hobart Hall, the communication building, housing TV broadcast studios, the WPSC radio station and sound engineering arts facilities.
- The University Commons, including the John Victor Machuga Student Center with its food court and the Speert Hall dining facility, is the hub of campus life, providing a venue for the entire University community to gather and interact.
Student life
Residential life
The University provides housing for nearly 2,600 students in ten residence halls, including two that opened in 2006. These newest residence halls, High Mountain East and West, offer learning communities in collaboration with the University’s Honors College, and feature smart classrooms that are used as part of the living/learning experience.
With accommodations ranging from double room suites to apartments, the University’s modern, smoke-free buildings range in size from 100 to 400 students and are coed by suite, with four residents sharing a suite or apartment. First-year students start out in traditional residence halls such as Overlook South and North, Hillside Hall, White Hall, Matelson Hall, and Century Hall, while upper-class students and older transfer students experience the added independence of the apartments, Pioneer Hall and Heritage Hall.
Organizations and campus activities
Offering an active campus experience for both resident and commuter students, William Paterson University hosts 24 fraternities and sororities and more than 70 clubs and organizations, as well as intramural and recreational activities, peer education, and leadership programs. William Paterson University's Club Sports include Cheerleading, Bowling, Equestrian, Ice Hockey, Rugby, Dance and Track.
William Paterson has been nationally recognized for its alcohol prevention program, which requires freshmen and transfer students to take AlcoholEdu, an online alcohol prevention course to educate students about the consequences of alcohol abuse. In addition, student workers serve as peer health advocates and help to spread the message to their peers about the need to take a responsible approach to alcohol. William Paterson is also an active member in the New Jersey Higher Education Consortium on Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention and Education.
WPSC 88.7 Brave New Radio, William Paterson's award-winning student-run radio station is the headquarters for College Radio Day, an effort to celebrate the importance of college radio. In 2012, more than 500 college radio stations in 20 countries participated in the event.
Greek organizations
Athletics
The University has 13 intercollegiate sports teams in the NCAA Division III, six for men and seven for women, including NCAA teams in men’s baseball and women’s softball. The William Paterson University Pioneers compete in Division III of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), as well as in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) and the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC). The Faculty Athletic Support Team (FAST) was established in 2013 by the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, The Office of the Provost, and a number of faculty members, to create a formalized program to enhance communication and serve a resource to assist student-athletes with retention, success and growth.
Division III sports
Cultural events, lectures, conferences, and art
WP Presents! is the University portal to information about performing arts programs produced and presented by the College of The Arts and Communication. University Performing Arts and University Galleries administrate programs in creative and performing arts including the Jazz Room Series, New Jersey Playwrights Contest, and all public productions in the Shea Center for Performing Arts and the Hunziker Black Box Theatre. Cultural events take place on campus throughout the year, including theater productions, gallery exhibits, and concerts presenting jazz, classical, and contemporary music.
- The University’s Jazz Room Series, launched in 1978, hosts both William Paterson's student ensembles and visiting professional and renowned jazz musicians. The Jazz Room Series is the longest-running, campus-based jazz concert series in the nation, entering its thirty-sixth year in 2014. The Jazz Room has received over two decades of continuous grant support from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, as well as grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. The series has been featured on national and metropolitan-area media, including recorded broadcasts.
- The University has produced the Distinguished Lecturer Series (DLS), which brings speakers from the worlds of politics, government, the arts, literature, science, and business to campus. The series has presented such speakers as New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox general managers Brian Cashman and Theo Epstein, musical theatre composer Stephen Sondheim, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, film directors Oliver Stone and Spike Lee, actor Al Pacino, performer Gregory Hines, writers Alice Walker and Joyce Carol Oates, feminist, social and political activist Gloria Steinem, theatrical producer and director Harold Prince, historian of education Diane Ravitch, and entertainers Penn and Teller.
- In 2013, William Paterson University was selected to host the Gubernatorial Debate between Governor Chris Christie and Senator Barbara Buono. The University welcomed more than eight hundred audience members. William Paterson University also hosted the New Jersey Gubernatorial Debate, which featured candidates Chris Christie, Jon Corzine, and Chris Daggett.
- Since 1985, William Paterson has hosted the Abram Kartch/Thomas Jefferson Lecture, where Thomas Jefferson scholars have shared their research and scholarship with the campus community and high school students from throughout New Jersey. The series began when Abram Kartch, a retired Paterson businessman and Thomas Jefferson scholar, provided William Paterson University with an endowment to offer an annual lecture for high school students on the relationship between Jefferson’s words and thoughts and modern society.
- New Jersey National History Day is part of a very rigorous academic program in which middle and high school students compete for a spot in the state history contest held at William Paterson University annually. The program encourages the study of social studies by guiding students to express themselves creatively through presentations of historical topics. William Paterson has been the sponsor of New Jersey National History Day since 1988, and the program brings hundreds of students from multiple schools and districts to campus.
- The annual Orlanda Saa Foreign Language Poetry Recitation Contest at William Paterson University offers middle and high school students the opportunity to recite poetry in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Spanish, and ESL. In 2014, the University celebrated its 31st year.
- William Paterson's Sculpture on Campus program represents one of the largest collections of public sculpture in New Jersey, and the only higher education institution in the state with a formal program dedicated to placing public sculpture. Twenty-two works are located throughout the campus.
Community and civic engagement
- William Paterson University is the only college or university in New Jersey that requires all students to take a three-credit course in civic engagement as a requirement for graduation.
- William Paterson signed a partnership agreement with the Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park. The agreement is designed to generate greater use of the Park's historical, cultural and natural resources for educational purposes.
Honors, awards and recognition
- University Hall, the new academic building, was awarded a silver citation in the 2016 American School & University Educational Interiors Showcase, a competition honoring excellence in education interiors.
- The 2014 Green Design Award for William Paterson's new 1,000 space parking garage for its energy-efficient LED lighting technology from the Passaic County Board of Chosen Freeholders at their annual green design conference held on June 18, 2014.
- The 2014 List of Top University Sales Programs in the nation for its Russ Berrie Institute for Professional Sales in the Cotsakos College of Business by the Sales Education Foundation of Dayton, Ohio.
- William Paterson's solar panel installation ranks among the 10 largest installations at higher education institutions in the United States. The panels provide 15 to 20 percent of the institution's energy needs. In 2012, William Paterson was a finalist for the Second Nature Climate Leadership Awards, which recognize innovation and excellence in climate leadership at signatory institutions of the American College and University Presidents Climate Committee. William Paterson was one of 20 colleges and universities nationwide, and the only institution from New Jersey, named as finalists.
- William Paterson University's campus radio station, WPSC 88.7 FM Brave New Radio, has won numerous awards, including the Best College/University Station (with more than 10,000 enrollment) in 2013 and 2012 from the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS).
- Military Friendly School, by MilitaryFriendlySchools.com, included in their 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 Guide to Military Friendly Schools.
- Cotsakos College of Business listed in Princeton Review's Best Business Schools for five consecutive years.
- The College of Education received the Best Practice Award in Support of Global Diversity for 2011 from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE). The award honors the integration of diversity awareness into educator preparation and was presented to representatives of the program at AACTE’s 63rd Annual Meeting and Exhibits in San Diego.
- The North Jersey Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention presented an award to William Paterson University on October 16, 2011 in recognition of efforts by students and staff members to raise money and awareness for suicide prevention.
Notable alumni
- Richie Adubato, basketball coach in the National Basketball Association
- Eric Alexander, jazz musician
- Carl Allen, jazz drummer
- Thomas Andes, politician, Mayor, Denville, NJ (January 1, 2012-current)
- Ronald M. Berkman, president, Cleveland State University
- Linda Bowden, MA '78, NJ regional president PNC Bank.
- Kevin Burkhardt, anchor, Fox Sports
- Tom Brislin, American keyboardist, vocalist, songwriter, and producer.
- Joe Clark, author, speaker, educator known for his overhaul of Eastside High School made famous by the Morgan Freeman movie "Lean on Me"
- Maureen Conway '66, retired vice president of emerging market solutions, Hewlett-Packard.
- Christos Cotsakos, founder, chairman and CEO of Pennington Ventures, LLC, and co-founder and chairman of Mutasian Entertainment, LLC, former CEO of E*TRADE Group.
- Rod Daniels, Anchorman for WBAL-TV Channel 11 in Baltimore.
- Tom Fitzgerald, journalist, WTTG-TV Fox 5 News in Washington, D.C. Emmy Award winner.
- Jeremiah Fraites, drummer of the Grammy-nominated American folk rock band The Lumineers
- Rob Fusari, class of 2008, Grammy Award-winning music producer & songwriter for Lady Gaga.
- Samantha Giancola, cast member of MTV's Jersey Shore.
- Horace Jenkins, former NBA player.
- Justin Kauflin, jazz pianist
- Margaret Landi '74, vice president and chief of animal welfare, ethics and strategy for GlaxoSmithKline.
- Susan Lisovicz '78, Donald W. Reynolds Visiting Professor of Business Journalism, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Arizona State University, and former anchor, CNN.
- Linda Niro '76, executive vice president and chief financial officer, Grand Bank.
- Bruce James, Freeholder of Passaic County
- Ferit Odman, jazz drummer
- Herb Perez, won the United States’ only Gold Medal in the Olympic Sport of Taekwondo
- Joseph D. Pistone, class of 1965, a.k.a. "Donnie Brasco", FBI agent who infiltrated the Bonanno crime family.
- Tiffany Monique Riddick '05, member of The Mamas, background vocalist for Beyoncé.
- Billy Tooma, BA '07/MA '09, the award-nominated filmmaker of Fly First & Fight Afterward: The Life of Col. Clarence D. Chamberlin and Poetry of Witness.
- Ray Toro, lead guitar and backing vocalist for American rock band My Chemical Romance.
- Crystal Torres '05, trumpet player for Beyoncé.
- Susan Ungaro '75, president, James Beard Foundation.
- Dick Vitale, legendary sports broadcaster (graduate degree).
- Clinton Wheeler, former NBA player.
- Ian Ziering, class of 1988, cast of Beverly Hills, 90210, star of Sharknado movies.
References
External links
- Official website
- William Paterson University athletics website
- William Paterson University Facebook
- William Paterson University Twitter
- William Paterson University Instagram