NJIT in the News

Neil M. Maher, PhD, associate professor, chair and graduate coordinator of the department of history, received the 2009 Robert Van Houten Award for Teaching Excellence from the NJIT Alumni Association on June 13. Maher recently published Nature's New Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Roots of the American Environmental Movement (Oxford University Press, 2008) and is currently researching and writing an environmental history of the space race during the 1960s and 1970s.

The NJIT Alumni Association annually honors a select group of distinguished alumni for their notable achievements in their professional careers, community activities, and/or support of NJIT. This year’s event will honor a group of New Jersey residents who made their marks in the fields of architecture, engineering and more. Set for Saturday, June 13, 2009, at 4 p.m. at NJIT, the event caps Alumni Weekend at the University. 

The NJIT community mourns the passing this morning of Bernard Coopersmith, a 1944 graduate of Newark College of Engineering and friend of the university. Coopersmith received the NCE Distinguished Alumni Service Award in 2000 and served as the president of the NJIT Alumni Association in 1969. Last year, Coopersmith joined those about to become alumni at Commencement 2008, receiving special recognition from NJIT President Robert A. Altenkirch as the “most mature” alumnus to participate in the ceremony.

Have a great idea for a business or invention but don't know where to turn? Then consider yourself a candidate for the Young Alumni Club's Entrepreneurial Network program. On Saturday, Jan. 24, the Alumni Association of NJIT’s Young Alumni Club and the NJIT Enterprise Development Center co-sponsored a workshop for aspiring entrepreneurs that was attended by 90 alumni and guests. For more information about the program, go to www.njit.edu/alumni/yac.

NJIT students boarded special shuttles and walked in an organized march headed for local polling sites yesterday to cast their votes in this year’s presidential election. The event was coordinated by NJIT’s Residence Life, Campus Center and the Alumni Association. Paula Krongard (pictured at left, center), senior associate director in NJIT's Office of Alumni Relations, sponsored an Election Day information table in the Campus Center assisted by alumni volunteers James Sharpe, Jr. and Lanre Tomori.