The first meeting of the Review, Planning and Implementation Steering Committee established by Executive Order #42 took place Monday in Trenton. The Charge of the Steering Committee is to “Review the impact of the Commission’s (the Governor’s Commission on Health Science, Education, and Training) recommendations (to reconfigure Rutgers, UMDNJ, and NJIT into one system with three campuses) on the three institutions and to create a comprehensive plan for the restructuring.” The Steering Committee is to develop within 30 days of the first meeting a “proposed work plan for the preparation of an assessment and implementation plan.” The Steering Committee members include the following (in addition to Jim Kennedy, Chairman of the NJIT board of Trustees, and me):

Dr. David Beck, President and CEO, Coriell Institute for Medical Research

Ms. Ida Castro, Commissioner, NJ Department of Personnel

Ms. Lucille Davy, Special Counsel (for education) to the Governor

Mr. Laurence Downes, Chair, NJ Commission on Higher Education; Chairman and CEO, NJ Resources Corporation

Dr. Vera King Farris, President, Stockton College of NJ

Mr. Leslie Goodman, Chair, Board of Trustees, Rutgers

Mr. Harvey Holzberg, Chair, Board of Trustees, UMDNJ

Dr. Clifton Lacy, Commissioner, NJ Department of Health and Senior Services

Ms. Judy Lewent, Executive VP and CFO, Merck

Dr. Richard McCormick, President, Rutgers

Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, President and CEO, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Mr. Gene O’Hara, Chair, Board of Governors, Rutgers

Dr. Robert Saporito, Senior VP for Academic Affairs, UMDNJ

Mr. Charles Sessa, Chair, Board of Trustees, Cooper Health System

Dr. Harold Shapiro, President Emeritus and Prof. of Economics and Public Affairs, Princeton

Dr. Carl Van Horn, Director, Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, Rutgers

Dr. Zachary Yamba, President, Essex County College

Castro and Van Horn were recently added to the Steering Committee to serve in a leadership role in securing input from various stakeholder groups, including community leaders, organized labor leaders, etc.

The regular meetings of the Steering Committee are not open to the public. Periodic reports will be issued by the Committee, and there will be open sessions from time to time as well. The three University Committees discussed in the Commission’s report are in the process of being formed. They will be making recommendations to the Steering Committee on details of how each of the three universities might operate.

We will keep you posted as much as we can on the work of the Steering Committee and the University Committees and Issue Groups, i.e., the committees set up to advise the University Committees and Steering Committee, depending on whether a particular issue is “local” or “system-side.” The next meeting of the Committee is 20 February. Be assured that Jim Kennedy and I will continue to be vigorous advocates for NJIT and for our university to be a major participant in the deliberations of the Steering Committee.

Thanks,

Bob