Contacts:
Jim Gardner, Executive Director of Communications, (973) 596-3440
Carla Anderson, Director of Public Relations, (973) 596-3436

NEWARK – Tuesday, May 12, 1998 – The $180-million New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark will be the new site of commencement exercises for Ph.D. and baccalaureate degree recipients of New Jersey Institute of Technology when the 111^th graduating class is presented on Friday, May 22, 1998.

The ceremony was shifted from its traditional site, the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, N.J., due to construction.

"We’re very honored to conduct our commencement exercises in one of the premier concert halls in the country," said Joel Bloom, Vice President for Academic and Student Services and Dean of the Albert Dorman Honors College at NJIT.

"The event will mark the ongoing renaissance of the City of Newark and will give parents and siblings an opportunity see the Performing Arts Center as well as some of the university's facilities and continuously improving campus," Bloom said. "This is the continuation of a long and fruitful relationship between NJIT and NJPAC."

The graduation ceremonies will take place in NJPAC’s 2,750-seat Prudential Hall. NJPAC, located on 12 acres in downtown Newark, opened last October and is a cornerstone in the revitalization of the City of Newark. NJPAC is a 250,000-square-foot facility that houses three theaters, three restaurants, reception and meeting areas, and a soaring all-glass lobby that is a gateway to the city.

Alice M. Rivlin, Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and one of the nation’s most highly respected economists, will be among individuals honored during commencement exercises.

Gil Medina, Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Commerce and Economic Development, will deliver the commencement address at the graduate commencement exercises for master's degree recipients, which will take place on Thursday, May 21, 6:30 p.m. on the NJIT campus green.

The university will award honorary doctor of science degrees to:

· Alice M. Rivlin, Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

· Andreas "Andy" Acrivos, the Albert Einstein Professor of Science and Engineering and Director of the Benjamin Levich Institute for Physiochemical Hydrodynamics at the City College of the City University of New York.

NJIT will also present one of the university’s most prestigious awards, the Edward F. Weston Medal for distinguished professional achievement by an alumnus, to Raymond J. McGowan,’64, Executive Vice President of the Mobil Oil Corporation, President of the Mobil Chemical Company, and Director of the Mobil Oil Corporation.

The graduating class will include senior speaker Vandana Kumar of Edison, N.J., the president of the Senior Class and a former Student Government president whose father Vijay Kumar graduated NJIT in 1997 with a degree in mechanical engineering.

Kumar served as one of two New Jersey college students on Gov. Christine Todd Whitman’s Commission on Higher Education as a junior and received a Presidential Leadership Award from NJIT in 1996. An Albert Dorman Honors College student with a 3.62 grade point average, she will receive a Bachelor of Science in Science, Technology and Society.

"NJIT helped prepare for my future through its diversity and people and the fact that it is a small school and provides a great learning environment," Kumar said. "The Honors College provided me with a strong support system."

#3363

Back to Information for Media | Information for Faculty/Staff | News Releases Index | NJIT Home Page