Rutgers University–Camden


Rutgers University–Camden is one of three regional campuses of Rutgers University, New Jersey's public research university. It is located in Camden, New Jersey. Founded in 1929, Rutgers–Camden began as an amalgam of the South Jersey Law School and the College of South Jersey. It is the southernmost of the three regional campuses of Rutgers—the others being located in New Brunswick and Newark.

History

Rutgers University–Camden began as the South Jersey Law School and the College of South Jersey. The schools were founded by a group of citizens led by Collingswood mayor and lawyer Arthur E. Armitage in 1929. In 1950, the two schools became the Camden campus when they merged with Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. After decades of providing students with a comprehensive liberal arts curriculum, in 1981 Rutgers–Camden began to offer its first master's degree programs, in biology, English, and business administration. In 1989, the growing demand for business offerings led to the founding of the School of Business–Camden, the first business school in southern New Jersey to earn prestigious accreditation from the AACSB International. Rutgers–Camden achieved another academic first in 2007: launching the first of its kind PhD program in childhood studies. Today, Rutgers–Camden boasts two additional PhD degrees in integrative biology and public affairs. The business school offers a four-year undergraduate business curriculum along with MBA, professional master’s, and executive programs. The law school, ranked highly and nationally, boasts a new and impressive facility complete with a state-of-the-art moot courtroom. In 2011, the School of Nursing became the newest academic unit at Rutgers–Camden, providing health care institutions throughout the region with high-caliber nursing professionals.
In 2002, Rutgers University–Camden and the University of Havana signed a Memorandum of Understanding to formalize research and exchange opportunities for students and faculty. It was renewed in 2016.
In July 2012, the New Jersey Legislature passed the "New Jersey Medical and Health Sciences Higher Education Restructuring Act," integrating Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, with units of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The Restructuring Act created a Rutgers–Camden Board of Directors that has the authority to determine policies for the organization, administration and development of the campus. It also links Rutgers–Camden with Rowan University for joint science collaborations. In July 2014, the legacy University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey School of Nursing at Stratford merged with the Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden.

Academics

Rutgers–Camden is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. It has nearly 40 majors and 50 minors plus special programs, an Honors College, hands-on research with faculty mentors, study abroad, internships, civic learning, and various graduate and advanced professional programs. The academic year follows a 4-4 schedule of two four-course semesters, fall and spring. During the winter study term, students study various courses outside of typical curriculum for 3 weeks in January. Rutgers students often take the winter study term to pursue internships or work on intensive research projects.

College of Arts and Sciences

The College of Arts and Sciences is the largest academic unit at Rutgers–Camden. Students enjoy the advantages of a personalized liberal arts education as well as the benefits of studying at a campus of a research university, particularly the opportunity to work closely with distinguished faculty. Students have a broad choice of majors and programs in the humanities, the arts, the social sciences, and the natural and physical sciences, including those in traditional liberal arts fields as well as more professionally oriented courses of study. The College of Arts and Sciences also has a highly selective Honors College, which offers a challenging academic program that includes seminars, junior and senior year projects, and extracurricular activities.

Graduate and Professional Programs

The Graduate School offers 14 programs granting master's degrees in several liberal arts disciplines including history, English literature, languages, and creative writing, as well as advanced degrees in the biological, chemical, computer, and mathematical sciences, nursing, psychology, social work, political science and public policy, and Doctoral programs in Childhood Studies, Computational Biology, and Public Affairs with emphasis on community development. An MBA program is offered through the Rutgers School of Business-Camden.

Visual and Performing Arts

The Rutgers–Camden Center for the Arts provides performances, exhibitions, education programs, and community projects. The Fine Arts Building on the Rutgers–Camden campus houses the Walter K. Gordon Theater, Black Box Theater, and the Stedman Gallery. The Gordon Theater is the home venue for the Collingswood-based Symphony in C.

The Rutgers School of Business–Camden

The Rutgers School of Business is accredited by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.

The Rutgers Law School

The Rutgers Law School is a center of legal education, with two campuses—in Camden and Newark. Its faculty is internationally recognized in a number of fields including constitutional, criminal, health, and corporate law. Its alumni are leading members of the bar in public and private practice settings throughout the nation. The school is well represented among the state and federal judiciary. The law school is a member of the Association of American Law Schools and is on the list of approved schools of the American Bar Association. It offers a three-year course of study for full-time students and a four-year, part-time program leading to the awarding of the Juris Doctor degree."

The Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden

The Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden offers curricula that integrate nursing knowledge and clinical practice, including baccalaureate programs for traditional students, registered nurse students, and second-degree students; a doctor of nursing practice program; and certification in school nursing and wound ostomy continence nursing.

Libraries

Paul Robeson Library Located in the heart of the Rutgers–Camden Campus, the Paul Robeson Library develops and maintains access to materials that support undergraduate and graduate coursework and research. A designated Federal Depository for the First U.S. Congressional District, the library serves as a public resource for the citizens of New Jersey. Library faculty deliver comprehensive support for reference and research questions in their subject areas. Through the Paul Robeson Library, the Rutgers–Camden community may access the global resources of the Rutgers University Library System. Recent renovations to the library include an upgraded student computing center and a new lounge area for study. The Robeson library also serves as the academic library for students and faculty at the Camden campuses of Camden County College and Rowan University.
Law Library One of New Jersey’s largest law libraries serves as a research facility for law students, legal practitioners, and the general public. The Law Library houses a collection of over 440,000 books and other materials, and the collection is comprehensive in its holdings of American, English, Canadian, and foreign legal periodicals. The Law Library is located on three floors of the Law School Building. A selective federal depository, the Rutgers–Camden Law Library hosts numerous online collections of public documents related to federal and New Jersey courts.

Campus

Dorms and student housing

Undergraduate and graduate dorms are located at Third and Cooper Streets, and a graduate residence hall is located at 330 Cooper Street. The twelve-story residence hall is the tallest building on campus. Many students live off campus in Camden's Cooper Grant neighborhood, in Philadelphia, or in surrounding suburbs such as Collingswood and Haddonfield.

Alumni House

The Rutgers Alumni House is located at 312 Cooper Street, in a historic mansion built in 1809, and serves the alumni of all four Rutgers University campuses.

Writers House

The Rutgers Writers House is located at 305 Cooper Street, in a house historically known as the Dr. Henry Genet Taylor House. The house is home to the University's MFA in Creative Writing Program, as well as the journals Cooper Street and StoryQuarterly. The Writers House hosts writers, scholars, and others for various programs.

Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts

North of the campus green, The Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts houses the Stedman Art Gallery, the Gordon Theater, and the Black Box theater.

Transportation services

Regional rail access to the university is provided by the PATCO's City Hall station, located two blocks from center campus, and the RiverLINE's Cooper Street - Rutgers University station. The Walter Rand Transportation Center is located a few blocks from campus, which provides access to several NJTransit bus lines. Additionally, the seasonally operated RiverLink Ferry running between Camden and Philadelphia has a stop at the nearby Adventure Aquarium.
As a service to students of the university, the Rutgers–Camden Police Department provides "a walking security escort for individuals to their vehicles; campus housing; the PATCO Hi-Speed Line station at Fifth and Market St.; and the Walter Rand Transportation Center on Broadway". The campus also runs shuttle buses with stops throughout the campus.

Athletics

Known as the Scarlet Raptors, Rutgers–Camden's athletic teams are a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association —in Division III—and the New Jersey Athletic Conference. They compete in 9 men's sports and 10 women's sports:
In 2006, Rutgers–Camden earned its first NCAA Division III national championship when the softball team defeated top-ranked and two-time defending champion St. Thomas, 3-2. Rutgers–Camden set program marks with a 47-5 record and a 29-game winning streak.
In 2012 and 2013, Rutgers–Camden student-athlete Tim VanLiew won back-to-back NCAA Men's Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the javelin. He won his first title on May 26, 2012, with a throw of at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in Claremont, California. Nearly a year to the day of his first title, he not only defended his national javelin title, but he did so in record-breaking fashion. VanLiew’s throw of set the all-time NCAA Division III record for the new javelin, while shattering the NCAA Championship record, the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse stadium mark, and VanLiew’s old Rutgers–Camden program record in the process.
Rutgers–Camden's men's soccer team went a school-record 37 consecutive games without a loss, a record that spanned the 2012 and 2013 seasons. The team compiled a 32-0-5 record during that time, the eighth-longest streak in NCAA Division III men's soccer history. The team earned a trip to the NCAA Division III National Championship for the first time in program history by defeating Loras College, 3-2, in overtime on Dec. 6, 2013, in San Antonio, Texas. The unbeaten streak came to an end on Dec. 7, 2013, in a 2-1 double-overtime loss to Messiah College in the NCAA Division III National Championship. The men's soccer team won three consecutive New Jersey Athletic Conference titles and in 2013 finished ranked No. 3 in the D3soccer.com Top 25 and No. 4 in the NSCAA national poll.

Student life

Student body

Approximately 6,600 undergraduate and graduate students attend Rutgers–Camden. Nearly 600 students live on campus. Renowned for its commitment for diversity, the student body is made up of students from 29 states and 33 countries. There are many clubs that represent various ethnic and racial groups, various religious denominations, political beliefs, and an LGBTQ club. There have been over 43,000 graduates as of 2016

Student media

There are over 75 clubs and organizations on campus including: