A celebration for the ages

This month, Rider University officially marked the 150th anniversary of its founding, bringing a close to the yearlong celebration of the sesquicentennial.

Over the past year, Rider has honored the founding of the University by holding signature events and observing other noteworthy moments that have included hitting the road for alumni events in 10 cities across the U.S.; hosting a lecture by Pulitzer Prize winner Doris Kearns Goodwin; setting a Guinness World Record; awarding Sesquicentennial Medals of Excellence; and throwing a 150th Gala.

“This has been such an exciting time for the University — one that has given students, alumni, faculty, staff and the greater community the opportunity feel tremendous pride in our rich history and tradition,” said Rider’s president, Gregory G. Dell’Omo, Ph.D. “As only the seventh president in 15 decades, I feel a great responsibility to make sure our future is as bright as our past, and I’m confident future generations will be able to look back on the next 150 years with as much pride and satisfaction as we have during this sesquicentennial.” 

More than 300 friends, faculty, staff, students and alumni attended the University’s Sesquicentennial Gala on April 18, 2015. Held in the Cavalla Room of the Bart Luedeke Center, the gala featured dinner, dancing and a special tribute to retiring President Mordechai Rozanski, as well all of the recipients of Rider’s Sesquicentennial Medal of Excellence.

Those medals were created specially for the sesquicentennial to recognize members of the Rider family for their exemplary achievements that have brought honor to the University. Throughout the year, Rider has thanked these individuals and organizations for their significant contributions and years of service, as well as for going above and beyond in assisting the University to better serve its students. Alumni, board members, faculty, staff, friends and organizations all received medals.

Sure to go down in the annals of University history, Rider undertook its first ever Guinness World Records attempt on Nov. 8, 2014, to create the world’s Longest Line of Fruits. Hundreds of students, staff, alumni and friends painstakingly strung the giant string of fruit on Nov. 8, 2014. It took six hours and 10,036 cranberries to achieve the world record. The attempt was a way to honor the University’s founder and namesake, Andrew J. Rider, a cranberry farmer who introduced the cranberry to the queen of England. She later nicknamed him “The Cranberry King of New Jersey.”

The past year was a momentous one for Rider in other ways as well. The University has undergone a tremendous change in leadership. Gregory G. Dell’Omo, Ph.D., succeeded its sixth president, Dr. Mordechai Rozanski, who retired in August. Two new deans began their tenure at Rider, as well. Dr. Elad Granot took the helm of the College of Business Administration and Dr. Matthew Shaftel became the dean of the Westminster College of the Arts.

The Marion Buckelew Cullen Center opened in October 2014, the first new building to be constructed on Westminster's campus in 39 years. Located beside The Playhouse, which will be renamed the Robert L. Annis Playhouse in honor of Westminster Choir College’s former dean and director, the building creates a new quadrangle and courtyard that will be a primary outdoor venue for Westminster student and alumni events. (A dedication ceremony for the Playhouse takes place Oct. 16.)

Rider began in 1865 as the Trenton Business College and Practical Training School in one room of Temperance Hall in Trenton, N.J. Today, the University is a comprehensive, coeducational university with campuses in Lawrenceville and Princeton and a reputation for educating talented students for life and career success in a diverse and interdependent world — one that is certain to change more rapidly in the next 150 years as it did in the previous 15 decades. Through its commitment to high-quality teaching, scholarship and experiential opportunities, Rider continues to make the investments necessary to retain its strength through the next 150 years and beyond.