Thursday, May 12, 2016
More than 400 students graduated on May 12, 2016
On Thursday, May 12, the College of Continuing Studies and graduate students of Rider University's Class of 2016 gathered on the Campus Green for their Commencement ceremony. Four hundred and one students received diplomas this year. Friends, families, faculty and staff congregated to witness them touch the Rider Rock — a tradition — and join a network of more than 60,000 Rider alumni.
"It is an extraordinarily happy day for our entire University, but particularly for you, our students, because today we celebrate your graduation," said President Gregory G. Dell'Omo. "This is an honor to be greatly cherished because it signifies an important academic and personal accomplishment. And in awarding you your degree, we share with you that sense of mastery, pride and joy that comes with reaching a hard-earned goal."
During the ceremony, Neil Friedman received the honorary Doctor of Laws. After attending Rider, Neil Friedman went on to achieve phenomenal professional success. As the current chief executive officer and president of Alex Brands since October 2014, Friedman also served as the president and executive vice president of Toys "R" Us Inc. among other high-level executive posts at Mattel, Fisher-Price Brands of Mattel, Tyco, Just Toys and Hasbro.
In a speech, Friedman said, "I am confident that Rider has prepared you with the knowledge and work ethic for your next step; it’s up to you to use what you have learned. Every opportunity you take will prepare you for your next one. When you get an opportunity, take it as they don’t come around often.
Janae Tucker ’16, who earned a Master of Arts in business communication, was the graduating class speaker. She said, "We must take our degrees that we have earned today and realize that the world needs our visions. We must have some vision for our life. Even if we don’t know the plan, we have to have a direction in which we choose to go."
As a female, Tucker represented the overwhelming majority of her class: 70 percent of students earning graduate degrees were women. CCS graduates were more evenly split among gender (55 percent female, 45 percent male). About 11 percent of this class of graduate students were born outside the United States. Thirty-three percent of graduate students received their undergraduate degree at Rider.
Dr. John Donovan, associate professor in Rider's management department and Director of Executive Masters of Business Administration, and Dr. Catrinel Haught Tromp, assistant professor in Rider’s psychology department, received the Distinguished Teaching Award in recognition of their dedication to students.
Donovan joined Rider’s faculty in September 2006 as an associate professor in the College of Business Administration. Donovan, who specializes in organizational behavior and human resource management, earned his doctorate in industrial/organizational psychology from the University of Albany, State University of New York in 1998. In nominating him, a student wrote, “He displays an enthusiasm for teaching that is unparalleled, and his character and teaching ability have helped make Rider an amazing experience.”
Haught-Tromp, who received her doctorate in psychology from Princeton University, has been a full-time member of Rider’s faculty since 2011. She serves as co-advisor to Rider’s chapter of Psi Chi, the International Honors Society in psychology. Haught-Tromp has earned a reputation for delivering thought-provoking lectures with warmth, humor and intelligence. In nominating Haught-Tromp, one student wrote, “Dr. Tromp is one of the most helpful and compassionate professors on this campus. She does everything in her power to make her classes interesting and push you to do your best.”
The 2016 Dominick H. Iorio Research Prize went to Dr. Tony Bahri, a professor in Rider's mathematics department. Professor, Mathematics He has been a member of Rider's faculty since 1983. For the past decade, he has focused his research on toric topology, a relatively new field that uses algebra and combinatorics to analyze the often counter-intuitive way that shapes in multiple dimensions can be formed and deformed. Last year, Dr. Bahri, who earned his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Oxford, served as a visiting research scholar in Princeton University’s Department of Mathematics.
Brittany Spaulding ’15, ’16, who was graduating with a Master of Accountancy degree, presented the class gift. Graduates of the Class of 2016 had the opportunity to contribute to a campaign to invest in the future of Rider by making their first gift to the University. The funds support scholarships in honor of the class to be awarded during the 2016-17 academic year to select upper-class students whose financial situations may hinder their ability to complete their studies. Spaulding announced that the Class of 2015 raised enough money to award eight scholarships to members of next year’s graduating class (gifts are still being accepted through June 30 at alumni.rider.edu/classgift).
"My Rider experience has been very different than many graduates in the audience today, but as we look back on our time at Rider, our memories are most defined by the people who impacted us – especially the faculty and staff who have mentored and guided us, as well as the lifelong friendships we made along the way," said Spaulding. "To ensure future generations have the opportunity for a similar Rider experience, our class established and contributed to The Rider Class of 2016 Scholarship Fund."
For the seventh year in a row, Rider and Westminster Choir College used GreenWeaver caps and gowns, made from 100 percent, post-consumer recycled plastic bottles, to robe all students for Commencement 2016 exercises. Eco-friendly GreenWeaver gowns are made of fabric spun from molten plastic pellets, producing a comfortably soft fabric that literally turns trash into keepsakes. Each gown represents about 23 bottles. Funding for the GreenWeaver™ graduation gowns has been provided by the Rider University Energy and Sustainability Steering Committee (ESSC). The Princeton Review named Rider one of the most environmentally responsible colleges in the United States and Canada.
Llundon Lawson, a junior musical theatre major, closed the ceremony for the second consecutive year by singing Rider alma mater, “Cranberry and White,” written by Robert D. Helvering, Westminster Choir College adjunct assistant professor.