Parent & Family Newsletter

May 2018

New Jersey native will return home, bringing to The College of New Jersey 30 years of experience as a proven teacher, scholar, leader, and staunch advocate of public higher education.

The TCNJ Board of Trustees voted unanimously to appoint Dr. Kathryn A. Foster as the 16^th president of The College of New Jersey. She will officially begin in the position on July 1.

“In Dr. Foster, we have found the ideal person to lead our college,” said Board Chairman Jorge Caballero. “She is an accomplished academic leader with a passion for public education. She embodies our values and brings visionary leadership, a strong academic perspective, and long-range strategic planning skills that will continue to position TCNJ for the future as a national exemplar.”

“I am honored and humbled by the trust the board has placed in me,” said Foster. “TCNJ is an exceptional place with the highest standards and deeply rooted values that mirror my own. I look forward to working with its talented, wise, and dedicated community, from whom I will learn and with whom I will enjoy serving to advance this exceptional college.”

Foster comes to TCNJ from the University of Maine at Farmington (UMF), where she has served as president since 2012. There, she has had the opportunity to work with University of Maine Chancellor John H. Page on the highest levels of system strategy.

“President Foster is a dynamic and extraordinarily talented higher education leader and advocate,” said James H. Page, Chancellor of the University of Maine System.  “The University of Maine at Farmington is a stronger institution, better positioned for success and service to Maine and its students because of Kate’s inspired guidance.  We thank Dr. Foster for her service and wish her and The College of New Jersey every success.”

Foster will replace R. Barbara Gitenstein, who has served in that role since January 1999 and will retire on June 30.

“I am thrilled by Kathryn Foster’s selection as TCNJ’s 16^th president,” said Gitenstein. “She has the right experience to prepare her for this role, having served as a chief executive officer in a state environment in which she has dealt with a range of higher education challenges at a senior level. She is an active listener and has a keen sense of our culture. She has the capacity to attend to that culture and learn from it.  I am confident she will be very successful at TCNJ.”

Prior to UMF, Foster spent 18 years at the University at Buffalo, the largest campus in the State University of New York system. There she served as director of the school’s Regional Institute, chair of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, and associate chair for undergraduate education and director of undergraduate studies.

“My experience as a planner has been a natural fit for presidential leadership,” said Foster. “I will bring to TCNJ an approach that involves taking a data-driven and clear-eyed assessment of current circumstances, making credible assumptions about the future, and imaginative envisioning to ensure our reach is at once bold, compelling, and ambitious, yet achievable.”

Foster plans to engage the TCNJ community before setting specific priorities, but does acknowledge being energized by the challenges that the college identified for its next president and articulated through the search. These include preserving and enhancing the traditions and culture of TCNJ, advancing the college’s reputation beyond the state’s borders, generating new resources through fundraising and program development, and building and celebrating diversity and inclusion on campus.

“My belief in the value of diversity and inclusion has deep roots,” said Foster. “It was matured by my Peace Corps experience of being young, female, and white in apartheid-era Swaziland, a black-African nation which revered elders and men.”

Foster holds a BA in geography and environmental engineering from The Johns Hopkins University and a master’s in city and regional planning from University of California, Berkeley. She earned a PhD in public and international affairs at Princeton University.

A native of Verona, Foster’s move to Ewing will be a homecoming. “I look forward to returning to a state that has meant so much to me over the years and where I still have family,” she said. “New Jersey is in my DNA. It is a place where I feel comfortable and at home.”

Foster’s appointment is the culmination of a national search that began in July 2017 when Gitenstein announced her intention to retire. The Presidential Search Committee was chaired by Trustee Susanne Svizeny ’79, who served alongside a diverse group of community members representing the talent and passion of TCNJ.

“The committee solicited input from all TCNJ constituents to develop a leadership agenda and define the qualities sought in an ideal candidate,” said Caballero. “It then worked meticulously and tirelessly, always relying on this leadership agenda, to find Dr. Foster, the perfect match. I thank the members of the search committee for their outstanding work.”

Founded in 1855 as the New Jersey State Normal School, TCNJ delivers an exceptionally high-quality education in a collaborative and supportive environment. The college has the sixth highest four-year graduation rate among all public colleges and universities. It is ranked by Money as one of the top 15 public colleges “most likely to pay off financially,” and U.S. News & World Report rates it the No. 1 public institution among regional universities in the northeast. The college is situated on 289 tree-lined acres in suburban Ewing Township, New Jersey, in close proximity to both New York City and Philadelphia. A strong liberal arts core forms the foundation for a wealth of degree programs offered through the college’s seven schools: Arts and Communication; Business; Education; Engineering; Humanities and Social Sciences; Nursing, Health, and Exercise Science; and Science.

Helping Your Student Cope with the Stress of Final Exams

The end of the semester and final exam period can be stressful. It is difficult to watch our students worry about their courses and we all want to help navigate this time successfully. What can family do? Perhaps the most significant thing you can do is to help them maintain a sense of perspective. It is unlikely that poor performance on a single exam or in a single course will have lasting negative consequences for your student. However, this is not to say that students shouldn't strive to do well, but only to emphasize that building a solid foundation of knowledge in a particular area and developing strong writing and communication skills are much more important and long-lasting objectives. What can your student do in the future to avoid making the same mistakes again? It may seem like a cliché, but we can all learn great lessons from our mistakes. The key is to honestly reflect on these missteps and devise strategies to keep from repeating them.

In a more concrete way, you can help your students identify ways in which they can alleviate the stress in their lives. For some, exercise may be a useful way to channel anxiety. Establishing a fixed schedule, with time for focused study and time to relax with friends or other leisure pursuits, can also be beneficial in keeping the pressures of schoolwork at bay. All of us handle stress in different ways and learning how to effectively manage potentially difficult situations is a skill that will serve your sons and daughters well throughout their lives.

Similarly, encourage your student to eat well and get plenty of sleep. It may seem like common sense, but it is easy to get caught up in the hectic pace of the end of the semester and neglect to take care of these basics. Getting a good night's sleep not only ensures that time spent studying will be more effective, but it also helps to maintain a sense of normalcy and routine that will keep anxiety levels low.

Finally, an easy way to let your students know that you are thinking about them is to send them a care package. A box of goodies is always appreciated and can be shared with roommates and friends as a way to remind them that finals will come to an end and they will be able enjoy a well-deserved break with family and friends.

The School of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) at TCNJ fosters a challenging and supportive environment. TCNJ’s largest school features eleven departments, making for a diverse student body spread across a wide range of liberal arts disciplines. Whatever your major, each HSS student has access to a set of signature experiences designed to engage them with human interests and prepare them for a flexible career path. These experiences include:

All residence halls close for the summer on Tuesday, May 15th at 8:00 PM. Students must completely vacate their housing assignment within 24 hours of their last final or by Tuesday, May 15th at 8:00 PM, whichever comes first. Below are some important reminders from Residential Education to ensure a smooth move-out process:

• All meal plan points will expire at the end of the day on May 15th. To make sure leftover points are not forfeited, take advantage of Sodexo’s Case Sale! Students received specific information about this in the closing email.

• Students who rented a microfridge or safe will receive an email with instructions directly from the rental company regarding pick-up.

• All personal items, including furniture, carpets, and other materials of this nature should be removed before your student's last day in residence. These items can only be thrown away in the large, 30-yard dumpsters. Students can be fined for large trash items left in the hallways, stairways, or the smaller dumpsters.

• If there are any repairs required in your student's room (except College Houses), they should report them using the on-line work order system located here. College Houses requests should be reported to TSC Corp at x3312.

• Rearrange the furniture as you originally found it in August, which may include bunking or debunking the beds. Remove all items from walls, doors, and windows (posters, tape, stickers, hooks, mirrors, etc.).

• To avoid cleaning fees, your student's room must be left in broom swept condition. All trash is to be removed and all drawers, closets, and sink cabinets are to be cleaned. All bathrooms in Cromwell, New Residence, Decker, Eickhoff, Townhouses, Apartments, and College Houses must be thoroughly cleaned.