A member of the Newark Athletic and New Jersey State Coaches Hall of Fames, Vanessa Watson comes to Bloomfield College after a storied 31-year career at Malcolm X Shabazz High School.

Bloomfield College was the first in the state to partner with Raise.me, a social enterprise focused on expanding access to higher education, especially among low-income and first-generation college-bound students.

The College has received a $150,000 grant from the Partners for Health Foundation to support nursing students. The Partners for Health Foundation Nursing Scholarship Fund will be dispersed over five years to students who have demonstrated academic excellence and a commitment to successfully completing their education.

“We’ve spent the last four years calling ourselves ‘nursing students.’ Now, we retire that name. Today, we are nurses. Class of 2017, I know I could not have done this without you.”

Dr. Anita Pasmantier, Professor of Finance and first woman Fulbright Scholar at the College, delivered the Baccalaureate Address.

Dr. Fiona Harris Ramsby, Assistant Professor of Humanities and English, is one of a select group of faculty members nationwide chosen by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and the Center for Hellenic Studies to participate in an Ancient Greece in the Modern Classroom seminar.

“We may not be able to change the world, but we can make a world of change to the people around us,” said US Senator Cory A. Booker. “Just a smile, just a kind act, just a note of encouragement can transform the spirit of another person on their journey.”