On May 19, 1979 Drew University held the 111^th annual Commencement.  In addition to being the 50^th anniversary year of College of Liberal Arts, this ceremony has gone done in Drew history as being one of the most memorable.

The scheduled speaker, Reverend Jesse Jackson, took ill and had to cancel his appearance.  But, Reverend Frank Ostertag C’47, T’50, T’54 called his friend Alan Alda and asked him to step in on 36-hours notice to serve as Commencement speaker.  Alda agreed and graduates remember his address to this day.

Listen to Commencement address > (Alan Alda’s speech begins around 6:57)

View Commencement program >

View Commencement photos >

by Robert A. Schroeder Jr. C’79

I came to Drew University in 1975 to take advantage of its joint program with Duke University.  After five years I would receive a Bachelor’s from Drew and Master’s from Duke that saved time and money.

I returned to Drew in May, 1979 to receive my undergraduate degree after my first year at Duke.  Gathered in the dining hall the night before the ceremony, President Paul Hardin informed the graduates that the Reverend Jesse Jackson was too ill to make the keynote address.

Though initially disappointed, the President’s Plan B was a thrill: Alan Alda, who played Army surgeon Captain Hawkeye Pierce on the then hit TV show M*A*S*H, would take over.  Since Alda and I happened to share a birthday, I figured his presence made the day just a little more interesting.

Little did I know.

The next day I was late to the pre-ceremony rendezvous with my parents and aunt in the Baldwin Gym, but searched the crowd to find them three rows back on the right.  They were hard to miss – my car dealer Dad was uncharacteristically standing on the bleachers wildly waving a program.

We all embraced like the other families around us until my father dropped a bomb.  Pointing with excitement at my name in the program and the accompanying asterisks, he exclaimed: “I had no idea your grades were so good!”

There it was in the program legend: “**” magna cum laude.

I liked Drew a lot, but for me GPA was more about Good Party Attendance. I immediately knew there was a mistake, but my father’s joy was too much to correct at that moment – his oldest son and namesake was graduating college, with honors.

Before I could say anything, my birth brother saved me as Alda entered the gym to tremendous cheering.  In a split second I became the other actor in attendance, simply shrugging my shoulders and played dumb about being so smart.

I took my cue to take my seat figuring to correct the small typographical misunderstanding later.  How could it get worse?

I found my spot among my class, greeting old friends and row-mates, including Donald who was seated next to me.

The truth is Donald and I didn’t really know each other at Drew. He majored in biology and lived off campus for four years.  I studied botany and lived on campus for only three years.  He became a doctor – like Alda, except for real.  I didn’t.  Yet there we sat to settle in for a wonderful ceremony and interesting journey.

Alda spoke with good humor and conscience of timeless moral ecology, substance, values, commitment to each other and purpose.  Rev. Jackson never sounded better.  Alda became our classmate when he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, fitting nicely with his medical M*A*S*H degree.

The alphabetical procession of graduates onto the stage followed, with each graduate’s name read as they received their diploma and a hardy presidential handshake.  As my row got up to head on stage, I could see everyone carrying a name card. I grabbed mine from under my seat and noticed not only my printed name but new Latin label.

Of course, I had not earned any recognition, but as I walked to the stage I saw the one family that was joyfully expecting it.

In a matter of steps I sweated the moral dilemma: accept the fate of a fake claim to correct later, or, or, what? Stop the show to tell the President I was falsely accused?

I chickened out.  But as Donald turned to climb the stage steps right ahead of me, I happened to glimpse his name card.  There under his printed name was handwritten what he earned and I hadn’t: ** magna cum laude.  I wasn’t just a typo, I was a case of mistaken identity.

Thankfully when his name was read to the crowd, including the one we shared, Donald got the recognition he deserved.  When my name was read, I got his too.

As we returned to the seats with our new diplomas, I peeked at mine to see the mistake right there in raised letters.  After the ceremony my Dad examined the diploma like it was a car he might take on trade.

I never did bring myself to break his spell of pride.  I never did see if Donald’s diploma had what he deserved.  But the next week I quietly sent mine back to Drew for a do-over.

In the 31 years before he passed away, my father never mentioned the diploma.  Maybe he knew the real truth, or didn’t want to know. My only hope is that if Heaven is defined as the truth, maybe there’s one small exception, **.

On Saturday, April 21, hundreds of alumni and friends gathered to dedicate the new Thomas H. Kean Reading Room & Gallery at the Drew University Library.  Last year Governor Kean announced that he was donating his personal papers and other materials to Drew so that they would be available for public study and research.  Private donations then provided almost $1M to create a facility that offers both design and technology which enhance access to and understanding of the Governor Thomas H. Kean collection.

The Governor Thomas H. Kean collection at Drew consists of records created during Kean’s two terms of office in New Jersey, from 1982-1990, including legislative briefings, speeches, photographs, correspondence, press releases and news clippings.  The collection also includes records created during Kean’s term as the tenth president of Drew University from 1990-2005.

About the collection > 

An original mural was commissioned for the new Kean Reading Room & Gallery. The mural captures two major phases of the career of Thomas H. Kean: the left side of the room-length panorama is the artist’s rendering of Mead Hall around 1836, the right side portrays the New Jersey State House from about the same period.

About the mural >

The day of celebration began with a symposium honoring the work of Governor Kean.  Edward McGlynn and Leonard Coleman, Jr. discussed Kean’s statehouse days. Professor emeritus J. Perry Leavell recalled Kean’s presidency of Drew University.  Dr. Alvin Felzenberg reflected on Kean’s leadership of the 9-11 Commission.  The grand opening of the reading room and gallery was officiated by Dr. Andrew Scrimgeour, Dean of the Libraries, and Dr. Robert Weisbuch, President of Drew University.  After cutting the ceremonial ribbon, Governor Kean expressed his appreciation to former colleagues, friends, family and state officials in attendance.  The afternoon concluded with a toast to Governor Kean in honor of his birthday which coincided with the dedication.

View more photos from the celebration >

Dean of the University Libraries

The much-anticipated Kean Reading Room & Gallery in the Rose Library is open for business.

The final touches—red-upholstered chairs for the study tables and the installation of the second-half of the dramatic 65-foot mural that depicts Mead Hall and the New Jersey State Capitol Building during the antebellum period—were completed in time for the dedication on April 21.

Already the room is a daily destination for me—a place of serenity and beauty, a place to reflect and regain perspective if only for a few minutes, a place evoking the spirit of an admired leader, a place invoking our highest ideals of scholarship and service. The Rose Library has at last regained interior elegance to complement the grace of its neoclassical exterior.

Librarians can point to a proud history of providing edifying spaces for reading and research in their buildings. The reading rooms of the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library hold iconic status as stately rooms in those palaces of learning. And Andrew Carnegie used his vast fortune to ensure that hundreds of U.S. cities, large and small, could house their libraries in buildings as dignified and commanding as the pillared banks on Main Street.

“The alchemy of inspirational space had worked its magic on me.”

I was in the sixth grade when I discovered the uplifting spaces of a Carnegie library. My social studies teacher gave me the assignment of a class presentation on the topography of Puerto Rico. I needed to make a detailed map of the main island and headed to a familiar haunt, the children’s department in the basement of the main public library in downtown Boise, Idaho. The atlases there were not equal to the task, so I was given permission to go upstairs to the adult collections that resided in the vaulted splendor of that Carnegie edifice, a place reserved for high school students and adults.

Before I made my ascent, I was given a solemn introduction to the etiquette that had to be observed upstairs. As I was escorted up the stairwell to the privileged chambers, I felt as though a sacrament or a hallowed secret was about to be given.

A librarian gave me a seat in an alcove lined with books below a stained glass window and brought me the over-sized volume that I needed. The room seemed almost sacred. No pipe organ was heard. No choirs. No liturgies. Only pens scratching paper and people walking softly on the marbled floors. But a sense that it was Sunday morning in those chambers was nonetheless overwhelming.

Because of that sense of awe and the abundance of information in the atlas, I traced the map slowly and made my notes with unusual care, even writing with unaccustomed neatness. I wanted to postpone my return to the lower level as long as possible.

Winston Churchill famously captured my memorable experience: “First we make our buildings, and then they make us.” The alchemy of inspirational space had worked its magic on me.

We are already hearing a steady stream of praise for the beauty of the Kean Reading Room & Gallery. And I am enjoying the muted sounds of students using the room—the tapping of keyboards, the rustling of pages, and the stretching of neural pathways. I will be delighted but not surprised to hear about their memorable experiences there, testimonies that resonate with my own in the Carnegie library of my youth.

(Adapted from “Rooms That Matter”, Visions, Spring 2012)

“May you come safely through the war,” wrote Professor Earl Aldrich in a personal note to Gilbert Holmberg in March 1944 as the former student prepared to report for naval duty in WWII. Holmberg was one of many students in the V-12, a program that provided liberal arts education to future naval officers. He took English classes with Aldrich and, like so many Drew students before and since, developed a bond with his professor that lasted well beyond the classroom.

Holmberg also found a helping hand on his English papers, as well as math and science homework, from a group of Theological students who volunteered as tutors.

Holmberg was so grateful for the education and academic support he received at Drew that, years after finishing his studies at Cornell, serving in the Navy, raising a family and a successful career in sales, he established a planned gift of life insurance at Drew.   When he passed away in 2006, the gift created a fund to support tutoring.  His gift is now assuring that future generations of Drew students have access to the same kind of help that made such a difference for him.

“My dad always credited his academic experience at Drew – the curriculum, support, and most importantly the people– in preparing him for his personal and professional journey through life.  He was profoundly grateful for this and many, many times said it made all the difference,” explained Karl Holmberg, Gilbert’s oldest son.

The Gilbert Holmberg Endowment, which has received additional contributions from the Holmberg family, helps provide tutorial services to students free of charge.  Students who serve as tutors participate in training on theory and practice.  Assistant Director of Academic Services, Dr. Maya Sanyal G’10, believes that these tutors gain as much as from the program as the clients.  “I see them develop people skills, time management, leadership and subject mastery; skills they innately had but maybe never tapped into.”

Tutor and aspiring teacher Karina Russ C’14 says, “Our role is not to give answers, but to help students with concepts.  For instance, when students have trouble writing, I have them push away the computer and just focus on the ideas instead of the words. ”

Students can get help with writing or academic subjects, the most common subjects being statistics and introductory science classes that non-majors are taking to fulfill their liberal arts breadth requirements.  As Dr. Sanyal sees it, “The demand for tutoring is an indication that courses are academically rigorous.  Drew sets a high bar, but is also providing the academic support to help students succeed.”

Andrew Binger C’13, an English major himself, works with writing tutors. “It’s not just struggling writers who use the program.  I find it useful to have someone with a different perspective.  It helps me produce my best work.”

Learn more about how to create a planned gift that supports Drew’s important educational mission.

Dean of Campus Life and Student Affairs

As I write this article, The Mighty OC is making last minute preparations for its annual auction.  The excitement is building across campus to see who will be the highest bidder for the coveted underclassman parking pass.  The OC is an energetic and enthusiastic group of students responsible for planning orientation events to welcome new students into the campus community.  It is just one of many groups at Drew in which students form lasting relationships and become forever connected to the University.

In the two years that I have been the Dean of Campus Life and Student Affairs I have been continually impressed by our students and their extensive involvement with campus life.  As the spring semester draws to a close we are holding awards ceremonies recognizing individuals’ and groups’ contributions to making Drew a lively campus community. Over 100 clubs and organizations offer students endless opportunities to be involved in service projects, leadership development, program planning, and most importantly, to have fun.

At a recent admissions reception I spoke with prospective students and parents.  Many of their questions focused on campus life.  What happens on the weekends?  Do you have a film club?  What intramural sports are available?  Entering students always want to know how they will fit in and where they can find others who share their interests.  Feeling a sense of belonging to the community and fitting in is a developmental stage for college students and Drew provides numerous opportunities for them to achieve this.

Think about your Drew or college experience and where you found community.  Was it on a residence hall floor, on a sports team, as a member of an a cappella group, or as part of the stage crew working on a theatrical production?  Maybe you found your niche with a religious or cultural club, as part of student government, or on a community service alternative break.  My guess is that when you recall that group of friends or organization it still gives you a feeling of belonging and connection to the institution.

Prior to my arrival at Drew, a group of students made a presentation to the administration on the merits of Greek Life requesting that fraternities and sororities be allowed on campus.  However, the proposal was discouraged on the basis that it is antithetical to the kind of open community that exists at Drew.  When students ask me about why we don’t have Greeks on campus, my response is similar.  While Greek organizations provide opportunities for scholarship, leadership, friendship and service, they are exclusive.  This is not our concept of community at Drew.

One of the hallmarks of the Drew community is that it is open and inclusive.  Membership in Drew’s organizations is not based on adherence to prescribed tenets or beliefs.  Belonging is not dependent upon being voted in by peers who feel you are like them.  In fact many students purposefully join organizations where there is no one like them in order to learn about another culture, pursue a new interest, or meet people they otherwise would not have the opportunity to know.

Talk with any student and they tell you that one of the benefits of Drew is that each student is allowed to be who they are and maintain a unique identity.  There is no mold a student needs to fit into, no stereotype or typical Drew student.  Social life exists in many forms and students find a place to belong, the niche where they fit in, through the many organizations on campus.  Through participating in these clubs, in being part of the OC, an RA, a senator, an Ultimate Frisbee player, or singing in a choir students feel deeply connected to Drew and others.  They leave their mark on Drew and Drew leaves its mark on them.  At reunions and visits back to campus they will find one another and reestablish the friendships, the ties, the bonds, that made their time at Drew special.

And as for what there is to do on the weekends, well coming up we have the Junior-Senior Dance, FAP, and Sloppy Saturday.  All events planned by student groups, and yes, everyone is welcome.