[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 21223-21224]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    RAMAPO COLLEGE INAUGURAL ADDRESS

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. FRANK PALLONE, JR.

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 21, 2002

  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, the following is the Inaugural Address of 
Dr. Rodney D. Smith, President of Ramapo College in New Jersey. I want 
to wish him and the entire community at Ramapo College a successful 
academic year.

           Inaugural Address, May 2, 2002, of Rodney D. Smith

       ``Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely 
     believe, and enthusiastically act upon . . . must inevitably 
     come to pass!''--Paul J. Meyer.
       Chairman Ramirez, Trustees, Ambassadors, Honorable 
     Congresswoman Roukema, Honorable Governor McGreevey, other 
     distinguished platform guests, Distinguished guests in the 
     audience, Ramapo College colleagues, students, fellow 
     college/University Presidents, delegates, family members, 
     dear friends, ladies and gentlemen:
       Today, standing on this beautiful campus of rolling hills . 
     . . with stately evergreens surrounding a mixture of 
     architectural centuries old beauty and 21st century 
     ingenuity--I am exhilarated by the convergence of Ramapo's 
     potential and its rich history.
       Indeed, I am inspired by the challenges and magnitude of 
     the charge of leading this most innovative of institutions 
     into the future.
       Often in life we find ourselves taking on challenges that 
     both weigh heavily and strengthen us at the same time.
       While they empower us, these challenges also require all 
     the strength, creativity, skill, patience and sensitivities 
     that make us who we are.
       Today, I remember growing up on a small island, away from 
     the U.S. mainland, in the Atlantic Ocean--where we took it 
     for granted that we could fish whenever we wanted, swim where 
     we wanted, and live wherever we wanted.
       I remember the cool tropical breeze sweeping over the sea . 
     . . as I looked out at the vast ocean where the sky met the 
     sea--watching the sun sink deep into the water.
       I remember wondering what was beyond those deep waters--I 
     wondered about what future awaited beyond the horizon.
       As we forge ahead in this new partnership, this 
     strengthened relationship, we must look to the future as we 
     reflect on where the College has been, the courses that were 
     chosen, the choices made, and then move to establish a clear 
     vision beyond the vast unknown oceans that lie ahead.
       We must seek to understand the tides, the many currents, 
     the uncharted seas.
       We must appreciate the richness of the ocean and respect 
     the unknowns . . . that await within its depths.
       John Dewey, in Democracy and Education, wrote: `To Learn 
     from Experience is to make a backward and forward connection 
     between what we do to things and what we enjoy or suffer from 
     things in consequence.''
       Today, I add my humble experiences as a new factor in the 
     Ramapo College Equation. I bring lessons taught at the 
     Harvard Graduate School of Education--``To always seek what 
     is truth--even in our acceptance that some questions have no 
     answers.''
       I bring almost ten years of experiences from one of the 
     most premier institutions in the country, Hampton University, 
     led by one of America's most successful and innovative 
     leaders within the higher education enterprise, Dr. William 
     R. Harvey. William Harvey has taught me many lessons over the 
     years but one that stands out, that I now bring to Ramapo 
     College, is the importance for leaders to listen to advice, 
     pay heed to guidance, consult, go away and cogitate, if you 
     have to, but at the end of the day always stand up for what 
     you believe is the right thing to do, do it . . . and let the 
     chips fall where they may.
       Our Founding President, George Potter, visualized an 
     innovative college offering traditional academic values . . . 
     in a non-traditional setting, a college that would be devoted 
     to the development of the individual student's talents . . . 
     through a dynamic, interdisciplinary curriculum . . . based 
     in the liberal arts and sciences. As Ramapo celebrated its 
     15th year, Dr. Robert A. Scott continued the dynamic 
     leadership in June 1985. Under President Scott's leadership 
     Ramapo's niche became redefined and was focused in 
     International and Multicultural Education. Scott noted that 
     more than one half of Ramapo's faculty had substantial 
     experience in other nations and cultures; and some were 
     nationally known for their leadership in International 
     Education.
       He noted that Ramapo College's Model UN program 
     consecutively took best delegation honors in competitions 
     against Harvard, Army, Georgetown, Pittsburgh and other 
     prominent institutions.
       He noted that northern New Jersey continued its expansion 
     as home for the headquarters of many multinational and 
     international firms.
       Ramapo's neighbors came to include such firms as: Sharp, 
     Minolta, Sony, Simac, Seiko, Samsung, Konica, Laura Ashley, 
     Jaguar, UPS, KPMG, and many, many others.
       In addition to the large populations of ethnic groups 
     already settled here, large numbers from Spanish-speaking, 
     Asian and Caribbean countries also came to the area.
       Eventually, the combination of these market forces resulted 
     in Ramapo's mission being more clearly defined with four 
     distinct pillars:
       Interdisciplinary Teaching,
       Experiential Learning,
       International Education, and
       Intercultural Understanding.


                        International Education

       Today, Ramapo continues to expand study abroad and exchange 
     opportunities. It is the home for the Governor's School for 
     International Studies. Today, Ramapo continues to expand 
     mutually beneficial partnerships with its corporate 
     neighbors.
       We will expand corporate partnerships to offer newly 
     designed post-9/11 Executive Development Seminars for renewed 
     understanding and appreciation for world events and meanings.
       Ramapo College will maintain its position as a pace-setter 
     in the corporate/higher education arena. And, In the very 
     near future, we will bring all these resources and 
     partnerships together in the creation of even more innovative 
     opportunities under the Marge Roukema Center for 
     International Education and Entrepreneurship.
       Our students must have a solid understanding and concern 
     for the fundamental issues of world peace, poverty, commerce, 
     and politics . . . . including: war, terrorism, racism, 
     global warming, pollution, and the depletion of our forests 
     and fisheries.
       In that respect, part of our Mission is to develop Ramapo's 
     relationship with the United Nations and other global 
     players.
       This will be a powerful new strategy that fully exploits 
     the fact that the United Nations is in our backyard.
       Look, for example, at the plight of women and children 
     around the globe:
       Women and children make up 70 percent of the world's poor.
       Women comprise over \2/3\ of the world's illiterate 
     population.
       Women and children account for 80 percent of the world's 
     refugees.
       Women produce, process and market \3/5\ of all the world's 
     food.
       Women may perform as much as \2/3\ of the world's work.
       And yet-women receive only \1/10\th of the world's income.
       And women own less than \1/100\th of the world's property.
       These are the kinds of fundamental issues that our 
     students--our world citizen--must be prepared to challenge.
       There are more than six billion people living on the Earth 
     today. But if we imagine that the Earth's population, as a 
     village of just 100--people maintaining the existing ratios--
     what would our global village look like? Dr. Phillip Harter 
     of the Stanford University School of Medicine calculated the 
     following:
       57 would be Asian
       21 would be European
       14 would be from the Western Hemisphere
       8 would be African
       52 would be female
       48 would be male
       70 would be nonwhite
       30 would be white
       70 would be non-Christian
       30 would be Christian
       89 would be heterosexual
       11 would be homosexual
       6 people would possess 59 percent of the entire world's 
     wealth, and all 6 would be from the United States.
       80 would live in substandard housing
       70 would be unable to read
       50 would suffer from malnutrition
       1 would be near death
       1 would be pregnant
       1 would own a computer
       And only one would have a college education. That college 
     education is both . . . an opportunity and an obligation.


                      Intercultural Understanding

       Therefore, in fulfillment of our mission of Intercultural 
     Understanding. We will not confuse America's richness in 
     multi[chyph]culturalism with inter-cultural and intra-
     cultural understanding.
       Despite America's diversity, we have remained shut-off, 
     segregated in our knowledge and understanding of our fellow 
     Americans . . . and thus the world-at-large.
       At Ramapo College we will create forward and backward 
     linkages to the past and the future.
       Ramapo College believes that the key to international 
     understanding and world peace begins at home. In expanding 
     our mission to seek opportunities to make education 
     accessible to underserved populations, We will seek to expand 
     services to the community by providing continuing education 
     opportunities; we will ask the faculty to explore a means of 
     keeping a promise made to our founding Trustee, Mrs. Thomases 
     back in 1969.
       We will seek to establish the Ramapo College Hackensack 
     Center as a direct means to provide educational and training 
     opportunities. In the words of Langston Hughes: ``The dream 
     belongs not just to the dreamer, but to all the hands that 
     help to build.''



[[Page 21224]]

                       Interdisciplinary Teaching

       Towards our mission of Interdisciplinary Teaching. The 
     faculty will collaborate and continue exploring future 
     changes in subject and area majors.
       We will seek ways to expand summer programs, thus giving 
     students the opportunity to complete undergraduate degrees in 
     three years.
        Our Interdisciplinary approach will be expanded, allowing 
     faculty to explore the implementation of five-year masters 
     degree programs that allow undergraduates to work toward 
     advanced degrees.


                           Liberal Education

       Our students will be world leaders who have passion and 
     compassion. Their liberal education will equip them to deal 
     effectively in a rapidly changing world. Through our emphasis 
     on the liberal arts, our students will learn not only skills 
     of math, sciences and technology, but also gain knowledge of 
     cultures, languages, history, literature, art, geography, all 
     with a global perspective on the world's issues.
       We will not seek University status.
       We will seek even greater recognition as a liberal arts 
     college of distinction, focusing on a rigorous undergraduate 
     academic program . . . while offering graduate and 
     professional opportunities.
       We have engaged the entire Ramapo community, with a mandate 
     from the Board of Trustees, toward successful strategic 
     planning. . . . The Ramapo College Ten Year Strategic Plan 
     will be released this summer.
       In order to accommodate the mind-boggling demand for 
     quality higher education in our state, a demand that will 
     increase at a rate faster than any other period in the 
     history of American higher education, we have moved forward 
     on: the construction of a $34 million, 528-bed, townhouse 
     complex; finalized plans and begun a capital campaign for an 
     expanded $24.3 million Sports and Recreation Center; 
     completed plans for a nine-story, state-of-the-art, 
     environmentally-compatible, residential center; completed 
     plans for a state-of-the-art Sustainability Center, that 
     enhances our reputation as the first college along the east 
     Coast to conserve energy with Fuel Cells.
       And, with assistance from our corporate partners, the great 
     state of New Jersey, our many friends in Congress, especially 
     congresswoman Roukema, we will in short order begin a world 
     of opportunities through the Marge Roukema Center for 
     International Education and Entrepreneurship.
       Our students will be able to work effectively across 
     America and across different cultures.
       The future belongs to them. And they shall be prepared for 
     it!
       Our goals have been set.
       The future of Ramapo College continues to beckon as a 
     beacon for this 1969 innovation that became a 1986 tradition 
     and now, in 2002, a 21st century pacesetter leading 
     international understanding and 21st century partnerships!
       I am honored to be the new president of Ramapo College of 
     New Jersey.

     

                          ____________________