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Winter Commencement 2025 Recap

Discover our inspiring graduates, explore the celebration highlights, and view photos from the ceremony.

How a Montclair Shuttle Ride Inspired an Army Veteran and University Employee to Return to the Classroom

Frank Rivers was inspired to earn his bachelor’s through the University’s degree completion program after talking with a student.

Bloomfield Graduate Advocates for Mental Health Awareness

A tight-knit community and opportunities at Bloomfield College shaped Latavia Balmer’s journey in mental health advocacy.

How Loss and War Shaped a Montclair Student’s Research and Passion for Counseling

Sailume Walo-Roberts fulfilled a promise to her late daughter when she received her PhD in Counselor Education at this year’s Winter Commencement.

Updates

Cooking with Koppell
Do you make the best pozole? Do you know someone who is an amazing chef? Nominate them to be on the next episode of Cooking with Koppell! This student-produced show features Red Hawk students, staff, and faculty teaching President Koppell how to make a dish that reflects their heritage, family, or experiences. The show celebrates the diversity and stories of the Montclair community. This upcoming season, we are particularly excited to feature our staff—the dedicated individuals working both behind the scenes and on the front lines—whose invaluable contributions keep our university running smoothly. a great cook and storyteller today!

Workday Student Intensive Workshop
The Workday Student Project team gathered on January 7-9 for an intensive in-person workshop, focused on collaborative discussions and hands-on sessions to make critical decisions for the project.

The workshop brought together more than 60 participants, including executive leaders, representatives from Workday and Montclair’s implementation partner Alchemy, and leads from areas across the University. In addition, a focus group of 14 Montclair and Bloomfield students offered valuable feedback on their experiences as current students, which will help guide the design of the new system to address student needs and expectations.

The in-person format and participation across multiple areas allowed the group to share perspectives and proactively address anticipated challenges. The team has successfully completed Workset A, a foundational phase focused on system foundation and academic structure alignment. They are now engaged in the planning and execution of Workset B, which focuses on the new student experience and student onboarding.

Visit the Workday Student Project webpage to learn more.

University Communications and Marketing Requests
UCM is here to collaborate with you on sharing Montclair’s story through news, design, email communications, social media, website support, and more. To ensure we can provide strategic and effective support, we ask that you submit project requests using the appropriate forms on the University Communications and Marketing webpage. This process helps us plan and manage requests efficiently while fostering meaningful partnerships across the University. We look forward to working together in service of Montclair’s mission.

Reminders

Spring 2025 Reminders for Instructors

Key Points:

• The new schedule has two common hours: Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.
• The calendar of University meetings has changed – see administrative calendar/schedule of meetings.
• View the for a detailed view of the new schedule.
• For more information, consult OFE’s FAQs on the Spring 2025 calendar.

Important Dates:

• There are no classes on Monday, January 20, Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday
• Spring 2025 Session B ends Friday, March 7
• The last day of Spring 2025 Session A and C is Monday, May 5. Classes will meet on a Friday schedule.

Please contact Classsched@montclair.edu if you have additional questions or concerns.

Engage Check-In App

Did you know you can take event attendance easily using ? Once an event has been created on Engage you can follow this to easily check attendees in and keep a digital record. If you have any questions please contact the Center for Student Involvement at csi@montclair.edu

University Libraries Course Reserves

Making course materials (including textbooks, book chapters, articles, videos, and more) available for free through the library’s course reserves collections is not only convenient but can help minimize students’ textbook expenses. University Libraries Course Reserves is available through the Course Reserves page on the library website and the .

In The News

(Articles may require a subscription to view)

• Jason Williams (Justice Studies) is quoted in this about policing in Paterson.
• Keith Strudler (School of Communication and Media) offered commentary to about the sports-related legislation in Congress.
• In this opinion piece published by about the evolution of journalism in New Jersey, the is cited as an example of an innovative model that offers vital support and training for local journalists. The Center is also cited in this article published by about how academics, journalists and researchers are mapping their state’s news and information ecosystems.
• Bond Benton, Jin-A Choi, Yi Luo (Center for Strategic Communication, SCM) are quoted in this about the anxiety surrounding the recent drone sightings in New Jersey.
• published a photo gallery from this week’s Winter Commencement.
• Roman Liera (Educational Leadership) is profiled as a rising star in this piece.
• Dan Geltrude (Accounting and Finance) appeared on to offer commentary on several news topics related to the economy.

Kudos

• To Antonella Calarota-Ninman (CLaSE) and Maisa Taha (Anthropology), who brought together professors and administrators from universities across the nation to explore the cultural, spiritual, and geographic richness of Bolivia. Participants engaged in enriching presentations by theologians, artists, architects, and academics on topics such as Aymara spirituality, indigenous urban landscapes, and cosmology.
• Kudos to Bond Benton, Jin-A Choi, Yi Luo and Keith Green (Communication and Media), had cited in a on December 31, 2024. The report was subsequently released to the public and focuses on the dangers of hate and extremist content in social media.
• Kudos to the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children (IAPC) which recently published its online for free, open access. This curriculum–consisting of student novels and teacher manuals–has already been downloaded over 250 times, in dozens of countries. As part of its 50th Anniversary, the IAPC is publishing its complete P-12 philosophy curriculum online.
• To Sarah Ghoshal (Writing Studies), whose poem “Slights”, has been published in the .
• To Megan Moran (History) whose first book “,” was published by Amsterdam University Press.

Social Media Post of Note

In this moment we celebrate you—our #MontclairGrad The dreamers, the doers, the trailblazers.

Quick Links

Have an item you’d like included in Kudos or Reminders? Want to nominate a staffer for our spotlight? Use this form to tell us. Read more about our people and programs in the University News Center and in back issues of In the Know. And find out what’s happening on campus in the Events Calendar.