Welcome to the New Rutgers University

July 1, 2013

Dear Faculty, Staff, and Students:

This is a historic day for Rutgers and for all of us.

It is my pleasure to welcome all the faculty, staff, students, and alumni of UMDNJ who are now full members of our Rutgers family. The addition of UMDNJ’s schools, centers and institutes, clinical practices, and facilities will launch Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, a division of extraordinary depth and quality that will help create one of the most comprehensive public research universities in the country and will, I am confident, become a national model of excellence.

With 65,000 students, more than 20,000 faculty and staff, and an alumni body approaching 450,000, Rutgers is now one of the largest comprehensive research universities in the country, and I believe we will soon be one of the very best. The new Rutgers is already an academic powerhouse, combining deep strengths in the biomedical and health sciences with traditional strengths in the arts and sciences, and in law, business, engineering, and so many other areas.

I am also pleased to say that today Rutgers officially joins the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), the academic consortium that includes all members of the Big Ten Conference (in which our Scarlet Knights athletic teams will begin competing in 2014) and the University of Chicago. The newly expanded and enriched Rutgers is well-situated to capitalize on the opportunities that await us for teaching and research collaborations, library resource sharing, expansion of study abroad options, and joint purchasing arrangements with our fellow CIC members.

I thank our governing boards, our elected officials, and all the people who, for the past year, have worked so hard, side-by-side representing Rutgers and UMDNJ, sorting through the thousands of issues and details that accompanied the integration of our institutions.

While July 1 marks “Day 1” of our newly integrated University, there is still much work to do, such as improving our business systems, aligning our research practices, filling key leadership positions, and building new relationships both inside and beyond Rutgers. I’m pleased to share with you the leadership of the new Rutgers, which you can view here.

With your help, we can complete the integration with deliberate speed, and we can begin to focus on fulfilling our enormous potential. As we do, I ask your patience in dealing with the inevitable bumps we experience along the way in this historic process. Be assured that the benefits to all of us and to the state we serve will be well worth the hard work.

I hope you’ll take a moment to watch a short video message that welcomes our new colleagues to Rutgers and extends my thanks to each of you for all that we have accomplished together.

United as one University, Rutgers is poised to achieve the greatness that New Jersey deserves of its flagship state university. With contributions from every part of our community, I know we can take Rutgers to new heights.

Sincerely,

Robert L. Barchi
President