Author: Douglas Rouse

CRANFORD, NJ – UCNJ is proud to announce that its former dean, Dr. Lester Edgardo Sandres Rápalo, has been named the next president of Rockland Community College (RCC) in Suffern, New York. RCC is a part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. The Rockland and SUNY Boards approved the appointment, and Dr. Rápalo will begin his new role as the President of RCC starting on July 1, 2023.

Dr. Rápalo joined UCNJ in 2015 as the Dean of Social Sciences, Business, and History before becoming Dean of the Elizabeth Campus & Institute for Intensive English. After UCNJ, Dr. Rapalo went on to serve as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Bronx Community College, City University of New York (CUNY). Prior to joining UCNJ, Dr. Rápalo worked at Valencia College in Florida as the Interim Dean of the Humanities and Foreign Language Department and as the Chair of the Foreign Language Department. He began his administrative career at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, as the Program Director of the Study Abroad Program. Dr. Rápalo earned his Doctor of Education in Higher Education Leadership from Nova Southeastern University, Master of Business Administration from Syracuse University, Master of Arts in Literature and Linguistics from the University of Massachusetts, and Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from the University of Massachusetts.

“We are incredibly proud of Dr. Rápalo for achieving this career milestone. At UCNJ, we pride ourselves on our ability to develop future leaders. We congratulate him on being selected as the next president of Rockland Community College, and we know he will do great things there,” stated UCNJ’s President Dr. Margaret M. McMenamin.

UCNJ is a public, comprehensive community college that provides quality, affordable, accessible educational programs to the greater UCNJ County region. It is the first of New Jersey’s 18 two-year colleges, serving both career-minded and transfer-oriented students since 1933. The College offers a wide variety of academic and extracurricular activities. UCNJ provides many experiential learning opportunities such as access to a Bloomberg Business Center, Innovation Center, and Student Research hub. Additionally, students at UCNJ attend one of the top 25 community colleges in the country for 2023 as designated by the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program.

CRANFORD – Union County College student Mark Farag, of Elizabeth, has been selected as one of 100 recipients of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. This prestigious award will provide Farag with up to $55,000 a year to complete his bachelor’s degree.

Farag is majoring in Engineering and has a 3.92 GPA. During part of his time at Union College, Farag has served as the president of Phi Theta Kappa honor society, is an American Honors student, and tutors students in the College’s Academic Learning Center, all while working full-time to support himself.

Farag currently serves as an ambassador for NASA’s Lucy mission. He has participated in two programs for NASA’s L’Space Academy, where he chose and designed components for spacecrafts to study Venus. He hopes to pursue this as a career, starting with an associate’s degree from UCNJ and then a bachelor’s in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering. With this degree, he plans to become a project manager aerospace engineer.

“We are proud of Mark’s determination and achievements during his time at Union. His commitment to pursuing his dreams is a great example for our students. We are grateful to the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation for recognizing Mark and students like him at community colleges, and that they are providing these outstanding students with an opportunity to finish their degrees debt free,” stated Union’s President Dr. Margaret M. McMenamin.

New Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholars will receive comprehensive educational advising to guide them through the process of transitioning to a four-year college and preparing for their careers. Along with financial support, scholars will additionally receive opportunities for internships, study abroad, and graduate school funding, as well as connection to a thriving network of over nearly 3,000 Cooke Scholars and alumni.

“Today, almost half of all college students begin their academic career at a community college. We know our community colleges are full of high-achieving students, and we’re committed to playing our part to ensure those students succeed,” said Seppy Basili, executive director of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. “Congratulations to a cohort of students who have persisted in the midst of such unprecedented disruptions in our lives. We welcome you into our community and look forward to learning alongside you.”

Farag is the fourth recipient from Union College. Previous recipients were Nuno Pereira, of Hillside, in 2015, McDaniel Jeantus, of Maplewood, in 2016, and Kamilla Kocsis, of Rahway, in 2020. This year, more than 1,200 students from 332 community colleges applied to receive the Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. Four semifinalists were selected from Union College.

For more information about Union, please visit www.ucc.edu and for more information on the Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, please go to www.jkcf.org.