Announcement from Sara Elnakib, Chair, Family and Community Health Sciences Please join me in welcoming Dr. Patty J. Oehmke as the new FCHS Professor of Practice. Patty joins Rutgers Cooperative Extension as a Family and Community Health Sciences Professor of Practice in the area of wellness. She will lead initiatives in student wellness on the […]
Announcement: Josh Kohut is New SEBS Dean of Research/NJAES Director of Research
Announcement from Laura Lawson, SEBS Executive Dean and NJAES Executive Director Dear SEBS & NJAES community, I’m delighted to announce that Dr. Josh Kohut, Professor in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, has accepted the position of SEBS Dean of Research/NJAES Director of Research, effective January 1, 2025. Please join me in congratulating him […]
Animal Sciences Professor Mike Westendorf to Retire after 31 Years at Rutgers
Dr. Mike Westendorf, Animal Sciences Extension Specialist and Professor, retired on January 1, 2025, after 31 years at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. Dr. Westendorf grew up on a small dairy farm in Idaho before studying animal science at the University of Idaho as an undergraduate, then earning his PhD at the […]
Announcement: Thomas Grothues Appointed Director of the Rutgers University Marine Field Station
Announcement by Oscar Schofield, Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department Marine and Coastal Sciences Congratulations to Thomas Grothues on being appointed Director of the Rutgers University Marine Field Station (RUMFS), effective January 2025. We could not have a better new director as the station anchors Rutgers’ bold marine research, conservation and technology development being based at […]
RCE Associate Director Kathleen Howell Recognized with Rutgers Gateway Award
Kathleen Howell, associate director, Rutgers Cooperative Extension, was one of more than 40 employees honored with Presidential Employee Excellence Recognition Awards in December at the Rutgers Club. The universitywide awards recognized both individuals and teams for their service to students and employees, for their role in cultivating a beloved community, for making a lasting difference […]
Dr. Darcy Medica: Triple Animal Sciences Alumna Guides SUNY Ag & Tech College
Darcy Medica, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at SUNY Cobleskill, is a triple Rutgers graduate, CC’93, GSNB’96, ’02. She’s the first in her family to attend college and went on to earn a bachelor’s, a master’s and a doctoral degree in Animal Sciences. Her father, Jim Velcheck (CC’97) graduated from Cook College while […]
In Mark Robson’s Science Class, Hands-on Learning Brings Students into the Heart of Nature
Robson’s path to students loving science involves cranberries, craisins and cran-apple juice. It was Cranberry Night for the students of Mark Robson’s evening science course, “Plants and People,” and the instructor wasn’t entirely happy with himself. On this cool fall evening, the professor and administrator at Rutgers University-New Brunswick had toted in whole cranberries […]
Doctoral Candidate and NSF Fellow Presents Findings at Northeastern Mosquito Control Association
Zoe Narvaez, a PhD candidate in Entomology and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, was awarded a travel grant by the Northeastern Mosquito Control Association (NMCA) to present the findings of her dissertation at their 2024 annual meeting in Plymouth, Massachusetts this month. In late 2023, the NMCA awarded Narvaez the Jobbins Scholarship, which […]
Twelve High School Students Represent the Garden State at Global Youth Institute in Iowa
A contingent of 12 high school students represented New Jersey at the 2024 Global Youth Institute (GYI) held in Des Moines, Iowa, from October 29 to November 1. Hosted by the World Food Prize Foundation, this annual event provides high school students from around the world with the opportunity to interact with Nobel and World Food […]
Mettler’s Woods Brought Under Additional Protection of National Organization
Rutgers-managed forest is a “sanctuary of biodiversity” Mettler’s Woods, one of the state’s last remaining virgin forests that sits in a 65-acre patch of land owned and managed by Rutgers University-New Brunswick, has been chosen for preservation by a national organization. The Old-Growth Forest Network inducted Mettler’s Woods in Franklin in Somerset County, N.J., on Monday, […]











