Since graduating from Cook College in 1992, Katie Applegate Bobowski has lived with her family in seven states – Oregon, Utah, Maryland, Arizona, Montana, Colorado and, since 2016, Alaska. In each place she’s lived, Katie’s grassroots commitment to community and to environmental education has been steadfast throughout, particularly those organizations that invest in youth and […]
Alumni
Jeff Grob CC’85: Destined to be a Landscape Architect
Jeff Grob graduated with a degree in landscape architecture from then Rutgers Cook College in 1985. Today, he’s a senior associate at Stantec, an international company that provides professional consulting services in planning, engineering, architecture, interior design, landscape architecture and more for infrastructure and facilities projects. After more than 40 years of experience as a […]
Matthew Edson (CC’07), Founding Dean of New Jersey’s First Veterinary School, Welcomes Inaugural Class this Fall
The announcement in 2022 that Matthew Edson, Rutgers animal sciences graduate, would be the Founding Dean of the Rowan University School of Veterinary Medicine delighted his former Rutgers professors. New facilities at the school, including a specialty/referral hospital that will be open to the public, will be complete late summer 2025, and ready to welcome […]
2025 Distinguished Alumni Awards Presented by the Cook Community Alumni Association
The Cook Community Alumni Association held its annual Distinguished Alumni Awards Luncheon on April 27, 2025, at Nielson Dining Hall on the George H. Cook Campus at Rutgers. This annual event is held during the same weekend as Rutgers Day and Ag Field Day. Awards are presented to deserving alumni who have distinguished themselves through […]
Dylan Dreyer (CC’03) Returns to Rutgers as SEBS 2025 Convocation Speaker
Dylan Dreyer, Co-Host, The 3rd Hour of Today,” and Meteorologist with NBC News, is the 2025 Convocation Speaker for the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences on May 19. Dreyer, who graduated cum laude from Rutgers Cook College in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in meteorology, served as weather anchor for the Rutgers TV […]
Plant Science Graduate Sets Her Sights on Developing Safer Prescription Medication
Since graduating from Rutgers in 2021 with a doctorate in plant science with a concentration in human health and natural product chemistry, Ariane Vasilatis has focused on helping those with addiction and substance dependence. Using her deep research experience in plant-derived pharmacotherapies, Vasilatis co-founded Zena Therapeutics Inc., a Rutgers startup that strives to create narcotic medications […]
2025 SEBS Convocation Speaker: Dylan Dreyer, Cook College ’03, Co-Host, The 3rd Hour of Today, Meteorologist, NBC News
Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS) is proud to announce that Dylan Dreyer, Cook College ’03, Co-Host, The 3rd Hour of Today,” Meteorologist, NBC News, will serve as the school’s 2025 Convocation Speaker. Dreyer will address the school’s more than 800 degree candidates, along with their families and guests, on Monday, May 19, […]
Nora Jean Nealon (SEBS’13) Comes Full Circle as Faculty Member at NJ’s First Vet School
Fourteen years after her first teaching experience as an undergraduate student at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS), Nora Jean Nealon (SEBS’13) finds herself just as passionate about and fulfilled by teaching in her current role as an assistant professor in Microbiology at the Shreiber School of Veterinary Medicine at Rowan University. Her […]
Global Conservation Leader, Peter Seligmann (AG’72), Credits Rutgers for Giving Him his Start
Rutgers alumnus Peter Seligmann (AG’72), who earned a bachelor’s degree in wildlife ecology from the College of Agriculture (now School of Environmental and Biological Sciences), credits Rutgers with setting him on the path to almost 40 years of global environmental conservation. He went on to earn a master’s degree in forestry and environmental science from […]
Bergen County Agent Joel Flagler (CC’74) Retires after 38-Year Career at Rutgers
Joel Flagler, Rutgers Cooperative Extension (RCE) Agriculture and Natural Resources agent in Bergen County and professor in the Department of Plant Biology, retires effective March 1. Flagler, whose Rutgers journey began as a student – he holds a degree in horticulture from Cook College in 1974 – leaves a deep legacy at his alma mater. […]











