FDU ranks high among veteran-friendly schools. Several veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan tell how the University is helping them build new lives.
Join Dean Nicholas Baldwin as he reflects on his 25 years as head of FDU's first international campus, Wroxton College.
Bruce Springsteen and poet Robert Pinsky headline WAMFEST: The Words and Music Festival at the College at Florham.
Psychology professor Katharine Loeb looks at eating disorders and pediatric obesity and how parents may hold the key to treatment.
Service opportunities make Spring Break rewarding and educational for student volunteers.Alumni Profile
The Jokes Are on Them!
Arlene, BA'68 (T), and Harlan Jamison, BA'68 (T)Alumni Profile
A Portrait in Public Service
Harold “Cap” Hollenbeck, BA'61 (R)
tudents spend hours in class and long nights studying to master course material, but the college experience that makes the greatest impact on a young mind often takes place outside the classroom. The many Fairleigh Dickinson University students who sacrifice their vacation time in order to perform volunteer service are not only fulfilling their desire to help others, they are learning to take the lead in addressing larger social issues.
“Our research shows that 35 percent regularly take part in volunteer community service,” says College at Florham Dean of Students Brian Mauro. “Students are looking for these opportunities. The demand far outpaces our ability to take the number of students who want to go.”
Over the last year, dozens of students from both the Metropolitan Campus and the College at Florham have ventured on service trips to New Orleans, La.; a Navajo reservation in Tuba City, Ariz.; Winter Haven, Fla.; and Manzanillo, Costa Rica. Their efforts have ranged from home-building and renovating schools to serving as mentors to children.
In 2009–2010 there were enough interested College at Florham students for two spring-break service trips and a winter-break trip to Costa Rica. At the Metropolitan Campus, there were 30 applicants for eight available spots.
FDU’s trip to the Navajo Nation in Arizona was coordinated by Amizade Global Service Learning and Volunteer Programs. Run in conjunction with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, this venture provided mentors to Native-American children who live in poverty and are at high risk of abusing drugs and alcohol.
“The Navajo and Hopi children rarely have a peer role model to look up to,” says College at Florham student Jaclyn Chua, a three-time veteran of FDU service trips. “I do believe the SPAZ (Spring Break Arizona) team made a difference by listening and sharing for the short amount of time we were able to stay. Many of us still keep in contact with our children through mail and e-mail and hope to continue.”
In Winter Haven, students framed the walls of houses. In New Orleans, where four years after Hurricane Katrina parts of the city still lay in ruin, FDU students worked with Relief Spark Inc. to plant a garden and paint the interior of a charter school.
The service experience in Costa Rica focused on the rural town of Manzanillo, where children do not have access to the type of education Americans have come to take for granted, and their two-room schoolhouse was in disrepair. FDU students refurbished and rebuilt many parts of the building. Of everything they did, the most appreciated dealt with the most basic of needs: restoring a bathroom to working order — something the locals did not have the resources to do.
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FDU Magazine is published twice yearly by the Office of Communications and Marketing, Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1000 River Road, H-DH3-14, Teaneck, N.J. 07666.
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J. Michael Adams, President; Richard Reiss, Senior Vice President for University Advancement; Angelo Carfagna, Assistant Vice President for University Advancement and Communications; Okang McBride, Director of Alumni Relations; Carol Kuzen Black, Director of Publications/Senior Editor; Rebecca Maxon, Editor and Web Designer; Nina Ovryn, Art Director
Contributors: Nicholas Baldwin, Scott Giglio, Katharine Loeb, Andrew McKay, Tom Nugent, Melissa Payton
Photo/Illustration Credits: David Brabyn, Peter Byron, Benoit Cortet, Gerard DuBois, Jaclyn Chua, Danielle Drombar, John Emerson, ETH-Bibliothek Zurich Image Archive, William Kennedy, Dan Landau, Library of Congress, Librarything, Caroline Malia, Craig Mourton, National Portrait Gallery, Art Petrosemolo, Nick Romanenko, Anassa Tullouch
For a print copy of FDU Magazine, featuring these and other stories, contact Rebecca Maxon, editor, at maxon@fdu.edu.
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