A Welcome from Donald J. Farish

As president of Rowan University, it is my privilege and pleasure to welcome you as we begin a new academic year. 

This promises to be an exciting year. You may already be aware that the cluster of older framed homes at the corner of Main Street and Highway 322 is no longer there.  It is being replaced by an emerging steel framework that will quickly translate into the long awaited 884-bed apartment complex that constitutes part of the first phase of Rowan Boulevard. The university will lease and manage these apartments and they will be every bit the quality of what we have in the townhouses. 

The first building will be ready for occupancy in the fall of 2009 and will be specifically targeted for juniors and seniors.  Construction on the hotel and the Barnes & Noble bookstore should begin shortly.

But we are not ignoring the freshmen.  We are well along with our planning for a new 700-plus bed pair of freshmen residence halls with an attached cafeteria on the site between Mansion Park and Route 322.  Those new halls will be completed by fall 2011 with the outside possibility of being ready by 2010.

And let’s not forget October 27.  That is the date for the formal opening of the Sam Jones Innovation Center, the first building of the South Jersey Technology Park on our West Campus.  The College of Engineering and the Rohrer College of Business will lease space on the first floor and the second floor will be leased to external tenants who will none the less have a working relationship with a university department.

Perhaps you will have noticed that Bosshart Hall has disappeared and Science Hall is now visible from Route 322.  Bosshart served the campus well for more than 40 years, but it had reached the end of its useful life and it was time to go. The result is a far more attractive campus as people arrive from the west on Route 322. 

Less visible, but no less important is the work now underway that will transform Rowan into a wireless campus.  By next fall students will be able to use their laptops anywhere on campus without worrying about having to find a port to plug in.  This change will auger in an entirely new world of technological interaction. 

For those of you here for the first time, get used to change because there is a lot more to come.  We are by no means resting on our laurels.  The best is yet to be.

So welcome and welcome back.  I have every confidence we will all have a great year.

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