The people in our neighborhood:
November 10th 2016 marked the 250th anniversary of the signing of the charter that established Queen’s College, the institution that would come to be known as Rutgers: The State University of New Jersey. On the New Brunswick campus – home of Rutgers University Press – there were cupcakes, and light shows, and a fireworks display that could give any July 4th a run for its money.
The celebrations marked the culmination of a year’s worth of events that have both heralded and interrogated the rich history of New Jersey’s first and largest public university. Over the past year, we at the press have had the good fortune of getting to know our community through participating in several of these events, from Rutgers Climate Institute’s colloquium on Hurricane Sandy to the Institute for Women’s Leadership’s forum on 250 years of women at Rutgers.
This year has also provided us the opportunity to further collaborate with our Rutgers community. In June, we published Rutgers: A 250th Anniversary Portrait – an illustrated survey of the achievements and discoveries of Rutgers’ illustrious past with contributions from renowned alumni, prominent faculty members, and University leaders that considers the potential of the next 250 years.
Rutgers Since 1945: A History of the State University of New Jersey, written by Rutgers professor Paul G. E. Clemens, also published this year and sparked a university-wide dialogue about the contemporary changes that have shaped our student body, which is one of the most ethnically diverse in the country.
And finally, on November 18th we will be publishing Scarlet and Black: Slavery and Dispossession in Rutgers History – a summary of the findings of the Committee on Enslaved and Disenfranchised Populations in Rutgers History on the role that slavery has played in our institution’s history.
From last November’s charter day kickoff celebration to the fireworks display on Thursday night, this has been a celebratory year that has sparked important conversations and we are honored to provide a platform in which to continue those discussions for years to come.
#Rutgers250 | #UPWeek | #ReadUP
This post is part of the Association of American University Presses’ University Press Week blog tour. For more, visit the blogs of Northwestern University Press, Fordham University Press, University Press of Florida, University of Toronto Press, Seminary Co-op Bookstore, and Athabasca University Press.