Community resident and corporate CEO co-chairs Rutgers-Newark Centennial Gala

Ralph Izzo, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Public Service Enterprise Group, Inc., (PSEG) is well known as a leader in public service to his community and state. Izzo began his career as a research scientist at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. He has pursued a career in both science and public policy; earning advanced degrees in mechanical engineering and applied physics as well as an MBA from the Rutgers Business School in Newark.

Izzo is as well known for his scientific work as his role in the public policy arena. He has published or presented more than 35 papers on magneto-hydrodynamic modeling as well as serving as an American Physical Society Congressional Science Fellow in the office of former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley. He combined the scientific and public policy worlds when he served as a senior policy advisor in the office of the New Jersey Governor Thomas H. Kean, specializing in energy, science and technology.

His professional career has seen a balance between personal achievement and working to affect public policy and corporate responsibility. In his remarks as commencement speaker in 2005 at Rutgers Business School, Izzo addressed the topic that is close to his heart: that of corporate social responsibility and citizenship. He reminded the graduates that their employment defines what they do; not who they are, and urged them to become involved in their communities.

“Community involvement is something you can combine with your career to find even greater satisfaction and rewards,” Izzo told the graduates. Ralph Izzo embodies that spirit of community involvement and serves on numerous boards and committees. Currently he is helping Rutgers-Newark by serving as one of five co-chairs of the university’s Gala Centennial, “A Century of Reaching Higher,” planned for Thursday, June 19 at 6 p.m. in the Paul Robeson Center.

The gala will celebrate the transformation of two law schools, a business college and two colleges of arts and science into one of the nation’s leading urban research universities, dedicated to engaging with its surrounding community by taking full advantage of the opportunities it offers for teaching, learning and research.

The event will celebrate the university’s legacy in the state’s largest city, particularly in the areas of educational opportunity, urban engagement, diversity and research.  Gala proceeds will support scholarship funds.

Joining Izzo as the gala’s other co-chairs are four distinguished alumni of Rutgers-Newark; Barbara Bell Coleman and Alfred Koeppe, graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences; Dennis Bone, President of Verizon New Jersey and Raymond Chambers, chairman of the MCJ-Amelior Foundation, graduates of the Rutgers Business School.  They are joined on the Centennial Gala committee by more than 40 leaders in business, government and higher education, many of them graduates of Rutgers-Newark.

Izzo serves on the board for the Center for Energy Workforce Development, the Drumthwacket Foundation and on the board of directors of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, the American Gas Association, the New Jersey Utilities Association, the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), and the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI). He is also a member of the Council on Competitiveness – Energy Security; Innovation and Sustainability Initiative Steering Committee; Business Roundtable, and on the board of trustees for the New Jersey Network Foundation

Professional education has been a hallmark of Rutgers University in Newark since the early days of the New Jersey Law School, founded in 1908, and the Seth Boyden School of Business, both housed in the old Ballantine Brewery building at 40 Rector Street.  These schools, along with Dana College, eventually merged to form the University of Newark in 1936, one of the important “streetcar universities” of the early 20th century.  The streetcar universities were commuter schools founded by Progressive Era idealists with the goal of expanding higher educational opportunity to the sons (and later daughters) of primarily working class and immigrant families.

In the 1940s, the University of Newark merged with Rutgers University to form a geographically diverse public state university with programs in a broad variety of undergraduate and graduate disciplines. In the 1960s the university acquired a large parcel of land in what is now known as the University Heights district, and began construction of the modern campus.  Rutgers-Newark today is a modern urban research university of 38 acres, where 10,500 students pursue degrees in business, law, the arts and sciences, nursing, criminal justice, public administration and global affairs.

Information on gala tickets and sponsorships can be obtained by contacting the centennial gala committee at 973.353.3326, or provost-newark@newark.rutgers.edu.

Further information on the history of Rutgers University in Newark can be found at www.newark.rutgers.edu/century.  Historical and contemporary photos of Rutgers University in Newark are available; contact occ@andromeda.rutgers.edu for high-resolution files.