An Anchor Institution

RU-N Vision and Mission Statements
Vision Statement
Rutgers University – Newark aims to be a national leader in 21st century higher education through a commitment to the values of educating a diverse citizenry, producing high impact scholarship, engaging in our community as an anchor institution, and drawing the connection between local and global, for the improvement of the economic and social well-being of society as a whole.
Mission Statement
Rutgers University – Newark (RU-N) is a remarkably diverse, urban, public research university that is not just in Newark but of Newark—an anchor institution of our home city. We think of anchor institutions as place-based organizations that persist in their communities over generations even in the face of substantial capital flight, serving as social glue, economic engines, or both.
The RU-N community has long recognized that our location is both a defining influence in our story and a distinctive strength. We attract and cultivate talent on many levels, ranging from generations of students hungry for the opportunities afforded by a first-rate higher education in a major American urban center, to faculty who vigorously embrace the opportunity to produce high-impact scholarship, and engage the community while preparing these students for professional success and informed citizenship. Our location is also a magnet for professional staff committed to advancing our research, pedagogy, and social impact within an inclusive campus culture focused on excellence.
Our Strategic Plan, “Where Opportunity Meets Excellence,” underscores this defining aspect of RU-N’s identity, emphasizing the need to develop even more fully and purposefully our anchor institution agenda. It is woven into the fabric of who we are and virtually everything we do. You can find vivid examples of this work—done in collaboration with partners from across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors—in the following broad areas that supported strategically by the university, which capture much of the scholarly expertise and civic-oriented interests in our anchor institution work:
Major areas of activitiy
Urban Economic Development and Equitable Growth
- Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development
- Center on Law, Inequality & Metropolitan Equity
- Newark 2020
- Public Private Community Partnership Program
- Rutgers Advanced Institute for the Study of Entrepreneurship and Development
Education
- Newark City of Learning Collaborative
- Center for PreCollege Programs
- Rutgers University – Newark Talent & Opportunity Pathways (RU-N to the TOP)
- Honors Living-Learning Community
- Inclusive STEM Summer Programs
- Garden State Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Program
- Diversity at Rutgers University - Newark
Arts and Culture
Strong, Safe, Healthy Neighborhoods
- Newark Public Safety Collaborative
- Aging & Brain Health Alliance
- Rutgers Law School, Newark Legal Clinics
- Office of University – Community Partnerships
Science in the Public Interest