History

On Nov. 10, 2016, Rutgers University concluded a year-long celebration of the 250th anniversary of the university's founding as Queens College in 1766.  Find out more about the university's history and celebration at Rutgers 250. 

Rutgers University – Newark is an urban, public research university that is not merely in, but of its environment. A part of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, it is located in the great city of Newark, the state’s largest city and cultural capital, where the great challenges facing our increasingly metropolitan nation and world can be found, as can the assets needed to take on those challenges. The RU-N community takes very seriously the urgent call to higher education today to prepare students for the world as it will be; produce scholarship that makes a difference in our city, state, nation, and world; increase access and affordability for increasingly diverse generations of students; fully recognize and reward faculty and staff for the full range of their roles; and get higher education out of its silo through collaborations locally and globally, while breaking down silos within. The university’s location is both a defining influence in its story and a distinctive strength, especially as it serves to attract talent: generations of students hungry for the opportunities afforded by gaining a first-rate higher education in a major American urban center, faculty who vigorously embrace the opportunity to produce high impact scholarship, engage the community, and prepare these students for professional success and informed citizenship in an increasingly complex world, and staff committed to advancing an inclusive campus culture focused on excellence.

Rutgers University-Newark’s roots date back to 1908, when the New Jersey Law School first opened its doors. That law school, along with four other educational institutions in Newark: Dana College, the Newark Institute of Arts & Sciences, the Seth Boyden School of Business, and the Mercer Beasley School of Law - formed a series of alliances over the years. A final merger in 1936 resulted in the establishment of the University of Newark. A decade later, Rutgers University in Newark was founded when the New Jersey State Legislature voted to make the University of Newark part of Rutgers University.  That conglomeration of small institutions is now Rutgers University-Newark, a world-class urban research and teaching institution, with more than 12,000 students and more than 500 faculty.

Since 1997 RU-N has been rated as the most diverse national campus by U.S. News & World Report.  Documents show that stretching back to at least 1935, our campus has traditionally served as the place of educational opportunity for first-generation college students, for students whose home languages were not English, for students who commuted to campus to save money, for students who work to stay in college and/or support their families, and to students of diverse racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds.  Whether in 1935, in 1955, in 1985 or in 2013, we have been dedicated to excellence in education and to educational opportunity.

To learn more about the history of RU-N:

• Strategic Planning - Rutgers University-Newark
• Leadership Through the Decades Rutgers University-Newark Leaders since 1908
• The Once and Future Newark A film tour with the late Professor Clement Price
• RBS at Seventy-Five (PDF) A history of Rutgers Business School
• History of the Rutgers School of Law-Newark
• Paul Tractenberg- History of Rutgers Law School in Newark
• Brewing Bachelors: The History of the University of Newark (PDF)
• Historical Photos
• Progressive Thinking, Rutgers Magazine, Spring 2008
• Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s Address at the Rutgers University-Newark Centennial Gala
• History Timeline
• Search through old Rutgers yearbooks online