Rutgers-Newark Highlights Programs that Fuel Social Mobility
Rutgers University–Newark is showcasing programs that have supported its U.S. News & World Report ranking as #5 in the nation for social mobility.
For the second consecutive year, the university has continued its reputation as a leader in advancing opportunity, especially for RU-N’s many first-generation college students and Pell Grant recipients.
The first floor entrance of Dana Library features posters from 15 programs so that the campus-wide community can learn more about the initiatives and their success. They will be on display until June.
“This particular exhibition is to bring all students, all faculty, all in so they can have this exposure,’’ said Vice Provost Luis Rivera.
Social mobility is defined as the ability to move up the economic and professional ladder. The programs showcased have helped clear a path for students to develop and attain career goals, in addition to finding pathways to graduate school, said Chancellor Tonya Smith-Jackson.
“It’s about creating a system where structural barriers—things that get in the way of success—are moved out of the way,” she said at the exhibition's opening event.
“All of our students are bright, intelligent people, but there are often challenges that stand in the way of them being able to realize that promise of education. We’re going to make sure you’re moving on and moving up in your life,’’ she added.
Programs featured in the exhibition included Braven, a career accelerator program that partners with Rutgers-Newark and has helped 93 percent of its 158 students in last year find quality jobs with promotion pathways or graduate school programs.
Another program featured is the Sloan Transformations and Advancing Retention Programs (STAR), a summer program which focuses on building pathways to graduate education, particular in geoscience fields. From 2022 to 2024, it has supported 48 students—32 undergraduates and 16 graduate students.
NJ STEP provides higher education opportunities to incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people, addressing stark national disparities in educational attainment. Since its inception in 2012, NJ STEP has awarded 476 associate degrees, 209 bachelor’s degrees, 28 master’s degrees, and one Ph.D.
Rutgers-Newark’s data-driven success at fueling social mobility is a national model, according to Charles Brown, an assistant dean at Rutgers Business School, who leads the Office of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA).
“Our work has impact, and more than anything, it has measurable impact,” Brown said. “The work that we’re doing is able to be replicated. We get calls all the time from other institutions asking, ‘What’s the secret sauce? What are you all doing, and how can we replicate it?’ We’re functioning as leaders in this space.”
Students described how the programs shaped their career trajectories. Katherine Rodriguez shared how her work with NewGeo Science Ecosystem program supported her goal of becoming a scientist. She is a research assistant in the Earth & Environmental Science Department, where she is studying groundwater and soil quality. She also landed a job as a Field Scientist and Geophysicist with NOVA Geophysical Services.
Suah Yekeh, a graduate student and graduate assistant in the Earth & Environmental Sciences Department, credits the NewGeo program with helping her pursue an advanced degree. She is studying heavy metal contamination in Newark’s urban parks.
“These programs have helped us find a pathway to grad school,” said Yekeh.
