Tarana Burke, founder of the #MeToo Movement, spoke to TCNJ students, faculty, and guests at a packed Kendall Hall on Monday, September 23. Burke, a sexual assault survivor, is an advocate for compassionate communities that support victims of sexual assault while attempting to change toxic cultures. Here are five major takeaways from her talk: 1.…
In the Community
Computer science and business students team up to provide real-world solutions to local charity
When Mercer Street Friends, a Trenton-based human service agency, needed to upgrade their information systems they found help in a friendly collaboration with TCNJ. A semester-long project co-created by computer science professor Monisha Pulimood and business professor Kevin Michels tasked students with designing applications that would streamline Mercer Street Friends’ information systems used to keep…
TCNJ earns grant to fight school absenteeism
TCNJ received a $300,000 grant from the Princeton Area Community Foundation’s All Kids Thrive Program to continue the fight against chronic school absenteeism in the region over the next five years. According to data from 2014-15, 32 percent of Trenton Public School students were chronically absent, well above the state average of 10 percent. Chronically…
$375,000 grant will help TCNJ combat mental illness in local communities
TCNJ received a grant of $375,000 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to create a local Youth Mental Health First Aid project in collaboration with a variety of community partners in Trenton and Ewing. The project will raise awareness and provide training and referral education across a number of constituencies to build the capacity of adults working with area youth to appropriately…
How a mentored research project launched a new relationship between TCNJ and a preeminent historic site in Trenton
As Francesca Paldino ’19 probed the history of the William Trent House as part of TCNJ’s Mentored Undergraduate Summer Experience, her research made clear that the “country estate” of Trenton’s founder had, in fact, been a slave plantation. Craig Hollander, associate professor of history and Paldino’s faculty mentor says her findings are illustrative of the…
Bianca Randolph ’21 lends her ear to the community and the city as part of Trenton mayoral transition team
As Bianca Randolph led Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora through the agenda she wrote for a youth summit in July, she wasn’t sure if the newly sworn-in mayor was listening. Randolph, a sophomore criminology major, was interning at A Better Way — a city nonprofit that provides services for previously incarcerated people, at-risk youth and their…
Nursing students trained to assist during local public health emergencies
TCNJ students continue to make a difference in the public health sector of our communities across the state and beyond. Over the last two years, 70 TCNJ nursing students have been trained on the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) curriculum through collaboration with the Mercer County Division of Public Health. These student MRC volunteers supplement existing…
Students get to the heart of an epidemic by talking to Trenton’s homeless
Emma Becker was one of a dozen students who conducted in-depth interviews with residents at the Rescue Mission of Trenton for a pilot class on homelessness taught by Rachel Adler in Fall 2017. “It was the very definition of experiential learning,” said Becker, a political science major and rising junior from East Brunswick. “It was…