Colleges Unite to
Offer NJ's First
Higher Education Jobs Database
11-17-05
Twenty-eight New Jersey colleges and universities have teamed up to offer the region's first online jobs database aimed at helping higher education institutions attract and retain a diverse workforce.
The New Jersey Higher Education Recruitment Consortium, which is free to job seekers, was launched Nov. 15 and allows job seekers to search the full range of positions at colleges and universities, including professor, secretary, laboratory technician and kitchen staff.
"Mercer County Community College is proud to be a part of this collaboration among New Jersey Colleges and Universities," said Vanessa M. Wilson, Executive Director of Human Resources. "We hope to expand and diversify our applicant pool by using NJHERC as a recruiting opportunity."
The New Jersey database currently lists more than 1,700 academic and staff jobs at the participating colleges and universities, and is growing. Couples looking for two placements in academia may search for jobs at the same institution, a region of the state (north, central, south), or statewide. Universities and college officials have found that difficulty in addressing the job needs of applicants' partners was a major obstacle to attracting a diverse applicant pool.
The Web-based system is the first of its kind on the East Coast and the first statewide Higher Education Recruitment Consortium in the country, though it was inspired by a similar initiative in California.
Princeton and Rutgers universities initiated the New Jersey consortium as part of a continuing effort to address work-family issues facing higher education. The consortium is remarkable for uniting both private and public institutions from across the higher-education spectrum -- universities, colleges and community colleges -- to expand the recruitment of job candidates.
"We want to collaborate effectively to develop a family-friendly recruiting movement that will help New Jersey institutions retain a diverse group of faculty and staff," said Gilda Paul, director of the New Jersey consortium, which is housed at Princeton University. "We hope to someday be part of a national group of education consortia as more colleges and universities collaborate across the country."
New Jersey colleges and universities are working to help change the way applicants approach their job searches and the way institutions engage in higher education recruitment.
"This a terrific way to showcase all that New Jersey higher education has to offer and greatly increase the diversity of our applicant pool," said Karen Stubaus, associate vice president for academic affairs at Rutgers. "Equally important, we believe the special feature for dual-career couples will make it easier to jointly place couples in academic and staff positions around the state, which is often a challenge in academia."
For a list and more information about participating New Jersey institutions, visit www.njherc.org.
Media contact information for NJ-HERC member organizations:
Brookdale Community College: Avis McMillon, (732) 224-2967; amcmillon@brookdalecc.edu
Burlington County Community College: Charlene Webster, (609) 894-9311,
ext. 1566; cwebster@bcc.edu
Camden County College: Bill Thompson, (856) 227-7200, ext. 4931; bthompson@camdencc.edu
College of St. Elizabeth: Donna Lindemeyer , (973) 290-4442; dlindemeyer@cse.edu
College of New Jersey: Patrice Coleman-Boatwright, (609) 771-2368; coleboat@tcnj.edu
County College of Morris: Diane Zitek, (973) 328-5052; dzitek@ccm.edu.
Drew University: Thomas Harris, (973) 408-3206; tharris@drew.edu
Fairleigh Dickinson University: Cathy Love, (973) 443-8940; clove@fdu.edu
Georgian Court University: Deborah Gilleran, (732) 987-2266; gillerand@georgian.edu
Gloucester County College: Dominick Burzichelli, (856) 415-2292; DBurzichelli@gccnj.edu
Hudson County College: Jennifer Christopher, (201) 714-7135; Jchristopher@hccc.edu
Mercer County College: Saveria Symons, (609) 586-4800, ext. 3736; saveria@mccc.edu
Middlesex County College: Thomas Peterson, (732) 548-6000, ext. 2512;
Thomas_Peterson@middlesexcc.edu
Montclair State University: Ann Frechette, (973) 655-4225; frechettea@mail.montclair.edu
New Jersey City University: Ellen Wayman-Gordon , (201) 200- 3426; ewayman-gordo@njcu.edu
New Jersey Institute of Technology: Sheryl Weinstein, (973) 596-3436;
Sheryl.M.Weinstein@njit.edu
Passaic County Community College: Michael Silvestro, (973) 684-6108; msilvestro@pccc.edu
Princeton University: Cass Cliatt, (609) 258-6108; ccliatt@princeton.edu
Ramapo College of New Jersey: Bonnie Franklin, (201) 684-6844; bfrankli@ramapo.edu
Richard Stockton College of NJ: Timothy G. Kelly, (609) 652-4950; Tim.Kelly@stockton.edu
Rider University: Earle Rommel, (609) 896-5192; rommel@rider.edu
Rowan University: Jose Cardona, (856) 256-4236; cardona@rowan.edu
Rutgers University: Patty Lamiell, (732) 932-7084, ext. 615 ; plamiell@ur.rutgers.edu
Seton Hall University: Catherine Memory, (973) 378-2650; memoryca@shu.edu
St. Peter’s College: Stephen Hudik, (201) 915-4951; shudik@spc.edu
Thomas Edison State College : Joe Guzzardo , (609) 984-1114, ext. 2047;
Jguzzardo@tesc.edu
Univ. Medical and Dental School of NJ: Michael E. Knecht , (973) 972-4546;
knechtmi@umdnj.edu
William Paterson University of NJ: Marybeth Zeman, (973) 720-2966; zemanm@wpunj.edu