| WHAT: | 20th annual Rites of Passage Ceremony for Rutgers’ black and Latino students |
| WHO: |
Several hundred robed black and Latino Rutgers seniors and Juanita Jones Daly, Rutgers alumna (Engineering, 1992) and founder of the Rites of Passage ceremony. She is executive operations director of the Agape Family Worship Center and executive director, Impact 21 Community Development Corp., both in Rahway. Participating deans and administrators include Delia Pitts, assistant vice president for Student Affairs; Associate Professor Leonard Bethel, recently retired founding faculty member, Department of Africana Studies, School of Arts and Sciences; Prosper Godonoo, director of the Paul Robeson Cultural Center; Carlos Fernandez, director of the Center for Latino Arts and Culture; Dean Richard De Lisi, Graduate School of Education; and Associate Dean Ilene Rosen, student development, School of Engineering. |
| WHEN: | 4:30 p.m. Thursday, May 10 (Students line up about 3:30 p.m., prior to a procession.) |
| WHERE: | Kirkpatrick Chapel, 81 Somerset Street, on the Old Queens Campus (off College Avenue and Somerset Street), New Brunswick |
| BACKGROUND: | This ceremony represents one of the many ways that the Rutgers community acknowledges and celebrates the academic achievements of students of color, particularly those of African-American and Latin-American heritages. The ceremony comprises remarks, poetry readings, musical selections and the presentation of Kente stoles. These colorful, embroidered ceremonial cloths, hand-woven in the town of Bonwire in the Ashanti region of Ghana, are meant to connect these graduates with their ancestors. |
Media Contact: Steve Manas
732-932-7084, ext. 612
E-mail: smanas@ur.rutgers.edu
