Robb S. Rehberg, assistant professor, kinesiology, was appointed to the New Jersey Council on Physical Fitness and Sports by Governor Jon S. Corzine. Appointed to the faculty in 2005, Rehberg is also coordinator of the department’s athletic training clinical education. “This is a tremendous honor for me, and I am excited to serve the State of New Jersey in this capacity, while at the same time proudly representing William Paterson University,” Rehberg says.

Virginia Overdorf, kinesiology, has received the Outstanding Teacher of the Year in Higher Education award from the New Jersey Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance at their annual conference held in Long Branch this month. She was nominated for the award by a former student, Cassandra Alleva.

William Paterson University sociology graduate students (left to right) William Graulich, Patrick McNicholas, En-Ping Tung, Andre McCrimmon, and Tamara Issa have earned certificates in assessment and evaluation research skills by taking four advanced methodology courses. A sixth recipient, Christofer Fanego, is not pictured.

Six University graduate students—Christofer Fanego, William Graulich, Tamara Issa Patrick McNicholas, Andre McCrimmon and En-Ping Tung—are the first to earn the Sociology Department’s new certificate in assessment and evaluation research skills. The 12-credit program trains participants in how to conduct organizational analyses, offering expertise in areas ranging from assessing program effectiveness and plotting demographic changes to evaluating departments and policies, and developing future projections.

Artwork by Patt Tanner, a junior majoring in graphic design, has been selected for Somerset County’s Census Awareness Campaign. The design will be featured on Somerset County’s U.S. Census 2010 Awareness Campaign Poster, and on a postcard that will be distributed to announce the Census Awareness Campaign Exhibition that will be on display in the Somerset County Administration Building through April. In addition, entries by seven other William Paterson students were also selected for the exhibition: Arnold Chor, Erin Garces, Michael Garafalo, Brian Radomski, Bianca Rosario, Victoria Sebastiani, and Richard Serrano. All eight students submitted their artworks as part of an assignment in art professor Angela DeLaura’s Introduction to Graphic Design class.

Erica Seguine, a graduate student pursuing a master’s degree in jazz arranging/composition, has won first prize in the inaugural Zurich Jazz Orchestra Composer Competition based in Switzerland. Seguine’s composition, “Gray Sky,” was selected from 48 entries in the competition, which is open to composers age 30 and under. In 2008, Seguine’s tune “C Minor Waltz” was one of seven compositions selected to be included on Todd Coolman’s Perfect Strangers album, which received radio airplay throughout the United States. In 2009, her big band work “Departures” received an Honorable Mention in the ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer Awards. Her works include bossa novas, traditional and modern big band charts, waltzes, ballads, arrangements of standards, a Middle-Eastern tinged studio orchestra work, and compositions for short films.

Some of the students who participated in the debate were (left to right) Bernardo Ruiz, Kevin Madera, Delio Luna, and Brittany Adams