University College-Camden

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The Campus

The Rutgers-Camden College of Arts & Sciences and University College-Camden are located in the city of Camden in Southern New Jersey directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia at the foot of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. The campus is in the transportation hub of southern New Jersey. There are numerous highways and the PATCO high-speed line which provide quick, dependable access to the campus.

The city of Camden is an urban area currently experiencing a serge in redevelopment. In addition to the development of the Rutgers campus, the state has constructed a $42 million aquarium. The $56 million Sony-Blockbuster Entertainment Center opened in the summer of 1995 and has presented a wide range of musical entertainment. Additional riverfront development projects include a hotel and conference center, a restaurants and retail shops, townhouses, and midrise housing. The city has also seen the completion of a $14 million transportation center.

History and Aims of the College

Rutgers University at Camden is one of 3 campuses of Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey. Rutgers was founded in 1766 as one of the 8 original pre-Revolutionary War institutions of higher learning. Since its colonial beginnings, it has evolved from a college to a land-grant institution to a State-University with over 48,000 students throughout the state. The University comprises 33 degree-granting divisions including 16 undergraduate colleges, 12 graduate schools and 5 schools offering both undergraduate and graduate degrees.

The roots of Rutgers University's Camden Campus date to 1926, when Collingswood businessman and mayor Arthur E. Armitage, Sr., and a group of interested citizens established the South Jersey Law School. The following year, the College of South Jersey, a two-year institution, was founded. These two units became a part of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, in 1950.

Today at Camden, we have 5 of the aforementioned 33 degree granting units. In addition to the College of Arts and Sciences for more traditional day students, which has an enrollment of approximately 2,300 students, and University College-Camden for non-traditional evening students, which has an enrollment of approximately 700 students, there is a Graduate School, a School of Business and a Law School. Altogether there are over 4,000 students on the Camden Campus being taught by over 200 faculty.

Undergraduate Liberal Arts & Sciences at Camden, through attendance in Camden College of Arts & Sciences and University College, offer all the advantages of having resources available from a large University system while maintaining a small size which affords individualized education and close interaction and personal attention from dedicated and caring professionals. Therefore, in the Camden Liberal Arts & Sciences Colleges, 62% of the classes have fewer than 30 students. Here in Camden, the courses are taught by Professors -- not graduate student teaching assistants as often occurs on large campuses.

The colleges are fully accredited and are in the top 100 of Money Magazine's "Best Buys in Higher Education" among the nation's nearly 3,400 institutions of higher learning. This enviable ranking in the top 3% of U.S. Colleges was based on student satisfaction with academic programs and services, superior faculty and low tuition costs. Therefore, in the Philadelphia area, Rutgers-Camden offers the most educational value per hard-earned dollar.

Our undergraduate students can choose from nearly 40 different major programs of study with ample opportunity for interdisciplinary courses or study and student designed majors. For extra-curricular activities, there are over 80 different clubs and student organizations with more being added each year. Therefore, at Camden the students are all a integral part of a single community, sharing the social, cultural and intellectual excitement of a great University.

For each of the past 5 years, the Camden Faculty of Arts & Sciences has been ranked Number 1 among 164 institutions in the Northeastern United States that don't grant a Ph.D. degree. This rating by U.S. News & World Report is due to the following factors:

  1. All 140 of the Liberal Arts & Sciences Faculty are committed to excellence in Teaching, Research & Community Service;

  2. Over 95% of the faculty have their Ph.D. degrees or equivalent, from, the best Universities in the world;

  3. Our faculty are productive scholars and active researchers who are national and international experts in their respective fields. Such expertise is directly transmitted to our students as regular faculty teach a minimum or 5 to 6 different classroom courses per faculty member per school year, in addition to individual instruction.

  4. In a typical year, this world-class faculty receives over $2 million in externally funded grants, awards, prizes, and fellowships. They publish 20 books, 275 referred journal articles, book chapters and reviews and present 200 papers before professional organizations. This is all done in addition to teaching over 700 different courses in an academic year and being involved in nearly 300 Public Service and Community Outreach projects.

The University is committed to maintaining its tradition as a liberal arts & sciences institution. A broad range of subjects in the humanities, social sciences, and natural and physical sciences is available to its students through attendance in the Camden College of Arts & Sciences and University College. Distribution requirements ensure that students gain an understanding of all areas of the liberal arts and sciences curriculums. It's graduates have entered many avenues of professional and business life, perhaps contributing most outstandingly in the fields of medicine, awe, the sciences, business, and education.

We are a great University that is all about people. We consist of students and faculty and staff from many different backgrounds and interests. At Camden, students will make new friends, share new experience and discuss new ideas. Most importantly, they discover themselves and become better individuals.


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