The First-Year Experience Program at The College of New Jersey recently restructured its model to enhance the community engagement requirement for freshmen students. The Bonner Center for Civic and Community Engagement has taken a leading role in this effort, creating a more eclectic and inspirational experience in an effort to impassion students to continue their volunteer efforts beyond their curriculum requirement. Each incoming freshman must participate in specific learning seminar classes or in one of the many issue-based Community Engaged Learning days that are scheduled throughout the year.

Times have changed, and what you’ll find inside a current college student’s dorm room has changed dramatically. While the rooms inside Travers or Decker still have the staple dressers, beds, desks, and shelves, today ’s quarters are marked by the latest technological devices.

These hard-headed Greeks seem to have an affinity for musical instruments, but does the venue really offer suitable acoustics for their listening pleasure? We’ve gone tone deaf in our search for answers, so perhaps some of our readers can help explain what’s happening in the photograph at right. Send us your thoughts by e-mailing magazine@tcnj.edu.

Two hundred years ago, Phi Beta Kappa (PBK) induction ceremonies were covert affairs complete with secret handshakes and rituals. Things were decidedly less secretive on April 9, when the Delta of New Jersey chapter of PBK was installed at the College and the first class of TCNJ students was inducted into the society.

When Tom Kraeutler ’82 talks, millions of do-it-yourselfers listen. That’s because he is the creator and co-host of “The Money Pit,” a home repair show that airs on 200 radio stations nationwide, as well as on XM satellite radio.

Alan Meinster ’86, owner/operator of Marsilio’s restaurant in Trenton, and wife Denise Didonato ’86 now chew the fat with Mercer County’s top businesses. That’s because their restaurant, a local landmark and hotspot for the political crowd, has been enshrined in the Mercer County Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame.

When Rick Kamber, professor of philosophy, approached James Van Strander ’08 he had an assignment for his former student involving the works of revered American philosopher William James. Kamber ’s proposal was not a typical reading or writing assignment, but rather a request that Van Strander assist in the editing process for the forthcoming book William James: Essays and Lectures.

The day an artist sells his or her first piece of work is a memorable one. For Jennifer Kakaletris ’08, that day came in her junior year at a New York City gallery.

Grant, a former guard at The College of New Jersey and 2005 Eastern College Athletic Conference Metro Division III Men ’s Basketball Player of the Year, is currently a member of the Harlem Globetrotters. He plays for the Arizona affiliate of the Globetrotters and tours with the team, thrilling audiences around the country.