Alumni in the News

By BreeAnn Lippencott UCNB'08, SCILS'08

This summer, Rutgers alumni are making a splash and the media is catching it all on the record. Here, a few highlights of our alumni in the news.

Photo courtesy Cherry Hill Public Library.

Karol Greene Budgick CCAS'95
"Artist brings fairy-tale figures to life at library"
The Philadelphia Inquirer

"The blank white walls in the children's craft area of the Cherry Hill Library troubled Karol Greene Budgick, a lifelong library lover," the Philadelphia Inquirer reported on July 6 in a feature about the Rutgers–Camden alumna's efforts "to create a fairy-tale world in the domed library room with a mural 37 feet wide and 9 feet tall." According to the Inquirer, Budgick, who won awards for her artwork while a Rutgers undergrad, studied every storybook she could find and created a huge sketch of the project. "As Budgick worked, people wandered in to watch," the article reads. "For almost nine months, she painstakingly added details in vibrant acrylic paints. All that time, the mural 'was my reality and my passion,' she said."


Isis Petrie LC'00
"She says 'I do' to wedding plans"
The Star-Ledger

Photo courtesy POSH Events.

"No need to be in a knot over tying the knot," according to a June 29 Q&A in the Star-Ledger's business section. "Not when you can leave the details to wedding planner Isis Petrie, who has been helping couples make their special day stress-free for more than six years." The owner of POSH Events in Cherry Hill, Petrie told the Star-Ledger that an impressive wedding does not necessarily mean spending big bucks: "'Impressive' to me is not defined by the budgetary amount associated with the event. I've worked with budgets from $5,000 to $125,000. Instead, I judge a wedding by the amount of love in the air at the end of the night."


John Worrall CCAS'69, GSNB'72, '76
AP Radio, Fox 29 News at 10, Gloucester County Times, NJ 101.5 FM

A professor of economics at Rutgers–Camden, John Worrall is a go-to guy when the news media need an expert's outlook. In an AP Radio interview on July 17, Worrall discussed the economic implications of weekly jobless claims. He was interviewed July 2 on the Camden Campus about the faltering national economy for Philadelphia's Fox 29 News at 10. On June 29, Gloucester County Times reported his thoughts on economic trends affecting Atlantic City's gaming industry. And on June 25, he offered his perspective on the economy in an interview about the state budget for NJ 101.5 FM radio and other broadcasts statewide.


Cecille D. Wycoco-Whipple UCN'06, RBS'06
Shanghai television

A June 10 television segment aired in Shanghai, China, about a group of Hult International Business School MBA students who organized a fundraising event after May's Sichuan earthquake. Rutgers alumna Cecille D. Wycoco-Whipple founded the relief committee. Amidst footage of destruction, the broadcast documented a candlelight vigil and the group singing songs they composed in memory of the victims.

Click here to read about a current Rutgers–Camden student's volunteer efforts after the same earthquake.


Laureen Delance DC'06
"Maplewood CoverGirl is 'easy, breezy, beautiful'"
News-Record of Maplewood and South Orange

"She's easy, breezy, beautiful and knows no limits," reads a June 19 News-Record feature about CoverGirl's "freshest new face." Laureen Delance, 23, of Maplewood, "recently graced the pages of Ebony magazine as part of Queen Latifah's Queen Collection campaign to highlight everyday women who have overcome life's limits." According to the article, Delance—one of four winners handpicked out of about 5,000 applicants by Queen Latifah and a panel of judges—"was selected for her work and passion toward understanding U.S. immigration policy, specifically with regard to the Haitian community."


Kurtis Watkins MGSA'03
"Do Right Men 2008"
Essence

Award-winning visual artist Kurtis Watkins is featured in Essence magazine's August 2008 issue as one the publication's "Do Right Men 2008." Annually, Essence chooses the top 50 single men from across the nation to celebrate their professional accomplishments and community involvement, and to showcase the best and brightest young working professionals. Why Essence feels Watkins is doing right: "[He] works with Tied to Greatness, a New Brunswick, New Jersey, mentoring organization that focuses on young males ages 13 through 18. 'I'm looking to develop a more solid foundation to start my own nonprofit,' says Watkins." Readers can vote for their favorite "Do Right Man" of the year at the magazine's website.

Click here to read more about Watkins from the May 2007 Rutgers Alumni eNewsletter.


Nyeema Watson CCAS'00
"Rutgers program brightens youths' futures"
The Philadelphia Inquirer

A July 7 Philadelphia Inquirer article highlighted Rutgers' new Future Scholars Program that is giving nearly 200 New Jersey eighth graders the opportunity to "embark on the chance of their lifetimes." Selected by their schools and the university, the first class of Rutgers Future Scholars are receiving guidance, tutoring, mentoring, and test preparation this summer. "If the students graduate from high school with a 2.5 grade-point average or better, they will be in line for a Rutgers college education tuition-free," according to the Inquirer. "Access to higher education is just difficult for some of these kids," said Nyeema Watson, director of the Camden program, to the Inquirer. "They have the desire to go to college, but they may not know how to get through."

Click here to read more about the Rutgers Future Scholars Program.