UCNJ President Selected for Hispanic Association Governing Board

Cranford, NJ – Dr. Margaret M. McMenamin, President of UCNJ UCNJ UCNJ of UCNJ County, NJ, has been selected to serve on the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities Governing Board (HACU) for a two-year term. President McMenamin joins more than 15 higher education leaders throughout the country on the HACU Governing Board. UCNJ is one of only five HACU Member Hispanic-Serving Community Colleges that are in New Jersey. This fall, 45% of UCNJ’s enrolled students and over 55% first-time full-time students identified themselves as Hispanic, the largest in the College’s history.

Based on the College’s Hispanic student enrollment, UCNJ is identified as a federally designated Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). HACU was founded in 1986 and represents more than 500 colleges and universities in the United States, Latin America, and Europe. According to their site, HACU is the only national association representing existing and emerging Hispanic-Serving Institutions.

From the time Dr. McMenamin became UCNJ’s President, she has fully committed to the College’s Mission of “Transforming Our Community… One Student at a Time.” During her time at UCNJ, she has intently focused on student success campaigns, one of which is Inspire the Future which provides scholarships from the UCNJ County College Foundation to support Hispanic students who are on track to graduate. UCNJ has also made connections with outside organizations to create learning and career pathways to further support its Hispanic population. The Progresando initiative at UCNJ is supported by a Bank of America grant that aims to increase retention, course completion rates, and licensure pass rates for the adult Hispanic students in targeted healthcare programs.

“We are proud to have Dr. McMenamin represent UCNJ on HACU’s Governing Board” states UCNJ Board Chairman Victor M. Richel. “As a state with over one million Hispanic residents, we recognize the tremendous value that HACU brings to advance college access and quality for our students.”

Dr. McMenamin recently attended HACU’s 36th Annual Conference in San Diego, California. She was joined by six UCNJ students and the College’s Dean of the Elizabeth Campus & Institute for Intensive English, Dr. Elizabeth Ramos, at the October Conference. The HACU Conference provided students with distinctive networking opportunities with peers, educators, and employers.

UCNJ is a public, comprehensive community college that provides quality, affordable, accessible educational programs to the greater UCNJ County region. It is the first of New Jersey’s 18 two-year colleges, serving both career-minded and transfer-oriented students since 1933. UCNJ was named a semifinalist for the 2023 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. The College operates campuses in Cranford, Elizabeth, Plainfield, and Scotch Plains. In addition to physical campuses, the College offers more than 20 programs that can also be completed online as part of our emerging Virtual Campus. UCNJ enrolls almost 20,000 credit, non-credit, and continuing education students and is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. For more information, visit www.ucc.edu.

For more information on Dr. McMenamin’s role on the Governing Board of HACU, please visit: https://www.hacu.net/hacu/Governing_Board.asp.