News From the Board of Governors: December 2024
Rutgers Athletics Signs Apparel Partnership With Nike and BSN SPORTS
Rutgers Athletics has agreed to a new multi-year partnership with Nike and BSN SPORTS. Nike, a global leader in sports apparel, will exclusively outfit all 24 Scarlet Knights programs beginning in July 2025.
“We are excited to partner with Nike and BSN SPORTS,” said Ryan Pisarri, interim athletic director. “Nike is an iconic brand, synonymous with innovation, success and a championship mentality. They are an industry leader in athletic apparel, along with BSN SPORTS, who have distinguished themselves as a premier service provider for universities and colleges across the country. We look forward to working with both Nike and BSN SPORTS for years to come.”
The Board of Governors approved the contract for athletics team apparel at its meeting Tuesday.
The department-wide partnership designates BSN SPORTS as the official supplier of Rutgers Athletics uniforms, apparel, footwear and accessories. The Scarlet Knights will wear Nike sideline gear for all games, practices and official team events. On the cutting edge of design and innovation, Rutgers student-athletes will receive the latest styles that Nike has to offer, providing them with the opportunity to maximize their performance in and out of competition.
Fans can purchase officially licensed Rutgers Nike apparel beginning in summer of 2025.
Plaza at Rutgers-Newark Named in Honor of Law School Alumna Elizabeth Blume-Silverstein
The Board of Governors voted on Tuesday to renovate and rename a plaza at the Center for Law and Justice at Rutgers Law School in Newark for one of the pioneering woman attorneys in the state.
The plaza in front of the center, located at 123 Washington St. in Newark, will be renamed Elizabeth Blume-Silverstein Plaza.
In 1911, Blume-Silverstein graduated from one of the first classes of what is now Rutgers Law School and went on to run a practice in the city for nearly six decades. She was the first woman attorney in New Jersey to represent a murder suspect (the defendant was acquitted).
By the end of her career, Blume-Silverstein had handled over 5,000 cases and was a recognized expert in criminal law. She was also a co-founder of the World Jewish Congress in 1936.
Her son, alumnus Nathan Royce Silverstein – a 1960 graduate of Rutgers College and a 1964 graduate of Rutgers Law School – made a $7 million gift to support Rutgers Law School and create the Elizabeth Blume-Silverstein Endowment, with $675,000 of it going toward the plaza renovation.
David Mechanic Endowed Legacy Professorship
The Board of Governors voted Tuesday to establish the David Mechanic Endowed Legacy Professorship within Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS) to sustain innovative intellectual work that embraces teaching, discovery, and public service.
A donor who wishes to remain anonymous has pledged $250,000 to create the professorship to honor David Mechanic, founding director of the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research. These funds were matched with an additional $250,000 from the RBHS Legacy Professorship Match Campaign.
The new endowed professorship is designed to honor, retain, or recruit tenured or tenure-track scholars in the fields of health, health care, health care policy, or aging research for service on the faculty of the y=university.
The professorship was recommended by the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research Director Tobias Gerhard, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences Chancellor Brian L. Strom, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Prabhas V. Moghe, and University President Jonathan Holloway.
Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Engineering
The Board of Governors voted Tuesday to establish a new Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Engineering degree program within the School of Graduate Studies.
The new degree program is based on the recommendation of the Committee on Academic and Student Affairs and is designed to equip students with advanced skills in environmental engineering for careers in engineering practice, education, and research, including in industry, government laboratories, and academia.
The program was previously approved by the faculty and the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies Mark Robson, Chancellor of Rutgers University-New Brunswick Francine Conway, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Prabhas V. Moghe, and University President Jonathan Holloway.
