Things to See on Campus
As the Rutgers community floods back to Newark, New Brunswick and Camden to begin the fall semester, check out this list of activities across campuses taking place this fall.
Go to the Season Opening Football Game
Rutgers football opens its 2026 season by hosting UMass Sept. 3 at SHI Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. on Big Ten Network. Celebrate Youth Sports Knight at SHI Stadium, as youth teams from across the area will participate in the pregame parade down The Rutgers Boardwalk and will be featured during the game. Stick around after the final whistle for a postgame fireworks show. Guests are advised to review Football Game Day Central before arriving. Address: 1 Scarlet Knight Way, Piscataway, N.J. 08854.
Listen to Live Jazz
Clement’s Place, named for Rutgers-Newark’s beloved historian, the late Clement Price, hosts jazz shows several times a month in a lounge-like atmosphere of Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hall. The venue, run by the Rutgers University Libraries Institute of Jazz Studies (IJS) features national and internationally acclaimed jazz artists. Performances are typically held Wednesday through Fridays and the first Monday of each month. The next show is on Sept. 10, featuring the Wen-Ting Quartet. Check out their Eventbrite page for up-to-date show information.
IJS, the largest public jazz archive in the world located at Rutgers-Newark, hosts live events, exhibitions and tours by appointment. Address: 185 University Avenue, Newark, N.J. 07102.
Check Out IJS: The London Sessions Exhibition
The Institute for Jazz Studies’ current exhibition, on view through October, is called IJS:The London Sessions and focuses on British American jazz connections, transatlantic migration stories, historic performances, rare recordings, and publications that document the global reach and diasporic spread of Black music. The exhibition is on view in the Dana Library. Address: 185 University Avenue, Newark, N.J. 07102.
See the LOVERULES Exhibition
On display at the Zimmerli Art Museum starting Sept. 17 is LOVERULES – From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, the largest exhibition of nearly 90 works by conceptual artist and activist Hank Willis Thomas. The works by Thomas – who focuses on identity, mass media and popular culture – span photography, sculpture and large public installations. The exhibition will be on display through Dec. 20. Address: 71 Hamilton St, New Brunswick, N.J. 08901.
Catch a Mason Gross Theatre performance
The Rutgers Symphony Orchestra opens its 2026–27 season with Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade on Sept. 20. The program also features Viet Cuong's Ladders, commissioned by Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Copland's Clarinet Concerto, featuring faculty member and Associate Director of the Music Department, Maureen Hurd Hause. Address: 85 George Street, New Brunswick, N.J. 08901.
Celebrate 100 Years of Rutgers-Camden
One hundred years ago, Arthur Armitage and representatives from the South Jersey legal community founded a new school in Camden; South Jersey Law School. In July of the same year, the Delaware River Bridge opened to provide a multi-modal river crossing from Camden to Philadelphia. Over the century, the bridge would be renamed the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, and the small law school would become Rutgers University-Camden, an R2 research institution in the heart of South Jersey.
Camden Centennials: 100 Years of Rutgers-Camden and Ben Franklin Bridge, curated by Camden Special Collections Librarian Bart Everts and John Powell, Robeson Exhibits Coordinator, this new exhibit features items from the Robeson Library’s Special Collections, reflecting on the history and growth of the bridge and the campus over the 20th and 21st centuries. Address: 300 N. 4th Street, Camden, N.J. 08102.
Swing by Downtown to See the HELIX
The Health and Life Sciences Exchange, known as the HELIX, is a 3-building project set to transform the downtown New Brunswick area, with H-1 serving as a translational research space, the new home of the future Rutgers School of Medicine, and the New Jersey Innovation Hub. Set for a ribbon cutting later this fall, the space features The Market Hall, a coffee shop, the relocated Clydz, and The Strand, an open-air walkway with a three-piece art installation that ties together H-1, H-2 and H-3. Address: 120 Albany Street Tower 1, New Brunswick, N.J. 08901.
