2022 Commencement

Prior to the Ceremony:

Disability Accommodations: If you or your guest require disability related accommodations or arrangements, please contact the Center for Accessibility and Inclusive Education by phone at 908-526-1200 x8534 or by email at caie@raritanval.edu.

Name Pronunciation: If you have concerns about the pronunciation of your name please email Dean Patrice Marks at Academic.affairs@raritanval.edu with subject line “Name Pronunciation” and include in the body of the email your name and a phonetic spelling. Example: Raul Gonzalez: rah-OOL gon-SAH-les  The deadline to submit this request is Friday, May 6th, 2022.

Gown, Cap & Tassel: Available at the Bookstore from Monday, May 2 – Friday, May 13. Please call (908) 231-8808 or visit the Bookstore’s website for its hours of operation. https://www.bkstr.com/raritanvalleyccstore/store-hours

Honors: Honors regalia will be given out to graduates at the commencement ceremony. If you receive a medallion, stole or cord; these are yours to keep.  Since spring grades are not yet final, honors have been based on GPA and grades at the end of the fall 2021 semester.  Transcripts will reflect the appropriate honors once grades are final.

Tickets: Graduates will receive two tickets for guests who will have a seat in a general admission guest seating area. Tickets will be distributed at the Bookstore along with your cap and gown.  Additional guests may attend by bringing lawn chairs to a designated area. The entrance gate will open at 9:00 am. No pets are allowed on the Soccer Field.

The Ceremony:

When: Saturday, May 14, 2022 at 10:00am

Where: RVCC Soccer Field. Click here to see campus map. Graduates should park in Lots 1, 2, 8, and 9 while guests are directed to park in Lot 5.  Cars with passengers with physical disabilities will be allowed to drop off guests at the Arts building across the road from the Soccer Field before parking in Lot 5. The ceremony is a rain or shine event, so please plan accordingly.

Time: The ceremony will begin at 10:00 am. The ceremony will last approximately two hours.  Graduates should arrive by 8:30 am and report to the Gymnasium in the Physical Education Building.  Bring your cap, gown, tassel and hood.  Graduates will be marching from the Gymnasium to the Soccer field and several times across the field itself. Please wear appropriate shoes.

Live Streaming: The ceremony will be streamed over the internet and can be accessed by visiting www.raritanval.edu/commencement-stream.

Reception: Following the ceremony, you and your guests are invited to a reception at the Basketball Courts next to the Soccer Field.

Celebrate: See below for various social media ways to celebrate how proud you are of earning your degree!  #RVCCGrad

After the Ceremony:

Video: After the Commencement is aired at 10am, you will be able to rewatch the event.

Diploma: Graduates will receive notifications from RVCC via their personal and school emails once their diploma has arrived on campus. Graduates will have the option to have their diploma mailed or picked up in person. Those instructions will be sent at a later time.

Transcripts: Graduates will receive notifications from RVCC via their personal and school emails once their diploma has arrived on campus. Graduates will have the option to have their diploma mailed or picked up in person. Those instructions will be sent at a later time. 

Transcripts can be ordered through Parchment at Raritanval.edu/transcript. Please note: Official transcripts with degree notation and the graduation date for May 2022 graduates will not be available until May 20, 2022.  Degree notation and the graduation date for August 2022 graduates will not be available until August 26, 2022.

Still have Questions?

Email your inquiries to commencement@raritanval.edu

When: Saturday, May 14 at 10 am. The ceremony will last approximately two hours. Gates will open at 9 am.

Where: Raritan Valley Community College Soccer Field, 118 Lamington Road, Branchburg, NJ. Click here to see campus map. Guests will be directed to park in Lot 5. Cars with passengers with physical disabilities will be allowed to drop off guests at the Arts building across the road from the Soccer Field before parking in Lot 5. It is a rain or shine event so plan accordingly. No pets are allowed with the exception of service animals.

Tickets: Graduates will receive two tickets for guests who will have a seat in a general admission guest seating area. Additional guests may attend by bringing lawn chairs to a designated area. The entrance gate will open at 9:00 am.

Photography: Designated areas will be available for guests to take photographs. In addition, the College has commissioned a professional photographer, Island Photography, to take individual photos of graduates with their diplomas. Graduates are under no obligation to purchase the photographs.
Live Streaming: The ceremony will be streamed over the internet and can be accessed by visiting www.raritanval.edu/commencement-stream.

Reception: Following the ceremony, graduates and their guests are invited to a reception at the Basketball Courts next to the Soccer Field.

Disability Accommodations: If you or your guest require disability related accommodations or arrangements, please contact the Center for Accessibility and Inclusive Education by phone at 908-526-1200 x8534 or by email at caie@raritanval.edu

Commencement Speaker and Honorary Degree Recipient:

DeAnna Minus-Vincent
Drawing from a broad range of lived and learned experiences, DeAnna Minus-Vincent has tackled the toughest issues plaguing our country today—equity, poverty, housing, health, and education, just to name a few. Minus-Vincent has created programs that move individuals along their pathway, but believes that the most sustainable change happens when we work across sectors to re-engineer fractured systems; in so doing we can exponentially impact the lives of many…in so doing we can create change.

Minus-Vincent is noted for not just programmatic and policy prowess, but for scaling organizations—she has transformed entities and dramatically increased revenue, service regions, as well as product mix. Minus-Vincent considers the work she does with organizations a metaphor to the work that she hopes to do in life; she wants to leave an imprint and ensure every place she exits is better than when she entered.

DeAnna Minus-Vincent currently serves as the Executive Vice President, Chief Social Justice & Accountability Officer, RWJBarnabas Health. In this role, Minus-Vincent works across the system, with internal and external stakeholders to co-design strategies that improve health outcomes, promote health equity and eliminate health disparities. Specifically, her portfolio includes the system’s housing and community development initiatives; she seeks to fully integrate social factor into the clinical setting through the development and implementation of a system-wide universal social determinants of health (SDOH) screening process; identifies ways to use data and technology to track progress and enhance health outcomes; and she serves as the departmental liaison to the departments of communications and development.

Before coming to RWJBarnabas Health, Minus-Vincent served for more than seven years as the Chief Engagement Officer at Benefits Data Trust (BDT), a national social change organization, where she facilitated cross-sector partnerships, diversified the organization’s revenue streams and oversaw the organization’s strategic positioning. Additionally, she has served as the Assistant Commissioner for the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs; the Director, Office of Institutional Advancement, at the Stuart Country Day School in Princeton; and the Director of Planning and Development for the Central Jersey Family Health Consortium in North Brunswick.

Minus-Vincent received a Master of Public Administration from Rutgers University and a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Morgan State University.

Born and raised in Trenton, Minus-Vincent is a native New Jerseyan and lives in Lumberton with her husband Daryl and daughter, Darynn.

Honorary Degree Recipient

Robert P. Wise
Robert P. Wise served as Chair of Raritan Valley Community College’s Board of Trustees from 2015-2021 and was a member of the Board from 2004 to early 2022. He also served as a Vice Chair (Hunterdon County) of the Board from 2011-2015.

A resident of Clinton Township, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Hunterdon Medical Center from 1990 to 2018. He also served as President of Hunterdon Healthcare System, Hunterdon Healthcare Foundation, Hunterdon Regional Community Health, and Midjersey Health Corporation.  

Prior to coming to the Medical Center, he held administrative positions at Rancocas Hospital (Executive Director), Albert Einstein Medical Center (Vice President), and Kennedy Memorial Hospital (Administrator).

A member of the State Employment and Training Commission, Wise is the recipient of the NJHA 2014 Distinguished Service Award and the American College of Healthcare Executives Senior Leader Regent’s Award (2005). He is a former Director of the Center for Health Affairs and the Health Research and Education Trust.

He previously served on the Board of Trustees of the New Jersey Hospital Association and is a past Chairman of that organization. He was a Director on the Board of NJHA HealthPAC, and a member of the NJHA Chairman’s Advisory Committee on Industry Direction and the NJHA Committee on Nominations. He also served on the Board of Directors of VHA Mid-Atlantic, and served as Chairman of VHA, East Coast.

Locally, Wise was Board Chairman of the Hunterdon County Chamber of Commerce. He served as a Board Director of the Rotary Club of Flemington and was a former Director of United Way of Hunterdon County. Wise received the Hunterdon County Business Leader of the Year Award in 2000 and the Distinguished Citizen Award from the Boy Scouts of America in 2001. He received the Elks Distinguished Citizenship Award in 2010. Wise is a founding director of the Hunterdon County Partnership for Health.

He received his undergraduate degree from Boston College and a Master’s of Public Health from the University of Pittsburgh.

Wise has been married to his wife Victoria for 51 years and has three daughters and three grandchildren.

Faculty Commencement Speaker:

Carolyn Kinebrew-Bosa
Carolyn Kinebrew-Bosa of Jersey City is an Assistant Professor of Communication and Film Studies. A Brooklyn, NY, native, she received a Bachelor’s Degree from Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, FL, and a Master’s Degree from Boston University. On hiatus as a doctoral student in the cultural anthropology program at CUNY’s Graduate School and University Center in New York, she recently received a Screenwriting Certificate from The New School.

Student Commencement Speaker:

Rebecca Purnell
Rebecca Purnell of Hightstown is graduating from RVCC Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Liberal Arts. She has been an active member of the College community, serving as Vice President of the American Sign Language Club and a member of both the Hope Club—where she has helped challenge stigmas surrounding drug addiction—and the Philosophy Club. Her other activities include conducting advocacy work for students with disabilities at RVCC; volunteering for a California-based human rights organization that supports incarcerated and re-entering citizens; and mentoring marginalized youth at Princeton High School. Purnell’s future plans include a career in athletic training.

Click here to view the Commencement Program

Honors listed in Commencement Program

Graduation-with-honors designations are based on the student’s grade point average (GPA) as follows.

• Summer 2021 and Fall 2021 Graduates – GPA at the end of the Graduation term.
• Spring 2022 and Summer 2022 Graduates – GPA at end of the Fall 2021 Semester

After all final degree audits are reviewed and degrees and certificates are formally posted to students’ RVCC student records the official academic honors will be awarded.

For questions about the names listed in the program email commencement@raritanval.edu

ACADEMIC AWARD RECIPIENTS
The following graduates of the class of 2021-2022 are being recognized for their outstanding academic achievement.

Distinguished Alumni Award
Mary Jo Loughlin
Kyle Mack
Joel Reyes Guzman

Music
Zaid Abuhuzeima

CPA Education Requirement Certificate
Jessica Adams

Business Management - General Business
Pauline Bahrt

Liberal Arts
Kristiane Baumgartner

Interface Design & Web Development
Timothy Blajsa

Financial Services Certificate of Completion
Victoria Borsetti

Medical Assistant Certificate
Nicole Caruso

Paralegal Studies Certificate
Dean Catanzaro

Accounting
Diana Cirianni

Human Services/Pre-Social Work
Jennifer Clock

Communication Studies
Jillian Comstock

English
Steven-Mark Datu

Occupational Therapy Assistant
Megan Delid

Education: P-12
Mark T. den Hollander

Interior Architecture and Design
Colleen Diesch

Game Art
Alexis Dougherty

Computer Networking & Cybersecurity
Connor Doyle

Paralegal Studies
Dianne Fanelli

Engineering Science
Henry Freligh

Information Systems & Technology
Jayaditya Ganji

Digital Media/Film Studies
Judith Girones Gonzalez

Criminal Justice
Nicholas Isherwood

Business Administration - General Business
Danyal Khan

Pre-Medicine and Pre-Pharmacy
Oreoluwa Kpade-Johnson

Nursing/RN
Christina Leriche

Information Systems & Technology
Morgan Lishman

Biology
Connie Looi

Business Administration - Supply Chain Management
Amanda Lopes-Calixto

Business Administration - Management Information Systems
Timothy Moos

Liberal Arts - Social Science
Lauren Nelson

Health Science
Izabela Oliwa

Ophthalmics
Judy Quinones

Computer Science
Zachary Reece

Exercise Science
Juliet Schott

Graphic and Interactive Design
Olivia Sims

Visual Arts
Sarah Switlyk

Computer Programming
Zachary Theis

Game Development
Christopher Urban

Bookkeeping Certificate
Courtney Van Brunt

Mathematics
Carleen Ventre

Environmental Science
Haley Weber

English as a Second Language Certificate of Completion
Waldemar Witek

Chemistry
Tonya Wojciechowski