<\/p>\n
Jersey City, N.J. –<\/span><\/strong> Â鶹´«Ã½AVPeter’s College today announced that Rochelle Hendricks, New Jersey’s Secretary of Higher Education, officially approved the College’s application for university designation following a rigorous review of programs, faculty, students and facilities. The College’s original charter from 1872 grants Â鶹´«Ã½AVPeter’s all of the “powers, functions and prerogatives of a university,” and this momentous announcement will mark the beginning of the transition from Â鶹´«Ã½AVPeter’s College to Â鶹´«Ã½AVPeter’s University.<\/span><\/p>\n “Today Â鶹´«Ã½AVPeter’s College is taking a monumental step into the future and endless possibilities await us,” said Eugene J. Cornacchia, Ph.D., president of Â鶹´«Ã½AVPeter’s College. “University designation is an integral part of the College’s strategic plan to generate market recognition as a comprehensive institution. However, we will forever maintain our commitment to personal attention and to a Jesuit education founded on the liberal arts, which has defined us for 140 years.” <\/span><\/p>\n More than thirty years ago Â鶹´«Ã½AVPeter’s College offered the first master’s program and since then the students and programmatic composition of Â鶹´«Ã½AVPeter’s College has evolved and is reflective of a comprehensive university. The College now grants bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees and 40 percent of degrees awarded are at the graduate level. Graduate studies have grown to seven degree programs in five academic fields serving 970 students in the last academic year. <\/span><\/p>\n With the growing demand for master’s and doctoral degrees, university status will bolster the College’s market position by promoting the range of programs and academic degrees, which Â鶹´«Ã½AVPeter’s already offers. The university designation will also help to strengthen enrollment and expand international partnerships. <\/span><\/p>\n “A new day is truly upon us,” said Kathleen M. McKenna, Esq.,<\/span>’75, chairman of the Â鶹´«Ã½AVPeter’s College Board of Trustees. “Under the leadership of President Cornacchia, Â鶹´«Ã½AVPeter’s has embraced a fresh, new vision and as a result has seen unprecedented progress. The designation of university status, a goal we have been working towards for the past four years, marks another historic Â鶹´«Ã½AVPeter’s milestone along with the construction of the student center, the recent accreditation of the <\/span>four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing program, St. Aedan’s becoming the Â鶹´«Ã½AVPeter’s College Church and much more.”<\/p>\n