Considering Rowan today, it’s easy to take for granted the University’s seemingly limitless momentum and capacity for innovation. But it wasn’t always like this—or even a possibility—until Henry and Betty Rowan’s historic $100 million commitment to GSC. The Rowan gift forever changed the institution, our region and countless lives.
The Rowans had no ties to Glassboro State, but they wanted to make a difference with their investment in education. They asked only that the already well-regarded GSC develop a first-rate engineering program and use the gift prudently.
At the time, GSC was a small, state school that, since its 1923 founding, was best known for education. Although it developed other solid programs, GSC was like many other institutions in the state college system—reliable and affordable, but dependent on state appropriations for growth and improvement.
With the gift, everything changed, including the name, in honor of the institution’s unassuming benefactors. By 1997, Rowan College of New Jersey became the first state school besides the venerable Rutgers to earn university status.
“It is difficult to know what Glassboro State would be like today had it not been for the gift,” Rowan President Ali Houshmand mused. “Would it have ever become a university? Maybe, but maybe not.”
What we do know is that virtually everything since 1992 started with that gift.
Houshmand believes the Rowan gift both strengthened Rowan’s central role in the region and helped distinguish it.
“Our number one mission is to enable as many students as possible to obtain their bachelor’s degree with excellence and without crushing student debt. The Rowan gift has enabled us to do that,” Houshmand said. “The Rowans’ generosity helped us to physically expand our presence in southern New Jersey in ways that would have been unimaginable previously, and success begets success.”
The 1992 gift was the largest ever to a public college or university and triggered similar higher education mega gifts across the country. At Rowan it was followed by millions more in private giving.
“We’ve had many other significant donors who’ve seen what we’re doing and who wanted to be a part of it,” Houshmand said. “The Rowan gift created momentum, and it’s been growing ever since, extending our capacity for research, for driving the regional economy and improving countless peoples’ lives.”
Longtime Glassboro Mayor Leo McCabe believes it’s inconceivable that the Rowan Boulevard project, as well as tens of millions of dollars in additional commercial investment along Delsea Drive, would have happened had it not been for the Rowan gift and the momentum it created.
He said the gift, and all of the expansion that followed in its wake—a real-life build-it-and-they-will-come scenario that was accompanied by a doubling of Rowan’s enrollment—fostered private investors’ belief that a major redevelopment project could work.
“Today we’re the envy of not only the region but of college towns well beyond our state’s borders,” the mayor said. “They see what we’ve done here and want to emulate it.”
Since 2000, Rowan has strengthened ties with its neighbors and community leaders and further expanded its presence in Glassboro, Camden and Stratford. It has enhanced and expanded numerous programs and attracted donations from more than 22,000 supporters for scholarships, academic programs, facilities and more. And it has created community college partnerships in Gloucester and Burlington counties to increase access to and lower the cost of a four-year degree—all of which has further expanded the University’s draw to students and continued its vital momentum.
Debra DiLorenzo ’76, M’87 leads South Jersey’s largest and most influential business organization, Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey, and observes her alma mater’s progress with pride and high expectations. “As a professional, I’m confident in encouraging interactions between our members and Rowan because I know the University is committed to excellence and to innovative partnerships with a thriving business community,” she said. “As Rowan graduate, I know the value of a Rowan education. I’m proud to see the University’s influence extend throughout the state.”
Student Government Association President Lauren Bitzer said today’s students are drawn to Rowan for a number of reasons, most of which stem from the gift and all the ways it has enabled the institution to become what it is and will be.
“The programs and affordability are huge draws, but one of the most interesting things is that Rowan is never the same,” she said. “Rowan is not the same place it was last year, last month, even yesterday.”
A management/marketing dual major from Cherry Hill, Bitzer said some students are drawn to Rowan for its engineering and science programs, but she said others, like herself, come for other well-regarded programs in business, communications, education, social sciences and fine and performing arts.
Bitzer believes one of the best things about Rowan is that, despite its growth in so many areas, it still has a hometown feel and is accessible. “Rowan is nothing I expected but everything I needed,” she said.
In some ways, Rowan always was like this: a place to be challenged and nurtured. A campus central to the region’s identity and economy. An academic community dedicated to help aspiring students redefine their identity and reimagine their future. A launch pad for anyone with dedication and vision to change the trajectory of their careers and improve the world around them.
When he was considering making the historic gift in 1992, Henry Rowan wondered, “Where would my money have the most impact? Where would it actually change people’s lives?” He saw enormous potential and promise in the small college he called “a place to roll up your sleeves and get down to work.”
Because of the Rowan gift, the University is just as its benefactor saw it 25 years ago—and fundamentally, fantastically transformed as he expected it to be.