Liberal Learning Director Garners National Honors for Student Advocacy

Robert Anderson, director of liberal learning at The College of New Jersey, has been honored as an Outstanding First-year Student Advocate by the National Resource Center for First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. He will be assuming the new title of assistant provost for liberal learning and academic advising.

“For the campus community, Professor Anderson is the face of the first-year experience,” said Beth Paul, interim provost and vice president for academic affairs at TCNJ. “Faculty members acknowledge his expertise with the regular refrain of ‘Ask Bob,’ and although student advising is not part of his official responsibilities, the students so frequently seen in his office attest to the fact that the student grapevine has pegged him as someone knowledgeable, responsive, and caring.”

TCNJ is proud if its comprehensive first-year experience, which has been led by Anderson at the conceptual as well as practical levels. It includes a first-year seminar linked to mentoring and the residential experience, community-engaged learning, and a body of courses developing students’ skills and introducing them to discipline-based ways of knowing. Last year, 95.5 percent of the first-year class returned for a second year. Based upon the success of the program, he has been asked to serve as a consultant for the Association of American Colleges and Universities as well as for numerous colleges and universities.

In addition to his role as liberal learning director, Anderson serves on the Advising Planning Council and meets regularly with assistant deans and members of the records and registration staff to identify best practices and coordinate advising efforts across the schools. In the coming months, he will lead an effort to recognize and share successes in student mentoring and advising across academic units in order to highlight the importance of advising on campus and enhance its effectiveness at TCNJ.

He earned an AB (sociology and history) from Rutgers University in 1963, and his Ed.M. (sociology of education) from Rutgers University in 1965.

He earned an MA (sociology) from the New School for Social Research in 1971.