The Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy announces the establishment of the Ralph W. Voorhees Fellowship Program in Public Service. This program was established by the Voorhees family to honor Ralph W. Voorhees's long commitment to community public service. A 1948 graduate of Rutgers University, Mr. Voorhees was senior vice president for investments at Paine Webber and served as chair of the boards of United Way of Central New Jersey, Family Counseling Services of Middlesex County, the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, and the New Brunswick Cultural Center. He has also been chair of the board of the Rutgers University Foundation and served on the Rutgers University Foundation's Board of Overseers. Mr. Voorhees has given generously to Rutgers and also supports Voorhees College, a historically black institution in South Carolina.
Each year, the Ralph Voorhees Fellowship Program in Public Service will select four undergraduate students from any major at Rutgers-New Brunswick who are dedicated to public service. Fellows receive $5,000 ($2,500 in each semester of the next academic year) so they may undertake credit-bearing internships with nonprofit or government organizations in areas such as community development and planning, community-based education, housing and public transportation, public health, and public policy. Fellows will meet several times a semester with former New Jersey governor James Florio to discuss their experience, and they will make a presentation on their experience at the end of the fellowship year in a public forum. If possible, they will help select and mentor future fellows.
