Executive Board and Duties

• 2011-2013 Slate of Officers and Members-at-Large

• Officers are elected by members in good standing and serve two years, renewable terms from July 1 through June 30.  Elections are held at the Alumni Association annual meeting on Ag Field Day.  To nominate someone for the coming years, please email cookalumni@aol.com 

  David Singer, '01, President

  Patricia Provost Zafian, '80, First Vice-President

  Stephanie Matheson, '09, Second Vice-President

  Carol Broccoli, '83, Treasurer

  Marc Kollar, '95, Recording Secretary

  Laura Gladney, '08, Corresponding Secretary

           Laurel Van Leer, '81, Rutgers University Board of Trustees

           Richard Porter, '84, Immediate Past-President

           Robert Goodman, Executive Dean of The School of Environmental
                                        and Biological Sciences* 

                    *denotes non-voting ex-officio member

   

  Alumni Association By-Laws (click to view)

Members-At-Large

Members-at-large are elected by members in good standing and serve a three year term. Elections are held at the Alumni Association Annual Meeting on Ag Field Day/Rutgers Day. Nominations welcome at any time. Please email cookalumni@aol.com

Serving Through 2014-2015: Alan Grossman, '82;  Peter Zafian, '79; Lee Schneider, '70;  Chelsea Simkins, '11

Serving Through 2013-2014:  David Earl, '76; Dale Cruzan, '09, Joan DeBoer, '84, Doug Erling, '10

Serving Through 2012-2013: Margaret O'Donnell, '93; Michael Toto, '80; John D'Agostino, '03; Bethany Rocque-Romaine, '83

 

Executives' Duties

President
Chief executive officer
Represents alumni to the college and university administration
Presides at all meetings of the executive board and general or annual meetings
Decides all questions of order and regulate their proceedings generally. The President shall be ex officio a voting member of all committees of the Executive Board.

First Vice President
Acts for and in the place of the President, when necessary
Ex officio a nonvoting member of every committee of the executive board
Responsible for the coordination of all standing committees
Including: Awards, Communication, Financial, Membership, Nominating, Reunion

Second Vice President
Acts for and in the place of the First Vice President as necessary
Is an ex officio a nonvoting member of every committee of the Executive Board
Responsible for the coordination of all committees not designated as standing committees

Secretary
Responsible for the custody and control of correct meeting minutes
Makes all reports as required
Shall conduct and maintain such correspondence as may be required

Treasurer
Chief financial officer
Works with a professional auditor and CPA for the maintenance of the financial records
Makes such financial reports as are required
Is bonded at the expense of the Alumni Association Responsible for the investment and overall management of the finances

All officers of the Alumni Association shall perform such additional duties as may be assigned to them by the Executive Board.

• Members-at-Large
  Represent alumni interests and are encouraged to serve in leadership roles of the ALUMNI ASSOCIATION, including but not limited to chair and vice-chair of ALUMNI ASSOCIATION committees, liaison to alumni groups within the Cook community, Rutgers University Senator, etc.
  

  All officers and members-at-large of the ALUMNI ASSOCIATION shall perform such additional duties as may be assigned to them by the Executive Board.

           Biographies 

Carol M. Broccoli, CC’83, GSNB ’86 is currently employed as the Assistant Director of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (formerly Cook College) Office of Continuing Professional Education (OCPE), where she has been worked since 1998.  At OCPE, Carol coordinates short courses and conferences in the areas of water quality, environmental science and recycling.  Prior to joining Rutgers, she was employed as the department manager for air quality studies at ENSR Consulting.  She lives in North Brunswick with her husband Tony (CC’77).

John R. D'Agostino, CC ’03, is a Research Scientist with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection - Coastal Management Office. a M.S. in Environment, Society & Public Affairs at the University of Vermont in 2006 and has worked as a Spatial Analyst on the New Jersey Natural Capital Project, {recently profiled in the New York Times}. As an undergraduate, John majored in Natural Resource Management with minors in History and Environmental Geomatics and served as Chancellor of The Fraternity of Alpha Zeta, co-Vice President of the Class of 2002, and Chair of the College Finance Board. He is presently involved as a general member of the Cook College Alumni Association and its the Young alumni committee, the Oceanport Environmental Board and is actively involved in recreational and youth sports.

Joan Sempkowski DeBoer, CC ’84, earned her degree while employed full time at Rutgers. She retired in 1993 after 38 years of employment at Cook College, ending her career as an Assistant Dean in the Office of Academic Affairs. In addition to being current secretary for the Cook College Alumni Association, she chairs the George Hammell Cook Awards Committee. Joan was the catalyst for the Silver Knights, a Rutgers Staff Retiree Organization for which she chairs the Election and Membership Committee. While employed, Joan served on the Rutgers Administrative Assembly. In 1987 Joan married Roy H. DeBoer, Professor Emeritus, Landscape Architecture Department (second marriage for both).  Each has two children and four grandchildren.  They reside in East Brunswick, N.J.

Steve Goodman, C.A.E.S. ’76, majored in Food Science major. While in college Steve pursued a passion for photography as a staff member of The Rutgers Targum in 1972. He was a member of the first Green Print staff as photographer, photography editor and columnist. Upon graduation, he was employed at The Princeton Packet for three years. Now, 27 years later, Steve's photo business provides images and photography services to Rutgers University, a mix of large and small businesses and a variety of personal clients. Evolving hobbies into vocations, Steve serves in the emergency services field as an EMT, a fire fighter and an amateur radio operator. He has been an active Rotarian for more than two decades. Downhill skiing is his current passion.  Steve and Pat (Bacon) SCILS '74 have been married for 27 years. They live in the Middlebush section of Franklin Township, Somerset County, NJ.

Margaret O’Donnell, CC ’93, is a past president of the alumni association. As a student she served on Cook College Council, worked in the Campus and Rec Centers, and was an officer of the Irish American Students Association. Since September 1998, Margaret has worked for the Rutgers Division of Continuous Education and Outreach, most recently as a senior program coordinator. In this capacity she often travels to conferences and trade shows, where she enjoys running into fellow alums from all over the country. She is a founding member of the Cook Community Scholarship Golf Outing executive committee, a joint project of the Cook alumni and parent’s associations. Margaret was recently elected to the Community Health Charities Board of Directors, having previously served as vice president of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation Mid Jersey Chapter Board. Margaret lives in Milltown, N.J. with her cat, Holly, who was rescued from campus as a kitten.

Richard Porter, ’84, is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Mercer County Community College and department chair. Before that, he was an Instructor at Rutgers and a computer programmer for several Pharmaceutical companies. Besides volunteering with the Cook Alumni Association, he enjoys gardening and volunteering at the Rutgers floriculture greenhouse. As an alumni volunteer he has chaired the Ag Field Day Committee,Reunion Committee, and the Rutgers Federation Student/Young Alumni Committee.He also developed the first Cook Alumni web page and list serve. Between 1996 and 2001 he served in several Rutgers University Federation committees, as a Cook Alumni representative: Long Range Planning, Constituent Concerns,Executive, Membership Services, Communications, Student Recruitment, Student/Alumni, and Homecoming. One of Cook College’s rare math majors, Rich has always had a passion for nature and all things Cook.

Bethany Rocque-Romaine, CC ’83, is the attorney Ethics Liaison Officer with the NJ Board of Public Utilities in Newark, NJ. She lives in Old Bridge, NJ with her husband, Jim Romaine, where she is a commissioner on the Old Bridge Housing Authority, a Rotarian, and a trustee on the Old Bridge Education Foundation. Bethany also is commissioner of the N.J. Tidelands Resource, a regulatory body of the NJ DEP. She has been an active volunteer at Cook and Rutgers since her law school graduation in 1986 serving in several of the Cook alumni officer positions and as its president in the early nineties. She was a RU trustee for seven years, served as a RU Federation representative and was Director of Public and Alumni Relations from 2003-2004 for Cook College and the NJAES.

Jim Savage, C.A.E.S. ’71, is in the middle of transitioning from a "give back" position as a Job Developer with a Welfare-To-Work program, to a job as the Director of Administration with a scientific research center. At Rutgers Jim majored in business, worked for four years at Brower Commons, gave countless tours of the farm and Helyar Woods to bus loads of grade school children and was a student representative on the committee/task force charged with overseeing the transition from the College of Agriculture and Environmental Science to Cook College. Jim is the Class Agent for the RU Class of 1971, was as a volunteer with the Annual Fund Phonathon for more than ten years, received the 62nd annual Ashmead Award in 1998 from the Rutgers University Foundation, and is a founding member of the Cook Community Scholarship Golf Outing. Jim is a member of the New Jersey Museum of Agriculture and is the founder and chair of his high school's alumni scholarship awards program. He has been a resident of East Brunswick for 32 years.

Dr. Lee D. Schneider, CC ’70, GSNB’ ’72 and GSE ’88, is the Executive Director of the newly formed Rutgers Parents Association and a Senior Advisor to the Vice President for Student Affairs on Student Life Issues. As executive director, Lee will serve as an advocate for parents and the university, both internally and externally, by facilitating communication and creating a climate that fosters mutual understanding.  For the past 37 years, Lee has served Rutgers in a variety of roles.  He has been an academic instructor, a Rutgers football coach, a dean of Academic and Student Programs, and for the past 19 years the Dean of Students at Cook College.  Lee’s accomplishments as Dean of Students include the development of the Cook College Leadership Development Program and the Cook College Parents Association.  Just as important, he has been a mentor and friend to thousands of Cook Students.  Lee lives in Somerset, New Jersey.