By Monir Khilla and Chinedum Emelumba—

Dr. Sue Henderson has become New Jersey City University’s 12th University President. She is the first woman to hold the title and took office on August 6, more than a month after former president Carlos Hernandez retired on July 1.

“He [Carlos Hernandez] did so many visionary things to move it forward. He’s probably one of the biggest reasons the campus is as beautiful as it is. I think he’s done a lot with pushing the West Side campus, because he knows that’s the future, as well as, the waterfront,” said Henderson.

Her first impression of NJCU was that it was “A very warm and welcoming place, but then again I felt that when I went in for the interview.”

“I really love the diversity that you find up here. There’s nothing like it; and I don’t think we realize it, but we are what the future of the world will look like. Unless you have an understanding of what other cultures are like and how they behave and what they value, you’re not going to be able to be successful and that’s why I wanted to be at a diverse place. So, that’s why I came here,” said Henderson.

“I’m pumped!” she said.

Henderson says she feels no pressure being the first female president.

“I was a Math major actually and very often when I sat in class, I was the only female,” she joked.

She feels that “At the end of the day, the most important thing is to help the institution grow and be bigger and better than it was.”

Henderson has had a long career in academics and has moved up the chain of command steadily. She received both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Mathematics from Georgia State University and her PhD. in Higher Education from the University of Georgia.

She was the Chief Operating Officer at City University of New York Queens College, as well as the Vice President for Institutional Advancement.

Her long list of accomplishments include raising, coordinating, and completing grants worth hundreds of millions of dollars, re-engineering entire programs, and being named one of the “Top 10 Business Women in Queens” by the Queens Chamber of Commerce.

She eventually decided to become a university president and visited campuses in other parts of the country.

Travelling allowed Henderson to appreciate the diversity we had in the tri-state area.

“It reminded me of what’s different of where I live now, whether Queens or here, and what some parts of the rest of the country are like and it was a very homogeneous population. I left knowing that I really loved the diversity that you find up here,” said Henderson.

“That’s why I wanted to be at a diverse place and that’s why I’m here. I’ll also say it again that this institution is very warm and welcoming and a lot of other institutions aren’t like that.”

Henderson has also traveled the world visiting Mongolia, China, India, Turkey, Morocco, Israel, Croatia, Italy, France, England, Senegal, and South Africa.

“I would like to see more of our students go abroad. It’s expensive and a commitment so that’s why we need to go and find more alumni. What I’m eager to do is to find connectors,” she said.

“I’m excited about places where we can connect with other cultures. I’m eager to have us go back to India, we also have connections in China, but I would love to see us strengthen up our relationship with countries like Brazil, Argentina and South Africa, actually,” said Henderson.

Despite all her travelling and a busy schedule, Henderson is an avid tennis player.

“I used to get up at 6:30 a.m. every morning and play tennis with a group of friends. We would show up on the courts and play tennis from 6:30 a.m. to 8 a.m. So, I have to find a group to play with down here.”

Henderson also loves going out to the city to see plays, movies, and enjoys jazz and classical musicals.

Faced with many obstacles and challenges, Henderson remains optimistic.

“I don’t ever really see challenges as obstacles, but rather as opportunities and one of the biggest opportunities I think we’re already doing is, this year, bringing in more freshman and transfer students which is really great because it energizes the campus.”

Henderson also wants to reach out to all the alumni and “engage them to give back to the institution.”

“They’re out there,” she said. “We’ve just got to go meet them.”

The faculty and administration have sometimes been at odds over the past several years. However, Henderson wants to change that.

“One of the things that I really loved doing at Queens and I didn’t realize it there, was helping to grow faculty. If you’re understanding your discipline better that builds up your classroom, then all the students become beneficiaries of that and they start gaining a passion for it and it gives them that sense of ‘Oh! This is what really excites me,’ and that’s what I’m looking for. Helping faculty and continuing to deepen what we do with students and faculty.”

Henderson also said that part of her focus will be to “Enrich the faculty and to grow them as scholars and that’s a double edged sword because it means that they have to be working to be scholars. I feel as though many of them [faculty] want to.”

Henderson reiterated that she would like to strengthen NJCU’s internship program and Career Placement programs, while allowing students to become more hands-on with their professors.

“One of the things that gets to my heart and soul is helping faculty and students connect,” she said.

Be on the lookout: Henderson will be walking around campus and randomly approaching students to see how things are going. If you don’t catch her on campus, then have your club/club presidents set up a dinner appointment.

“I plan on meeting every student group this year, I will probably have a lot of them over at my house for dinner. When I was in Queens I had 26 athletic teams to my house and I fed them dinner. I would like to do the same thing and extend that to all the student groups.

“It is a real honor and actually a blessing to be here, I feel as though I am standing on the shoulders of giants. I feel like NJCU has a lot of places to go and I look forward to going there with people here.”

Henderson also jokingly added “And I hope that when you guys graduate, you guys come back every year and that you’re giving.”