Rutgers first black president to speak at area NAACP fundraiser

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Jonathan Holloway, the first black president of Rutgers University, will deliver the keynote address for the Oranges & Maplewood NAACP’s “Great Speakers Series” via live webcast on Thursday, Sept. 30, at 7 p.m. Holloway will discuss “The Quest for Educational Equality: Social Justice in Education.”

Proceeds from this event, which was organized by the branch’s Freedom Fund Committee, will benefit the ongoing advocacy initiatives of the NAACP. To register and purchase tickets for this event, visit www.greatspeakeromnaacp3.eventbrite.com. 

Holloway was named president of Rutgers University in January 2020 and assumed the position on July 1, 2020. Before coming to Rutgers, he was provost of Northwestern University, a position he assumed Aug. 1, 2017. Before that, he was the dean of Yale College and Edmund S. Morgan Professor of African American Studies, History, and American Studies at Yale University. 

“As the first African American president in the 255-year history of Rutgers University, Dr. Jonathan Holloway is a distinguished historian and a trailblazer in the field of educational equality. He is reimagining higher education at the helm of one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the nation. His work is transformative and provides our community with an essential resource to help foster sustainable growth and development,” O&M NAACP President Darryl L. Jeffries said.

  Oranges-Maplewood NAACP, Rutgers