Today, we speak to Alex Rossen, an International Studies major with Jewish Studies and Sociology minors from Westfield, NJ (Union County). Now a senior, Alex is also an on-campus resident who lives in the Townhouses. He tells us more about his junior year and his favorite Rowan moments.
Could you share your favorite moment with a faculty member or a favorite experience in one of your classes?
My favorite memory with a faculty member would have to be with Professor Manning. I first met him my freshman year when I started as an intern working for him, and he’s been a huge mentor for me ever since.
In summer 2019, Dr. Manning led the Rowan Study Abroad trip on Holocaust Memory, which I was on. One day, Dr. Manning was chatting with me and a couple of other students on the trip, and he jokingly said, “Just so you all know, Alex is my favorite student.”
What is the most amazing or interesting thing you’ve learned in your major this year?
I guess I would have to say the most amazing thing I’ve learned this year was meeting [Canadian military officer] General Romeo Dallaire when he came to give the annual CHSS Lecture. I was volunteering to help set up the event and got the chance to meet him before his speech. I really admired his work as a peacekeeping leader in Rwanda and as an advocate for human rights.
When I asked him how he handled all the indifference, ignorance and extremism he’d seen throughout his career, his answer was pretty simple, but also very powerful. He just said, “Don’t blink, stand your ground, young man.”
What pre-professional experiences are helping to support your growth?
I think my time interning for the Rowan Center for the Study of Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights (RCHGHR) was one of the greatest experiences in pre-professional growth I’ve been lucky to have. I applied and got accepted into this internship through the CHSSMatch program. In addition to that internship, I serve as treasurer for the RCHGHR Student Association and am now also starting out as Secretary for the College Democrats at Rowan and Multimedia Editor for The Whit.
All these experiences have helped me work toward personal and professional goals that I feel passionate about in areas like photography and human rights awareness. They’ve also helped me develop as a leader and build valuable professional skills.
Like what you see?
Story by:
Bianca Torres, senior music industry major
Photos courtesy of:
Alex Rossen
Favorite faculty moment: 
works. I have the joy of actually visiting courtrooms and seeing attorneys in action in a legal setting. Though there are so many aspects to the law, being at Hoffman DiMuzio gave me options and avenues that I didn’t know existed.
Tell us about one club, organization or group of friends that make you feel like Rowan is home. 
Please tell us about your favorite moment with a faculty member or a favorite experience in one of your classes? 
spent one-on-one time with my professors. It gave me the chance to ask questions that I didn’t feel comfortable asking in class. I’ve had some pretty amazing professors!
Rowan?
What was your favorite or most meaningful personal moment at Rowan?
Working my three field placements during my time at Rowan University has assisted me in my professional development. I was able to move up to a managerial position within my agency and entered a program that I never thought I would if it wasn’t for my field placement. Working as a vocational specialist with adults with mental health has been an amazing experience. Watching my clients grow and become integrated into the community is so rewarding, I am thankfully to have been given this opportunity.
from Camden County College. 
Tell us about your favorite moment with a faculty member or a favorite experience in one of your classes?
my professional career this month working for International SOS. I will work for them in government services for at least a year and then attend law school. I would like to specifically and emphatically thank Dr. Dworkin and the 
Tell us about your favorite moment with a faculty member or a favorite experience in one of your classes. 
meet my counselor Dr. Lesley Mateo, who along my college journey became a friend.
Meet Allegra Giannini, junior 
Julianne has always liked history, more specifically presidential history. “Their personal lives is the better part, because you learn so much about what they did in class but then you get to know more about them as people and that kind of makes a bigger picture.”
because she though that other students from other colleges in Pennsylvania had a better chance due to them being closer. To Julianne’s surprise, after her interview within an hour she was already signing papers to start interning there. “I wouldn’t have heard about it if it wasn’t for Dr. Janofsky, I am very thankful.” 
Once at Rowan, something just clicked with Kristen with criminology. “It blew my mind. I could still do the writing and the research that I enjoyed, but also focus on justice.” The 
Today, Kristen is a 20-year employee of the judiciary within Mercer County. She started as an investigator, moving up to a probation officer after a year.
Germany and Austria. I’ve acquired this not only through formal study but also through a lifetime of experience in those countries. 
that I know little about, the current music scene, for example. I think of Anna in “The King and I.” 
What is your area of expertise? 
However, I think that is not the right approach, since philosophy is rarely chosen for these ulterior reasons — students choose it for intrinsic reasons: the study of philosophy enriches one’s life and can make even the most mundane experiences redeemable via philosophical reflection. 
The advisors and faculty within the department were eager to help an interested — and experienced, as a bonus — student transition into this exciting new major. 
I went to James Madison University mostly because my family was in Virginia, and I thought it would be my new home. I didn’t think that we were moving again. But my family moved again to Ohio this past May. So I visited my friends here in South Jersey this past summer, and I got the idea to transfer back to school in New Jersey. 
Being back here, I just felt really compelled to go here, and that being back in South Jersey was what I was meant to do. But I felt that I really needed to grow and experience new things, which I did when I moved. So I feel like I was supposed to come back here as a changed, grown person. It felt so right, and honestly, I wasn’t afraid of things that I didn’t understand anymore. I always knew my home was here.”
Kasey took classes in children’s and adolescent literature that helped her to prepare for her summer role. “I reached out to my professors and told them, ‘The books I read in your classes are in my curriculum — thank you! Your choices applied to my life in a way I was not expecting.’”
From Hackettstown, NJ (Warren County), Kasey stayed in South Jersey this summer solely to complete this internship. With she and her parents’ lacking familiarity with Camden — only knowing what they’ve seen on the news — at first Kasey’s parents had some trepidation about their daughter teaching in the city. “My dad is nervous about everything,” Kasey says. “But, the school was nice. The location was fine. I wasn’t nervous and the drive wasn’t bad at all.
Through RIPPAC, Jason applied for the Rick Rosenberg Junior Memorial Scholarship, which allows students to take unpaid political internships. Most political internships are unpaid, meaning that most students can’t afford to take these important experiences. Through the generosity of the Rosenberg family, students who are awarded the scholarship are provided with the financial cushion that will allow them to further their careers.
affordability. Although, once here Joseph quickly realized that the professors were another strength Rowan held. “The professors are all extremely accessible,” Joseph continues, “and they make themselves available beyond what I would consider their duty.”
cases involving children at risk of abuse or being cared for by unfit parents. “Through working here I have the opportunity to see the behind the scenes action; being a part of the process that most people aren’t witnesses to.” Joseph explains, “Gaining this experience further prepared me for more intense and involved work.” Through Joseph’s hard work and assistance from his professors at Rowan he gets to be a real help to children who aren’t in the best situations.
associated with cancer treatments and compare them to the cost of transitioning to more environmental-friendly methods. Overall, Joseph clearly has a mindset a strong ambition to make the world a better place for everyone to live in.
“I always knew I wanted to do something more on the creative side,” Shaylin reflects. “I’m a visual learner and I like talking to people, so I wanted to do something where I’d be in a fast pace environment and constantly meeting new people.” Becoming a member of Sigma Delta Tau sorority confirmed her love of public relations, because of their philanthropic work and involvement with nonprofits. “Public relations is at the base of a lot of nonprofits, so getting involved with them really narrowed it down for me, that this is what I want to pursue.”
Around the time she discovered the article, Jo was part of a class called New Ventures Development, where students expand on an idea for a potential startup business or product, and experience the process of bringing it to life. “In that class, I came up with the concept of a personal filtration system within a water bottle, called RefresH2O,” Jo says. “Wherever you are – hiking, spending time outdoors – you can scoop up water from a nearby body of water, and it will be filtered fresh. This will alleviate our plastic usage, and make us wiser about how we source our water.” Another class, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, helped Jo finalize the marketing plan and details for her product, including the target market and purpose. “I wanted to make a product that even a three year old could use. Everyone needs clean water — it’s a human right, but not everyone is lucky enough to have that,” she explains.
Her future plans include owning her own environmentally sustainable holdings or manufacturing company, and possibly even attending graduate school for a degree in engineering management, to continue to grow. She advises freshmen coming into the field to not let the idea of ‘perfection’ interfere with your goals. “‘Good’ is good enough; just get your name and idea out in the world and continue to work on your idea as you progress,” she says. “And keep track of your commitments! Juggling school work, being on the track team and my internship, senior year has been the most challenging year yet, but planning it all out and prioritizing made it a lot better.”
programs, courtesy of the Exploratory Studies program, I decided to pursue a 
Coming in as an exploratory studies major really helped me to solidify what I wanted to do as a career.
was a high school senior I felt the pressure of this in the back of my mind. I picked the school farthest away in an environment nothing like my current one because that’s what I thought I was supposed to do. If I could go back and give myself any advice it would be to not pick a school for anyone but myself. I was too busy focusing on fitting the image, that I didn’t realize I wasn’t ready to go 8 hours from home. For some people going away is the fresh start that they need, but it wasn’t for me and that’s okay. Transferring to Rowan allowed me to grow and succeed in ways I never imagined. I’ve studied abroad in Europe, held local, state, and federal internships, and met some of my best friends. The biggest lesson to be learned is that there is no one size fits all college experience and to choose a college that best helps you grow.
