Camden County College

The Camden County College Board of Trustees last night named Robert W. Ramsay president of the college beginning July 1. Ramsay, 42, president of North Florida Junior College in Madison, Fla., was given a three-year contract with a starting salary of $70,000. "We're very comfortable with him because he has good experience as a senior administrator and a president," said Gabriel E. Danch, chairman of the board of trustees. Ramsay will replace Otto R. Mauke, who has been the college's president since it was founded in 1966.

Gabriel E. Danch spent a lifetime trying to open doors for others - the same doors that had been so difficult for him to open. "I've done the things I've done because I can never repay what this country's given me with money," the Haddonfield resident once said. Mr. Danch, 77, chairman of the Camden County College board of trustees since 1971 and a pioneer in the development of two-year colleges in New Jersey, died Tuesday at West Jersey Hospital-Voorhees. Robert W. Ramsay, president of Camden County College, described Mr. Danch as "a remarkable, caring man. " "He has been a strong leader and friend of the community college movement in New Jersey and the nation," Ramsay said.

When Cindy Bitzer of Cherry Hill graduated from Lenape Regional High School in 1988, she planned to go on to get her college degree. Sixteen years later, she can boast, "I . . . have two kids and two dogs and no gray hair. " And she's working toward that degree. Bitzer, 33, a student at Camden County College, said a sense of humor and determination have kept her on a steady pace toward her goal. After graduating from high school, Bitzer married, began a family and worked as a clerk at local retail stores while taking courses at Burlington County College.

A television newcomer has been turning up a lot this summer, nestled amid the videos on MTV and the ball games on ESPN - Camden County College. The college launched its first cable television advertising campaign in June, with spots running 126 times a week on cable systems around the county until the end of August, in what administrators called an attempt to alert 18- to 24-year-olds about the school's courses and programs. "We're positioning ourselves to be more competitive in what's becoming an even more competitive market," said Karen Stout, the college's vice president for institutional advancement and enrollment services.

Phyllis Della Vecchia thinks there is too much emphasis on the word retirement. Ever since she announced in the fall that come Feb. 14 she will no longer be president of Camden County College, "people have been asking me what I'm going to do after I have retired," said Della Vecchia, who became the college's third president in 1993. Della Vecchia has this answer: "I'm not retiring from life. " But what turn her life will take after she leaves, even Della Vecchia doesn't know.

When Phyllis Della Vecchia came to Camden County College as its president in 1993, the college already was a respectable institution. This week she retires, having carved and polished the college into a true jewel. Throughout her career, Della Vecchia has spent her time and energy on advancing what she studied to earn her doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania - American civilization. She has done so by promoting knowledge and understanding among students while fostering in them an ethic of productivity and achievement.

Camden County College has received the last $1 million it needs to pay for a new satellite campus in Cherry Hill. The $1 million gift, donated by the William G. Rohrer Charitable Foundation, is the largest in the college's 29-year history. Previously, the largest gift was $30,000, for scholarships. "What is most special about this gift is its local nature," said College President Phyllis Della Vecchia. "Because of the gift, the college will reach more Camden County citizens, employers and workers.

Construction of a $6.9 million education center that will merge the Camden campuses of Glassboro State College and Camden County College is scheduled to begin in March. The five-story, 55,000-square-foot building will be built on a parking lot at the corner of Broadway and Cooper Street, the site of the old Walt Whitman Hotel. During a mid-morning news conference in Camden, educators and government officials described the venture as a way to attract students and eventually business to a city that needs both.

Robert W. Ramsay, the president of Camden County College, has accepted the post of chancellor of a community college district in Texas. In his new position, Ramsay will oversee the education of 33,000 students at the three campuses of the Alamo Community College District, according to Gerardo Gonzalez, chairman of the district's board of trustees. A few minor details remain to be worked out, but Ramsay will take over as chancellor in April, Gonzalez said yesterday. Ramsay, 45, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Camden County College officials have narrowed their nationwide search for a new president to seven candidates. Among them are two African Americans, one of whom is a woman, and another female administrator from Philadelphia. If one of them is selected, it would be the first time the 25-year-old college is headed by a black or a woman. A final selection is expected in early July. Bob Barringer, interim president and consultant for the college's presidential search advisory board, said the seven finalists would be interviewed during the next few weeks by a 14-member selection committee made up of faculty, staff, students and members of the college's board of trustees.

Theater 1812 Productions: Boston Marriage David Mamet comedy about 2 women whose romantic entanglements lead to trouble. Closes 5/20. Plays & Players Theatre, 1714 Delancey Pl.; 215-592-9560. www.1812productions.org . $20-$36. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum A slave in ancient Rome tries to win a beautiful courtesan's hand for his master. Closes 5/19. Ritz Theatre Company, 915 White Horse Pike, Oaklyn; 856-858-5230. $25-$35. A Grand Night for Singing Tribute to the composing team of Rodgers & Hammerstein.

Repertory Films Ambler Theater 108 E. Butler Ave., Ambler; 215-345-7855. www.amblertheater.com . Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010) $4. 3/24. 11 am. Broad Street Ministries Presbyterian Church 315 S. Broad St.; 215-735-4847. www.broadstreetministry.org . Bullet in the Head: Director's Cut (Hong Kong, 1990) $5. 3/23. 6-9 pm. Bryn Mawr Film Institute 824 W. Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr; 610-527-9898. www.brynmawrfilm.org . Going Gaga. $7. 3/28.

In 2005, Camden County College announced an $83 million plan to improve its Blackwood campus. One of the largest parts of the project is now under way. College officials broke ground Tuesday on a $30 million, three-story building that will house science and hospitality programs. Construction is expected to be complete before the fall 2012 semester. "Although today's focus is on structural amenities, what we are doing here today is not just about a building," college president Raymond Yannuzzi said.

Kevin Bacon doesn't play a lot of goofballs. His characters tend toward the intense and unstable, their eerie focus sometimes shading into outright creepiness. But in the Bacon Brothers, his musical duo with his older brother, Michael, he plays a different role. At Camden County College's Dennis Flyer Theatre on Thursday night, he shook his hips and banged on bongos, his lanky frame swaying to the easygoing grooves oozing from the four non-Bacons behind him. Bacon, 50, may be weary of the comparison, but his swinging knees and jutting heels inevitably conjured up Ren McCormack of Footloose, although on stage he burned more cool than hot. With a career spanning 14 years and six albums, the most recent of which is New Year's Day, the Bacon Brothers are well past the vanity-project stage.

Perfecting her artistic statement on debt, Ryan McFadden arranged cut-up credit cards over dollar signs cut from magazines on a wooden base covered in waxy paint. After an unhappy semester at Daytona State College in Florida, she's back at Camden County College, building a portfolio with the hope of transferring to a Philadelphia art school. "I've been coming here since 2007," said McFadden, 20, of Westville. She said her painting professor, Kay Klotzbach, "is tough, but good. " McFadden is the kind of serious artist Camden County College hoped to attract with its decade-long curriculum makeover, which has culminated with agreements from Philadelphia's Moore College of Art and Design and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA)

A lofty goal moved within reach of aspiring South Jersey artists yesterday as the prestigious Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts agreed to accept Camden County College credits - the first transfer agreement in academy's 204-year history. Upon admission to PAFA, fine-arts graduates of the two-year county college can apply their liberal arts and studio credits toward a bachelor of fine arts degree. The change takes effect immediately. PAFA undergraduates previously were required to earn academic credits at the University of Pennsylvania.

It's never too soon to plant the seed, so a group of Camden middle school students took a field trip into their future yesterday. The boys and girls - about 25 of them, all from Pyne Poynt Middle School; mostly eighth graders, but some seventh and sixth graders, too - traveled to the Blackwood campus of Camden County College to get a taste of college life and to learn about programs that could help them get there. The students were guests of an outreach program started by the college in September to get high school and even middle school youngsters thinking about higher education.

In a testament to wit, irony and social commentary, about 90 people packed the house at Camden County College to find out about "Becoming Janeites: The Society of Jane Austen. " They were eager to share in the initial discussion of a five-week lecture series of their favorite author, led by Elizabeth Steele, a member of the Jane Austen Society of North America (www.jasna.org). The third lecture, "Why We Love Jane Austen," is scheduled for Thursday. "People are crazy about Jane Austen," Steele said.

Using a cell phone while driving is a no-no. At least that is what Sean and Megan Hogan think after hours of research. Using a simulator, they asked their friends to "test drive" a car while talking on a cell phone and doing a series of driving maneuvers. Those on the cell phone had slower reaction times, say the twins, ninth graders at Moorestown High School. "We picked the topic because it has been in the news a lot and is the subject of legislation," Sean said.