Student Affairs

New Jersey's GOP chairman yesterday called for State Sen. Wayne R. Bryant, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, to remove himself from all budget talks following a report that the powerful Camden County Democrat is under criminal investigation under suspicion of steering millions to his part-time employer, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The U.S. Attorney's Office is investigating whether Bryant used his public office to benefit his employer, according to the report in yesterday's Star-Ledger of Newark.

Gloucester County College has narrowed its search for a new college president to three candidates, with the naming of a new campus leader to be announced by December. The finalists, who will visit the Sewell campus to meet with faculty, administrators and students of the college community, are Agnes Armao, vice president of academic affairs at Atlantic Cape Community College; Eugene Giovannini, vice president of academic and student affairs at Burlington County College; and Frank Vivelo, president of Wharton County Junior College in Wharton, Texas.

It was uncommon for him to remain as long as he did, surmised Harmon Pierce, who, for seven years, has served as president of Burlington County College. On June 11, Pierce announced that he was resigning to take a position as chief executive officer of Pennsylvania State University's Hazleton campus in Luzerne County. "It is unusual for someone to stay 10 years in a presidency," said Pierce, 52. "Looking back on it, I had opportunities to make a change in the past, but this one was different.

On May 23, a goal that Victor V?zquez set 25 years ago will finally come to fruition. That's the date of the convocation marking Temple University's 115th commencement, at which V?zquez will be awarded a doctorate in history. V?zquez is an adjunct faculty member at Temple and an assistant to Richard M. Englert, the vice president for administration. That fact might surprise those who knew him back in 1970, when he dropped out of his South Bronx high school and joined the Air Force, where he got his GED. A Vietnam-era veteran, V?zquez is disabled and was forced to leave the service in 1972 after losing a leg to a football injury suffered as a member of his Air Force base's team.

Students at Camden County College can now enjoy yogurt smoothies, personal pizzas, wrap sandwiches and other foods in a redesigned cafeteria that includes new furniture and added space. The college spent the summer transforming its 1950s-era dining hall on the Blackwood campus into a food court with 11 specialty stations. The project added 482 square feet to the serving area, making it easier and faster for students, college spokeswoman Susan Coulby said. Another addition is the Cougar Card, which allows students, faculty, staff and administrators to buy food without cash.

The head of the Camden campus of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey has been suspended amid an investigation into financial irregularities and abuses at the school. Paul Mehne, 59, the dean who oversees the UMDNJ/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School program at Cooper University Hospital, was placed on paid administrative leave Friday, UMDNJ spokeswoman Anna Farneski said. The move came just weeks before Mehne's planned retirement at the end of the month. Farneski would not comment on why the school had asked him to leave early.

Dana Crum should be focusing on her research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, but lately all the fourth-year medical student can think about is losing her mentor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The unexpected ousting earlier this month of Paul Mehne, dean of the school's Camden campus, shocked students. But it was just the latest shake-up at UMDNJ. The problems started in 2005, when U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie accused the school of Medicaid fraud.

The Rev. Dr. Henry H. Nichols, pastor emeritus of Janes Memorial United Methodist Church, former acting president of the Philadelphia Board of Education and community leader for more than three decades, died yesterday. He was 76 and lived in Germantown. Nichols played a prominent role in education, civil rights and social issues in Philadelphia through the 60's and 70's. Temple University President Peter J. Liacouras said last night called Nichols "the conscience of Philadelphia.

Enrollment at Community College of Philadelphia fell 4 percent last fall, and officials suspect tightened eligibility guidelines for federal financial aid are to blame in part. Full-time student enrollment on its own took an even bigger hit, dropping 8.3 percent, from 5,540 in fall 2011 to 5,076 last fall. Throughout the region, other community colleges also report dips or flat enrollment, and note that students who in the past would have received aid, known as Pell grants, are going without.

A Delaware County woman who had sex with a student from the private school where she was a teaching assistant pleaded guilty yesterday in county court to corrupting the morals of a child. Judge Charles C. Keeler sentenced Celia Crowley, 41, of the 100 block of Fairview Road, Woodlyn, to two years of probation for having sex with the teenage boy for two years. The boy attended Woodlyn Christian School in Ridley Township, where Crowley taught at the time. Her plea was part of an arrangement worked out because the boy's family - who considered Crowley a friend - did not want her to go to jail and wanted to spare the boy from testifying, said Deputy District Attorney A. Sheldon Kovach.