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Jersey City, N.J. – April 30, 2013 – �鶹��Ƶ’s University today announced it is the recipient of a grant in the amount of $100,000 from the George I. Alden Trust in recognition of the University’s outstanding initiatives in the areas of focus for the trust’s Career-Related Undergraduate Education Award. The Award is intended to publicly recognize institutions, which are judged to have excelled in retention, education, graduation and job placement.

The honorees of the Career-Related Undergraduate Education Award are selected from among more than 100 private colleges and universities in the Northeast. The College of the Holy Cross received the top honor and was the only other Jesuit institution selected. In addition to College of the Holy Cross and �鶹��Ƶ’s, other honorees include Vassar College, Franklin & Marshall College, Mount Holyoke College and St. John Fisher College. To select the honorees, the trustees focused on issues of persistence and graduation rates, price, financial aid and levels of student debt, and institutional focus on preparing students for the challenges of entering the workforce.

“We are very grateful to the George I. Alden Trust for this generous grant and are extremely honored to be recognized among a group of such esteemed institutions,” said Eugene J. Cornacchia, Ph.D., president of �鶹��Ƶ’s University. “Once a student enters our doors, it becomes our priority to ensure they complete their education with us and move on to succeed in their respective fields. It is a great privilege to be recognized for our efforts in this endeavor.”

“�鶹��Ƶ’s recent success with improving first year retention rates and the special focus on improving graduation rates among its population is to be applauded,” said Douglas Q. Meystre, trustee of George I. Alden Trust. “The trustees noted that �鶹��Ƶ’s has kept student debt at reasonable levels and has done so with limited resources.”

This grant to �鶹��Ƶ’s will be used to fund the construction of the recently opened Mac Mahon Student Center as well as the University’s School of Business Administration and the department of career services.

The George I. Alden Trust supports institutions that demonstrate a combination of educational excellence, exciting programming, and efficient and effective administration. The Alden trustees primarily support proposals that they feel will contribute significantly to the intellectual growth of students and will enhance an institution’s mission, with particular emphasis on Mr. Alden’s expressed desire to “do the greatest good for the greatest number of beneficiaries.”

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�鶹��Ƶ’s University, inspired by its Jesuit, Catholic identity, commitment to individual attention and grounding in the liberal arts, educates a diverse community of learners in undergraduate, graduate and professional programs to excel intellectually, lead ethically, serve compassionately and promote justice in our ever-changing urban and global environment.

Media Contact:
Angeline Boyer
(201) 761-6238
aboyer1@saintpeters.edu