Bergen Community College Names Intercultural Center After its Third President

Dr. Jos� L�pez-Isa Championed Educational Opportunities for International Students

Note to Editors: A 300 DPI Press Image is available at the following URL: http://www.bergen.edu/pr/LopezIsa300.jpg

Photo Caption: Bergen Community College and President Dr. G. Jeremiah Ryan recognized former President Dr. Jose Lopez-Isa�s by renaming the Center for the Study of Intercultural Understanding in his honor.

More than 5,000 Bergen Community College students claim citizenship in countries other than the United States, making cultural diversity a hallmark of the College. On October 21, the College celebrated the architect of its international identity, its third president, Dr. Jos� L�pez-Isa, by renaming its Center for the Study of Intercultural Understanding in his honor. The renaming ceremony highlighted the College�s annual Latino Heritage Awards dinner.

The College opened its Center for International Studies (now the Center for the Study of Intercultural Understanding) in 1979. The Center was opened at the urging of then-professor Dr. L�pez-Isa, who became Bergen�s third president in 1982.

Throughout the 1980s, when community college enrollments were dwindling, Dr. L�pez-Isa made it a priority of his administration to expand access to higher education to international students. His initiatives helped Bergen become the state�s largest community college.

Joined by family and generations of Bergen colleagues at the October 21 event, Dr. L�pez-Isa said he was humbled by the gesture.

�I thank all of you here tonight very much,� he said. �It is an honor and a distinction that I am very grateful to receive.�

Bergen�s current president, Dr. G. Jeremiah Ryan, said Dr. L�pez-Isa�s impact on the College continues today.

�He distinguished Bergen as a global campus that engages students on a variety of issues,� he said. �At Bergen, the world is our campus and diversity is our global advantage. Jos� was the architect of the international movement that defines Bergen today and his legacy lives on in the faces of our student body. We all owe Jos� a debt of gratitude � he dedicated his life to Bergen.�

Dr. L�pez-Isa, a Cuban immigrant, first came to the United States in 1961. He became a founding faculty member of the College in 1968 and served for 29 years as a teacher, administrator, and finally, as its president from 1982 to 1995. During his tenure, he diversified Bergen�s student body, increased the institution�s involvement in civic projects and expanded College facilities.

In retirement, he serves as publisher of the Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education magazine, which he founded in 1990. The publication remains the only Hispanic-specific magazine in higher education.

The former president and his wife still live in Bergen County.

The Dr. Jos� L�pez-Isa Center for the Study of Intercultural Understanding promotes a greater understanding and appreciation of diverse cultures through better communication and critical thinking skills. Dozens of Bergen faculty participate in the Center committee charged with shaping the organization�s scope and programs.

According to the current director of the Center, Bergen professor Charles Bordogna, the renaming is appropriate.

�It is fitting the Center be named after the person who planted the first international seeds at Bergen,� Bordogna said. �What [the College] was striving to become, he already was. He knew that a limited parochial education would not prepare our students for the challenges of the emerging world.�

Bergen Community College is a public two-year coeducational college, enrolling nearly 17,000 students in Associate in Arts, Associate in Science, and Associate in Applied Science degree programs and certificate programs. More than 15,000 students are enrolled in non-credit, professional courses through the Division of Continuing Education, the Institute for Learning in Retirement, the Philip J. Ciarco Jr. Learning Center, located at 355 Main Street, Hackensack, and Bergen at the Meadowlands, located at 1280 Wall Street West, Lyndhurst. Information about the College is available at www.bergen.edu or by phoning the Welcome Center at (201) 447-7200.


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