By Professor Livesay

Anne C. Rosario, EOF Director and Dr. Glenn Lang, Executive Director, Educational Opportunity Program Commission on Higher Education

You well know the words and images in the joyous and timeless love song:

Hand  touching  hand,    reaching out,    touching me,    touching you  . . .

These lyrics capture the life that Anne Rosario has been living in the E.O.F. office over thirty-seven beautiful years as she attains what we hope and pray will only be the mid-point of her inspired career at Saint Peter’s College. Anne has always been reaching out, touching hands and touching hearts, to bring dreams alive, as she illuminates the meaning of a woman for others. Long before Colin Powell, Nydia Vel?°zquez, Robert Menendez, and Barack Obama attained their prominent platforms, Anne quietly embarked on a mission of inclusion. Anne has been guided by her vision of a diverse and educated E.O.F. family in which each student who is willing to work for it can have a seat at her table regardless of race, color, creed, or how much money a student’s parents have. So much has depended on one person in helping to foster this educational melting pot so that, today, Saint Peter’s College has proudly become the most diverse, and therefore most American, of all the twenty-eight, great Jesuit colleges across our country. Over this expanse of time three decades and seven years, one person has constantly been at the door to the E.O.F. office, welcoming and encouraging the next wave of students who dare to dream. Anne has always been there to offer a hand and a word of hope to each, especially the student who was not quite sure that success was reachable. Anne has inspired these young people to say: “I believe I can.” Her reward has been watching one student at a time stand up and become a first-generation, college graduate, ready to take his or her family toward a more accessible promised land. In the past year alone, Saint Peter’s College has seen a record two dozen E.O.F. students attain Dean’s List status. At Saint Peter’s, so much depends on one person seeking to make a difference in the lives of others. Her SPC colleagues proudly join New Jersey’s E.O.F. administration in honoring Anne Rosario’s thirty-seven beautiful years of service to her college, her state, and her E.O.F. family, past and present, as we say: “Thank you, Anne, and God bless you for showing the way.”