Professional Training

The first part of Sergio Sosa’s story is far too familiar: the Union City resident was inches away from earning his Master’s degree in Biology from Rutgers, and was transitioning from full-time student to full-time assistant-in-training at a golf course. Just when he thought everything was falling into place, Sosa was laid off from his job in late 2012.

Yet by March 2013, Sosa (with degree in hand) was gainfully employed as Assistant Superintendent at two popular New York City-owned golf courses.

Sosa credits the Rutgers Office of Continuing Professional Education (OCPE) and a grant from the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (DOL) for helping him get there.

Internationally acclaimed storyteller Len Cabral will conduct the Zimmerli Art Museum’s seventh annual Celebration of Storytelling for preschoolers, ages 3 to 5, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., Tuesday and Thursday, March 19 and 21. On March 19, Cabral also will conduct a Preschool Educators Workshop from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Space is limited at both events and registration is required by calling (848) 932-6766 or emailing education@zimmerli.rutgers.edu.

The Celebration of Storytelling is open to preschool-age classes, as well as individuals. Children who are not part of a school group must be accompanied by an adult.

The Preschool Educators Workshop is limited to 35 educators. Each participant will receive three professional development credit hours for attending the program. Refreshments will be served.

The Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers is offering three, one-day continuing education programs for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in March and April.

Immunization Update 2012-2013 will be held from 6 p.m. to 8:45 p.m., Thursday, March 14, at the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy on the Busch Campus. The program is geared toward professionals and offers 2.0 contact hours (.20 CEUs). Topics to be covered will include updates and current best practices for immunization-delivery. The fee is $35, which includes refreshments and materials. Immunization Update 2012-2013 is approved by the Florida Board of Pharmacy for professionals who are licensed in that state.

Municipal clerks who earn a certificate in Rutgers’ Mini-Master in Public Administration (Mini-MPA^tm), program can now receive continuing education credits from the International Institute of Municipal Clerks (IIMC), the leading professional association serving the needs of municipal clerks and allied professionals in cities and towns worldwide.

The IILC joins the N.J. Division of Local Government Services in the Department of Community Affairs in awarding professional continuing education credits to public employees who complete the Mini-MPA^tm, a 30-hour intensive program for individuals in the public, private or nonprofit sectors.  The IILC will award five Certified Municipal Clerk (CMC) Experience points or five Master Municipal Clerk (MMC) Advanced Education points to those who successfully complete the program.

Retired Paterson Police Officer Larry Rudesyle recalls when words like ‘crazy’ and ‘retarded’ were used in dispatches to refer to a person behaving erratically.

First responders on the scene might shout at the person to stay still and physically subdue him if he didn’t – only to find out later that the behavior was a manifestation of a developmental disability.

Recently, television shows like Glee have crusaded to banish stereotypes that surround the developmentally disabled. Similarly, the New Jersey Legislature made a big push to improve first responders’ understanding about developmental disabilities and better handle encounters by passing a law in 2008 mandating training. The result was an online course for the state’s more than 100,000 police officers, firefighters and emergency medical services personnel.

Thirty-five senior leaders from philanthropic and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in China recently earned certificates from the Rutgers School of Social Work (SSW) in an intensive, four-day program on training skills conducted in Beijing by continuing education faculty from the school’s Institute for Families.

The trainees included staff from the China Philanthropy Research Institute (CPRI) at Beijing Normal University, NGOs throughout China, and charitable foundations, including the Ford Foundation.

CPRI hosted the program and co-sponsored it with the Huamin Research Center at Rutgers, which was established in 2012 to promote professional development in nonprofit organizations and strengthen individual, family and community well-being in China.

Keith ‘Skip’ Douglass gave up a coveted job as a golf course superintendent in Texas to enroll at The Rutgers Professional Golf Turf Management School last fall. Douglass and his wife had decided to relocate to Scottsdale, Ariz., and he wanted the prestige of having a Rutgers certificate to help him succeed in that golf mecca. So, he headed to New Brunswick in October 2011 to enter the first 10-week session of the program.

Douglass knew the Rutgers course would be intense, so when he felt exhausted after class each day, he chalked it up the stress of being in school after a more than 30-year hiatus. But as the weeks passed, he developed other symptoms – severe nosebleeds, bruising and night sweats. He blamed them on the moister climate.

It wasn’t until he completed the first 10-week session and headed back west and went to the doctor that he discovered why he was feeling so lousy. A bone marrow biopsy showed he had an unusual form of leukemia.

Even as an undergraduate, Ruchi Pancholy hit the ground running in her chosen field of public health, originally taking aim at the Big Apple.

From college intern on New York City’s trans-fat awareness campaign to post-graduation work on the city’s West Nile virus control program and a mental health services reimbursement program for 9/11 first responders, the 2005 Douglass College graduate has seen her fair share of public health initiatives.

Pancholy even tried an accelerated nursing program, but realized it wasn’t for her: Her interests lay in epidemiology, not direct patient care. 

The hard-working Burlington Township native contemplated her priorities and career options, and realized that her dream was to live in a tropical place and work on emerging infectious diseases in a global setting.