Alumni Profiles

Stories

Dale Sipos, left, and Steve Flett at the 2025 VARU Rutgers football military appreciation game boardwalk. The 2026 military appreciation game is set for the November 14 game against the University of Nebraska.

Steve Flett, a 1990 Rutgers College graduate who retired from the U.S. Army as a major, encourages Rutgers alumni who are veterans to connect with the Veteran Alumni of Rutgers University (VARU) association. Flett—who held a key intelligence role in the Pentagon during the 9/11 attacks—is in his second term as president of the organization that welcomes all Rutgers alumni who are veterans as members.

Seated center, Clayton Walton, executive director of the Rutgers–Newark Office of Globally Engaged Experiential Learning, with global ambassadors Virginia De Pascual, left, Jason Towindo, right. Graduate Coordinator Carina Bontia is standing left, with Olivia Tutu in the lounge at John Cotton Dana Library. Photo by Allison Freeman.

Clayton Walton, an alumnus and executive director of the Rutgers–Newark Office of Global Initiatives and Experiential Learning, is excited about the dramatic influence his program has on students who study abroad in the Global South, which includes Latin America, Africa, and much of Asia. Many go on to dedicate themselves to global social work and sustainability.

Rutgers alumna Samphoas Huy, who earned master’s and doctoral degrees at Rutgers–Newark, at the Louvre in Paris.

Despite growing up as a child of survivors of the murderous Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, Samphoas Huy was raised by a family that valued education. Donor support helped Huy earn her graduate degrees at Rutgers–Newark.

One Hundred Years 100 Scholarships

Rutgers alumnus Jim Cullen will reach a special milestone in his giving to Rutgers this month when the scholarship he created is awarded to a 100th Piscataway High School graduate. His endowment has helped reduce expenses for students so they can focus on academics and volunteering.

Ben Axler RC’99, RBS’99 with Efraim Kooijmans RBS ’27, the first recipient of Axler’s endowed scholarship, at the Rutgers–Newark Celebration of Donor Impact. Photo by Maxim Ryazansky.

Alumnus Ben Axler, who created a scholarship in his name to benefit students when he was just 34 years old, has created a second Rutgers Business School scholarship named after his company, Spruce Point Capital Management to support students for years to come.