Dear Colleagues:
I write today with an exciting update for our campus community. Yesterday, several Monmouth University officials met with the senior leadership team at Hackensack Meridian Health (HMH) to execute a multipart affiliation agreement that will significantly enhance our health and wellness offerings for students, employees, and the community at-large. The three primary components of this agreement are outlined below.
Academic Opportunities. The agreement is anchored by an academic affiliation designed to provide increased clinical and non-clinical experiential opportunities for Monmouth University students in a variety of health and allied health programs. HMH will employ a full-time clinical academic placement coordinator onsite within the Marjorie K. Unterberg School of Nursing and Health Studies to help foster the successful placement of students and new graduates in internship and employment opportunities with HMH. We are pleased to offer these increased experiential learning opportunities with HMH, in addition to our existing array of field placements and healthcare collaborations.
Healthcare Access. The affiliation also provides for collaboration on physical health and wellness education and outreach for students, and offers after-hours urgent care options for the University community. With this agreement, HMH will also provide direct health services at the Hackensack Meridian Urgent Care Centers in Eatontown and Neptune—as options—when the University’s Health Center is not open. In support of its commitment to Monmouth students, HMH will offer discounted rideshare vouchers to ensure that transportation to those facilities is not a barrier to care. Officials from HMH and Monmouth will also partner on the development of an annual Student Wellness Week designed to better educated students on health and wellness best practices, and how to navigate the resources available to them on and off campus.
Student Wellness Center. HMH also secured title naming rights for the addition of a student wellness center that we are planning as part of an expansion of the OceanFirst Bank Center. This project aims to expand the fitness center, offer much-needed flexible space for academic programming and intramural/recreational sports use, and to upgrade the University’s sports medicine facilities. Details on this project—including scope, funding, and impact—will be rolled out more formally in the coming weeks.
Please join me in thanking and applauding all of our colleagues involved in the thoughtful planning and strategic discussions over the past 15 months which culminated in the partnership launch with Hackensack Meridian Health yesterday. In particular, I am grateful for the vision and leadership of Amanda Klaus, Charlene Diana, Jim Pillar, Kristine Kelly, Nikki Clifford, Rich Veit, and Susan Gupta in bringing this affiliation agreement from concept to reality.
Sincerely,
Dr. Patrick F. Leahy
President