News
Happy Holidays: Bloustein School Closed 12/25/2025-1/5/2026
From all of us at the Bloustein School, we wish you and yours a very happy holiday season and a happy new year! As a reminder, Rutgers University and the Bloustein School are CLOSED beginning at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 24, 2025 and will not reopen until...
Meet the 2026 New Jersey Leadership Collective Fellows
New Jersey Leadership Collective’s mission is to train leaders who are committed to moving the communities they serve and the Garden State forward. We aim to make progressive change to legislation and policies through building collective power and taking collective action. We are a network of inclusive leaders who have the expertise to implement change and provide the skills and connections needed to make progress a reality.
Of the 25 selected fellows for this year, three have ties to the Bloustein School.
Montclair PILOT ‘Sharing’ Measure Won’t Fly – But Town Considering Other Options
The inequitable sharing, Pfeiffer said, has a long history that favors municipal governments. This is because when initially established by the legislature, PILOTs were only available to Urban Aid municipalities, which would typically correspond with the list of then Abbott districts, where the state covered greater portions of school costs.
The Peak of Trump’s Fact-Free Vendetta Against Regulation
As economists got better at measuring the benefits of regulation,” Stuart Shapiro, a onetime OIRA analyst and now professor of public policy at Rutgers, observes in The Regulatory Review, “benefit-cost analysis began to be seen as a tool that supported more stringent regulation of the economy.”
EJB Talks: Fighting for Government Accountability in NJ
Stuart Shapiro asks Julia Rubin, why New Jersey has long been considered one of the most politically corrupt states. She explains how a consistent pattern of high-profile cases have contributed to this perception, citing the influence of the state’s longtime political machines and the now-abolished “county line” primary ballot that heavily favored party-backed candidates as primary examples. She also walks us through how years of research, lawsuits, and the more recent Menendez scandal have culminated in a major reform that replaced the county line with fairer office-block ballots, leading to more competitive races, higher voter turnout, and a growing number of reform-minded legislators.
Stagnating national jobs market raises economic concerns
Irving said he’ll be tracking jobs numbers closely in coming months. New Jersey’s unemployment rate is 5.2% — that’s higher than the national rate — and Irving noted the state has in recent years been a bellwether for what is coming to the rest of America.
New 2024-2025 Health Administration Program Annual Report
Executive Director Soumitra Bhuyan, PhD, MPH released the Bloustein School’s Health Administration programs 2024-2025 annual report. Dr. Bhuyan highlights the successful launch of the new #DHA program and high enrollments in our #MHA and #HA programs this year.
Heldrich Center: Updated Multi-State Postsecondary Report Released
A new report for the New Jersey Statewide Data System, written by Ann Obadan, Ph.D., Research Project Manager at the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, and Amarachi Chuka-Maduji, former Research Project Assistant at the Heldrich Center and currently at the Delaware Department of Labor, provides an overview of how states and scholars conceptualize the care economy.
NJ Job Losses Reach 16K For 2025; What Does 2026 Hold?
“We may start seeing signs of a recession, but that doesn’t mean we’re in a recession,” he told NJ101.5. “The economy is constantly flowing, changing. I don’t see us at the moment being in recession. But there clearly is potential for that.”
Cantor, Yedidia Identify Strategies to Provide Health Care to Homeless
A study by Joel Cantor and Michael Yedidia published in The Milbank Quarterly found that partnerships between housing and health care organizations significantly improve services for people experiencing homelessness by making better use of limited resources. Through interviews with administrators and frontline providers in eight New Jersey programs, researchers identified strategies such as co-locating services, maintaining strong inter-organizational communication, and tailoring care to client needs.
“Work Trends RU” Podcast with Beth Simone Noveck, Ph.D.
Listen to the latest episode of the Heldrich Center’s Work Trends RU podcast, featuring featuring Aaron Fichtner, Ph.D., President of the New Jersey Council of County Colleges. Dr. Fichtner discusses the role New Jersey’s 18 community colleges play in expanding access to higher education, developing a skilled workforce, and meeting the evolving needs of students, employers, and local communities.
Prof. Andrews Interviewed About New Jersey’s Propane Emergency
“[It] can lead to frozen pipes, can lead to sick kids, it could lead to a whole variety of problems,” Prof. Andrews said.
He said that the whole situation underscores how problematic the use of propane can be.