Rutgers University–Newark has been awarded the Seal of Excelencia, becoming the only college or university in New Jersey to earn this rigorous, data-driven certification from Excelencia in Education.
The seal recognizes institutions that go beyond enrollment to intentionally serve Latino students and all students by creating environments where they feel a sense of belonging—and where belonging drives academic and economic success.
Rutgers-Newark joins nearly 60 institutions nationwide who have earned the distinction. “Seal of Excelencia certified institutions are investing in transformation, ensuring access to excellence, and becoming places where Latino, and all, students thrive,” said Deborah Santiago, co-founder and CEO of Excelencia in Education. “These institutions have made demonstrable efforts to ensure students’ return on investment in a degree while cultivating talent that fuels our country’s future.”
In 2024-2025, nearly 35 percent of Rutgers–Newark’s 7,989 undergraduate students identified as Latino/Hispanic, far exceeding the 25 percent threshold for federal designation as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). This year’s incoming class had the largest number of students who identify as Hispanic. The Seal of Excelencia goes beyond the HSI designation by recognizing measurable outcomes. Surveys show that 88 percent of Hispanic students at Rutgers-Newark (RU-N) feel they belong– and 83 percent feel valued–evidence of a campus culture that sustains students both personally and academically.
“Our students thrive because we work hard to build a climate of connection and care,” said Chancellor Tonya Smith-Jackson. “Belonging is the foundation of student success, and Rutgers–Newark ensures that every student—Latino and otherwise—feels supported to achieve at the highest levels.”
“From the moment students begin at Rutgers–Newark, we reaffirm our message that our Hispanic students and all students can achieve a baccalaureate education at an intensive and demanding research university like Rutgers–Newark,” said Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Jeffrey Robinson. “That affirmation is backed by programs and practices that help students persist and graduate.”
Hispanic students are now the second-largest college-going population in the United States and often navigate higher education while balancing work and family responsibilities. Rutgers–Newark’s strategies—designed to remove barriers, improve retention, and increase completion rates—offer a model for serving all “post-traditional” learners. Programs piloted to meet Latino students’ needs now benefit the entire student body, demonstrating how intentional equity work raises outcomes across the board.
In addition to ranking #5 nationwide for social mobility and #1 in the Northeast & Mid-Atlantic, Rutgers-Newark has a proven track record of serving its Latino students in three academic areas where Hispanic people, who make up more than 19 percent of the US population, are underrepresented: STEM, geosciences, and business. The following programs have helped all students at RU-N but have been particularly successful with Hispanic students.
- Career readiness: Rutgers Business School’s B-STAR program achieved a 100 percent job placement rate for all program graduates in their field, including Hispanic students, who comprise nearly 60 percent of program participants. It also boosted six-year overall retention rates for Hispanic students to 100 percent.
- Leadership development: The Braven career accelerator has supported more than 1,600 students over the past decade, connecting them to internships and careers across New Jersey and beyond. For Hispanic students, who tend to have lower graduation rates than their peers, the program boosted graduation rates to 80 percent, only 1 percent lower than the overall student completion rate.
- STEM pathways: The Sloan Transformations and Advancing Retention (STAR) program aims to increase the number of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students earning degrees in geoscience and other STEM fields. It maintains a 93 percent graduate school retention rate, with nearly 40 percent of alumni entering geoscience or other STEM careers.
Since 2016, Rutgers–Newark has been federally designated as an HSI. But earning the Seal of Excelencia signals that the university’s work is producing tangible academic, career, and social outcomes for Hispanic students and all students.
Excelencia in Education is a national leader in catalyzing transformation for student success in higher education. Although Seal institutions represent less than one percent of all U.S. colleges and universities, they educate 16 percent of the nation’s Hispanic students and graduate 8 percent of all students, underscoring their outsized impact.
“Excelencia is proud to continue to catalyze and support colleges and universities that earn the Seal of Excelencia for their impact and intentional efforts to deliver on the promise of higher education for all students,” said Sarita Brown, co-founder and president of Excelencia in Education. “Through our collaboration, we build talent for our country’s workforce and civic leadership.”
About Rutgers University Newark
Rutgers University–Newark (RU-N) is a diverse, urban, public research university that is an anchor institution in New Jersey’s cultural capital. It is exceptionally well positioned to fulfill higher education’s promise as an engine of discovery, innovation, and social mobility. It has a legacy of producing high-impact scholarship that is connected to the great questions and challenges of the world. It is in and of a city and region where its work on local challenges undertaken with partners from many sectors resonates powerfully throughout our urbanizing world. Most importantly, RU-N brings an incredible diversity of people to this work—students, faculty, staff, and community partners—making it more innovative, more creative, more engaging, and more relevant for our time and the times ahead.
About Excelencia in Education
Excelencia in Education leads a national network of results-oriented educators and policymakers transforming higher education to tap the talents of the Latino community and address the U.S. economy’s needs for a highly educated workforce and engaged civic leaders. With this network, Excelencia ensures access to excellence by promoting student achievement, informing educational policies, and advancing evidence-based practices to more intentionally serve Latino, and all, students. For more information, visit: EdExcelencia.org
