Busch attracts football fanatics, science students

Home of the Rutgers Stadium, tailgate parties, math and science life and more, Busch campus is home to many different groups and diverse aspects of the University.
Campus Dean Thomas Papathomas said the campus is very unique and very diverse.
“Every campus has its strength, and Busch campus is different because it has most of the sciences … and most of the sports are located on Busch campus,” said Papathomas, a University professor. “It has a feeling of openness.”
the campus is attractive to students because it is the main athletic campus, with the football and soccer stadiums, he said.
“The presence of the sports facilities provides a very rich set of activities for Rutgers Student Life,” Papathomas said.
The campus is home to at least three professional schools, which include the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, the School of Engineering and the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, he said.
From this diverse setting stems three main student governing councils: the Pharmacy Governing Council, Engineering Governing Council and the Busch Campus Council, Papathomas said.
“Other campuses have similar governing bodies, but these add diversity because volunteers are diverse,” Papathomas said. “Since our student body is diverse, our student groups are diverse.”
He said there are a lot more volunteers this year because of the diverse student groups.
A unique student group on the campus is the Engineers Without Borders program, where students travel abroad and work to help develop needy communities worldwide, Papathomas said. The Pharmacy Governing Council also works with communities worldwide to provide medicine for those who might need it.
These are just a few of the unique groups on campus, he said.
“They work together for common purposes,” Papathomas said.
Home of natural sciences and mathematics departments, Busch campus also has several joint graduate programs with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Papathomas said.
“The proximity of Busch to the medical campus makes more collaboration,” Papathomas said. “[It’s] a short walk away.”
He said a lot of the University’s breakthrough research occurs in several laboratories throughout the campus, making it an extremely important one.
“Busch has numerous research centers, institutes and laboratories, mainly in the sciences,” Papathomas said.
Some of the research centers include the Rutgers Center for Cognitive Science, the Center for Alcohol Studies — a one of a kind program at the University — the W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience and the Rutgers Stem Cell Research Center, he said.
These research facilities are meant to encourage students to get involved in research, he said.
“We’re trying to get undergraduates and graduates involved in research as soon as we can,” Papathomas said.
But the Busch identity does not only end with state-of-the-art academic buildings. There are plans to build more residence halls on Busch campus, he said.
“It has great residence facilities, with plans to have three [more] dormitories ready to go to construction,” he said.
Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy fifth-year student Talissa Dorsaint said she likes living on Busch campus because most of her classes are there, and it has a suburban atmosphere.
“A lot of my friends are [on the campus], and it just seems like a much quieter place to live than College Avenue,” Dorsaint said. “I mean, if you like a lot of action then College Avenue is better, but I just prefer Busch.”
She said although College Avenue is known as the most diverse campus, there are more students she can relate to on Busch since they are primarily science majors.
“If you like science students, that’s where you’re going to find them,” Dorsaint said. “Basically, all the science students live [on Busch campus]. It’s still pretty diverse though.”
Busch resident and School of Arts and Sciences junior Raahi Grover said he likes that the campus is not only culturally and ethnically diverse, but it is diverse in areas of study and filled with people with different types of personalities.
“I feel like it combines the best mixture of people at Rutgers University,” Grover said.

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