Scholarships and Awards

 We are honored and proud to acknowledge The Ruth and Mel Schulman Endowed Fellowship in recognition of Ruth and Mel Schulman’s lifelong commitment to excellence and service. 

Recently, Ruth Schulman and son Dan Schulman had the opportunity to meet the first Schulman Fellow, Yuri Finisterre, a second year school psychology student, and his wife Johenn for dinner in New Brunswick.

Dr. S. Ruth Schulman provided outstanding leadership and service to GSAPP for 25 years as our Associate Dean, retiring in 1999.  She was an integral part of student and faculty life at the graduate school from its very beginnings in the early 1970s.  Twenty-five years of students, now alumni, have come to know and love Dr. Schulman for her caring and friendly support.  When students were frustrated by university procedures, when someone needed a sympathetic ear about the struggle of adapting to graduate school, when financial concerns were creating an obstacle to remaining in school, Ruth was often the person to whom they turned.  Along with her warmth and caring, she usually had a creative suggestion to help a student turn things towards a more constructive direction.

Sandy Harris, a former Dean of GSAPP who worked with Ruth closely for a number of years, said that “Ruth had an in-depth knowledge of Rutgers University and GSAPP that she shared generously to help me solve the administrative problems that came my way. In the beginning, she knew more about my job than I did!”

Stanley Messer, the current dean, occupied the office next to Ruth throughout her 25-year career at GSAPP. He recalled that “Ruth had an extraordinary ability to juggle many things at once and yet focus only on you the minute you entered her office. She managed, simultaneously, to provide excellent leadership to the school, to be devoted to her family while pursuing doctoral studies at the Graduate School of Education, culminating in an Ed.D.   

Mel Schulman was a warm, loving man and a highly creative chemical engineer who developed new products with multiple applications for real life.  For example, his interest in adhesives allowed him to understand how windows might fall out of buildings.  One of his strengths was his ability to think about problems in a non-linear way that led him to a variety of possible solutions to seemingly intractable questions.  He was much enjoyed by the GSAPP faculty and staff and would often stop by with the necessary tools to mount plaques on the wall or fix small but annoying problems in the building.  At the event, GSAPP had to celebrate Ruth’s retirement he was called “….GSAPP’s handy tool man.”

Sons Daniel and Joel Schulman have strong roots at Rutgers.  Daniel is a member of the Rutgers University Board of Trustees and lives with his wife Jennie and their children in New Jersey.  Joel is a 1983 graduate of the School of Engineering and lives in Massachusetts with wife Nancy and son.  On behalf of the Schulman family, they have generously established The Ruth and Mel Schulman Endowed Fellowship in honor of Ruth’s leadership at GSAPP and in memory of their late father, Mel.

The Schulman family’s generous gift will allow us to attract the best and brightest graduate students, helping to prepare individuals for lives in a global society and to improve the psychological health and well-being of the people and communities they will serve. Generous private support fosters our ability to train professionals who can integrate scientific knowledge with innovation in the delivery of psychological services to individuals, families, and organizations.  The development of new programs, new agencies, and system change through prevention, intervention, and psychological services is an ongoing mission of our faculty, students, and alumni.  Today, students combine their hands-on supervised clinical training with state-of-the-art, evidence-based preventions and interventions for at-risk and underserved populations in the schools, foster care, prisons, families, and in entire communities.

Fellowship gifts are especially meaningful because of the direct impact they have upon the lives of the recipients.  The Ruth and Mel Schulman Endowed Fellowship is a merit-based award that will help deserving graduate students to pursue a PsyD degree at GSAPP unburdened by financial distractions.  The award highlights academic distinction, promise as a practitioner, extracurricular involvement, leadership ability, community engagement, future aspirations, and character.

Because of the Schulman family’s generous support, our graduates continue to make outstanding contributions to the field of psychology along with key innovations in service delivery, education, and training – helping thousands of children, adolescents, and adults lead happier, healthier, and more productive lives.

The Dean's Award

This award is presented annually to the student who has done the most to foster and enhance the quality of life at GSAPP during the academic year. Each awardee receives a framed certificate and a cash award.

Since 1991, The Cyril M. Franks Award has celebrated the outstanding GSAPP doctoral dissertation of the year. This highly coveted award has provided recognition, encouragement, and support to our students who will advance knowledge, develop innovative programs, new agencies, and lead system change through state-of-the-art, evidence-based cutting-edge prevention and intervention psychological services for at- risk and underserved populations. The Franks Award is truly one of the highlights at our annual Commencement awards ceremony. Each awardee receives a framed certificate and a cash award.

This award is presented annually to the graduating student whose energy, spirit, and enthusiasm evidence a dedication and willingness to work in the interest of professional psychology and the people it serves. This award is presented at the Graduation Reception and each awardee receives a framed certificate and a cash award.

This award (given in honor and memory of Virginia Bennett, who chaired the School Psychology program) is presented annually to a student who evidences dedication to the use of psychological skills and knowledge to alleviate the problems of minority group children in coping with the educational process. Each awardee receives a framed certificate and a cash award.