Rider University

Rider University is a private university located in Lawrence Township, New Jersey, United States. It offers a variety of programs for students to explore. The university is made up of three main academic areas: the Norm Brodsky College of Business, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (which includes Westminster Choir College), and the College of Education and Human Services. These different areas allow students to study subjects like business, arts and sciences, education, and more, helping prepare them for many careers.

History

The school began as Trenton Business College on October 1, 1865, founded by Henry Beadman Bryant and Henry D. Stratton, who ran a chain of private business schools. It was first located in Temperance Hall in Trenton, New Jersey. Andrew J Rider was its first president. Because President Rider owned land with cranberry bogs near Hammonton, New Jersey, the school colors became cranberry and white.

Over time, the school grew and moved to bigger places. In 1896, women were allowed to join. That same year, it was renamed Rider Business College. President Rider left the next year.

In 1920, the school moved to East State Street in Trenton and became Rider College. In 1922, it was allowed to give out degrees for accounts and commercial science. By 1957, it added liberal studies for Bachelor of Arts degrees.

In 1959, Rider College moved to a larger campus in Lawrence Township, N.J. In 1961, plans were made to organize the college into five separate schools, which happened in the 1962–63 school year. One of these was a new School of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Rider College joined with nearby Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey in 1991–92. On April 13, 1994, it became Rider University.

In 2005, Rider finished building a large Student Recreation Center, a small residence hall, and added three stories to two existing residence halls. The recreation center has locker rooms, a big fitness room, and many sports facilities.

Since 2020, Rider University's finances have been rated very low. By 2023, the university faced money problems and lost about a fifth of its students. In November 2025, it announced plans to cut costs, including laying off some teachers and reducing salaries.

Presidents

Rider has had eight presidents:

1. Andrew Jackson Rider (1866–1898)
2. Franklin Benjamin Moore (1898–1934)
3. Franklin Frazee Moore (1934–1969)
4. Frank Nelson Elliott (1969–1990)
5. J. Barton Luedeke (1990–2003)
6. Mordechai Rozanski (2003–2015)
7. Gregory Dell'Omo (2015–2025)
8. John R. Loyack (2025–present)

Campus

The 280-acre campus is located in Lawrenceville, a suburban area. It is about three miles north of Trenton and five miles south of Princeton.

Academic buildings

Classes take place in several buildings including Birenbaum Fisher Hall, The Mike and Patti Hennessy Science and Technology Center, the Fine Arts Center, Anne Brossman Sweigart Hall, and Lynch Adler Hall. Lynch Adler Hall was built in 2011 and has a special design that helps save energy. It is a silver certified building, which means it follows rules to be good for the environment, and it is 21,250-square-foot in size.

Libraries

The Franklin F. Moore Library helps students with over 481,000 books, 2,000 magazines, and many online resources. The Talbott Library at Westminster Choir College focuses on music and has lots of books, scores, and recordings.

Rider Libraries keep important records from business teacher groups in New Jersey. They also have old newspapers and special collections, like letters from the time of the Civil War between the United States, France, and Great_Britain.

Publications and media

The Shadow Yearbook was first published in 1923, two years after the school changed its name to Rider College.

The Rider News is the school's student newspaper, started in 1930. It is published weekly on Wednesdays from September to May. WRRC-FM 107.7 The Bronc is a student-run radio station that began in 1962.

Venture is a literary magazine where students can share their art and writing on any topic. The Rider University Network (R.U.N.) is a student group that makes television shows in the campus studio. These shows air on campus and online, and the group started in 2000.

Student life

Rider University has over 150 student clubs and groups, along with more than a dozen Greek organizations. These include both social groups and those focused on professional or academic honors.

Athletics

Main article: Rider Broncs

See also: Rider University Athletics Hall of fame and List of college athletic programs in New Jersey, USA § Division I

The sports teams at Rider University are called the Broncs. They compete in the NCAA Division I and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Since the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference does not include wrestling, Rider's wrestling team competes in the Mid-American Conference.

Rider University's sports programs began in the 1920s under coach Clair Bee. Two well-known athletes from the school are Digger Phelps, who later coached basketball at Notre Dame and worked for ESPN, and Jason Thompson, who played basketball for Rider and later joined the Sacramento Kings.

Rider had a football team until 1951, when it was stopped. In 2007, the university updated its sports logo.

Notable alumni

Main article: List of Rider University people

Rider University has produced many successful graduates in different fields. In entertainment, alumni include Monét X Change, a drag queen who won a season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, and Gerald Peary, a documentary filmmaker.

In government, Rider graduates have served in important roles, such as Nathaniel Barnes, who became the Liberian Ambassador to the United Nations, and Mark S. Schweiker, who was the 44th Governor of Pennsylvania.

The university also has notable athletes among its alumni. These include Florian Valot, a professional soccer player, and Stella Johnson, a professional basketball player who was a top scorer for her college team. Other alumni have achieved success in sports such as baseball and rowing.