HONORS LIVING-LEARNING COMMUNITY
Honors Living-Learning Community Staff
Timothy K. Eatman
Dean of the Honors Living-Learning Community
Associate Professor of Urban Education
Marta Elena Esquilin
Associate Dean of the Honors Living-Learning Community
Assistant Professor of Professional Practice, American Studies
Engelbert Santana
Assistant Dean, Dean of Advisement
Lecturer Spanish and Portuguese Studies
Macsu Hill, Ph.D.
Director of Special Projects
Mary Ann Vargas
Senior Student Program Coordinator
Yina A. Diaz
Program Coordinator
Website: Here
Established in 2015, the Honors Living-Learning Community (HLLC) is an innovative Rutgers University-Newark initiative that is revolutionizing honors, cultivating talent, and engaging communities. The HLLC is redefining the notion of "honors" by creating intergenerational and interdisciplinary learning communities comprised of students, faculty, and community partners focused on tackling some of the nation's most pressing social issues. Dynamic students are selected to join a living-learning community and intergenerational network across all intersections of identity focused on cultivating knowledge, fostering understanding across and within groups, and activating social, institutional, and cultural change.
As a transformational college access program, the HLLC is broadening pathways to college for promising local talent and reimagining the academy. The HLLC endeavors to increase access to higher education for academically promising, talented, and civic-minded individuals, some of whom may be overlooked by relying solely on standard academic indicators for college success. Utilizing a holistic admissions rubric, the HLLC identifies exceptional first-year students and community college transfers from Newark and Greater Newark, while also extending its reach to other national and international regions.
A State-of-the-Art Living and Learning Facility
The Honors Living-Learning Community is housed at 48 New Street, a 320,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art learning and residence facility that includes residences, classrooms, workspaces, street-level retail, and parking. The building houses 399 undergraduate students and provides an open space for RU-N students, faculty, staff, and community members to gather.
HLLC Scholars
The HLLC student body is comprised of dynamic, academically promising, and civic-minded scholars who desire to make a positive impact on their communities. The HLLC identifies exceptional incoming first-year and transfer students from the City of Newark, the Greater Newark Area, and beyond who have a broad range of academic interests, co-curricular involvements, and social justice interests, including equity in healthcare, LGBTQ rights, racial disparities, and mass incarceration. Its curriculum provides students with a framework to explore social inequities and themes related to citizenship, as they emerge within various academic disciplines. HLLC scholars exemplify the best of those who will become our future innovators and thought leaders.
Examples of HLLC students include, but are not limited to the following:
High School Graduates
First-Generation College Students
Transfer Students
Veterans
Non-Traditional Students
General Education Development (GED) Recipients
Student-Parents
Financially Independent Students