Rider Announces Honorary Degree Recipients for 143rd Commencement Ceremonies on the Lawrenceville Campus

During its 143rd Commencement ceremonies on the Lawrenceville campus, Rider University will proudly bestow an honorary Doctor of Laws degree upon Deborah T. Poritz, the first female Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, and an honorary Doctor of Science degree upon Christy Stephenson, a 1987 Rider graduate and former president and chief executive officer of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Hamilton, N.J.

Chief Justice Poritz will be honored at Rider’s undergraduate ceremony on Friday, May 9, while Stephenson will be honored the evening before at Rider’s Graduate and College of Continuing Studies ceremony on Thursday, May 8.

The Hon. Deborah T. Poritz

Poritz graduated from Brooklyn College in 1958 and later studied English and American literature at Columbia University on a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship. She taught composition and literature at Ursinus College in Pennsylvania before leaving to enter law school.

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1977, the former chief justice began her law career as a Deputy Attorney General in the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, rising to become Assistant Attorney General and Director of the Division of Law in 1986.

Poritz was appointed chief counsel to Gov. Thomas H. Kean in 1989, serving as his principal adviser on legal and legislative matters. When Gov. Kean left office in 1990, Poritz became a partner in the Princeton law firm of Jamieson, Moore, Peskin & Spicer. She remained at Jamieson until 1994 when Gov. Christine Todd Whitman appointed her as New Jersey’s first female Attorney General. She was subsequently appointed Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court in 1996. Upon her retirement in 2006, Poritz joined the law firm of Drinker Biddle.

 

 

 

Christy Stephenson

Christy Stephenson joined TRG Healthcare after retiring from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton in December 2006, where she served for eight years as president and CEO.

Under her leadership, RWJ Hamilton was recognized by the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Program, becoming only the fourth hospital in the nation to receive this award. The hospital also received the Consumer Choice award from the National Research Corporation for 2003-04 and 2005-06 as the most preferred hospital in its region, was named one of the “100 Most Wired Hospitals” in the nation by The Hospitals and Health Network Magazine and appeared on the list of “50 Exceptional U.S. Hospitals” in Consumers Digest magazine.

Stephenson served as Regional Director of Curative Health Services, responsible for the start-up and operation of 18 Wound Care Centers throughout the northeast United States. She also served as a member of the Rider University Board of Trustees from 2003 to 2006.

Stephenson earned a Registered Nurse Degree from Borgess School of Nursing in Michigan and, in 1987, a Bachelor of Science in Liberal Studies from Rider. She holds a Master of Business and Health Care Administration from Temple University in Philadelphia.

 

Submitted on April 10, 2008

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