LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ -- Rush Holt, a first-term US Representative from the 12^th Congressional District, and Ronald Berman, chairman and CEO of the Trenton-based real estate development firm R. Berman Development Company, L.L.C., will join a distinguished list of Rider honorary degree recipients at the University's 134^th commencement on Friday, May 14.

Both Holt and Berman will receive Honorary Doctor of Laws degrees during the ceremony, which will begin at 10:30 a.m. on the Campus Green.

Holt, elected to the House of Representatives last November, has politics in his blood. His father was the youngest elected US Senator, at age 29, while his mother served as secretary of state in West Virginia, the only woman to hold that position. In his own right, Holt has built an accomplished résumé in government, education, and science, and has worked specifically in applying the latter to the public good.

Holder of a B.A. in physics from Carleton College and a Master and Ph.D. from New York University, Holt has held positions as a teacher, Congressional Scientist Fellow, research scientist, and as an arms control expert for the US State Department. He has conducted research on solar wind and received a patent for a solar energy device.

From 1989 until the beginning of his 1998 Congressional campaign, Holt was assistant director of the Princeton Plasma Physics laboratory, a major center for research in alternative energy.

His educational ideals have not diminished since his election to Congress, as he quickly won key assignments on the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the powerful Committee on the Budget. His legislative priorities include environmental protection, the livability of communities, school improvement, health care reform, and Social Security protection.

Along with his political and educational exploits, the Hopewell Township resident was a five-time winner of the television game show "Jeopardy."

Berman, a native Trentonian and holder of A.B. and L.L.B. degrees from Rutgers University, has distinguished himself as a business leader and dedicated citizen through his work in developing urban projects as public-private partnerships.

He founded and served as chairman and CEO of DKM Properties Corporation in 1984, where he presided over the acquisition, development, and construction and asset management of more than six million square feet of office, retail, health care, and industrial space in the region, and developed more than one million square feet of mixed-use urban projects. After leaving DKM in 1993, he founded R. Berman Development Company, L.L.C.

Among Berman's recent noteworthy accomplishments is the development and revitalization of Trenton's historic Roebling Complex into a commercial center and market. He is currently developing the highly anticipated Mercer County Arena and is co-owner of the Trenton Titans, a new East Coast Hockey League franchise which will play its home games in the new arena upon its scheduled completion in September.

For 25 years prior to concentrating on his own development activities, Berman was a real estate attorney representing major developers and municipalities. His many posts include serving as the first executive director of the County and Municipal Government Study Commission, the first assistant commissioner for public transportation for the State of New Jersey, director of the New Jersey chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks, director of the Middlesex-Somerset-Mercer Regional Council, and as urban renewal attorney for Trenton.

He has been a member of the Council on New Jersey Affairs of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and currently serves on the board of directors of the Robert Wood Johnson Hospital Foundation, the Invention Factory, and the Trenton Performing Arts Center.

Commencement will be held outside, rain or shine. All University entrances will be closed to incoming traffic from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the day of commencement. The main gate will be closed to outgoing traffic from 8:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. All normal traffic procedures in the area will be resumed at 3 p.m.

For those who cannot attend commencement, the University will provide a live broadcast the entire ceremony over the World Wide Web. The address is www.rider.edu/live.

Rider University is an independent, coeducational, nonsectarian institution with a 353-acre main campus in Lawrenceville, New Jersey and a 23-acre campus in Princeton, New Jersey. The University offers 60 undergraduate programs and 17 graduate programs in the Colleges of Business Administration; Liberal Arts, Education, and Sciences; Continuing Studies; and Westminster Choir College. Ninety-three percent of the faculty hold doctoral or other appropriate advanced degrees.

Rider's Lawrenceville campus is located five miles south of Princeton and three miles north of Trenton on Route 206 in Lawrence Township, NJ. The campus is one-half mile south of exit 7A of Interstate 95.