Community Activities
Rider is proud of its faculty members’ dedication to the communities in which they live and work. Their commitment not only to the important work of teaching and mentoring students, but to organizing and promoting charitable and educational opportunities that benefit a variety of populations, serves to highlight and reinforce the excellence of Rider’s commitment to both education and community service.
Dr. Mildred Rice Jordan
Dr. Mildred Rice Jordan is an associate professor who teaches in the department of teacher education and the multicultural studies program. At Rider, she has established the Dr. Mildred Rice Jordan Scholarship in Gender Studies to reward students who make significant contributions toward promoting and supporting cultural diversity initiatives. Her endowed scholarship fund at Temple University's College of Education helps make it possible to recruit and financially support education majors who wish to work in urban school districts. Over the years at Rider, she has also coordinated and supervised an urban field experience for education majors at the Woodrow Wilson Elementary School in Trenton.
In other community pursuits, Dr. Rice Jordan is a member of the advisory board and a financial supporter of Rider's Minding Our Business Program (M.O.B.), a mentoring program for Trenton area middle school youth that teaches them entrepreneurial skills. This summer, she also participated in many of their summer program activities, including having a table at two of their Market Fairs.
Dr. Rice Jordan has also created a distance learning education program at one of the New Jersey Juvenile Justice Commission’s facilities for incarcerated female juveniles. Her many other community activities are conducted through her membership in the National Sorority of the Phi Delta Kappa, Inc. Pi Chapter of Trenton. She is also a Gold Life member of the Trenton NAACP. Recently, Dr. Rice Jordan was nominated to be an advisory board member for the St. Mary Medical Center Foundation in Langhorne, PA.
Dr. Barry Truchil
Dr. Barry Truchil, Professor of Sociology and Department Chair, has served as an elected member of the Langhorne, PA, Borough Council since 1992. He served as council president from 1994-2004. From 1990-1992, he also served on the Langhorne Borough Zoning Board. Dr. Truchil is now using this experience as the basis for a book he is writing on how local government works. In addition to his borough council activity, Dr. Truchil served as president of the Neshaminy Middle School Music Booster from 1999-2002. In this capacity, he raised funds for the music program and served as master of ceremonies for the Annual Jazz Festivals. He also organized grassroots movements: one year to protect the school district’s music program from budget cuts, and the next year to prevent the closing of the school altogether. He is a member of the Social Action Committee for the Har Sinai Congregation in Trenton, NJ.
