This Bi-Annual Gender Conference is Dedicated to the Memory of
Dean Francine Corley

Over the past decade, Rutgers University has sent more students to the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE) than any other university due to support from the university wide Committee to Advance Our Common Purposes. Francine Corley was one of the longest standing advocates of Common Purposes, NCORE, and the coordinator and driving force behind the first Rutgers Diversity Conference, Affirm This, held at Rutgers New Brunswick. In 2004, this conference received one the first President’s Recognition Bridge Award for diversity. In 2006, Francinereceived her Staff Service Award for ten years of service to the University.

This conference would not be happening without Francine’s heart, mentoring, persistence and laughter. When Francine took on the task of planning the first conference, she met weekly for over a year with students as the Director of the Cook Campus Center. Quietly and tirelessly, Francine was always there supporting, advising, and making students and staff laugh throughout the entire planning process. The whole time, she had breast cancer, but worked with more energy and fortitude than any ten people. She also balanced raising three boys through it all with her husband Tom Corley. This past summer, Francine lost her battle with cancer, but not before she became the Dean of Students for Cook Campus, the job she always wanted and so rightly deserved. There was not a dry eye in the house when Francine welcomed and embraced parents and students to Cook and Rutgers this past summer, so very proud to be their Dean of Students. The conference on March 28th in Camden is happening because of the dedication, vision, and shear determination of this most incredible women, mother, and student affairs professional.

Francine Calafati Corley was born on December 22, 1961 in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. For ten years she lived in Monmouth Junction after moving to New Jersey from Mililani, Hawaii in 1996 when she started to work at Cook College. She was eventually promoted to Assistant Dean/Director of the Cook Campus Center and the Cook Dean of Students this past year.

Prior to leaving an indelible impression on the Cook campus, Francine held a variety of positions in Student Affairs including the University of Hawaii, Chaminade University of Honolulu, Cabrini College, and LaSalle University. She graduated from LaSalle University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Marketing in 1984. In 1987, Francine received a Masters of Arts in Education from LaSalle as well as post graduate work at both Temple University and the University of Hawaii.
During Dean Corley’s time at Cook College, students were always in and out of her office. Her “mothering,” mentoring, laughter and tenacity were legendary at Cook and throughout the broader University as well. Francine was most noted for her work with the Cook Leadership Program, Responsible Drinking Happy Hours, the Leadership Diversity Group, the LGBTQ Task Force, a long standing LGBTQ liaison, the Bias Prevention Committee. Francine helped to launch the Straight and Gay Alliance at Cook, taught the Perspectives Course, and advised an endless number of students, organizations, and committees. It was through the Cook Leadership Diversity Group that Francine sent a number of students to NCORE. She was dedicated to the idea that students should bring back what they learned and share it with the broader community. A Bi-Annual, student-driven conference on diversity for the entire University was the outcome of this concept. It was decided to rotate each of the three campuses and the first became a reality in New Brunswick in 2004, Newark in 2006, and now Camden in 2008.

Left to cherish the memories and accomplishments of Dean Corley are her husband Thomas and her three sons: Phillip, John and Thomas. Her two sisters, one brother-in-law and thousands of students, alumni, staff and faculty at Rutgers will never forget her devotion, empathy, and humor in everything she did. Francine was passionate about Cook, diversity, and the ethics of caring. Francine always taught her students to be proud of their identities in the true spirit of Oscar Wilde, “Be yourself, because everyone else is taken!”

There has been a scholarship created in honor of her memory. Donations to the Francine Corley Memorial Scholarship can be made out to The Rutgers University Foundation, in care of Marie Prieur, 88 Martin Hall, Lipman Drive, Suite 111, New Brunswick, NJ 08901.