Sen. Kim to receive honorary doctorate at commencement
By Jake Tiger
New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim will receive an honorary doctorate from Rider at this year’s undergraduate commencement ceremony on May 17, the university announced April 7.
Kim will speak to the graduating class upon receiving the distinction, according to External Affairs Vice President Kristine Brown.
Kim, a central figure in New Jersey politics for close to a decade, has made regular visits to campus, speaking with political science classes and working with Mercer County Meals on Wheels, which operates out of Daly Dining Hall, Brown said.
Micah Rasmussen, Director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics, said, “It’s a perfect choice. … I think the [honorary doctorate] is a recognition of a relationship that we have with him. … It’s been a more continuous level of interaction with him.”
Rasmussen said Kim came to one of his political science classes in spring 2024 to talk about campaign finances, and that Rider has had a number of students intern at Kim’s office. Kim, along with Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman and then Sen. Bob Menendez, also came to campus in 2023 for a listening session on the post-pandemic mental health crisis.
Rasmussen noted that Kim, prior to becoming a senator, connected more with Rider because he represented New Jersey’s 3rd Congressional District, which includes Lawrenceville.
Junior political science major Billy Malone, who sat in on Rasmussen’s class when Kim came as a guest lecturer, said he’d seen Kim come to campus more than any other politician.
“He cares about Rider in particular,” Malone said. “Right before my first semester at Rider, I took a trip down to [Washington] D.C. and met with [Kim]. … When I mentioned I was going to Rider, he knew exactly where it was … and said, ‘I’ll be seeing you around.’”
Kim, a Democrat who grew up in Marlton served as a New Jersey representative from 2019 to 2024, recently being elected as a senator last November. He became the first Korean-American elected to the U.S. Senate and New Jersey’s first Asian American senator.
Rosephanye Powell ’87, a nationally recognized composer of choral music, will also receive an honorary doctorate from Rider during the graduate and doctoral ceremony. She received her master’s degree in vocal performance and pedagogy from Westminster Choir College.
