2022 Recipients
Young Alumni Award – Parth M. Parikh ’14
Parth Parikh graduated from The College of New Jersey with a Bachelor of Arts in political science. He was a member of several organizations, including Inter-Greek Council president, Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, and Model United Nations. While completing his undergraduate studies, Parikh gained professional experience at the Office of the Attorney General and State Democratic Committee in Trenton, New Jersey.
After TCNJ, Parikh taught New Jersey’s youth as a member of Teach for America and was subsequently awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to teach in India. After his Fulbright, he enrolled at Notre Dame Law School, where he served as president of the Education Law Forum. Since graduating from law school in May 2021, Parikh has worked at the New Jersey law firm, Lowenstein Sandler, as an associate in their litigation department.
Humanitarian Award – Noel B. Ramirez ’07
Noel Ramirez graduated from TCNJ in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in women’s and gender studies and communications. He earned a Master of Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania in 2009, a Master of Public Health from Drexel University in 2012, and in spring 2020, completed his doctorate in behavioral health from Arizona State University. Throughout the past 15 years, Ramirez’s career has been grounded in social justice and community mobilization. He has developed curriculum and initiated stigma reduction programming for HIV-positive gay/bisexual men of color in six different Philadelphia hospital systems. Ramirez also developed and co-ran an LGBTQ youth drop-in center, coached a run club for gay/bisexual men of color impacted by HIV, and recently assisted in expanding medication-assisted treatment across five different federally qualified health centers to increase access to treatment for individuals struggling with opiate addiction.
While at TCNJ, Ramirez was a community advisor for first-year students, an AmeriCorps member, was the president of the GUTS/PRISM, and an active member of the Asian American Association. Today Ramirez is the founder and director of Mango Tree Counseling and Consulting, an Asian American group mental health practice, and is working on developing a pipeline to develop more clinical talent in the AAPI community. He also teaches graduate social work at Columbia’s School of Social Work.
Distinguished Service Award – Greg J. Bellotti ’92
Greg Bellotti graduated from The College of New Jersey in 1992 with a Bachelor of Science in law and justice. During his time on campus, Bellotti spent most of his time working for the recreation department, playing varsity football, and developing his learning habits in Roscoe L. West Library.
He became a member of the Alumni Association Board in 1999 and after five years, was named president. During this time, Bellotti built a sustainable financial platform for the Alumni Association by implementing the Liberty Mutual Insurance program and allocating funds to build Alumni Grove and establish the Brick Naming campaign, which continues to generate revenue each year for the Alumni Association. He also devoted one year to the TCNJ Foundation Board and sat on numerous boards for R. Barbara Gitenstein, including vice president and coaching searches.
He was a member of the TSC Gridiron Group, raising awareness and funds for the football program. Recently Bellotti has worked with Head Football Coach Casey Goff and the Alumni Association football chapter to establish a renewed football alumni group.
Bellotti and his wife, Lisa, met on their first day at TSC and have two children together, Joseph and Mary. Their daughter currently attends TCNJ and is expected to graduate in 2022. Bellotti has worked at Elementis Global for seven years and is a part of the executive management team as chief information officer. He also currently serves as an adjunct professor in the TCNJ MBA program.
Alumni Citation Award – Jennifer Fierst Graf ’96
In her 25 years on Wall Street, Jennifer Graf has been a leader in innovating financial operations and a driver of career development through her leadership roles in 100 Women in Finance’s CFO/COO/Operations peer advisory group, the TCNJ School of Business Dean’s Advisory Council, and the Rutgers University Road to Wall Street Leadership Committee. As director of operations for Renaissance Technologies, a quantitative hedge fund, Graf knows what it takes to develop a successful career.
During a decade-plus career at Goldman Sachs, Graf was actively involved in the firm’s recruiting and training efforts. She was selected as a divisional trainer for the firm’s Delivering Client Service Excellence program and was an inaugural recipient of the firm’s Citizenship and Diversity award. While supporting the firm’s launch of their Salt Lake City office, she was responsible for building a long-standing relationship with the University of Utah and developed and delivered a course to students on exploring careers in finance.
Since then, in addition to her role and responsibilities at Renaissance, Graf has been a sponsor of the TCNJ Women’s Leadership Summit and has been a guest leader and student advisor at the annual LeaderShape Institute for TCNJ students. In 2013, Rutgers University recognized her for helping drive career education and mentoring and in 2020, she received the TCNJ Alumni Citation award, considered to be the premier award of the TCNJ Alumni Association.
She is a strong advocate of giving students the tools and knowledge they need to be successful in whatever endeavor they choose to pursue. She has backed that advocacy up with many years of hands-on commitment to helping people and supporting valuable networks.
The College of New Jersey Alumni Association invites nominations for the following awards:
Nominations for 2023 will be announced in the coming months.
Alumni Citation Award
- Conferred continuously since 1940, the Alumni Citation Award is the premier award given by the TCNJ Alumni Association. It is granted to a living alumnus or alumna who:
- has achieved exceptional success in work and/or community;
- has demonstrated a sustained association with the college since graduation, including support to the TCNJ Fund;
- graduated 15 or more years prior to nomination;
- is not currently employed by The College of New Jersey or its affiliated organizations.
Distinguished Service Award
- First given in 1998, this award recognizes an individual who has provided exceptional service to the college, his/her class, the TCNJ Alumni Association, and/or the college’s students.
Humanitarian Award
- First given in 2001, recognizes an alumnus or alumna who has shown exceptional public-spiritedness or concern for human welfare through philanthropic activities.
Young Alumni Award
- The newest of the four awards, this award recognizes an alumnus or alumna of the last 10 years whose professional accomplishments, dedication to alma mater, and/or service to society are distinctive.