More than 400 graduates received degrees at this year’s winter commencement ceremony, held January 13 in the OceanFirst Bank Center. John J. Esposito, chairman and chief executive officer of Warner Music Nashville, delivered the commencement address and received an honorary Doctor of Music degree, while Christie Pearce Rampone ’99, HN ’05 received the Distinguished Alumni Award. This year marked the final time the university will hold a winter commencement. Beginning in 2018, the spring commencement exercises will be reconfigured “to better serve our distinct undergraduate and graduate cohorts,” said President Brown in an announcement to campus last December.

For the third year in a row, The Princeton Review has named Monmouth one of the country’s most environmentally responsible universities. The 2016 edition of the company’s Guide to 361 Green Colleges praised Monmouth for its commitment to sustainability based on academics and career preparation, “green” policies, initiatives, and activities.

Former New Jersey governor and EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman received Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute’s highest honor, the National Champion of the Ocean Award, at a December reception held in conjunction with the institute’s annual Future of the Ocean Symposium. Whitman was recognized for her service as a leading voice for the environment and for her outstanding contributions to coastal and ocean conservation and sustainable communities.

Monmouth’s 17th annual Big Event, which was held on Saturday, Nov. 5, sent hundreds of student volunteers into the towns surrounding campus, where they took part in cleanup and beautification projects at close to three dozen worksites.