History & Tradition

A Foundation in South Jersey

Founded in the 1920s, Rutgers University–Camden began as the South Jersey Law School and the College of South Jersey. In 1950, the two schools became the Camden campus when it merged with Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

After decades of providing students with a comprehensive liberal arts curriculum through the Arts and Sciences, in 1981 Rutgers–Camden began to offer its first master’s degree programs, in biology, English, and business administration. In 1989, the growing demand for business offerings led to the founding of the School of Business–Camden, the first business school in southern New Jersey to earn prestigious accreditation from the AACSB International. Rutgers–Camden achieved another academic first in 2007: launching the first doctoral program on its campus—and the very first of its kind in the nation—with the PhD degree in childhood studies.

Today, Rutgers–Camden boasts two additional PhD degrees in computational biology and public affairs. The School of Business offers a four-year undergraduate business curriculum along with MBA, professional master’s, and executive programs. Rutgers Law School, ranked highly and nationally, boasts a new and impressive facility complete with a state-of-the-art moot courtroom. In 2011, the School of Nursing became the newest academic unit at Rutgers–Camden, providing health care institutions throughout the region with high-caliber nursing professionals.