Tuesday, January 21, 2003, Bloomfield, NJ -- Richard A. Levao, a partner
at the law firm Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP, former chair of the Rutgers
Board of Trustees and Board of Governors, and member of the Board of
Trustees of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, was named the
16th president of Bloomfield College on Tuesday. The campus announcement was
made by Bloomfield College Board of Trustees Chair Adrian A. Shelby shortly
after the board made its decision.
“Rich Levao is very enthusiastic about joining Bloomfield College, and we are equally enthusiastic about his coming on board. He has an amazing record of achievement both in education and in the law,” said Shelby. “He is a longtime supporter of diversity efforts in higher education and he knows the New Jersey scene well. Mr. Levao is certain to lift this outstanding institution to even greater heights.”
Levao stated that he is “deeply impressed with the educational mission of Bloomfield College. I’m a strong believer of educational opportunities for first-generation college students. I look forward to developing both the pre-professional and career aspects of Bloomfield College’s technology-based education as well as the traditional liberal arts and sciences which form the foundation of an educated and responsible citizenry.”
“I am also enthusiastic about raising the public profile of Bloomfield College, and coordinating Bloomfield’s educational programs with other educational institutions in the state,” said Levao.
Levao is expected to take office on June 1, 2003. He will succeed President John F. Noonan, who has served Bloomfield College with distinction for 16 years. Under President Noonan’s leadership, the 135-year old liberal arts college has attained national prominence for the implementation of its mission: to prepare students to attain academic, personal and professional excellence in a multicultural and global society.
Levao has practiced law for 29 years and is a partner at Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP, a full service law firm of more than 450 attorneys in nine offices around the country. He has been co-head of the Environmental Practice Group and very active in Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act issues, compliance with state Spill Act directives, RCRA waste disposal, and citizen suit litigation. He has served on the faculties of Rutgers University and The Cornell Law School, where he has taught environmental law, advanced environmental litigation, and legal issues in higher education.
For three terms, Levao served as secretary of the District X Ethics Committee for the New Jersey Supreme Court. He is a former law clerk to United States District Court Judge Herbert J. Stern, and is a member of the New Jersey and California bars.
Active in community affairs and New Jersey higher education, Levao has served 20 years as a member of the Rutgers University Board of Trustees and Board of Governors, including three years as chair of the Board of Trustees (1991-1994) and two years as Chair of the Board of Governors (1998-2000). He has served on the Presidential Selection Committee of the University, the Educational Planning and Policy Committee, and the Multicultural Concerns Subcommittee, among others. In 1993, he chaired the President’s Special Committee on Free Speech, which drafted new free speech guidelines on verbal assault, defamation and harassment.
He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, and serves on the executive committee of the New Jersey Council on the Humanities, the state’s affiliate to the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Personally, his interests include history, photography, computers, and classical music, particularly 19th century Italian and German opera. Levao is a member of the Board of Governors of the New Jersey State Opera, and he has served as chair of the Leadership Committee of the Mason Gross School of the Arts. He was a member of the Board of Overseers of the Jane Voorhees Zimerli Museum of Art.
Levao graduated from Tenafly High School before receiving an A.B. with High Distinction in Political Science from Rutgers College. He earned a Juris Doctor with a specialization in International Affairs from The Cornell Law School. In 2000, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Rutgers University for his professional achievements and for his outstanding service to the institution.
Founded in 1868, Bloomfield College is an independent, four-year, co-educational institution offering programs in the liberal arts and professional studies. For more than 130 years, Bloomfield College has provided educational opportunities for first-generation college students and students whose circumstances and needs threaten to exclude them from higher education. In 2002, more than 50 countries of birth were represented in a student body of 1,900. The Bloomfield College mission, “to prepare students to attain academic, personal and professional excellence in a multicultural and global society,” springs from the College’s history, its tradition, and its present identity.
