April
9, 2003, Bloomfield, NJ -- At its 130th Commencement ceremony on Thursday,
May 22, Bloomfield College will award honorary doctorate degrees to Dr.
Terrence P. Zealand and Faye A. Zealand of Howell, Executive Directors and
Co-Founders of the AIDS Resource Foundation For Children.
Based in Newark, the AIDS Resource Foundation for Children (ARFC) is a non-profit organization committed to providing cost-effective, family-centered services to children coping with the impact of HIV/AIDS. The ARFC’s comprehensive programs assist children in choosing the paths towards leading productive lives. Dr. Terrence P. Zealand has served as the Executive Director of the ARFC since its founding in 1985. Prior to founding ARFC, Dr. Zealand worked for the New Jersey Department of Health in the Division of Narcotics and Drug Abuse and served as Director of the Collier School in Monmouth County.
He is the co-founder of St. Clare’s Homes for Children in Elizabeth, Neptune, and Jersey City, NJ. St. Clare’s Home for Children in Elizabeth was the first home for children with AIDS in the United States and became a national model. He also founded St. Clare’s Summer Camp program in 1990 and developed an AIDS Family Center at Haller House in Newark in 1987.
Last year, he opened the Academy Street Firehouse, which is a facility that provides after-school programs and activities to children affected by HIV/AIDS.
Dr. Zealand’s work has also had an international impact. In 1990 he organized a delegation of pediatric AIDS experts to visit the Soviet Union to study the outbreak of AIDS among children and to train local physicians in treatment and care. In 1998, he secured
funding for medicine for mission clinics run by the Holy Ghost Fathers in East Africa, and he traveled for 21 days in Kenya, assessing the impact of pediatric AIDS in both rural and urban settings.
He received his doctorate in education in 1982 from Rutgers University. He currently sits on the Governor's Advisory Council on AIDS and chairs the Child Welfare League of America's National Subcommittee on Orphans to AIDS. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Lewis Hine Award from the National Child Labor Committee and was named Humanitarian of the Year by the NJ Association of Schools and Agencies for the Handicapped.
Mrs. Faye A. Zealand co-founded the AIDS Resource Foundation For Children with her husband in 1985. She is also a co-founder of the St. Clare’s Homes for Children, and is responsible for overseeing the daily administration and functioning of the St. Clare’s Homes, including the camp programs.
She was selected to be a Child Welfare League of America Delegate to the United Nations Conference on AIDS. She has served as a member of the Monmouth County Pax Christi, and a member of the Governor’s Committee on Children and Youth.
Mrs. Zealand was a Director of Head Start in Scranton, PA, she chaired the Howell Cultural Arts Committee, and worked as a teacher for the Salvation Army in Jersey City. She also has served on the board of directors for Catholic Charities for the Trenton Diocese. She received her CSW in 1996 from the State of New Jersey.
She is the recipient of the Unsung Heroine Award from former Senator Bill Bradley and was named Woman of the Year by Zeta Phi Beta, the Monmouth County Girl Scouts, and the Zonta Club. With her husband, she received the New Jersey Pride Award from New Jersey Monthly magazine in 1990. In 1992, Governor James Florio presented her with The Pride of New Jersey Alice Paul Humanitarian Award.
Bloomfield College is an independent, four-year, co-educational
institution offering 1,800 full- and part-time students programs in the
liberal arts and pre-professional studies. The College has earned a national
reputation for its innovative academic and co-curricular programs and for
its mission – to prepare students to attain academic, personal and
professional excellence in a multicultural and global society.
