Dr. Frederick Keating, president of Rowan College of South Jersey, has been an educational leader for more than 30 years.
Dr. Frederick Keating, president of Rowan College of South Jersey, earned the Excellence in Advocacy of First-Generation Students Award for 2025 by Rowan University’s Flying First Task Force. The Feb. 12 presentation took place at the university’s eighth annual Flying First Symposium.
The symposium’s theme – “Belonging and Community: First-Gen Connections That Matter” – highlighted the vital importance of community and connection in fostering a sense of belonging for first-gen students from their initial year of college to professional careers.
As a distinguished educational leader with more than 30 years of experience in higher education, Keating has committed to creating supportive resources for first-generation students like himself at Rowan College. Through the establishment of the Keating Family Presidential Institute for First-Generation Students, he has provided support that will empower countless individuals to overcome educational barriers and earn a college degree.
“I’m very proud of being a first-generation student and extremely honored to receive this award, and my heartfelt thanks to Rowan University,” Keating said. “Along with my family, having established the Keating Family Presidential Institute for First-Generation Students, is something near and dear to my heart.
“I remember that difficult conversation at the dinner table with my parents about attending college,” he recalled. “I wasn’t certain about my future, but one person reached back and got me, and put me on a path that helped define my future. It was my privilege to create this institute bearing my family’s name.”
Keating’s award was presented by De’Chyna King, a first-generation Rowan University transfer student from Rowan College of South Jersey’s Cumberland campus. King was the Phi Theta Kappa Rho Gamma Chapter Honor Society president and is a graduate student in the Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Threat Response Management master’s program at the university.
The university’s first-generation support program, Flying First, provides tools and opportunities for those students to have successful personal, professional, academic and social college experiences. The goal is to help first-gen students feel engaged and appreciated by the broader Rowan community. The Keating Family Presidential Institute will work to build a supportive campus community for them by offering networking opportunities and special events on campus.
Events will also be hosted in partnership with the Flying First program to provide students an early introduction to the university and its resources for students who plan to transfer.
For more information on the institute, ​interested students are encouraged to reach out to FirstGen@rcsj.edu and be contacted when the institute is open for applications.​​
