Excellence in Politics

Arline M. Friscia

Arline is a former of the New Jersey General Assembly having served eight years representing the 19th Legislative District which includes Woodbridge, Carteret, Perth Amboy, South Amboy and Sayreville. She was the Chairperson of the Labor Committee, served on the Education Committee and on the Law and Society Committee.  She also was Chairperson of the Committee on Business Efficiency in the Schools, as well as serving on the State Employment and Training Commission.

Arline is a former Councilwoman-at-Large in Woodbridge Township where she was actively involved in issues concerning recreation for children, young adults and socially deprived youngsters.  Her networking and lobbying efforts to promote the Mammography Bill in New Jersey were effective with the successful passage of the bill. As a volunteer, Arline has worked very closely with, and raised money for, the Middlesex County Battered Women’s Shelter.  She has been very involved with the Domestic Violence Rape Crisis Center in Middlesex County and worked with the Woodbridge Office on Aging in senior violence and stalking cases.

Much of Arline’s work has focused on helping.  For over 18 years, she served as UniServ Director for the New Jersey Education Association.  Here, she negotiated on behalf of public employees for the NJEA. Arline has also worked very closely with Chambers of Commerce to promote daycare centers for children whose parents were both employed.  She has also assisted with day care centers to help restore their funding. Arline believes that public officials should be accountable for the people and understand the importance of listening to her constituents.  In her efforts to help people who cannot afford health care, she has worked with the Jewish Heritage Foundation, an organization that operates health care facilities for those without health insurance.

As an Assemblywoman, she prided herself on helping those who had no representation in Trenton.  Her official constituents obtained homestead rebates and home heating assistance and in dealing with bureaucracy at whatever level.  She is committed to the presentation of historical sites, and her office raised money for the restoration of the Proprietary House in Perth Amboy – the only standing original governor’s mansion in the country.

Arline Friscia attended Newark public schools and Benedictine Academy in Elizabeth, New Jersey.  She received a B.A in Music from Caldwell College and an M.A. in Administration and Supervision from Seton Hall University.  She also received certification in Labor Studies from Oxford University in England. Arline is a founding member of the Statewide Women’s Summit, former president of the Woodbridge Business and Professional Women and former vice chair women of the Middlesex County Commission on the Status of Women.

Arline was a member of the Woodbridge Township Council from 1987-1991.  She served in the Assembly from January 1996 to January 2004. The assemblywoman and her husband, William M. McArdle, married in 1984.

Excellence in Education

Sister Anne John O’Loughlin O.P. ‘59

Sister Anne John, DLS, has had a long and illustrious career in higher education and earned a reputation for strong leadership in the independent sector.  During ten years in which she served as President of Caldwell College, the college broadened its curriculum and developed the highly successful Continuing Education program, organized the External Degree program, launched a program for off-campus internships, established a Campus Child Care Center, opened its classes free of charge to senior citizens, and received state approval to offer a Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A) degree.

While president, Sister served on numerous boards and associations including the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in New Jersey, where she was a member of the Board of Directors and Chairperson of the Board.  She served as Treasurer and Vice Chair of the New Jersey College Fund Association and sat on the College and University Executive Board of the National Catholic Education Association and the Executive Committee of the Conference of Small Private Colleges.  She was also active on the Administrative Advisory Subcommittee of the Commission on Financing Post-Secondary Education in New Jersey.

Her fine reputation among the business and educational communities led Sister Anne John to serve for three years as Vice President of the Association of Interdependent Colleges and Universities in New Jersey following her Caldwell College presidency.  She then accepted a position as Special Assistant to the President of Seton Hall University, followed by a position as Provost at Caldwell College. Sister served her religious community, the Sisters of Saint Dominic, as the Director of Development until 2003.  Now in retirement, she is the community librarian and does jobs for her community where and when asked.

Sister Anne John holds advanced degrees in Library Science from The Catholic University of America and Columbia University.

Excellence in Medicine

Nancy Meier Calabrese ‘68

Nancy Meier Calabrese, B.S.N. began her professional career as a nurse and served 21 years as Medical Director of the Hand Surgery & Rehabilitation Center in Bowie, Maryland.  The center is best known for the reconstruction of hands on children born with birth defects. Nancy has written a book entitled, Distraction Augmentation Manoplasty, which was published in 1985.  The book, which describes various hand surgeries and their care, is a patient handbook for parents.

Since 2001, Nancy has been the Assistant Director of Harrison Health Center, St. John’s College, Annapolis, Maryland.  She is also a Nurse Practitioner of Infectious Disease for Gita Shar, M.D. in Laurel, Maryland. From August 2004 to the present, she is also a Nurse Practitioner at the Minute Clinic, Inc. for Minneapolis, Maryland.

In addition to authoring several articles that have been printed in medical journals, Nancy speaks throughout the United States and in 1992 presented a paper, “A Twenty Year Experience with the ‘Anchovy’ Arthroplasty,” in Paris at the Fifth International Congress on Hand Surgery.   Nancy also serves as a consultant for Westec, a company which manufactures equipment for post-operative pain.

Following her graduation from Caldwell, where she earned a B.A. in Biology, Nancy continued her education, receiving a B.S.N. from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.  As a researcher. she performed preliminary studies for development of hepatitis vaccine as well as research pertaining to gallbladder and liver disease. As a staff nurse in Camden and the Health Maintenance Program at Thomas Jefferson, Nancy realized early in her career the value of patient educational materials.

In 2001, Nancy received her MS in NUrsing (Family Nurse Practitioner Program) from Bowie State University, Bowie, Maryland.  She is a licensed and certified as: RN/CRNP (Maryland), American Nurses Credentializing Center, Family Nurse Practitioner, DEA (Federal); Controlled Substances (Maryland).

For enjoyment, Nancy has been singing with the Arundel Vocal Arts Society for the past five years, including a concert last fall in Carnegie Hall, where the group sang John Rutter’s composition of the ‘Magnificent.’ Nancy Calabrese lives in Maryland with her husband Anthony and her two sons, Christopher and Michael.