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The basics:

• New Jersey City University president calls Kean merger a historic milestone
• Transition to Kean Jersey City set for summer 2026
• Acebo highlights resilience amid financial challenges
• Message emphasizes mission, community, growth

Following the latest approval of the merger with Kean University, New Jersey City University President Andrés Acebo wrote to the campus community. The leader framed the moment as both historic and deeply personal for an institution nearing its centennial.

His message underscored not only the significance of the milestone, but the collective effort that carried the university to this point.

“The Middle States Commission on Higher Education has taken accreditation action that advances the establishment of Kean Jersey City this summer, marking a defining and historic moment for our university and our community,” Acebo wrote.

He reflected on the weight of the transition, noting the merger represents more than an administrative shift. “As our campus approaches its centennial, this moment, however, is about more than history. It is about responsibility. It is about a renewed commitment to the indispensable and storied mission we were called to carry forward.”

[T]his moment, however, is about more than history. It is about responsibility.
– Andrés Acebo, New Jersey City University president

Acebo also acknowledged the challenges that preceded the deal. And the resilience of the NJCU community in navigating them. “This milestone was not born of ease,” he said. “It was forged in faith and tested, stretched, and, often, strained.”

A long journey

As NJBIZ has previously reported, Acebo spent the past several years steering the university through significant financial turmoil that predated his tenure. He has helped stabilize operations through a series of reforms, including reducing institutional debt by tens of millions of dollars, driving multiple semesters of enrollment growth, securing the school’s first positive outlook from Moody’s, and advancing new academic and community partnerships that helped reposition the institution for long-term sustainability.

Throughout the message, Acebo emphasized the people behind NJCU’s legacy — from faculty and staff to generations of students. Meanwhile, he reinforced the institution’s mission will continue under the new structure.

“New Jersey City University has always been more than a name or a place. It is a promise sustained by faculty who have taught beyond the syllabus, by staff who have lifted what could not afford to falter, and by students whose aspirations gave this campus its purpose and its power,” said Acebo.

He also expressed gratitude to those who helped guide the institution to this point.

“I am deeply grateful to our faculty, staff, students, and alumni, whose commitment and presence sustained this university through a period of challenge, transformation, and change; to our university leadership, who undertook this work with discipline, resolve, and care; to our community supporters and partners in state and local government who joined us in that purpose; and to President [Lamont] Repollet and our colleagues at Kean University, whose partnership reflects a shared belief in what this next chapter can be,” Acebo wrote.

Onward

On the transition, Acebo struck a forward-looking tone centered on continuity and expansion. “Kean Jersey City will expand opportunity, strengthen offerings, and carry nearly a century of impact into a second century with greater reach, greater strength, and renewed purpose.”

If there is something to be claimed in this moment and at this hour, it is this: that even under strain, hope held. That even in uncertainty, purpose endured.
– Andrés Acebo

He closed with a broader reflection on the meaning of the moment. “If there is something to be claimed in this moment and at this hour, it is this: that even under strain, hope held. That even in uncertainty, purpose endured.”

Acebo added, “The measure of this moment will be what, together, you now make possible for our students, for this community, and for generations still to come who will one day stand and call this place their own.”