AADC Leaders Named to 2024 Rutgers Alumni Association’s Loyal Sons & Daughters
Congratulations to Alumnae Association of Douglass College (AADC) Executive Director Valerie L. Anderson ’81 and Mary Kelleher DiMartino ’85, who have been named to the 2024 Rutgers Loyal Sons & Daughters by the Rutgers Alumni Association.
Each year the Rutgers Alumni Association honors individuals who have made a significant contribution of service to the Rutgers community. These accolades represent the highest recognition of service. Honorees are celebrated at the 64th Annual Awards Dinner hosted on campus at Neilson Dining Hall on Saturday, April 13th. For more about all honorees, visit Rutgers Alumni Association.
About Valerie L. Anderson ‘81
Valerie Anderson has continued a long tradition of exceptional Douglass alumnae who have served as Associate Alumnae of Douglass College (AADC) leaders. She has served as Executive Director since 2011, bringing to the AADC her considerable professional experience, primarily from a long career with FedEx, along with great business acumen and knowledge of philanthropy through her tenure at the March of Dimes. Among her many accomplishments, she was instrumental in guiding the AADC, along with staff and key alumnae leaders, to achieve the organization’s greatest fundraising results to date, in the Campaign for Douglass, “Innovative Education, Women’s Leadership,” which surpassed its initial goal and concluded with more than $41 million raised.
Valerie also volunteers her time in the Rutgers community. She is a lifetime member of the Rutgers African-American Alumni Alliance (RAAA). She has been an active member on the annual Hall of Fame, recruitment, and planning committees. She served in the planning of the Paul Robeson Centennial Celebrations, the development of the Paul Robeson Plaza and as a donor. She is currently serving with President Holloway, the RAAA, Rutgers University Foundation and Rutgers University Alumni Association to plan the Black Alumni Collective National Conference, which Rutgers will host on May 20-June 2.
Valerie has been instrumental on the Dr. Jewel Plummer Cobb Women’s Empowerment STEAM conference executive leadership planning committee, which established and continues to organize an annual conference for Rutgers students. She helped establish the “Women’s Empowerment Prize”, which provides financial awards and prizes to students for their academic, leadership, and service commitment to Rutgers.
Among accolades she has received are the New Jersey Women of Achievement Award from the New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Clubs (Founder of Douglass College) and Douglass Residential College, the Sojourner Truth Phenomenal Woman Award from Rutgers Student Affairs and induction into the RAAA Hall of Fame.
About Mary Kelleher DiMartino ’85
Since graduating from Douglass College, Mary Kelleher DiMartino has been an active member of the Alumnae Association of Douglass College (AADC) and the Rutgers communities, serving as an AADC student mentor, as well as on the Alumnae Association of Douglass College (AADC) Board of Directors and multiple committees, including the Fund Development Committee. Mary also represented the AADC on the Rutgers Alumni Federation and was active on its Homecoming and Government Relations Committees.
In 2013, Mary was elected to the Rutgers University Board of Trustees and served on its Nominating Committee, Task Force on Assessment, Task Force on Legislative Engagement, and the Executive Committee. Mary was elected Board Chair in 2018 where she helped establish the Board’s fundraising initiative for the Scarlet Promise Grant, which provides financial support to the neediest students at the University. Mary, along with her husband Victor (Cook College ’82) made a gift to help launch this Board initiative.
The Rutgers University Board of Trustees recognized her service by electing Mary to be a lifetime Trustee Emeritus. In 2019, she was elected by the Trustees to the Board of Governors, where she serves on the Health Affairs Committee and Joint Committee on Investments, and as a member of the Camden Board of Directors. Mary continues to mentor Rutgers students. In 2023, she was inducted into the prestigious (Alumnae Association of Douglass College) AADC Society of Excellence for her outstanding accomplishments.
