Camden County College Honors U.S. Congressman with Alumnus Award

U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross, D-N.J., who earned an associate in science degree in criminal justice from Camden County College in 1980 and has spent three decades serving the working families of South Jersey, has received CCC’s 2015 Outstanding Alumnus Award.

Norcross, who has represented the more than 730,000 residents of the 1st Congressional District of New Jersey since 2014, is the first Camden County College graduate to be elected to the United States House of Representatives. The Camden native and resident serves on the House Armed Services Committee and the House Budget Committee.

Previously, Norcross served in both the New Jersey General Assembly and the New Jersey Senate. There, he championed efforts to increase the region’s economic competitiveness and its number of family-sustaining jobs. His work helped usher in reforms that improved higher education access for local students, established the Garden State as a research and medical sciences education hub, overhauled the state’s antiquated bail system and created a program for local governments to set aside contracts for businesses owned by or employing veterans.

Norcross also spent nearly 20 years as president of the Southern New Jersey AFL-CIO and served as assistant business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 351 and vice president of the Southern New Jersey Building Trades Council as well. His volunteer service includes the United Way of Camden County Executive Board, the Union Organization for Social Service, The Home Port Alliance for the USS New Jersey, the Camden County Democratic Committee and the Democratic National Committee.

Norcross received the Outstanding Alumnus Award during the College’s 47th annual commencement and delivered the ceremony’s keynote address to the Class of 2015. He had received CCC’s first-ever Civic Leadership Award in 2009.

The College’s Outstanding Alumna/Alumnus Award has been presented annually since 2008. Past recipients include Vietnam veteran Eugene J. Toni (Class of 1973); internationally recognized agronomist J. Mark Powell (Class of 1973); Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Trymaine Lee (Class of 2000); award-winning documentary filmmaker Robert A. Emmons Jr. (Class of 1996); research scientist and writer Julie Feinstein (Class of 1980); Higgs boson discovery team member F. Mitchell Newcomer (Class of 1974); and Educational Testing Service president and chief executive officer Walt MacDonald (Class of 1972).