5 Rutgers Grads Will Join ‘Hall Of Distinguished Alumni’

NEWARK, NJ — Five influential Rutgers University graduates will soon be inducted into the university’s “Hall of Distinguished Alumni.”

The list of 2024 inductees includes Jeffrey Bluestone, Mike Emanuel, Wade Henderson, Raymond Lesniak and Patricia Devitt Risse.

The five alums will be inducted into the hall at a ceremony on April 25.

“Our remarkable incoming class of inductees into the Rutgers University Hall of Distinguished Alumni embodies our core values of academic excellence, building community, and the commitment to common good,” Rutgers president Jonathan Holloway said.

“From making tremendous advances in health care and the treatment of cancer and other diseases, to leading state government and crafting transformational legislation, to reporting on national events for an audience of many millions, to ensuring fair treatment and civil rights of all – these five alumni exemplify what excellence looks like,” Holloway said.

Rutgers provided the following biographical information about each inductee:

Jeffrey Bluestone, CC’74, GSNB’76, who earned a bachelor’s degree in animal science and a master’s in microbiology at Rutgers, is an internationally recognized immunologist whose four decades of groundbreaking research have led to the development of multiple immunotherapies, including breakthroughs in treating autoimmunity, metastatic melanoma and other cancers, and diabetes. He grew up in Colonia, N.J., and Edison, N.J., and now lives in the San Francisco area.

Mike Emanuel, RC’90, who graduated from Rutgers with a degree in communication, currently serves as Fox News Channel’s chief Washington correspondent and a co-anchor of Fox News Live. He joined the network in 1997 as a Los Angeles-based correspondent. He grew up in Westfield, N.J., and now lives in the Washington, D.C. area.

Wade J. Henderson, NLAW’73, a graduate of Rutgers Law School in Newark, is a civil rights veteran and serves as an adviser to major corporations, foundations, and nonprofits on matters relating to civil and human rights, diversity, and inclusion. He has served as president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. He is a native of Washington, D.C., and lives there today.

Raymond J. Lesniak, RC’71, who earned a Rutgers degree in economics, served as an influential member of the New Jersey State Senate from 1978 through 2018. He is founder and president of the Lesniak Institute for American Leadership at Kean University. He was born, raised, and now lives in Elizabeth, N.J.

Patricia Devitt Risse, PHARM’85, GSNB’93, who completed undergraduate and doctoral degrees in pharmacy at Rutgers, has been a dynamic leader and founder of a company that supported the development of multiple innovative cancer treatments approved by the FDA and used by cancer patients today. She grew up in Western New York, spent her entire professional career living in New Jersey, and recently retired to Nokomis, Fla.

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