This past week, students and staff witnessed history in the making with the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Rowan University Chabad Center in New Jersey – Rowan’s first Jewish Life Center on campus.

The ceremony, led by shliach Rabbi Hersh Loschak, featured speeches from Glassboro’s mayor John E. Wallace, U.S. Representative Donald Norcross, State Senator John J. Burzichelli, and Rowan University President Ali A. Houshmand, among others.

The Chabad Center will be named the Middleman Chabad Center, in honor of Stanley Middleman, founder and CEO of Freedom Mortgage, who donated $1 million to the project.

“I believe in supporting the students, and I think that Chabad does a really nice job of helping young adults make that transition from living at home with their parents to being at school,” Middleman said. “It gives them a little reminder of home, makes that transition a little easier, and, if they’re so inclined, it gives them a place where they can be among peers.”

The 21,000-square-foot building will feature a social hall where students can relax and study, eight two-bedroom student apartments, and a fully kosher dining hall.

Construction began this month, and Rowan’s Chabad Center is expected to be completed and open by the Spring of 2027.