• Seton Hall University
• Educational Opportunity Program

In November 1967, in the aftermath of the previous summer's riots in Newark, New Jersey, Ralph A. Dungan, the newly appointed Chancellor of Higher Education, issued a memorandum to the presidents of all state institutions of higher education. In this document, he outlined a proposed program of special assistance to young men and women from economically and educationally disadvantaged backgrounds. The president's response was immediate, widespread and overwhelmingly favorable. Administrators were particularly enthusiastic at institutions that participated in the federally supported Upward Bound Program, which aimed to help high school scholars from financially disadvantaged backgrounds prepare for college entry.

The following February, the Select Commission on Civil Disorders (also known a the Lilly Commission)  formulated a response to then-Governor Richard Hughes. During Governor Hughes' State of the Union, he reaffirmed his moral commitment to the NJ State Legislature. The message called for the establishment of a broad range of programs to address the basic conditions the commission cited as contributing to the summer's unrest. Among those programs was EOF, established by legislation sponsored by then-freshman legislator Thomas Kean Sr.

EOF set the pace for many initiatives that are now widely incorporated into college life. Among the many powerful EOF strategies are pre-college articulation, basic skills testing and remediation, systematic retention efforts, peer counseling and tutoring, academic support courses, scholar leadership development and outcomes-based program evaluation.

It is through EOF that we can provide the scholars of the Educational Opportunity Program and the Pre-Medical Pre-Dental Plus Program a premier student experience.