Ramapo’s newest member of its Board of Trustees, Mahwah resident Gary Montroy, was appointed by Governor Chris Christie at just the right time.
Montroy has been Mahwah Township’s construction official for over 30 years, and now, he hopes to bring his engineering experience to the College, which coincidentally is in the middle of several campus-wide construction projects.
“I work very closely with the fire department, the police department, and the fire official, and we’ve watched the construction taking place over the last number of years,” Montroy said. “With my expertise, I thought it would be advantageous for the College if I could perhaps work with them and help them do what they’re doing. I…thought I would have something to give that would be helpful.”
Though as Mahwah’s construction official he doesn’t work the College renovations (that’s handled by the state), Montroy is no stranger to Ramapo. In fact, as an active firefighter with Mahwah’s Company 4, he has responded with the department on calls to the College.
He has also dealt with college students on a different level: teaching them. Montroy taught at John Jay College of Criminal Justice as well as Bergen and Passaic community colleges and additionally was an instructor at the Bergen County Police and Fire Academy in Mahwah. He retired last year.
Montroy, a father of four, was appointed in May and sworn in at the Trustees’ September meeting. So far, he said he is relishing in the new role.
“I’m enjoying this immensely, I really am,” he said. “The interaction with the College has been very positive. I’m being really proactive with the relationship.”
That he has-he’s already brought some big ideas to the table.
Montroy, who attended college part-time for 18 years until he eventually earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, said one of the things he’d like to see improve at Ramapo is its selection of night classes.
“I would love to see more courses being offered in the evenings,” he said. “Having had that experience, I was a commuter and working and supporting a family, I would like to see more activity geared toward having classes in the evening, so people who are working can expand their own horizons.”
Montroy also said he’d like to see improved interaction between the College and Mahwah (by creating a path connecting the campus to the Ramapo Reservation, for example) and to find creative ways to increase student interaction in the dorms-an issue that students alerted him to.
“I really like the students that I’ve met,” he said. “I’m really impressed by them, impressed by what they’re doing and how dedicated they are to the school.”
His kind words also extended to the faculty, administration and the College itself.
“[The administration] has taken a college that is only 50 years old and have really made it one of the premiere institutions in the state of New Jersey,” Montroy said. “I see this as a school that will be excellent now, excellent in the future, and just expanding and growing and doing a fantastic job for the students in this area.”
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nalliegr@ramapo.edu
