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Convocation welcomes the beginning of the new academic year at Ramapo College. It is an academic ceremony that highlights Ramapo’s summer reading selection and provides an experiential learning opportunity for all students.

The 2024 Opening Convocation was on September 3, 2024 at 1:30pm in our Bradley Center Arena. This year’s program featured guest speaker Victoria Christopher Murray, co-author with Marie Benedict of The Personal Librarian, a “remarkable novel about J.P. Morgan’s personal librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, the Black American woman who was forced to hide her true identity and pass as white in order to leave a lasting legacy that enriched our nation.” (from the book cover). Copies of the book are available for purchase at the Campus Bookstore.

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About Victoria Christopher Murray

Victoria Christopher Murray headshotVictoria Christopher Murray is the New York Times and USA Today best selling author of more than 30 novels, including the New York Times Instant Best Sellers, The Personal LibrarianÌý²¹²Ô»åÌýThe First Ladies. Both novels, Victoria co-wrote with Marie Benedict.

A native New Yorker, Victoria Christopher Murray attended Hampton University where she majored in Communication Disorders. After graduating, Victoria attended New York University’s Stern Business School where she received her MBA in Marketing.

Victoria spent ten years in Corporate America before she tested her entrepreneurial spirit. She opened a Financial Services Agency for Aegon, USA where she managed the number one division for nine consecutive years. However, Victoria always dreamed of writing and in 1997, she pursued her dream.

Victoria originally self published her first novel, Temptation and in 2000, Time Warner published that novel. Temptation remained on the Essence bestsellers list for nine consecutive months. In 2001, Victoria received her first NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Literature with Temptation.

Over her career, Victoria has received numerous awards including the Phyllis Wheatley Trailblazer Award, the Delta Sigma Theta Osceola Award for Excellence in the Arts, Go On Girl Book Club Author of the Year, eleven African American Literary Awards and five NAACP Image Award nominations. In 2016, she won the Image Award for Outstanding Literature for her social commentary novel, Stand Your Ground.

In addition to being a New York Times Bestseller, The Personal Librarian was a Good Morning America Book Club selection and named a Best Book of the Year by NPR. The First Ladies was Target’s 2023 Book of the Year.

Five of Victoria’s Seven Deadly Sins novels became Lifetime movies produced by TD Jakes, Shaun Robinson and Derrick Williams. The Personal Librarian has been optioned by Al Roker Entertainment to become a mini series.

With almost three million books in print, Victoria is one of the country’s top African American contemporary authors.