Dean Muffin Lord shares journey to Rutgers

Everyone thinks they are the first person to ask Muffin Lord about the origin of her name, but this is not the case.

The administrative director of the School of Arts and Sciences Honors Program and the scholarship administrator of the School of Arts and Sciences earned the No. 5 spot on the Buzzfeed list “25 People With Better Names Than You” published in June.

When her father was fighting in World War II, Lord and her twin sister lived in her maternal grandfather’s house with her aunt and mother.

Originally named Nancy, Lord said living with her aunt, who had the same name, became confusing. So Lord got the nickname, “Muffin,” and it stuck.

During one of her career changes, she attempted to go by Nancy, but she did not feel like herself.

“I’ll die being called Muffin,” Lord said.

In addition to a name with a story, the path that led Lord to her 35 College Ave. office is also a story — one she described as “non-linear.”

The other women in Lord’s family had not gone to college, but she wanted to. She began at a two-year residential junior college, where she majored in English, which is a subject that she “loves,” she said. 

In the summer of 1965, after returning from studying at the University of London and facing rejection from Douglass College, the only thing she was sure she could do was work on a horse farm. Lord placed an advertisement in The Chronicle of the Horse and took a job on one in Baltimore. After her stint on the ranch, she continued on to Drew University in 1968, where she found mentors in the faculty.

Those faculty mentors encouraged her to continue on to graduate school, and Lord was ready to be away from home. She sent applications to Rutgers, Yale, Brandeis and Buffalo.

She finished four years of English graduate school and realized there were no jobs for English Ph.D.s.

“You had to be really intense and determined and a little arrogant and ambitious, none of which I was, at least not about being an English teacher,” Lord said.

Instead, she earned her master’s of social work and a master’s in English at Buffalo and spent six years there, a place she liked because of its size and the people. 

The State University of New York at Fredonia then hired Lord to work in their counseling center, where she spent the next two years with a wonderful group of students before moving to Fanwood.

Lord began her career at Rutgers in February of 1988 at Rutgers College. 

After a few years at Kean University, Lord began running the honors program at Rutgers and then became the scholarship administrator.

When Lord started at Rutgers College, the general honors college had 400 students, each of whom she had an opportunity to get to know on an individual level. With 1,300 to 1,400 students today, not only is the program itself larger, but the students themselves have changed.

“Students are generally more focused and directed, [and] driven these days,” she said. 

Lord attributed the shift in student attitude to internal and parental pressure. 

While some students find themselves on the straight and narrow toward medical or law school, students whose paths are less direct should take advantage of the array of academic and cultural programs and organizations.

“That’s why you come to a place like this,” Lord said. “There are a lot of people here who are like that. They make use of the University in the best way possible.”

The students Lord comes into contact with are sometimes challenging, but she mostly enjoys interacting with various personalities and watching students grow.

“They are so lively and curious and demanding and thankful,” she said.

Lord has a few ideas for her retirement.

After she finishes spending her days advising students, she fantasizes finding a stable, spending time around horses and cleaning tack. Her second plan is to expand upon the volunteer work that she currently does with a food pantry in her hometown of Highland Park.

Every other Wednesday, Lord works as a shelving coordinator, a job she believes takes a bit of obsession and the ability to work with a team.

“I’m thankful and blessed,” she said. “I’m very lucky to have wonderful jobs, wonderful bosses, wonderful students.”

Matt Matsuda, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences Honors Program and the College Avenue campus dean, said in an email that Lord is highly respected and a beloved champion for students.

“She often speaks about growing up around a horse farm, and has the tireless grit and calm of someone accustomed to hard work,” he said.

Students have always loved her, he said, noting that for one costume event, a student showed up dressed as a muffin with a royal crown on his head.

“Muffin Lord is as remarkable as her name is interesting,” Matsuda said.