'It's A Great Honor': Holmdel Resident Named As Rutgers University’s 15th Truman Scholar

HOLMDEL, NJ — Omar M. Abuattieh, a Holmdel resident and student at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, has officially been named as the university’s 15th Truman Scholar.

Abuattieh, who currently attends the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers, is among the 54 students from 49 colleges and universities across the country selected for the honor, which is overseen by The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation.

The Truman Scholarship is a national award given to the top students in the U.S. who are pursuing government or public service careers.

In addition to his studies, Abuattieh has bolstered his time at Rutgers with a mix of public service, government, and leadership experiences.

“It's a great honor, and I'm really excited for the opportunity to represent Rutgers, represent the Muslim community, and also the health care industry – and specifically pharmacists,” said Abuattieh, a 22-year-old soccer enthusiast and Palestinian American who is in his fifth year of a six-year doctor of pharmacy program.

According to Abuattieh, he plans to use the scholarship to help fund his next pursuit: law school.

“After that, I think I see myself in public service at some level,” Abuattieh said.

Truman Scholars not only receive up to $30,000 for graduate or professional school, but also participate in leadership development activities and have opportunities for internships and employment within the federal government, according to the Truman Foundation.

On Friday, April 11, Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway and Rutgers-New Brunswick Chancellor Francine Conway surprised Abuattieh (who was in Florida at the time celebrating his uncle’s engagement) with the news of this honor during a video chat.

Abuattieh said the news was "amazing" and later promised to shake hands with both university leaders next time they met in person.

“So proud of you,” Conway said to Abuattieh. “Well deserved. You're such an impressive young man, and we know there are lots of good things in your future, so congratulations, really.”

“As I said to Omar over Zoom, I’m proud that I know him,” Holloway added. “From the moment I met Omar, I knew that he would do great things in his life. I can’t wait to congratulate him in person.”

The newly named Truman Scholars were selected from 743 candidates nominated by 288 colleges and universities.

This year’s awardees join a community of 3,618 Truman Scholars named since the first awards in 1977, with Rutgers University producing a total of 15 Truman Scholars to date – 13 from their New Brunswick location and one each from the Camden and Newark campuses.

Abuattieh is the first student from the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy to win a Truman Scholarship.

“As a pharmacy student, Omar is a bit unusual in the field of Truman nominees,” said Anne Wallen, director of the Office of Distinguished Fellowships at Rutgers-New Brunswick.

“However, his clear commitment to public service, combined with his breadth and depth of knowledge on the issues his communities face, make him a very compelling candidate for the honor," Wallen said.

Wallen added that her office nominated Abuattieh for the Truman Scholarship, as students can’t apply directly for the award.

As a teenager during the COVID-19 pandemic, Abuattieh and his friends formed a community service by running errands for local residents (elderly and immunocompromised) free of charge. They would buy groceries (getting reimbursed) and deliver them to residents’ doorsteps.

Abuattieh, who was a Holmdel High School student at the time, even created a website for the service called “Omar’s Neighborhood.”

“I noticed that a lot of people in my community were very confused,” Abuattieh said. “There was a lot of misinformation going around, and I thought that pharmacy and health care was going to change in the future, and when it did, it should be shaped by its stakeholders.”

“My aspirations very early on was to find ways to support all Americans,” he continued. “And I believe that a focus on pharmacy is a possible means to achieve that.”

Alongside his studies and community involvement, Abuattieh also played on the Holmdel High School Boys Soccer Team (which won back-to-back state titles in 2017 and 2018) and serves as a Republican County Committee Member for Holmdel, an elected position he has held on to for over three years.

“We have responsibilities that extend from everything from voter outreach and supporting our local elected officials to actually electing county chairs,” Abuattieh said.

“It's the lowest elected position that you can have in government and it allows me to have a pulse on local politics as well as stay connected with community members," he continued. "It also gives me some insight into what's happening statewide as well.”

Abuattieh also co-founded a basketball league in Central Jersey, was a member of the Rutgers University Senate (and its information technology committee) from 2022-2023, and served on the Rutgers Pharmacy Governing Council and the Chancellor’s Advisory Council on Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian Life.

Over the summer, he spent three months interning in the strategy realizations office of Merck & Co. (a developer and producer of medicines, vaccines and biologic therapies) and currently serves as the Holmdel Chair of the Ali Leadership Institute, which was founded by Mussab Ali, who became Rutgers-Newark’s first Truman Scholar in 2017.

“The Truman Foundation is looking for students who have the potential to be true change agents in public service, and the bar is very high,” Wallen said. “Truman Scholars have a wide range of perspectives and areas of interest, with the commonality that they have a spark of leadership that makes it clear that they will make a difference in the world.”

Editor's Note: A previous version of this article said Rutgers University produced a total of 12 Truman Scholars to date. This has since been corrected to 15.

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