By David O’Reilly, Inquirer Staff Writer.

As Sunday turned to Monday, the School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford became part of Rowan University, and by midday the jitters of transition and speech-making had given way to smiles and pats on the back. “We’ve been working on this for eight or nine months,” said Andrew Wagner, the college’s facilities manager, who paused to take a congratulatory hug from a coworker. Wagner said he and his staff had in recent weeks replaced or modified 171 name signs around the campus.

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APRIL SAUL / Staff Photographer Thomas Cavalieri, dean of the School of Osteopathic Medicine, describes himself as "ecstatic" about the merger with Rowan. He said patients being treated there would likely notice no difference for now.
Gone were all of the shield-like crests that for 35 years had identified the school as part of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, which was dissolved a minute past midnight. “The crest is history,” Wagner said. It is history, too, in North Jersey, where Rutgers University on Monday formally acquired seven medical institutions that were part of the troubled UMDNJ, whose leadership was accused of financial mismanagement and political cronyism.

Effected by the New Jersey Medical and Health Sciences Restructuring Act that the legislature approved last year, the merger has been touted as the largest in the history of American higher education. The act additionally gives greater autonomy to Rutgers’ campuses in Camden and Newark, which will have their own oversight boards.

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