Hunter Headlines for 2007
Hunter Chemistry Department Named As One of Best in America
Hunter Science Student Wins Award at Research Conference
Hunter Geography Students Win Graduate Fellowships
Brookdale to Lead Healthy Urban Aging Initiative
Two Hunter Students Receive Women’s Forum Award
Hunter Poll Finds Clinton Has Support of 63% of LGB Likely Voters
Professor Flanagan’s Video Game Research Website Launched
Filmmaker Charles Stuart Named Jack Newfield Professor at Hunter College
Distinguished Journalist Brings Career Insights to Hunter
Hunter Study Reveals Many “Distracted Drivers” in NYC
Hunter Students Join in the Call to Take Down Alcohol Ads in NYC Mass Transit
Hunter Film Grad Debuts First Feature Film
Four Faculty Members Named 2007-2008 Fulbright Scholars
Hunter College Athletic Hall of Fame Celebrates Silver Anniversary with Four New Inductees
Alumna’s Music Featured on “America’s Next Top Model”
Chris Seeger (’87) Named One of the Best Lawyers in America
Hunter to Co-Sponsor the 13th Annual Avignon/New York Film Festival
Professor Hett’s Book Wins History Award
Alumna Receives Prestigious Journalism Award
Distinguished Writer Annie Proulx Comes to Hunter
Hunter President Raab Named One of New York’s 100 Most Influential Women
New Funding Announced for McNair Scholars Program
Hawks Score Big Wins In Volleyball,Tennis
Hunter Chosen to be Part of New Biomedical Complex
Hunter Joins Forces With Asia Society
Chinese Language and Culture Come Alive at Hunter
U.S. News & World Report Ranks Hunter Among Top Public Universities
Hunter Professor Receives APA Conflict Resolution Award
Hunter Alums Named “Top 100” Power Lawyers
Social Work Alumna Wins Prize for First Latina Fiction
Alumna Wins Prestigious Economics Prize
Arlie Petters ’86 Featured on NOVA
Physics Professor Named Cottrell Scholar
Jeff Greenfield Delivers Commencement Address
Vita Rabinowitz Named Provost of Hunter
Memorial for Erwin Fleissner
Urban Planning Students Win JPMorgan Chase Competition
Hunter Science Students Display Research
Hunter Students Selected as Jeannette K. Watson Fellows
Princeton Review Guidebook Cites Hunter Again
Message from President Raab Concerning Virginia Tech
Hunter Professor Up for Booker Prize
Undergraduate Student Elections to Take Place April 23-27, 2007
CBS’s Jeff Greenfield to Deliver Commencement Address
Journalism Award Winners Announced
Hunter Athletics Ranked in National Poll
Joachim Pissarro Named Director of Hunter College Galleries
Startalk Project Awards Chinese Division $100,000 Grant
Filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami to Hold Master Class at Hunter
Wireless in Wexler
Meeting the President is Proud Moment for Hunter Student
Alumni Authors Receive High Praise
Tom Robbins Named Newfield Visiting Professor
Hunter Science Students Win Awards at Research Conference
Our Town Honors Hunter Professor
Bonnie Fuller Addresses Hunter Grads
Hunter Physics Student Honored for Her Research
Hunter Athletes Honored with Humanitarian Award
Hunter Grad Stars On Broadway
Hunter Student Accepted Into New York Times Program
‘Yes, Virginia' Girl was a Hunter Graduate
Hunter Graduate Student Wins the Pierre Salinger Award at the Avignon/New York Film Festival
Student Presents Poster at Einsteins in the City Research Conference
Urban Planning Alumna Awarded Prestigious Fellowship
Hunter Student Designs Museum Tours
Hunter Sisters Explore Law Enforcement
Hunter Grad Terry Madden Wins Gold Medal at Canada Cup
Progressive Scholar Today, Progressive Leader Tomorrow
Hunter Student Selected For Guggenheim Internship in Venice
Hunter MFA Student Selected as Jacob K. Javits Fellow
Two Hunter Students Awarded HIA Fellowships
Recent Grad Aurora Almendral Wins Prestigious Fulbright Grant
Two Hunter Students Named NYC Urban Fellows
Getting a Look inside New York Government
Hunter Student Christine Curella Named Truman Scholar
Hunter Represented at Joint Annual Meeting of Physicists
Hunter Student Chosen for Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange
Hunter's Madden Wins National Championship
Hunter Alum Competes in “Top Design”
Making a Difference as "Young People For" Fellows
Hunter Student Receives Memorial Scholarship from NY Association of Black Journalists
Art Student Adds Flourish to Festival in Spain
Hunter Student Takes Action Against Global Warming
Hunter Chemistry Department Named As One of Best in America
The Hunter College Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry has been named as one of the top 100 chemistry departments in America by Chemical and Engineering News, the largest scientific publication in the world.
The department was also lauded for being at one of the colleges with the highest number of women faculty members.
Some 35% of the Hunter faculty is comprised of women. Nationwide, women continue to suffer from low representation on college chemistry faculties – with women making up an average of only about 15% of the faculty from the other top chemistry schools listed.
Hunter Science Student Wins Award at Research Conference
Hunter College student Asif Rahman received a prestigious award for outstanding scientific presentation at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students in Austin last month.
Rahman - a junior with a triple major in biology, political science and Thomas Hunter special honors – won for his project studying factors that play a role in hypertension and epilepsy. His research was conducted under the supervision of Dr. Steven Marx, a professor of medicine and pharmacology at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. Rahman is also currently in his second year of studying cancer under the mentoring of Hunter’s Dr. Derrick Brazill.
“After graduating I plan on going on to MD/PhD programs with the ultimate goal of being both a physician and a scientist, specializing in cardiology,” Rahman said. “If there is one thing I would like to say about my experience and success thus far, I attribute a large part of it to the outstanding mentoring that I’ve received from individuals like Dr. Brazill and Dr. Marx. They’ve played a major role in helping me develop the necessary skills to succeed in the research community.”
The conference is designed to encourage under-represented minority students to pursue advanced training in the biomedical and behavioral sciences.
Hunter Geography Students Win Graduate Fellowships
The Society of Woman Geographers has awarded graduate fellowships to Hunter students Erin Araujo and Rhoda Quan. The geography masters students each received a $5,000 fellowship award on November 16 at the Geography Department’s Annual Geography Awareness Week dinner. Alice Hudson, president of the New York Group of SWG, which support thesis research by women geographers, presented the awards Over the course of the next year, Araujo and Quan will be conducting novel studies. Araujo will investigate the political ecology of water privatization and decentralization in the central highlands of Mexico, and Quan will demonstrate how geospatial techniques can be used to understand spatial access to healthcare. The Fellows will carry on the legacy set by the SWG’s members—who include primatologist Jane Goodall and former NASA astronaut Kathryn Sullivan—by making advances in their fields, and, as is customary in the Society, meeting to share their discoveries and adventures. Araujo and Quan will present their research to SWG members in February 2008.
Brookdale to Lead Healthy Urban Aging Initiative
Hunter’s Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging and Longevity will play a leading role in an ambitious New York City initiative to improve the health and quality of life for the city’s older adults.
Brookdale - working in partnership with the city’s Department for the Aging and the United Hospital Fund - will undertake a three-year effort aimed at providing better medical programs for the elderly in important areas such as self-management of diabetes, prevention of falls, healthy physical activity and screening for breast and prostate cancers.
The new initiative will be directed by Marianne C. Fahs, PhD, MPH, professor of urban public health at Hunter College and the Rose Dobrof acting executive director of the Brookdale Center.
The Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging and Longevity has a long and outstanding reputation as one of the nation’s leading institutions for identifying and helping to deal with the needs of older New Yorkers.
“We are pleased to be working with the Department for the Aging and the United Hospital Fund on this important effort,” said Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab. “This initiative will further enhance the city’s efforts to meet the needs of its growing senior population.”
Two Hunter Students Receive Women’s Forum Award
Hong Xin, Lei Yu
Two Hunter College students, who overcame great odds to succeed, have been named as recipients of the Women’s Forum Education Award.
Hong Xin - a senior studying film and creative writing - came to the U.S. for asylum after facing political oppression as a published writer, a poet and an accountant in China. “I want to make documentaries about people in disadvantaged societies we don’t often see,” she says, “and feature films telling simple stories about the pain and vulnerability in people’s lives and the hope and joy that still remains.”
Lei Yu - a senior studying eastern religions - came to the U.S. at the age of 25, learned English and supported herself and her family in China for ten years before she could afford college. “I realized that for a woman with no special connections, China of the 1990s still offered limited opportunity,” she says. “I could get married and be supported by a husband or I could work in a factory.”
The Education Fund of Women’s Forum, Inc. provides annual awards to mature women of need in New York City who have exhibited extraordinary and often heroic efforts in overcoming adversity to pursue a college education.
Hunter Poll Finds Clinton Has Support of 63% of LGB Likely Voters
In the first public, political survey ever conducted by a university-based team of scholars with a nationally representative sample of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGBs) Americans, results released today show that Senator Hillary Clinton has the support of 63 percent of LGB likely voters in the Democratic primaries, followed by Senator Barack Obama with 22 percent and John Edwards with 7 percent. The Hunter College Poll also finds that during the process of “coming out,” LGBs become more liberal and more engaged in the political process than the general population.
“We found a stunning transformation in political views in the LGB community of a magnitude that is virtually unparalleled among social groupings in the U.S. population,” said political science professor Kenneth Sherrill of Hunter College, one of the study’s investigators. The Hunter College Poll was conducted with 768 respondents by Knowledge Networks, Inc. from November 15th through November 26th, 2007.
Other findings include:
- Nine in 10 LGB likely voters will vote in the Democratic primaries and 21 percent say that lesbian and gay rights will be the most important issue influencing their vote in 2008.
- 72 percent of LGB likely voters consider Senator Clinton a supporter of gay rights, with Senator Obama at 52 percent and former Senator Edwards at 41 percent. On the Republican side, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was at 37 percent, followed by Senator John McCain at 13 percent. “These findings suggest opportunities. Clinton benefits from a high turnout in this very Democratic bloc; her opponents would benefit from making their stated support for gay rights more visible to LGB voters,” said Murray Edelman, a distinguished scholar at Rutgers University’s Eagleton Institute and one of the study’s investigators.
- 33 percent of all respondents say they are “very interested” in politics compared to 22 percent of the Knowledge Networks general population sample. And 36 percent said they became more interested in politics during their “coming out” period.
- LGBs were more likely than the general population to have contacted a government official in the past 12 months (23 percent to 16 percent). “These levels of civic engagement indicate that gay people can have a bigger influence on public policy than suggested by their relatively small share of the population,” said Patrick J. Egan, an assistant professor at New York University and another of the study’s investigators.
- Asked what gay rights goals are “extremely important,” LGBs chose:
goal % saying goal is “extremely important” enacting employment non-discrimination laws 59% protections from bias crimes 59% securing spousal benefits 58% AIDS funding 53% legalizing same-sex marriage 50% rights of transgendered people 36% ending the military’s ban on being openly gay 36% “The top priorities for LGBs bear little resemblance to the debates that have dominated the headlines,” said Egan.
- When asked about the proposed federal law making it illegal to discriminate against lesbians, gays, and bisexuals in employment, LGBs (by a margin of 60 to 37 percent) said that those seeking to pass the law were wrong to remove protections for transgendered people in order to get the votes necessary for passage in Congress.
The Hunter College Poll was funded by a grant from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. Sole control over the design of the study’s questionnaire and analysis of the data were maintained by the study’s investigators. The survey was conducted among those who identified themselves as lesbian, gay or bisexual to Knowledge Networks, which recruits its nationally representative sample of respondents by telephone and administers surveys to them via the Internet. The survey has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4 percentage points.
Download all survey results as a PDF.
Professor Flanagan’s Video Game Research Website Launched
An innovative new website called “Values at Play” – aimed at encouraging video game designers to focus more on social activism and human values in their games – went online recently though funding from the National Science Foundation.
The website, http://www.valuesatplay.org, is a collaboration between Hunter’s Tiltfactor Laboratory – the first academic lab in the country to do such social research into video games – and New York University.
For the next two years, students in the project will conduct research into existing video games; develop prototype video games of their own; work with innovative game designers on emphasizing relevant social issues in future games; and even hold a Social Impact Game Contest – in which non-professional designers can attempt to create games that deal with relevant current issues.
“The ultimate goal is to inspire designers of video games to include these values in their work,” said Department of Film and Media Studies Professor Mary Flanagan, founder of the Tiltfactor lab at Hunter.
Filmmaker Charles Stuart Named Jack Newfield Professor at Hunter College
Emmy-award-winning filmmaker Charles C. Stuart has been selected to be the Jack Newfield professor at Hunter College for the spring semester.
The Jack Newfield Visiting Professorship of Journalism at Hunter was created to honor Newfield’s memory and his legacy as one of America’s most respected reporters-writers. The program, now in its third year, brings an outstanding journalist to Hunter College to teach and mentor students and continue the tradition of investigative journalism and crusading spirit that Jack Newfield represented.
Stuart will teach a course in advanced documentary filmmaking for television and the internet to undergraduate and graduate students. The students will produce short films, said Stuart, “that are so compelling and well made that their videos will be shown on news organizations' web sites and on television.”
Stuart has written, produced and directed more than 50 hours of documentary programming for every major television network, including HBO, ABC, CBS, PBS, ESPN, Discovery Channel, and A & E, winning five Emmys in the course of his career. He co-produced half a dozen documentaries with Jack Newfield, including “Don King, Unauthorized'' and Robert F. Kennedy: A Memoir,'' based on Newfield books and featuring his interviews.
“I want New York to benefit from more people like Jack Newfield,” said Stuart, who will be the third Newfield Professor at Hunter, the famous investigative reporter’s alma mater.
Students will learn all aspects of the documentary process including budgeting, reporting, interviewing and writing. The class will focus on storytelling, which Stuart calls “the heart of all great documentaries.”
"Newfield emphasized a style of muckraking journalism which we see less and less in television documentaries," said Stuart. “He also gave a voice to the disenfranchised, and it is in keeping with Jack’s spirit that all the stories produced by the students in this course will have an element of social justice at their core. I am honored to mentor students in Jack's name."
Stuart is the first filmmaker to be selected as Newfield Professor. His predecessors are reporters Wayne Barrett and Tom Robbins, both colleagues of Newfield at the Village Voice. Their students published muckraking exposes about exploitative landlords in the Voice.
Undergraduates from Hunter’s Film & Media Studies department and graduate students from its Integrated Media Arts program will participate in the class.
Distinguished Journalist Brings Career Insights to Hunter
Hunter alumnus Mohamad Bazzi, the Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow for the Council on Foreign Relations, has covered everything from the metro beat in New York to conflicts in the Middle East. On November 14, the award-winning journalist came to Hunter as the last speaker in the event series “USG presents…” to share his experiences and expertise.
The visit was a return for Bazzi, who attended Hunter 10 years ago as a CUNY BA student, majoring in urban studies. He was introduced to the crowd gathered in Thomas Hunter, room 105 by his former journalism professor Gregg Morris, who said, “I’ve decided he really belongs to film and media studies.”
It would seem that he does. Bazzi has been a journalist for most of his life—he began working as a reporter in the eighth grade, covering local news for Queens community newspapers. By the time he arrived at Hunter, he was already freelancing for Newsday’s metro desk. Bazzi described this early work as key to his future success.
“Local reporting is very good preparation for foreign reporting,” he said. “You make mistakes while you are doing it, but the stakes are much lower. When you are a foreign reporter and you make mistakes, it can be a life or death issue.”
Bazzi is an authority on foreign reporting—the last four years of his 10-year career at Newsday were spent as Middle East Bureau Chief. He has reported from Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and England. His coverage included the Palestinian uprising and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bazzi was based in his native Beirut from 2005 to two months ago, when he returned to New York for his Murrow Press Fellowship.
Drawing on his extensive experiences as a reporter, Bazzi answered students’ questions on current trends in journalism.
“The news is becoming hyper local,” he said. “Only a couple of outlets are covering foreign news. Newsday is closing all of its foreign bureaus later this year—there are fewer and fewer voices.”
Bazzi, the winner of a 2004 James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism for his Iraq coverage, will teach at NYU at the end of his fellowship
Hunter Study Reveals Many “Distracted Drivers” in NYC
A new study by Hunter College Sociology Professor Peter Tuckel and a group of Hunter students has made big news by showing that one-third of New York City drivers are talking on cell phones or are distracted by other activities while they’re behind the wheel.
Cell phone use was the most common distraction, according to the study – with 23 percent of the drivers observed gabbing on their phones. Of those, half were using hand-held cell phones, which is illegal. Another 10 per cent of the drivers were seen smoking, eating, drinking or grooming themselves.
“It is clear the car has become an extension of the home and office,” said Professor Tuckel. “For many, the car is now a communications center and a place to eat. Many drivers think they can multi-task in the car, but that is not the case in these dense city streets. There is only one thing they should be focusing on, and that is driving.”
His Hunter findings received widespread play in the New York City media with coverage by the New York Daily News, New York Post, WNBC-TV, NY1 News, AP, and 1010 WINS news radio.
Students in Professor Tuckel’s Introduction to Research Methods stood at 50 different intersections in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx from October 1-24 and observed drivers at different times of the day and different days of the week in order to compile the study.
Hunter Students Join in the Call to Take Down Alcohol Ads in NYC Mass Transit
On November 8, Hunter students, representatives of the alcohol industry watchdog Marin Institute, and New York State Assemblyman Felix Ortiz (D-Brooklyn), gathered on the steps of City Hall to call for an end to alcohol ads on New York City public transportation systems.
They were mainly concerned with the negative effects such ads have on youth—effects which are far reaching, according to Hunter Urban Public Health Professor Nicholas Freudenberg.
"Millions of New Yorkers under the age of 21 are exposed to alcohol advertisements every time they take a subway," he said. "By allowing the alcohol industry to advertise on New York City subways and buses, the Metropolitan Transit Authority contributes to underage and problem drinking."
Assemblyman Ortiz has introduced two bills in Albany to bar alcohol and tobacco ads in NY mass transit systems.
Hunter Film Grad Debuts First Feature Film
Hunter alumnus Guy Moshe’s first feature film, “Holly,” opens Friday, November 9 at Clearview Cinemas on 62nd Street and Broadway.
Moshe—who graduated in 2001 with a BA in film—wrote, directed, and co-produced the movie, which examines the growing international atrocity of human trafficking. The film was shot on location in Cambodia and features actors Ron Livingston, Thuy Nguyen, Udo Kier, Chris Penn and Virginie Ledoyen.
Moshe will be on campus on November 27th at 6:30 pm in the North Bulding, Room N436 to discuss his work on “Holly” and his new feature film “Bunraku,” which is in pre-production.
To see the “Holly” film trailor on YouTube, click here.
Four Faculty Members Named 2007-2008 Fulbright Scholars
Four Hunter faculty members—with projects as diverse as Egyptian popular culture and Chilean agricultural policies—have been named Fulbright Scholars for 2007-2008. The four—Anita C.-T. Cheng (Dance), Jonathan Conning (Economics), Steven M. Gorelick (Film and Media Studies), and Christopher R. Stone (Classical and Oriental Studies)—constitute almost one third of CUNY’s Fulbright Scholar contingent for the year: Of the 13 Fulbrights awarded to CUNY faculty for 2007-2008, four went to Hunter faculty.
Anita Cheng received her Fulbright to teach Digital Media and Performance for the Communications Department at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. The course focuses on methods of creating media works that integrate performers with new media technology such as video, computer graphics, and the Internet. It is an adaptation of a course that Cheng created at Hunter in collaboration with Jana Feinman, director of Hunter’s Dance Program, under a Hunter Teaching and Learning with Technology Grant. At the end of her four-month term in Brazil (August-December 2007), Cheng plans to “apply what I’ve learned cross-culturally to my courses at Hunter.”
Jonathan Conning, whose Fulbright term in Santiago, Chile, began in August and runs through December, is lecturing and conducting research at the Centro de Economia Aplicada (Applied Economics Center) at the University of Chile. His research is focused on two areas: (1) studying some of Chile’s mechanisms to expand financial access to the small-business sector and the poor, particularly the use of loan-guarantee funds that are allocated through market auctions; and (2) collecting data for an economics history project that is studying 19th-century frontier land settlement policies.
Steve Gorelick’s Fulbright—awarded by the German Fulbright Commission—took him to Berlin this past summer, where he participated in the German Studies Seminar, which involved meetings and study with colleagues and counterparts from all over Germany. The topic investigated was “Germany in a Changing Europe: Transatlantic Ties, Transatlantic Challenges.” The seminar, says Gorelick, enabled him to continue exploring his “interest in the role of media and culture in the postwar recovery and reunification of Germany.”
Christopher Stone, whose Fulbright will take him to Egypt from February-April 2008, is conducting a project on “Ahmad Zaki and post-1967 Egyptian Popular Culture.” Zaki, an Egyptian actor who died in 2005, was “perhaps the most prominent actor” in the period after Egypt was defeated by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, explains Stone, who plans to use Zaki’s career as a lens to examine the impact of the ’67 defeat on Egyptian culture. The 1967 defeat, adds Stone, affected Egyptians deeply, and popular culture “was one venue where the defeat and its ramifications were worked out.” While in Egypt, Stone plans to do research in the popular press and interview cultural and media luminaries who were connected to Zaki.
Hunter College Athletic Hall of Fame Celebrates Silver Anniversary with Four New Inductees
Hunter College celebrated the Silver Anniversary of the Athletic Hall of Fame on October 20 with the induction of four new members.
The Induction Class of 2007 includes Vera Chuma-Bitcon ’82, an All-American runner; wrestling standout Richard Colbert ’88; five-time All-American and two-time National Champion in track and field Nigel Franklyn ’99; and all-time leading softball pitcher Dawn Gugliaro ’96. These four individuals were voted into the Hall of Fame by the 14-member Athletics Hall of Fame committee.
Chuma-Bitcon was a four-year member of the cross country and track and field teams, where she was named an All-American in 1982 as a member of the Hawks 4x400 relay team. Excelling in the 800 meters, Chuma-Bitcon placed fourth at the New York State Championships in 1982 and later that year placed in the top ten at the NCAA Championships. She won multiple team awards and was the Hunter College Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 1982.
Colbert stands out as one of the top wrestlers at the 150 lbs. weight class in Hunter history. In his senior year, Colbert won the Metropolitan Conference championship, competing against athletes from all three NCAA Divisions. He finished his senior season with a 36-6 overall record and went 19-1 in dual meets. As a junior, Colbert went undefeated in dual meets with a record of 12-0. He finished his career holding seven Hunter records and logged two Northeast Division III Regional Championship appearances and one NCAA Division III Championship appearance.
Franklyn completed his four-year career as one of the most versatile and accomplished student-athletes in Hunter track and field history. A five-time NCAA All-American, Franklyn swept the 1997 NCAA indoor and outdoor track and field championships, bringing home the national title in the triple jump. He was a five-time Most Valuable Performer at the CUNYAC championships and helped lead the Hawks to four indoor and three outdoor titles. He currently holds 11 indoor/outdoor combined Hunter College records and five indoor/outdoor combined CUNYAC records. In addition, Franklyn was a four-year member of the men’s soccer program and was the 1999 CUNYAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Gugliaro finished her four-year career as the “winningest” softball pitcher in Hunter history with 40 victories. Her talents on the mound helped guide the Hawks to two straight CUNYAC Championship titles in 1993 and 1994. To this day, Gugliaro holds a majority of Hunter’s pitching records including career games pitched, career innings pitched, career complete games, career shutouts, career victories and career strikeouts. In addition, Gugliaro was named a two-time CUNYAC Player of the Year and three-time CUNYAC Pitcher of the Year.
Alumna’s Music Featured on “America’s Next Top Model”
Rachel Pastarnack just graduated from Hunter last May, but she has already hit it big as a songwriter for the hot TV show, America’s Next Top Model. Five songs, written and performed by the Hunter theater major, will make their debut in coming weeks on the show which airs at 8 p.m. Wednesdays on the CW network.
Inspired by last season’s finale, Pastarnack created the song “No More Baby Girl,” which she sent to the show’s producers. After seven months of persistence, the show told her they loved it and wanted to use that and four more of her songs during the 2007-2008 seasons. “I remember screaming for five minutes,” said Pasternack. “I called every single family member I have.”
Her songs will be played on air as contestants from the show compete for stardom in the modeling world. One of the songs, “Bad Enough,” has lyrics which Pastarnack says reflect both the drive of people on the show to succeed as models and her own desire to make it as a musician, actress, and dancer.
Pasternack currently hones her musical skills by playing with her band Rachel Lauren, which is entirely composed of Hunter students. They will be performing at Pianos on the Lower East Side on November 13, 2007 at 8:30 p.m. In the meantime, Pastarnack says: “I am writing new music, going on auditions and living my dream.”
Chris Seeger (’87) Named One of the Best Lawyers in America
Hunter alumnus Christopher Seeger (’87) has been named to the 2008 list of the Best Lawyers in America – the third consecutive year that he has received this recognition.
Seeger, founding partner of Seeger Weiss LLP, one of the nation’s premier plaintiff law firms for individual, mass and class actions – also was picked for the second consecutive year as one of the 2007 New York Super Lawyers. Super Lawyers honors the top 5 per cent of attorneys in Manhattan as chosen by their peers.
Best Lawyers in America is an annual referral guide that evaluates attorneys in 78 practice areas. Seeger was chosen for his nationally-acclaimed work in the area of mass tort litigation. The list is available at www.bestlawyers.com and will be published in a print edition in December.
Seeger has also been active as a member of the Advisory Committee for Hunter College’s Pre-Law Program – an innovative approach which makes it easier for Hunter students to pursue careers as attorneys.
Hunter to Co-Sponsor the 13th Annual Avignon/New York Film Festival
The 13th Avignon/New York Film Festival, one of the most highly-regarded and thought-provoking film festivals in America, will be held on the Hunter campus over two weekends in November, Friday through Sunday--November 9th - 11th, and 16th - 18th.
This is the third Avignon/New York Festival to be hosted by Hunter College and its Department of Film and Media Studies. "Avignon/New York" is the American version of France's 25-year-old Avignon Film Festival.
The events at Hunter, which will be held in Lang Recital Hall, will include premieres of high-caliber, new works from European and American Independents, retrospectives, discussions with film industry experts, interviews with filmmakers, and receptions. This marks the second year the festival will include a program of film and documentary shorts directed and produced by Hunter graduate and undergraduate students.
Professor Hett’s Book Wins History Award
A forthcoming book by Hunter College History Professor Benjamin Hett has been awarded the prestigious Fraenkel Prize in Contemporary History for 2007 by the Wiener Library in London.
“Crossing Hitler: Hans Litten’s Legal Struggle Against Adolf Hitler and the Nazis” is a biography of the German lawyer Hans Litten, who devoted his practice to fighting the Nazis. Litten even subjected Hitler to a withering three-hour cross examination once in 1931, before Hitler took his revenge. Litten died in the Dachau concentration camp in 1938.
“The book is, on the one hand, an effort to make this very brave man better known, and on the other, a study of the collapse of the rule of law in Germany in the years just before and after the Nazi takeover,” Dr. Hett said.
It will be published by Oxford University Press in the U.S. and by other publishers around the world. The U.S. edition is scheduled to come out in late 2008 or early 2009.
Alumna Receives Prestigious Journalism Award
Hunter alumna Frances L. Lewine (’42) has been awarded the Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism. She, and nine other prominent journalists, will receive the award at a banquet on October 9 at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Lewine is an assignment editor and field producer for CNN whose career, which spans over 60 years, is marked by pioneering accomplishments and advocacy for women’s equality in journalism.
For much of her career, Lewine worked for the Associated Press as a White House correspondent. She was initially limited—because of her gender—to covering the activities of the First Ladies, but was able to, as she put it, “parlay this experience into a full-fledged White House correspondent's job." She went on to cover the administrations of six U.S. presidents, from Eisenhower to Carter.
Lewine pushed for equal footing not just for herself, but for her fellow female journalists. As chairman of the Professional Committee of the Women's National Press Club, Lewine organized protests against press clubs that barred female membership. She helped to fight what would become a 20-year battle with the National Press Club, and went on to become the second woman admitted to the Gridiron Club.
Lewine’s distinguished accomplishments in journalism have earned her a place in the Hall of Fame of both Hunter College and the Washington Society of Professional Journalists.
Distinguished Writer Annie Proulx Comes to Hunter
On October 4, visitors to the Faculty Dining Room received a literary treat. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Proulx read “Family Man,” a tale from her latest, and as-yet-unpublished, Wyoming Stories collection.
Proulx is best known as the author of The Shipping News, Postcards, and Brokeback Mountain. She has won, in addition to the Pulitzer Prize, the PEN/Faulkner and National Book Awards for fiction.
Proulx’s visit to Hunter was part of the Distinguished Writers Series, and two time Booker Prize-winner Peter Carey, the director of Hunter’s MFA program, introduced her to the audience.
“As a writer, she is absolutely complete,” Carey said. “I admire the way she nails words down to the page [...] in ways no one else has thought to do.”
Describing the place where she does much of that handiwork, Proulx—who has an affinity for the natural world—spoke of a room filled with hundreds of books, a telescope, “and yes,” she said, “soil samples.”
Reading “Family Man” aloud, Proulx gave voice to her characters using a distinct Western twang, adding further color to a story already vibrant with imagery. At the end of the reading, there was no time for questions, and Carey voiced the burning concern that was, perhaps, on everyone’s mind.
“Now we will never know how she felt about the film ‘Brokeback Mountain.’”
Hunter President Raab Named One of New York’s 100 Most Influential Women
Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab and four prominent Hunter alumnae have been named by Crain’s New York Business magazine to its list of the “100 Most Influential Women in NYC Business.”
In a cover article which came out on October 1, Crain’s hails President Raab for restoring Hunter to educational prominence since taking over as president in 2001. “Ms. Raab has made the school competitive in the faculty market by raising $25 million in private donations for improved facilities, as well as for professional training programs and scholarships,” the prestigious financial magazine says. “Additionally, faculty members have received $39 million in research grants in recent years.”
The Hunter alumnae named to the Crain’s list were: Top class action attorney Sheila Birnbaum (’60), a partner at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom who has been called the “queen of torts”; Abbe Raven (MA ’77), who is chief executive of A&E Television Networks and one of the most successful women in the television industry; Susan Fuhrman (HCHS ’61), president of Columbia University’s Teachers College whose initiatives have put her in the forefront of educational reform; and Evelyn Lauder, senior corporate vice president of The Estée Lauder Cos. and one of the most prominent New Yorkers raising funds to fight breast cancer.
New Funding Announced for McNair Scholars Program
The Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program at Hunter – aimed at helping minority and low income students pursue a doctoral degree – has received crucial funding from the U.S. Department of Education for the next four years.
Since it began at Hunter in 1999, the highly-acclaimed McNair Scholars Program has seen more than half of its participants gain admission into graduate schools – with many of these scholars going on to pursue doctoral studies at prestigious universities around the country.
The program provides approximately 25 students each year with writing skills, research opportunities and other career guidance to prepare them for graduate school. Eligible applicants are low income, first generation college students and members of several groups underrepresented in graduate education in the U.S. – American Indian/Alaskan Native; Hispanic and Black non-Hispanic. The applicants must also have a GPA of at least 3.0.
The McNair Program was established nationwide by the federal government in 1986 to honor Dr. Ronald E. McNair – the first African-American astronaut, who died in the Challenger tragedy that year.
Hawks Score Big Wins In Volleyball, Tennis
2007 Women's Volleyball player Yasmine Daniels (left), and 2007 Women's Tennis player Evgeniya Kim
Hunter’s women volleyball and tennis teams are both headed on their way to having big seasons.
The Hawks’ volleyball squad defeated City College of New York 3-1 in a key CUNY Athletic Conference match on September 25th, which puts them on top of the conference with a 4-0 record. Senior middle blocker Yasmine Daniels led the Hawks in kills with 14 and also had seven solo blocks.
The Hunter women’s tennis team soared past Baruch College 8-1 on September 25th in a CUNYAC match. It was the Hawks 53rd consecutive conference match win since 2000. Sophomore Evgeniya Kim added to her season record with a 6-0, 6-0 win at first singles, then teamed up with freshman Elizabeth Feldman for an 8-0 win in first doubles. The following day, the Hawks defeated Western Connecticut to run their overall record to 7-0 and 4-0 in the conference.
Hunter Chosen to be Part of New Biomedical Complex
The Hunter College School of Nursing and the College’s Center for Study of Gene Structure and Function have been selected to be part of an ambitious and innovative biomedical complex on New York’s Upper East Side.
They will work in collaboration with Weill Cornell Medical College and a consortium of other prestigious institutions in the Hunter College neighborhood to establish the Clinical and Translational Science Center, whose goal is to “facilitate research aimed at advancing and expediting new patient treatments and preventive interventions” throughout New York City. The effort will be funded through a $49 million award from the National Institutes of Health.
Hunter’s Gene Center recruits and nurtures minority talent and has established an effective electronic network with minority scientists nationwide. The Hunter College School of Nursing, training nurses from a diverse urban population, participates in community outreach and education in underserved areas.
“Many of our ongoing research projects already address AIDS, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and compliant behavior – all important aspects of clinical translational research,” said Dr. Robert Dottin, director of the Gene Center. “(This award) will create synergistic programs among these neighboring institutions and complement the efforts of President Raab to build a new science and health professions building at Hunter College.”
Hunter Joins Forces With Asia Society
Hunter College has announced an exciting new partnership with the Asia Society, the most prominent organization working to increase dialogue and understanding between the U.S. and Asia.
Under the agreement, Hunter faculty, staff and students will now have unique access to the highly-respected exhibits, events and resources of the Asia Society; faculty will get the opportunity to integrate Asia Society materials into their courses; and the Asia Society Store will provide discounts to Hunter customers - and also promote some of the Hunter faculty’s Asia-related books. In addition, each year three Hunter College students will be provided with Non-Resident internships.
“Thanks in part to the Hunter Undergraduate Student Government’s support, this collaboration will enhance the breadth of research, teaching and cross-cultural competencies of both of our institutions,” said Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab. “I look forward to our faculty and students taking advantage of this special relationship.”
Chinese Language and Culture Come Alive at Hunter
(Second row, from left to right) Joyce Lee Chang, Dr. Chao, and Dr. Green celebrate with students at the Achievement Ceremony.
Zachary Strein unraveled a large scroll bearing an ancient Chinese aphorism. “Walk 10,000 miles, read 10,000 books.”
This summer, Strein and 23 other students were enrolled in the Hunter College Chinese Immersion Program, an eight-week intensive elementary language course for high school students. At the program’s Achievement Ceremony, held on August 17 in the Lang Recital Hall, students displayed skills ranging from oral presentations in Mandarin to traditional dance performances—a reflection of the full spectrum of Chinese lingual and cultural knowledge they had acquired.
The Chinese Immersion Program was developed by Professor Der-lin Chao of the Classical and Oriental Studies Department, and launched for the first time this summer. Students of diverse backgrounds came from high schools all over the New York area to participate, attending the 6-credit class four days a week and speaking only Chinese on-campus. They regularly received group and one-on-one instruction, engaged in cultural activities, and took field trips to Chinatown.
Chao funded the program through a $104,000 grant from the Startalk project of the National Foreign Language Center of the University of Maryland, which seeks to expand foreign language instruction in “under-taught” critical languages.
Chinese—widely recognized as a major language in the arenas of business and international affairs—has had a home at Hunter for over 40 years. The College has the largest Chinese program in the City University of New York, and according to Dr. Tamara Green, Chair of the Classics Department, “By far the best.”
U.S. News & World Report Ranks Hunter Among Top Public Universities
Hunter College has earned a top spot in the 2008 edition of “America’s Best Colleges” by U.S. News & World Report, ranking 12th among public universities in the “Best Universities-Master’s” category. Overall, among the 574 public and private institutions in this category, Hunter is in the first tier with a rank of 51.
U.S.News’ annual rankings are based on a set of 15 indicators of academic excellence, including graduation rates and peer assessment surveys. Schools are grouped into categories created by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The “Universities-Master’s” category, divided into four geographic areas, refers to institutions that provide a full range of undergraduate and master’s programs, but few, if any, doctoral programs.
Hunter offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in more than 170 different programs of study, ranging from urban affairs to dance, from nursing to Arabic. The College shares its rank of 12th among public universities in the north with Queens College, SUNY Fredonia, and the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.
Download the 2008 U.S.News & World Report “Best Universities-Master’s” rankings. (PDF)
Download a comparison of CUNY college rankings. (XLS)
Hunter Professor Receives APA Conflict Resolution Award
The American Psychological Association's Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict and Violence presented Distinguished Hunter professor Nicholas Freudenberg with the 2007 Morton Deutsch Conflict Resolution Award at the APA’s Annual Convention, held in San Francisco from August 17-20.
Freudenberg is the director of the Urban Public Health Program at Hunter and a faculty member of the Ph.D. Program in Psychology at the Graduate Center. The Morton Deutsch award recognizes his efforts to address the challenges incarcerated adolescents and adults face when rejoining society, and his scholarly work on violence prevention.
"I started doing research work in the New York City jails almost 25 years ago,” said Freudenberg, “when jails presented an opportunity to reach people at risk of HIV infection, substance use and violence […]. This award recognizes the importance of the work my colleagues and I have undertaken and its value in reducing violence and promoting health and social justice."
The founder of Hunter’s Center on AIDS, Drugs, and Community Health, Freudenberg graduated from the College with a BS in 1975 and holds a DrPH and MPH from Columbia University.
Hunter Alums Named “Top 100” Power Lawyers
Hunter alumni Michael Frankfurt ’57 (left) and Joel Katz ’66 (right) have been named top power lawyers by The Hollywood Reporter, ESQ.
Two Hunter College alumni have been named by The Hollywood Reporter to a prestigious list of the Top 100 power lawyers who work in the media industry.
Michael Frankfurt (’57) and Joel Katz (’66) were among those cited for their remarkable influence and achievements in the entertainment business as part of a special section on prominent media attorneys by The Hollywood Reporter, ESQ. in its July 24 issue.
Frankfurt – of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz – is one of the deans of the New York entertainment bar, representing clients as diverse as the Tribeca Film Cinema, fashion models like Heidi Klum, authors such as Terry McMillan and various media companies. “What distinguishes Mike is the fact that he’s not only a brilliant lawyer, but also a compassionate person who has great appreciation for the art that his clients create,” a fellow attorney is quoted as saying.
Katz – of Greenberg Traurig in Atlanta – is one of the country’s leading music attorneys, whose clients have included B.B. King, Jimmy Buffet, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and the late James Brown. As head of his firm’s 80-lawyer entertainment division, he also represents companies like Coca-Cola and Nokia as well as the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences. “He owns the South,” another top lawyer said of Katz in The Hollywood Reporter article.
Both Frankfurt and Katz are members of the Hunter Hall of Fame. Frankfurt is also a member of the Hunter College Foundation Board of Trustees.
Social Work Alumna Wins Prize for First Latina Fiction
Hunter College School of Social Work alumna Annecy Báez (MSW ‘84) is the winner of the 2007 Miguel Marmol Prize for her collection of short stories, entitled My Daughter’s Eyes and Other Stories. The prize is awarded for a first book-length work of fiction in English by a Latina/o writer that reflects a respect for intercultural understanding and fosters an appreciation for human rights and civil liberties.
My Daughter’s Eyes and Other Stories is composed of 14 interrelated stories about young Dominican women living in the Bronx, and their experiences of loss, betrayal, and reparation. Benjamin A. Saenz— the judge for this year’s prize and a poet, novelist, and teacher at the University of Texas—said, “The words in these stories become a tribute to the immigrant experience, of women and girls from the Dominican Republic living in New York ….”
Báez received her bachelor’s in psychology from Pace University and her doctorate from New York University School of Social Work. A clinical social worker for the past 22 years, she is currently the director of the Counseling Center at Lehman College.
Alumna Wins Prestigious Economics Prize
Reina Mukai, a Hunter alumna with a master’s in economics, has won the 2007 Arthur Leon Horniker Memorial Award for her work entitled “Effects of Strategic Response on Stated Willingness to Pay: Do WTP Values Vary According to a Respondent’s Perceived Payment Obligation?”
The Horniker Prize is awarded annually for the best economics thesis or equivalent paper written by MA students at CUNY or PhD students at The Graduate Center. Mukai’s win marks the fifth year in a row, and the eighth time since its inception in 1999, that this prestigious prize has been awarded to a graduate of Hunter’s MA program in economics.
Mukai is a research associate at the Foundation Center, the nation’s leading authority on philanthropy. She graduated from Hunter in September 2006, and received her BA in economics from Bard College.
Arlie Petters ’86 Featured on NOVA
Hunter alumnus Arlie Petters (’86) – who has gone on to become one of the premiere scientists in his field of physics and mathematics – will be profiled on national television July 24 by the PBS show NOVA scienceNOW.
The broadcast tells the story of Dr. Petters’ long journey as a poor kid from his homeland of Belize to Hunter College, where he first attracted the attention of the head of a scholarship program for minorities interested in science. He went on to earn a doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Dr. Petters is now a highly-acclaimed professor of mathematics and physics at Duke University. A book he wrote about gravitational lensing is considered a tour de force in mathematical physics - and he has been hailed as a founder of mathematical astronomy.
In telling the story of Dr. Petters’ amazing career, the PBS show also talks about how he has never forgotten his humble origins and continues to help and inspire others back home in Belize – working to educate disadvantaged children there.
The show airs at 8 p.m. on PBS.
Physics Professor Named Cottrell Scholar
Neepa T. Maitra, assistant professor in Hunter’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, has been named a Cottrell Scholar and will receive a $100,000 award to further her research and teaching.
The prestigious honor was given to Dr. Maitra for her proposal titled: “Strong-Field Dynamics of Atoms and Molecules in Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory: A Phase Space Exploration.”
“Dr. Maitra’s proposal was one of these that rose to the top,” said Research Corporation in announcing the prize. “It gives us great pleasure to recognize the promise of Dr. Maitra as a teacher-scholar with this award and to join with CUNY, Hunter College in support of the development of this young scientist.”
The awards are named for Frederick Gardner Cottrell, the chemist who founded Research Corporation and devoted his life to helping young scientists get their start. Public recognition of this year’s Cottrell Scholars will be announced in the journal Science later this year.
Dr. Maitra graduated from the University of Otago in New Zealand and received her Ph.D. from Harvard. She also has done post-doctoral work at Berkeley and Rutgers.
Jeff Greenfield Delivers Commencement Address
Hunter’s May 31st, 2007 commencement ceremony featured some real star power as TV news commentator Jeff Greenfield and Broadway’s Jeannette Bayardelle (Hunter ’02) helped give the 1900 graduates a rousing sendoff at Radio City Music Hall.
Greenfield is an acclaimed political, media and cultural reporter who’s covered virtually every major political event over the past two decades – for ABC, CNN and now CBS. He’s also a best-selling author and hosts his own show on PBS.
Referring to himself as an old “geezer,” Greenfield made the graduates both laugh and think with his wry, insightful observations about what he called playing the game of life.
“You don’t get a do-over,” he said. “There is enough out there of work and play and joy to fill a hundred lifetimes. You have one.”
Bayardelle brought the house down when she sang “I am Here” from the The Color Purple – which she starred in on Broadway and is now on national tour in Chicago. “It’s good to be back,” said Bayardelle, who graduated from Hunter with a degree in medical lab sciences and was given an outstanding alumna award by program director Regina Linder.
Coach CEO Lew Frankfort, on the anniversary of his own graduation from Hunter 40 years ago, was the recipient of a Doctorate of Humane Letters. “For me, Hunter was my gateway to the world,” Frankfort told the graduates. “Today it is the gateway for all of you.”
Vita Rabinowitz Named Provost of Hunter
Hunter President Jennifer J. Raab has announced the appointment of Dr. Vita Rabinowitz as Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs of Hunter College.
An active participant in all aspects of life at Hunter, Dr. Rabinowitz has been a faculty member in the Department of Psychology since 1978 and a member of the doctoral faculty of the City University since 1989. She served as chair of the Department of Psychology, as acting associate provost, as co-director of the Gender Equity Project, and as acting provost.
As acting provost for the past two years, Dr. Rabinowitz has led Hunter's efforts on the Mellon Project, which seeks to re-envision undergraduate education and improve students' engagement, achievement, retention, and graduation rates. She is currently implementing a college-wide assessment of student learning and is spearheading Hunter's 10-year review by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
While serving as acting associate provost, Dr. Rabinowitz helped establish the CUNY Honors College at Hunter and supported expanding research opportunities for faculty and students. With Professor Virginia Valian, she won a National Science Foundation ADVANCE AWARD that they used to establish the Gender Equity Project, which has advanced the careers of many Hunter women scientists.
Memorial for Erwin Fleissner
It is with profound sadness that we report the passing of Erwin Fleissner, Hunter Professor Emeritus of Biology, and husband of Judith Friedlander, Hunter's former Acting Dean of Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Fleissner received an honorary degree from Hunter this past January. A preeminent scientist and one of Hunter’s most respected deans, he served the College as Dean of Sciences and Mathematics from 1987-1998. His work has advanced cancer and aids research and he inspired a love of science in many generations through his teaching and writing.
As dean, he recruited exceptional young researchers and teachers and was committed to recruiting top notch women and minority faculty, many of whom are still at Hunter today. He helped build a pipeline of minority scientists by ensuring that underrepresented groups majored and succeeded in the sciences.
Erwin Fleissner made a difference, and certainly left the world a better place. Our entire community mourns his loss and we extend our deepest sympathies to Judith and his entire family.
A memorial will be held at Hunter College on Wednesday, May 30, 2007 at 4:30pm in the Faculty Dining Room, 8th floor, West Building.
Urban Planning Students Win JPMorgan Chase Competition
A team of Hunter graduate urban planning students have won the $25,000 first prize in the JPMorgan Chase Community Development Competition. Now in its 14th year, the annual competition challenges urban planning graduate schools to work with non-profit community groups on the development of a small-scale community-based project.
This year’s win marks the fourth time that a Hunter team has placed first in the Chase competition. A panel of 14 community development leaders, including the vice president of JPMorgan Chase and the senior deputy director of Fannie Mae, served as this year’s judges.
Vying against Columbia University and the New School, Hunter’s 12-member team presented a proposal calling for the development of a Health & Fitness Center for the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA), the largest taxi driver association in the country. The NYTWA views the Center as an important source of needed health care services, and will use the prize money to begin financing the $3 million project.
The proposal was developed in an urban planning studio class taught by professors Alice Blank and Sigmund Shipp. In the class students must develop a real estate proposal for an actual client in four to five months. Students develop oral and written presentations and gain experience in finance, architecture/building design, community relations, and site development.
According to the proposal, the Center will be built on 7,000 square feet of underutilized land at JFK airport in Queens. The building is designed as a welcoming gateway, “a modest yet elegant addition” to JFK’s significant airport architecture. It is divided into two parts to accommodate the two distinct programs of a health clinic and gymnasium, and is designed to be small and “green” to ensure affordability and efficiency. It will sit in a small park that will serve as campus where taxi drivers can seek rest and recreation.
Hunter Science Students Display Research
Science student Tonia Tiewul proudly displays her research at Hunter's Annual Science Poster Day
More than 40 Hunter science students showcased their research during Hunter’s Annual Science Poster Day held on May 2.
In an impressive display of posters on the 3rd floor bridge walkways, the Hunter undergraduate students – affiliated with several programs encouraging greater minority participation in science research – gave a visual presentation of their work on a myriad of subjects.
Tin Thu, a junior in sociology, collected data on microbicides – a substance capable of reducing the transmission of HIV that is currently undergoing scientific testing. She explained how a safe and effective microbicide product might prevent many cases of sexually transmitted diseases – “particularly in Third World countries where women are still second class citizens.”
Karl C. Clark, a sophomore studying environmental science, analyzed material on Nor’easters and how these storms affect the New York coastline. “People are always concerned about hurricanes,” Clark explained. “But Nor’easters are more frequent and can cause more damage.”
Among those viewing the poster exhibits was Hunter College Biology Professor Derrick T. Brazill. “As always I’m impressed with the level of science and the level of understanding these students have,” Brazill said. Pointing out that many of these were summer projects that gave the students little time for preparation, he called the results “amazing.”
The event was sponsored by Hunter’s Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) and Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS) programs. Students displaying posters were also affiliated with Career Opportunities in Research and Education (COR); Howard Hughes Medical Institute Undergraduate Science Education (HHMIUSE); and New York City Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation in Science (LSAMP).
Hunter Students Selected as Jeannette K. Watson Fellows
Talia Krevsky and Long Tran have been named winners of the 2007 Jeannette K. Watson Fellowship. Hunter is one of ten colleges in New York City invited to participate in this program which provides internship placements with generous stipends for three consecutive summers. Fellows also participate in seminars, cultural outings and benefit from individual mentoring.
Krevsky, a first year student in the CUNY Honors College, is also a member of the Thomas Hunter Honors Program. She serves in the Undergraduate Student Government as freshman senator and arts events coordinator.
Tran is a second year political science major and a member of the CUNY Honors College and the Thomas Hunter Honors Program. Tran has participated in numerous public service activities and is a regular volunteer with Hunter’s Project Happy where he teaches sports and origami to children with disabilities.
The program seeks candidates who are first and second year students who have demonstrated leadership, creativity and a commitment to building a better society. Applications for the 2008 Jeannette K. Watson Fellowship competition will be available in November. Further information on the program is available at www.jkwatson.org.
Princeton Review Guidebook Cites Hunter Again
Hunter has again been included in the prestigious annual guidebook America’s Best Value Colleges, which notes that “For many New Yorkers seeking a college degree, Hunter College within the CUNY system offers the best, most affordable option available.”
Published by the Princeton Review, the 2008 edition of the guide profiles the 165 schools it has selected as “Best Value Colleges.” The schools were selected, says the Review, “for their excellent academics, generous financial aid packages and/or relatively low costs of attendance,” and all “offer a terrific education.” Selections were based on data from administrators at more than 650 colleges and surveys of students attending the schools.
Praising Hunter for giving “Bang for Your Buck,” the guide says that the College’s “extraordinarily low tuition rate keeps Hunter relatively affordable for all,” but, it adds, “Hunter has a lot to offer beyond its minuscule tuition”—and it stresses that Hunter’s “faculty is a huge asset.”
Other pluses of Hunter cited by the Princeton Review guide include the “virtually limitless” supply of “valuable internship opportunities” offered in New York City, the “prestigious external grants and scholarships” available to qualified students, and the diversity of the student body.
Message from President Raab Concerning Virginia Tech
Dear Members of the Hunter College Community:
The Virginia Tech tragedy has stunned and horrified all of us. The thoughts, support and deepest sympathies of all of us at Hunter are with the students, faculty and staff of Virginia Tech as they begin the work of restoring their community and moving forward in the difficult days ahead. We will join the nation in lowering the flag as a gesture of respect for the victims, their families, their friends and teachers.
I hope you will join me in keeping the Virginia Tech community in your thoughts at this extraordinarily difficult time.
We also remind the Hunter community of our support services in the Dean's Office. Specifically, the Division of Student Affairs is available for walk-in appointments or by calling x 4873 or x 4934. There is also the dedicated Employee Assistance Program for faculty and staff, which can be reached at 212.772.4051.
Incidents like this naturally lead us to reflect on our own safety. We continue to actively update and review our security procedures in light of Monday’s tragedy. Our highest priority remains the safety and well-being of our students and employees.
Sincerely,
Jennifer J. Raab
Hunter Professor Up for Booker Prize
Peter Carey, director of Hunter’s MFA Program in Creative Writing and a two-time winner of the Man Booker Prize, has been shortlisted for the 2007 Man Booker International Prize.
The $137,000 prize is awarded once every two years. Carey is up against 14 other writers including Salman Rushie, Ian McEwan, Doris Lessing, Philip Roth, Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje.
The prize is not awarded for a particular book, but for a body of work. It differs from the prestigious Man Booker Prize because it is available to fiction writers of any nationality so long as their work was written in or translated into English. Carey won the Booker Prize in 1988 for Oscar and Lucinda and in 2001 for The True History of the Kelly Gang.
The winner will be announced in early June.
Undergraduate Student Elections to Take Place April 23-27, 2007
As we did so successfully the last three years, we will once again use web-based voting for undergraduate student elections this spring.
This technology, used by colleges and universities throughout the country, enables you to vote while at school, work or home. In addition to a computer you may have at home or work, there are many throughout campus from which you can also vote. By bringing the “polls” to you, making voting more convenient, we hope to see students taking part in the election process in even greater numbers. As you may know, when we used Web-based voting, participation increased significantly. In order to ensure the integrity of the election process, we have hired an outside company experienced with Web-based campus elections, and unaffiliated with Hunter College, to handle all aspects of the voting. Your Hunter email, which must be set up per the instructions below, will not be used by this company for any purpose other than this election.
When to Vote
Voting is scheduled to take place from Monday, April 23 (12:01 am) - Friday, April 27 (11:59 pm).
How to Vote
In order to vote on the web, you must set up your Hunter e-mail account. If you received this e-mail, you are properly set up. Please tell your friends that if they have not yet set up their Hunter e-mail, they should do so right away by going to the SNET Helpdesk in Room 109 North.
During the week of April 16, the company administering the election will send you an email with a voter registration code, which you will need in order to vote. The voter registration code, along with instructions, will allow you to view and submit your ballot on the company's special Hunter elections website when the “polls” open on April 23. Election results will be posted on the election site immediately after the polls close. (Note: If others are able to access your e-mails, or if you think they have the ability to do so, you should make the necessary adjustments immediately).
What Positions are on the Ballot
You will have the opportunity to vote, via the web, for the following 36 positions:
A) Seven Undergraduate Student Government Executive Officers:
President
Vice President
Finance Commissioner
Evening Affairs Commissioner
External Affairs/Public Relations Commissioner
Student Welfare/Academic Affairs Commissioner
Cultural Affairs/Student Activities Commissioner
Note: Brookdale Commissioner will only be voted on by residents of the Brookdale Residence Hall. This voting will take place at the residence hall on Friday, April 27, 2007 from 9:30 am - 10:00 pm. Hunter ID will be required.
B) Fourteen Undergraduate Student Government Senators, including two freshmen, four sophomores, four juniors and four seniors.
C) College Association (4 positions available)
D) Auxiliary Enterprise Board (5 positions available)
E) Faculty Student Disciplinary Committee (6 positions available)
Please check the Office of Student Services homepage to view the responsibilities of the aforementioned positions and an overview of the funds for which the student government is responsible. This information is also currently posted in the glass-enclosed “Elections” bulletin board on three West.
Learn about the Candidates
The following information and events will assist you in selecting your candidates:
- Each candidate was asked to submit a 100 word campaign statement which will be posted on the election website, which you will be able to access the week of and the week prior to the election.
- All candidates were asked to participate in a “Candidate's Forum/Debate” to introduce themselves and their platform to the electorate. This will be held on Wednesday, April 18, at 1:00 pm in room West 714.
- By Tuesday, April 17, the list of candidates and their party affiliation, if any, will be posted in the glass-enclosed “Elections” bulletin board on three West. This list will also be on the elections site the week of and the week prior to the election.
If you have any questions about student elections or web-based voting, please contact Dean Michael Escott in the Office of Student Services, Room East 1103.
Your vote counts...use it wisely to determine who represents you next year.
CBS’s Jeff Greenfield to Deliver Commencement Address
Jeff Greenfield, an award-winning political analyst, will be the commencement speaker for Hunter’s spring 2007 graduation ceremony.
Greenfield is one of the best-known and most respected political commentators in the nation. He has been involved in American politics since the late 1960s when he was a speechwriter for Senator Robert F. Kennedy and, after Senator Kennedy’s assassination, for Mayor John V. Lindsay.
He entered journalism in the late 1970s and worked for PBS, CBS, ABC, and, most recently, CNN. He has appeared on many of CNN’s most prominent programs, including “The Situation Room,” “American Morning” and “Paula Zahn Now,” and he has guest hosted “Larry King Live.” In May, Greenfield will be returning to CBS as the network’s senior political correspondent.
In addition to his work on television, Greenfield writes a column for Time magazine, and he is the author of several books, including Oh Waiter! One Order of Crow! about the news coverage of Election Night 2000 and beyond. He earned his bachelor’s with honors from the University of Wisconsin and a law degree with honors from Yale.
Journalism Award Winners Announced
Hunter College students Adam Hutton and Johanna Gustavsson (left) have been named the winners of the James Aronson Undergraduate Award in Journalism for 2006-2007.
The two will be presented with $200 checks during a ceremony at Hunter on April 17th honoring the James Aronson Awards for Social Justice Journalism.
Hutton, 28, who had already written successfully for a number of publications, enrolled at Hunter in 2005 to broaden his skills in journalism. He helped organize Village Voice investigative reporter Wayne Barrett’s Hunter class as the first Jack Newfield Visiting Professor in Journalism – and contributed to a series on New York’s worst landlords written by the class that was published in The Voice.
Gustavsson, 26, has written extensively for the WORD and The Hunts Point Express. Some highlights of her reporting include hard news pieces on rising crime rates; community debate over a 2,000-bed jail planned for Hunts Point; and coverage of Hunter student reactions to the reputation of Islam for oppressing women.
The awards ceremony will feature a keynote introduction by Village Voice investigative reporter Tom Robbins. Robbins is currently the Jack Newfield Visiting Professor of Journalism at Hunter. Also honored will be Democracy Now! radio broadcaster and columnist Amy Goodman and other prominent journalists. It begins at 5 p.m. in the Faculty Dining Room, Hunter West Building.
The awards are named after James Aronson, who was a longtime distinguished Hunter Professor of journalism, and a founder and editor of the newsweekly The National Guardian.
Hunter Athletics Ranked in National Poll
Hunter College has earned a place among the top Division III athletic programs in the nation. According to the latest Sports Academy Directors' Cup standings, Hunter College’s athletic program is ranked 86th nationwide.
As of the March 13 standings, Hunter has accumulated a total of 94.75 points which is tallied from the success of its fall and winter championship and high-ranking teams. The Cup, sponsored by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), has been rating Division I, II and III athletic programs since its founding in 1993.
The 2006 fall season was a successful one for the Hunter Hawks with two teams winning their respective conference championships and advancing to the NCAA Championships. The Women's Tennis team, led by head coach Mel Kerper, dominated their opposition finishing with a 19-0 undefeated season en route to their seventh straight league title. Women's Volleyball was just as impressive, winning their first CUNYAC Championship since 2002. First-year coach Val Lang led Hunter to a NCAA Regionals appearance and a 29-8 overall mark.
The winter teams picked up where the fall teams left off. Wrestling experienced one of their best seasons in program history with a 8th place team finish nationally. Two Hawks earned All-American honors, including senior Terry Madden with a national championship in the 184 lb weight category.
Hunter also boasts as the highest ranked City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) member school in the top 100, with Baruch making the list at 190.
Joachim Pissarro Named Director of Hunter College Galleries
The Art Department of Hunter College joins Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab today, March 9, 2007, in welcoming Joachim Pissarro as the Bershad Professor of Art History and Director of the Hunter College Galleries.
A distinguished scholar, curator and author, Dr. Pissarro will join the long list of illustrious artists, art historians and critics who have been involved with Hunter over the years, among them Robert Motherwell, William Baziotes, Ad Reinhardt, Tony Smith, Leo Steinberg, William Rubin, and Rosalind Krauss.
Pissarro’s position, a professorship endowed by Dr. Susan Bershad (’75) and her husband David, was created with the goal of further strengthening Hunter College’s Art History and Studio Art departments. In addition to Pissarro's role as a professor in the Art History Department, he will develop the exhibition and curatorial programs of the Hunter Galleries. A portion of the Bershad gift will be used to support exhibitions at the Hunter Galleries.
Pissarro is currently a Curator in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art. He is responsible for a number of acclaimed shows, including the current “Out of Time: A Contemporary View,” a display of contemporary works from MoMA’s collection (co-curated with Eva Respini, in the Department of Photography), as well as the 2005 exhibition, “Pioneering Modern Painting: Cézanne and Pissarro,” hailed by The New York Times as reflecting “a modern scholarship that understands history not as a lineup of singular events, but as patterns of relationships that persist over time.”
Pissarro completed his undergraduate studies in France in philosophy, received his Masters in the history of art from the Courtauld Institute in London in 1982 and his Ph.D. in the history of art from the University of Texas at Austin in 2001.
Pissarro's past curatorial positions include Chief Curator of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, Curator of European and Contemporary Art at the Yale University Art Gallery, and Director of the Musée de la Fondation de l’Hermitage in Lausanne, Switzerland. He has taught at several of the world’s leading schools, including Yale University, University of Sydney, and the University of Texas at Austin. His most recent publication is titled, “Individualism and Inter-Subjectivity in Modernism: Two Case Studies of Artistic Interchanges – Camille Pissarro and Paul Cézanne, and Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns.”
“One of the best art departments in the nation just got better,” said President Raab. “Dr. Pissarro is renowned for the exhibitions he has curated internationally, for the extent and quality of his scholarship, and for his excellence as a teacher of art history. I know that Hunter will be enriched by his presence, and I look forward to the excitement he will bring to our campus.”
Dr. Bershad said of the appointment: “Joachim Pissarro will be an inspiration to today's students. Years ago Hunter College helped me to achieve my dream of attending medical school. Our gift is to say thank you to this great institution.”
Pissarro will retain an association with the Museum of Modern Art, as an Adjunct Curator in the Department of Painting and Sculpture, where he will realize an upcoming exhibition devoted to the night and twilight paintings of Vincent van Gogh. This is being prepared in collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, and is scheduled to be shown at MoMA in the autumn of 2008.
John Elderfield, the Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, observed: “We all congratulate Joachim on his wonderful appointment, and, while we will miss him as a daily colleague, we are delighted that he will maintain this working relationship with the Museum.”
Startalk Project Awards Chinese Division $100,000 Grant
The Chinese Division of the Department of Classical and Oriental Studies has been awarded a $104,000 grant from the Startalk project of the National Foreign Language Center of the University of Maryland. The project is one of several sponsored by the National Security Language Initiative, whose goal is to expand foreign language instruction in "under-taught" critical languages. The grant proposal, “Coordinating Chinese Language Study, Teaching Practicum, and Student Teaching in One Summer Program,” was written by Hunter Professor Der-Lin Chao.
Filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami to Hold Master Class at Hunter
This March, Hunter College film and media students will have the rare opportunity to learn filmmaking under the mentorship of the acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, who will hold a nine day film production master class in the Department of Film & Media Studies. Mr. Kiarostami’s visit to Hunter was made possible through the generosity of Carole and Richard Rifkind.
Kiarostami has developed and led master classes for film students around the world and Hunter College is the first college in the United States to host the filmmaker. His master class at Hunter College coincides with a retrospective of his films and photography at the Museum of Modern Art and P.S.1.
Kiarostami has been recognized by the international film community as a foremost director, winning the admiration of audiences, critics and fellow filmmakers with his innovative blend of fiction and documentary. He has created such films as Close Up, Through the Olive Trees and Ten, a digital video feature film shot entirely in a car. A strong advocate of low budget, highly spontaneous digital filmmaking, Kiarostami emerged as a major filmmaker in the early 1990’s. Since then his work has been screened at all the major film festivals worldwide and in 1996 he was honored with a retrospective at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. In 1997 he won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for Taste of Cherry. Among his recent films are ABC Africa, an essay film on the AIDS crisis in Uganda, the innovative and highly regarded Five Dedicated to Ozu and an episode in the omnibus film Tickets, which also includes episodes from the great Italian director Ermano Olmi and the equally acclaimed British filmmaker Ken Loach.
The twenty-five participating Hunter Film & Media students will be selected from the advanced undergraduate film majors and media majors as well as from graduate students in the Integrated Media Arts MFA program. During this nine day intensive production workshop each student filmmaker will produce at least one short film on digital video under the mentorship of Kiarostami. Each of the short films will revolve around a central topic selected by Kiarostami and the group. The result will be an omnibus collection of short films in many genres, examining myriad facets of a single subject. Previous workshop topics have included: cellular phones (Marrakech), elevators (London) carpets (Tehran) the man on the street (Italy).
The Abbas Kiarostami master class will be held from March 2 - March 12, from 9am - 3pm daily, except Sundays. The workshop will culminate in a public screening of the student films on Monday, March 12 at 5:30 pm in the Ida K. Lang Recital Hall in the North Building, Room 424.
Wireless in Wexler
As of January 29, 2007, the Jacqueline Grennan Wexler Library at the 68th Street Campus has complete wireless network coverage. The library has been outfitted with an extensive high-speed wireless network available across all nine floors. Students are now able to access the web from their laptop computers from anywhere in the library. A laptop loan program is currently being finalized and loaner laptops will be available to library users later in the term. Funding for this project was provided through CUNY Compact Funds, Student Technology Fee monies and other sources.
Meeting the President is Proud Moment for Hunter Student
Ceasar Borja Jr., a Hunter journalism student, met privately with President Bush on January 31, 2007 at Federal Hall in lower Manhattan to promote expanded health care coverage for all those suffering from Ground Zero-related illnesses.
Borja’s late father, a member of the NYPD, recently died of pulmonary fibrosis believed to have been caused by exposure to toxins at the WTC site where he conducted rescue work after the terrorist attacks. Borja’s meeting with the President, which his mother, brother, and sister attended, gave Borja the opportunity to deliver his message.
“I was very anxious and eager to express the importance of funding for all those who need medical treatment,” said Borja. “Not just for the heroes, but for the residents who live in the area.”
Initially motivated by the quest to help his father get a lung transplant, and then driven by the desire to help others after his father passed away, Borja has become a “spokesman” for sick Ground Zero workers and neighbors. His meeting with the President was a crucial step in his mission to effect change, he said, and a remarkable moment in his life.
“It was definitely surreal,” he said. “The President of the United States of America only meets in private with prime ministers, kings, queens… officials. I’m Ceasar Borja, Jr. Hunter student. Part-time employee at Starbucks. It was an honor.”
Borja said he is pleased that the President has committed $25 million to 9/11 health care, but says the struggle is not over until everyone who needs medical assistance is fully cared for and financially covered. Borja attended the State of the Un ion address last month as a guest of Senator Hillary Clinton.
Alumni Authors Receive High Praise
Two Hunter College alumni – Michael Thomas and Gary Shteyngart - have won rave reviews for their novels.
Thomas’ first novel, Man Gone Down, was featured on the front cover of The New York Times Book Review on Sunday, February 4, 2007. The Times called the novel – about a struggling young black father in Brooklyn trying to claim a piece of the American Dream – an “impressive success” and praised Thomas for his “exceptional eye for detail, and the poetry of his descriptive digressions.”
Thomas received his BA from Hunter and is currently an adjunct professor of English at the College.
Shteyngart’s novel, Absurdistan, made The New York Times Top 10 list recently. The book – a cultural and political satire, filled with references to Hunter College, and set both in Russia and New York City – made Amazon’s Top 50 list of recommended books for 2006 and received a starred review in Publishers’ Weekly. His debut novel, The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, also won wide praise and numerous fiction awards – including the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction and the National Jewish Book Award for Fiction.
Shteyngart received his MFA from Hunter in 2002 and has also taught here.
Tom Robbins Named Newfield Visiting Professor
Hunter College students will become muckraking journalists this spring under the tutelage of Village Voice investigative reporter Tom Robbins, who will serve as the Jack Newfield Professor.
Robbins is the second distinguished journalist to occupy the post, established to honor Newfield, a legendary reporter and Hunter graduate. Robbins will teach a course entitled “Urban Investigative Reporting” where students will meet with New York newsmakers and news-breakers, and study works by some of the great investigative muckrakers. Students will also participate in researching and writing a lengthy article or series of articles focused on an aspect of city life.
Robbins, an award-winning journalist, is a former colleague of Jack Newfield’s. He has covered New York City issues for 30 years, having worked as editor of City Limits magazine, and as a staff reporter at the Village Voice, the New York Observer, and the Daily News. Robbins collaborated on numerous articles with Newfield at both the Voice and the Daily News.
“Jack Newfield used his typewriter like a jackhammer, drilling down through the layers to expose wrongdoing by political bosses, greedy landlords, and corrupt officials,” Robbins said. “Whether tomorrow’s journalists are writing online or on paper, we need more of them who understand and share Jack Newfield’s passion for justice and the city he lived in.”
The class meets every Tuesday night during the spring semester.
Photo Credit: Robin Holland, The Village Voice.
Hunter Science Students Win Awards at Research Conference
Four seniors from Hunter College have been honored with awards for research they presented at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS) in Anaheim, California in November 2006. ABRCMS is organized by the American Society for Microbiology and supported by a grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.
The Hunter award winners were: Mazin Babiker (Neuroscience) who was recognized for his research on the role mutations in the gene coding for alpha-synuclein could play in the development of Parkinson's disease; Luz Sanchez (Chemical Sciences) was reco gnized for her investigations into why lithium-ion batteries begin to lose both capacity and power at higher temperatures; Leslie Ann Alexis (Microbiological Sciences) was recognized for her research studying the role of cysteine residue on the effectiveness of a potential biosensor platform and Silvia Caballero (Cell & Developmental Biological Sciences) w as recognized for her work identifying the tumor suppression genes on the 36 portion of human chromosome 1 (1p36). 1p36 deletion is one of the most common chromosome deletion syndromes and is associated with a number of cancers.
During the four-day conference over 1,100 students participated in poster and oral presentations in nine sub-disciplines in the biomedical and behavioral sciences. All undergraduate student presentations were judged, and those receiving the highest scores in each scientific discipline and in each educational level were given awards during the final banquet. A total of 120 undergraduates received monetary awards of $250 for their outstanding research.
Now in its sixth year, ABRCMS is the largest professional conference for biomedical students. Over 2,500 people attended this year’s conference, which is designed to encourage underrepresented minority students to pursue advanced training in the biomedical and behavioral sciences and provide faculty mentors and advisors with resources for facilitating s tudents’ success.
Our Town Honors Hunter Professor
Professor Shirley Cohen (Special Education) is the first-place winner of the “East Siders of the Year” OTTY (Our Town Thanks You) Award for her outstanding work at Hunter in the field of education. This award, given by the newspaper Our Town, recognizes locals who contribute to the quality of the community.
Cohen has long been committed to children’s learning and development. She joined Hunter as director of the Special Development Center in 1971, at a time when there were no laws protecting children with disabilities, and mental conditions were often misunderstood.
Cohen sought to address this problem by writing a new curriculum called “Accepting Individual Differences,” which promoted understanding and correct treatment of children with special needs. She was instrumental in establishing the Hunter College Center for Gifted Studies, and she created the Early Childhood Special Education master’s degree program. Cohen is currently the director of Hunter’s Autism Center.
Bonnie Fuller Addresses Hunter Grads
Top magazine editor Bonnie Fuller delivered the keynote speech to some 1200 Hunter graduates and their friends and families at Hunter’s Winter 2007 commencement ceremony on January 24. Fuller – currently the chief editorial director of American Media, Inc. where she edits Star magazine and oversees other publications – told the graduates she’d just come from picking pictures of Britney and Brangelina; checking out details of Lindsay Lohan in rehab; and finding out more about Justin Timberlake’s new girlfriend.
“But I’m happy to put the spotlight on the real stars today,” she said. “Today we are inundated with celebrities. But what makes a star? Someone who has a profound impact on the world. Graduates, you are the true stars.”
Fuller is one of the biggest success stories in magazine publishing today. She earlier gained fame as editor of Us Weekly as well as other top magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Glamour and Marie Claire. Also, this past year she published her first book entitled, The Joys of Much Too Much: Go for the Big Life – The Great Career, The Perfect Guy, and Everything Else You’ve Ever Wanted.
Fuller urged the graduates to follow that advice and reach for the stars with their own lives. “It is up to you to make your dreams happen,” she said.
Also honored during the commencement ceremony were Hunter alumna Sonia Sanchez, an award-winning poet recognized as one of the most important figures in African-American literature today; and Erwin Fleissner, Hunter College Professor Emeritus of Biology and a former Dean of Sciences and Mathematics. Sanchez was the recipient of the Do ctor of Humane Letters award; Fleissner the recipient of the Doctor of Science award.
Hunter Physics Student Honored for Her Research
Amy Colon, an undergraduate physics major and MARC Scholar, received an honorable mention for her poster presentation “Selective Deposition of Thin Films for Future X-ray Optics” at the American Astronomical Society National Meeting held in Seattle in January. The poster was based on research Colon had performed in her summer research program at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
Colon also does research in Prof. Steve Greenbaum’s lab at Hunter, and is a co-author on a paper “Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopic Studies of Lithium Insertion in Silver Vanadium Oxide Cathodes”, recentl y accepted for publication in the Journal of the Electrochemical Society.
Hunter Athletes Honored with Humanitarian Award
Daniels and Ciarleglio receive their awards from Terry Wansart, Hunter College Director of Athletics, Intramurals & Recreation; and John Rose, Acting Dean for Diversity & Compliance.
Hunter women's volleyball player Yasmine Daniels and men's basketball co-captain Gerard Ciarleglio have been named recipients of the first-ever Humanitarian Award.
The new award – given out jointly by Hunter College and New York University – goes to two student-athletes from each school that best represent the legacy and tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The duo was recognized during the annual Hunter/NYU basketball game played on Martin Luther King Day.
Daniels, a three-year member of the Hawks women's volleyball squad, overcame a childhood physical disability to become one of the top middleblockers in the CUNY Athletic Conference. A junior who plans to pursue a doctorate in biochemistry after graduation, she is also impressive in the classroom with a 3.4 GPA. Daniels is a member of the MARC/MBRS program and serves as treasurer of the Hunter Student Athletic Advisory Committee.
Ciarleglio boasts an outstanding 3.68 GPA and will complete both a Masters degree in economics and a Bachelors degree in English and math next spring. In his spare time his is a teaching assistant for undergraduate economics courses and also coaches community basketball clinics. The Bradenton, FL native is one of the to p players on the basketball team - averaging 13.6 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
Hunter Grad Stars On Broadway
While at Hunter, Jeannette Bayardelle (BS/MLS ‘02) took notes as a medical lab science student, but now she’s hitting notes as a Broadway star. Rather than go on to medical school after graduation, Bayardelle chose to follow a musical path that has led her to the starring role of “Celie” in The Color Purple on Broadway.
“I am floored,” said Regina Linder, director of Hunter’s medical laboratory science program. “Jeannette was a solid student, but not a Broadway type. I am thrilled for her and completely amazed.”
Bayardelle comes from a medically and musically inclined family, so her educational focus and career choice are not as surprising a combination as they may seem. Her immediate family includes two physicians and a nurse, and, as a child, Bayardelle was the youngest of the Bayardelle Sisters gospel trio.
In addition to performing in The Color Purple, Bayardelle has gone on tours of Sister Act, Big River, and Rent, and last fall she released her own CD entitled Praise Report. Whatever project she’s working on, she always finds time to sing at church.
“This is my calling,” said Bayardelle. “God has blessed me with this gift and I want to use it to serve him and help bring people closer to him.”
Hunter Student Accepted Into New York Times Program
Hunter student Javier Barrera was accepted into The New York Times Student Journalism Institute's inaugural program for Hispanic students. Students admitted to the program, which is offered in cooperation with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, will work in a fully functioning newsroom in the Miami area from Jan. 3-13.
Barrera is a graduate student in the Integrated Media Arts Program working toward his MFA. Long interested in national issues and journalism, he says of his acceptance into The Times program, “I’m extremely pleased that I was selected, since it means working for a premier news organization that has a captivating online presence and is also my hometown newspaper.”
He is already on his way as a multimedia journalist. He spent the summer of 2006 in West Virginia working on a project about mountain-top removal mining, which is, in his words, “the destructive practice of blowing off the tops of mountains in Appalachia to extract the coal underneath.” The mining has, he says, “terrible consequences for the environment and the surrounding communities.” His goal is “to produce a creative multimedia Web site, using video, audio, graphics and text, that can be used by local organizations to promote awareness of the irreversible effects of this type of mining.”
Participants in The Times student journalism program will cover real stories and sharpen their skills in reporting, editing, photography, and design alongside experienced professionals from such publications as The New York Times and The Boston Globe. They will also maintain a website, http://www.nytimes-institute.com, and publish a special edition of the newspaper featuring the program's best work. The Institute admitted 20 students from across the country to the program, which follows a program for students at historically black colleges and universities launched by The Times Company in 2003.
‘Yes, Virginia' Girl was a Hunter Graduate
Yes, Virginia O’Hanlon – the little girl remembered every year at this time for the “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus” letter – grew up to become an alumna of Hunter College.
Many newspapers over the Christmas holiday reprinted the famous letter-to-the-editor that the then 8-year-old wrote to The New York Sun in 1897 asking if there really was a Santa Claus.
Everyone has heard the story of Sun editorial writer Francis Church’s legendary reply, which said: “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist….Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias.”
What many people at Hunter don’t realize is that Virginia O’Hanlon – the subject of that editorial, one of the most widely-read of all time – went on to graduate from Hunter with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1911. The following year she received her Master’s from Columbia, and in 1912 she began teaching in the New York City school system. Later, she became a principal. She retired as an educator after 47 years.
Throughout her life, she continued to receive mail about her Santa Claus letter. She replied to all of it, always attaching to each letter that she sent back an attractive printed copy of the long-ago New York Sun editorial.
Virginia O’Hanlon Douglas died in 1971 at the age of 81 – but her message about the real meaning of Christmas lives on with us here at Hunter during this joyous holiday season
Hunter Graduate Student Wins the Pierre Salinger Award at the Avignon/New York Film Festival
Yoram Porath’s documentary “Keeper’s of Eden” was awarded the Pierre Salinger Award in the documentary category at the Avignon/New York Film Festival hosted by Hunter College and its Department of Film and Media Studies. Nicole “Poppy” Salinger presented the award on Sunday, November 18th, 2007 at Lang auditorium. Porath is a graduate student in the Integrated Media Arts/MFA Program at Hunter College.
“Keepers of Eden” directed by Porath, narrated by Joanne Woodward, and produced by Historical Media Associates, presents the empassioned struggle of the Huarani people as they fight to survive life-threatening diseases from oil industry contamination in the rainforest of Ecuador.
Student Presents Poster at Einsteins in the City Research Conference
The connection between math and Hamlet may not be apparent to most, but it is clear to Hunter student Shari Levine. She created Cliff Notes for Shakespearean plays using differential equations.
"If you graph these equations it will give you a flow field for how events should play out,” she said. “Given an initial condition, by these equations, you can tell more or less how the play will end.”
Levine, a math, Special Honors, and political science major, displayed her findings in a poster, which she presented at the Einsteins in the City 2 International Student Research Conference, held at City College on October 30-31. The conference was in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Einstein Papers, and reached across fields by featuring abstracts of students’ research in multiple disciplines.
Levine’s research—guided by Professor Brian Shay—is in keeping with the spirit of the conference. Not intended to be a shortcut to Shakespeare, her work aims to draw attention to the ways English and math use the same creative processes and mutually augment the study of the other.
“You construct your world, you set up your definitions, and the rest flows from there,” she said. “A character must be realistic and take the actions as defined by his personality—an equation will not function in any manner other than the one you've defined.”
Currently a senior, Levine will graduate in June 2008, and intends to pursue a PhD in pure math with a concentration in Analytic Topology.
Urban Planning Alumna Awarded Prestigious Fellowship
Jennifer McArdle Hoppa (Master of Urban Planning, 2000) has been awarded the Frederick O’Reilly Hayes Fellowship for 2007. The Fellowship honors emerging leaders in New York City government who have demonstrated excellence in improving the delivery of public services. It is named for a former City Budget Director who also served in the federal and New York State governments during a long and illustrious career. Hoppa is currently the Deputy Administrator for North Manhattan parks for the City's Department of Parks and Recreation. At the time of her selection she was the Deputy Director of Planning for the department.
Hunter Student Designs Museum Tours
Hunter senior Oscar Bolivar spent his summer at the American Museum of Natural History—not visiting exhibits, but giving his own custom-designed tours. From June through early August, he took part in the Museum Education and Employment Program (MEEP), which allows young adults to give creative tours of the museum, gaining exposure to science careers and museum operations in the process.
As a “MEEPer,” Bolivar underwent training with museum experts in science, education, and museum management, and then created and conducted themed tours of museum halls for camp groups. Additionally, he manned educational touch carts, engaging visitors through hands-on activities with authentic artifacts and specimens.
Bolivar said he most enjoyed educating children in the museum, “and having them thank me and tell me that they enjoyed my tour.”
A psychology major, Bolivar intends to continue teaching, and has plans to study elementary education in graduate school. His work as a museum guide was featured in a Voice of America radio broadcast on July 31.
Hunter Sisters Explore Law Enforcement
Hunter biochemistry majors Wiam and Soukaina Orahua are familiar with wearing a labcoat… and an officer’s uniform. Three years ago, the premed students were recruited for the NYPD’s Law Enforcement Explorers Program, a community service, career-oriented program that aims to educate young adults about law enforcement.
As Explorers, the sisters attend weekly meetings, take part in community projects, learn law enforcement techniques, and apply their skills in competitions with peers. Wiam is currently in the highest ranking post among the Explorers, and has developed a fresh perspective on the field.
“I used to think badly of law enforcement,” she said. “But when you work with officers, you realize that they’re protecting you, and their job is not easy.”
Both sisters intend to go into pharmacy, although Wiam is considering a career in the NYPD’s Drug Enforcement Task Force. She was recently included in an “Inside the NYPD” video podcast about the Explorers program.
Hunter Grad Terry Madden Wins Gold Medal at Canada Cup
Hunter's All-American wrestler, Terry Madden, has added another title to his growing list of championships. Only days after graduating with a degree in psychology, he traveled to Guelph, Ontario, Canada, where he captured a gold medal at the international Canada Cup games by winning the freestyle 185-pound class.
Madden had four victories on the way to his gold medal, including wins against wrestlers from Puerto Rico, South Africa and Canada. In the championship match he defeated fellow American Alton Lucas, who wrestles for Hofstra University.
Shortly before making the journey to Canada, Madden, who hails from Staten Island, was named the Wrestler of the Year by the New York State Collegiate Wrestling Coaches Association. He is the first Hunter student to receive the award and just the fifth Division III wrestler to be so honored.
At the NCAA wrestling championships in Dubuque, Iowa, last March, he captured the national title in the 184-pound weight class, which won him All-American honors for the second year in a row and led Hunter to eighth place in Division III, its highest finish ever. The victory also gave him a perfect 12-0 record for the season and a career record of 30-6.
Madden, who plans to pursue a career in nursing, also gives time to community service. For the past two years, he has assisted his Hunter coach, Bob Gaudenzi, as one of the wrestling instructors at the Beat the Streets High School Developmental Training Program.
Progressive Scholar Today, Progressive Leader Tomorrow
The Drum Major Institute for Public Policy, a non-profit think tank that fuels the progressive movement, has chosen Hunter junior Tamara Joachim as a 2007 DMI Scholar. Selected from colleges around the country, scholars are fostered as future progressive leaders who will bring activism to public policy careers.
Through a rigorous two-week “Public Policy 101” course taught at DMI’s Summer Institute, scholars will learn how to approach issues from a public policy perspective. At the conclusion of their training, they are connected to the progressive policy community and receive internship placements for the summer of 2008.
Joachim is one of fourteen scholars chosen for their demonstrated commitment to activism and desire to learn how public policy can advance an agenda of fairness and equity. She currently works with the Welfare Rights Initiative, the Anti-War Network, and the Darfur Awareness Coalition on campus. In addition, Joachim is the founder of the Call to Consciousness Training Institute, which teaches New York City high school students about the history of people of color and their social and political movements.
Hunter Student Selected For Guggenheim Internship in Venice
Hunter art student Victor Timofeev has been chosen from a pool of international applicants for the prestigious Peggy Guggenheim Internship in Venice. From June through August, 2007, Timofeev will live in the legendary “city built on water,” and work at the premier museum in Italy for 20th century European and American art: the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.
Approximately 10-15 university students of art, art history, or related areas are selected for the internships, which can run from one to three months. Interns, who must speak both English and Italian fluently, become acquainted with Venetian life and culture, and learn in a creative international atmosphere. At the end of the program, each intern must present a thesis on a topic relevant to his/her field to fellow interns and museum staff.
“The thesis I will present attempts to make sense of the influx of the practice of architecture into the fine arts,” said Timofeev, “mainly speculating that the terrorist attacks of September 11th are a major reason of this recent trend.”
Timofeev’s presentation will segue into his yearlong work-in-progress, consisting of 367 architectural studies and analyses. The project commenced in New York and will come to a close in Venice, the “architectural antithesis” of New York.
“I am anxious to see how the environment of Venice affects my work and direction of the project,” said Timofeev. “I hope to synthesize forms I have developed in New York with those that I will encounter in Venice.”
Timofeev graduated from Hunter with a BA in June 2006, and continues to take art courses at the College. He will begin his BFA at Hunter in the fall, and intends to pursue his MFA in the fine arts soon thereafter. Timofeev’s architectural studies can be viewed at http://www.victortimofeev.com.
Hunter MFA Student Selected as Jacob K. Javits Fellow
Aida Sehovic, a first year student in Hunter’s MFA program, has been awarded the prestigious Jacob K. Javits Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Education. This fellowship provides financial support to students of superior academic ability who are undertaking study at the doctoral and master’s level in selected fields of the arts, humanities, and social sciences.
Fellows are chosen on the basis of demonstrated achievement, financial need, and exceptional promise. In addition to a stipend, they receive funds covering tuition and related fees for a year, renewable annually for up to three additional years. Approximately 65 candidates are selected in this nationwide competition, and Sehovic is honored to be one of them.
“I am more than happy and feel so grateful,” she said.
Sehovic is interested in making work of a performative nature that brings her audience directly into her creations. Currently influenced by her cultural traditions, beliefs, and political concerns, Sehovic has a wide range of experiences from which to draw. Born and raised in Bosnia and Herzegovina, she left her home country at the age of 15 as a war refugee, and lived in Turkey and Germany prior to coming to the United States. Sehovic feels a sense of fulfillment with regards to where she now finds herself.
“Ever since coming to Hunter, I finally feel that I am in the right place at the right time, doing what I love to do.”
Two Hunter Students Awarded HIA Fellowships
Hunter students Jessie Dessus and Liat Krawczyk have been awarded Humanity in Action (HIA) summer fellowships. They are among 55 undergraduates selected from a national pool of students from 147 colleges and universities.
Krawczyk, a sophomore in the Honors College and the Thomas Hunter Honors Program, will participate in the European program. Dessus, a graduating senior majoring in Africana and Puerto Rican/Latino Studies with a minor in Political science and Women’s Studies, will be in the U.S. program and plans to participate in the Berlin internship in the fall.
HIA sponsors six summer fellowship programs in Denmark, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Poland, and the U.S. In each five-week program, American and European college and university students collaborate to study the condition of minorities in the host country and seek innovative ways to address these issues. Fellows are selected from a national pool of students on the basis of leadership ability, academic achievement, interest in minority issues in Europe and the United States and concern for human rights. College sophomores, juniors and seniors are eligible to apply. Further information on the program is available at http://www.humanityinaction.org.
Recent Grad Aurora Almendral Wins Prestigious Fulbright Grant
Aurora Almendral, a January 2007 Hunter graduate, has received a Fulbright Grant for research in Spain. An anthropology major and economics minor, Almendral plans to study the economic sub-system of urban immigrant communities in Madrid. She has also won a Language Training Initiative grant to study Arabic, which will help her with her research.
Almendral has previously visited Mexico, Spain and Syria where she studied Spanish and Arabic. She was a media officer for Greenpeace in the Philippines and currently she works at the United Nations. Upon her return from her Fulbright year in Spain, she plans to pursue an MBA.
Administered by the Institute for International Education, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program awards full research grants to graduating seniors and young alumni after an extensive application process. Recipients receive a stipend to cover housing and living expenses.
Two Hunter Students Named NYC Urban Fellows
Ankur Mangalagiri and Scott Hobbs are two of the 25 young women and men chosen from around the nation to participate in New York City’s prestigious Urban Fellows Program.
The nine-month program offers young professionals who want to pursue careers in public service a chance to gain work experience in public policy, urban planning and government operations. Given a $25,000 stipend and health insurance, the Fellows are assigned to full-time jobs with City agencies, and they attend weekly seminars that explore the mechanics of municipal government and the important issues facing New York.
Mangalagiri is looking forward to the opportunities and challenges the program will offer. “I’m really excited,” she said. “I’d like to get an insider’s view on New York City government, and learn the skills needed to work on a team. It’s going to be intense, but it should also be fun.”
At the end of the program, Mangalagiri hopes to go on to business school and pursue an MBA. Currently a CUNY Honors College student and Thomas Hunter Honors scholar, she will graduate in May with a BA in political science and economics.
Hobbs, an urban affairs major/economics minor, has worked locally for New York City Councilman David Weprin, focusing on issues of predatory lending and the down-zoning of northeast Queens. At Hunter, Hobbs serves as a senator in the Undergraduate Student Government, President of the Urban Studies Association, and a member of the Hunter Achievement Team (HAT). He has also been a symposium participant at Alliance Towards Harnessing Global Opportunities (ATHGO) at the United Nations where he worked on implementation challenges for the UN Millennium Development Goals. He intends to pursue graduate study in urban planning following the completion of the NYC Urban Fellows Program.
Thomael Joannidis, who received her BA from Hunter in 2004 and her Masters in 2006, is finishing up her year as an Urban Fellow after being chosen as part of the 2006-07 group.
Joannidis – who majored in Sociology and English/Creative Writing and earned her Masters in Urban Affairs – is assigned to the office of the first deputy commissioner in the Department of Information, Technology and Telecommunication. Working closely with the first deputy commissioner, she handles duties that range from research and writing to customer relations. She calls the experience “inspiring” and says. “It gives me access to some of the highest levels of government” – including meetings at City Hall – “that I couldn’t get any other way.”
Getting a Look Inside New York Government
Three Hunter students will take a hands-on approach to political processes this year, even to the point of debating bills on the floor of the New York State Senate Chamber. Versely Rosales, Bronce Perez, and Dorca Abreu have been accepted to the 2007 New York State Model Senate Session Project, an annual leadership development program cofounded by Hunter political science professor Jill Gross.
Through this program, approximately 60 CUNY and SUNY students will participate in a series of intensive training seminars on state policy formulation, legislative processes, representation, and leadership. They will develop their own legislative agendas and hear lectures by prominent NYS legislators and speakers.
“I am looking forward to learning extensively about New York government from CUNY's best professors,” said Rosales, a political science major in her senior year.
Students will put the knowledge and skills they acquire to work in model legislative seminars when, at the conclusion of the program, they debate bills in Albany. The Project is run by the Edward T. Rogowsky Internship Program in collaboration with the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force of the New York State Legislature and the State University of New York.
Hunter Student Christine Curella Named Truman Scholar
Hunter College junior Christine Curella has been named a 2007 Truman Scholar, a prestigious national award that recognizes students for their outstanding public service contributions.
Curella, a member of the Macaulay Honors College majoring in urban studies, spent last semester studying urban planning in Argentina, China and India. She has interned for New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Department of City Planning – and served as co-chair of Relay for Life, a City University of New York effort to raise funds for cancer research. In 2003, she was named a “Rising Star” by Women’s Day Magazine in its “Women Who Inspire Us” section.
“I’m honored to be part of this amazing community of scholars,” said Curella, who will study law and urban planning in South Africa this summer and eventually hopes to go on to a career in international urban planning – focusing on affordable housing. “Having the opportunity to meet people who were as passionate as I was about public service was a powerful experience.”
Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab said: “This honor is testament to Christine’s hard work, outstanding leadership abilities and excellent academic record. We at Hunter congratulate her.”
The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation honors the winning students by providing them with $30,000 for graduate school. Truman scholars also receive priority for both admission and supplemental financial aid at some of the country’s top graduate schools.
Hunter Represented at Joint Annual Meeting of Physicists
(l to r) Luz Sanchez, Amy Colon, Prof. Greenbaum, Jaime Farrington, Gabriel Goenaga, and Lina Gonzalez
Physics Professor Steve Greenbaum and ten of his students, ranging from undergraduates to postdoctoral research associates, joined over 500 physics students and professionals for the Joint Annual Meeting of the National Societies of Black and Hispanic Physicists, held in Boston on February 21-24.
The conference featured a cutting-edge scientific program that included over 120 oral and poster presentations covering topics such as “Cosmology, Gravitation, and Relativity,” “Photonics and Optics,” and “Chemical and Biological Physics.” Presentations by Professor Greenbaum’s group included Amy Colon’s project on x-ray optics conducted at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and Luz Sanchez’s project on lithium ion battery failure mechanisms conducted at the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab and at Hunter.
In addition to the presentations, the conference featured several lectures by leading physicists, including Distinguished Hunter Professor Godfey Gumbs who gave a plenary talk on quantum well semiconductor photodetectors. The meeting also included networking sessions and was heavily attended by recruiters from the top research universities and national laboratories.
Hunter Student Chosen for Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange
For Hunter junior Sarah Wolf, a country will soon become her classroom. Wolf, a sociology major and German minor, has been chosen to participate in the 2007-2008 Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) for Young Professionals, a scholarship program focused on cultural exchange between the United States and Germany. The program is sponsored by the US Congress and its equivalent in Germany, the Bundestag.
In late July, Wolf and 74 other Americans will travel to Germany and begin a year of immersion in German culture. They will take two months of intensive German language training in Germany, four months of classroom instruction at a German University or College of Applied Sciences, and a five-month internship in their career fields. One hundred German students will similarly be studying and working in the U.S.
Wolf is excited about this program, especially for the opportunity to hone her German speaking skills.
“I first took German at my high school in Arizona and fell in love with the language,” she said. “I started taking German courses again once I transferred into Hunter my sophomore year, and have continued doing so since then. I'll be glad to have the chance to speak German every day versus just using it in the classroom a couple times a week.”
Wolf’s selection marks the second time in a row that a Hunter student has been chosen for the CBYX. Alex Rodriguez is in Germany this year taking part in the exchange.
Hunter's Madden Wins National Championship
Hunter Wrestler Terry Madden won the National Championship in his class at the 2007 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championship on March 3 in Dubuque, Iowa. Madden finished his career on top as he won the 184 lb. National Championship with a 3-2 decision over the 174 lb. reigning champion, Stephone Sair, of SUNY Cortland.
After winning his first round match by pin, Madden won two one-point decisions to advance to the finals. The Hunter senior finished his two-year Hunter
career as a two-time NCAA All-American with an impressive 30-6 record. Hunter junior heavyweight Arkadiy Levitin also earned NCAA All-American status with a sixth place finish at the national tournament. Levitin finished the year with an overall record of 37-3.
As a team, Hunter finished 8th in the nation, the highest finish ever for the team.
Hunter Alum Competes in “Top Design”
Hunter MFA alumnus Ryan Humphrey is currently one of the competitors in the reality show “Top Design,” broadcast on Bravo. Humphrey received his masters degree in fine arts in 1999.
The series features 12 contestants vying for the title of Top Designer, which brings with it some major prizes: a car, $100,000 towards starting a business, and a spread in Elle Décor.
Humphrey, originally from Ohio, is an independent artist whose work has been exhibited nationally. His exhibit entitled "Divine Objects of Hatred/Remix Version 1.0" is currently on show at Monmouth University’s Ice House Gallery through March 16. His work addresses the sensibility of pop-culture, space, time and place, often incorporating paintings, sound, video, installation and commercial design elements. In 2005 he was selected to attend the Whitney Museum of Art Studio Program.
Making a Difference as “Young People For” Fellows
Young people can be a powerful force for progressive social change, as Hunter students Tobi Jaiyesimi, Paul Gomez, and George Mtonga will demonstrate this year. They have been selected as 2007 fellows by “Young People For,” an initiative that fosters the growth of the progressive leaders of tomorrow and prepares them to carry out their own blueprints for social justice.
Over the Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend in January, YPF fellows from around the country gathered in Washington, D.C. for the YPF National Summit for Progressive Leaders and Activists. This event kicked off the year for the fellows, who will be working on the campus, state, national, and international level.
With the help of YPF’s intergenerational network of supporters and its financial assistance, Hunter’s YPF fellows will carry out their plans of action, all of which are education-related, but vary in scope and focus. Jaiyesimi’s mission was inspired by the difficulties she experienced with applying to college. “I want to help students from my former high school by paying for their college applications,” said the political science major. “I’ll find ways to raise money or get the fees waived.”
Gomez, a sociology major, also intends to help students at his old school, Westchester Community College, by teaching them how to advocate for their rights through the arts. In addition, he would like to create a mentoring program aimed at increasing the minority retention rate and helping students graduate on time. “Maybe this could go non-profit,” he said. “It could expand to all the community colleges.”
Mtonga, a political science and economics major, has also created a program that strongly relies on mentors. It pairs struggling high school sophomores with CUNY Honors College students, thereby helping the teens get on track for college and scholarships. Once Mtonga works out a solid program, he hopes to propose it to the Department of Education for use in public schools.
Hunter’s YPF fellows each has a different plan, but they are united in the knowledge that they can effect change.
“I’ve spent most of my time in mathematics,” said Mtonga. “I have the mentality that if a problem exists, it can be solved. I go where my skills are needed, women’s rights, civil rights, I’m in it to solve the problem.”
Hunter Student Receives Memorial Scholarship from NY Association of Black Journalists
Hunter Media Studies student Kelle Jacob has been chosen as a recipient of the Romona Moore Scholarship, an award honoring the life of a young Hunter student who was murdered in 2003. Jacob received the scholarship on February 15, 2007 at the New York Association of Black Journalists’ (NYABJ) 19th Annual Scholarship Banquet at Columbia University. The NYABJ made a contribution to the Romona Moore Scholarship Fund, which benefits minority students who demonstrate academic excellence.
Currently in her junior year at Hunter with a 3.8 GPA with a major in film and media studies, Jacob is the Vice Chair of the Hunter College Senate and a Junior Senator in the Undergraduate Student Government. In 2004, her modeling ambitions led her to audition for “America’s Next Top Model,” in which she placed 6th out of 18,000 young women who tried for the title.
Art Student Adds Flourish to Festival in Spain
Aerin Vanhala, second from the right, poses with fellow artists in front of their octopus mural.
Aerin Vanhala, a studio art major at Hunter, brought her skill with the brush to Galicia, Spain last summer, where she helped paint a mural for the “Festa do Pulpo” (Octopus Festival). Every year, on the second Sunday of August, locals and tourists gather for this gastronomic celebration in the town of O Carballiño, and feast on octopus delicacies.
Having been invited to participate in the project by her mentor Xesus Carballido, a well-known Galician painter, Vanhala and fellow artist Alisha Wormsley traveled from New York to the festival site. They worked for two weeks alongside three local artists, taking siestas along the way, and together produced a “dream-like work of art that captures the feel of the festival.”
“The mural is an homage to the octopus and was intended as a gift to the octopus fishermen that live in the area where it is located,” said Vanhala. “It is a whimsical mural with the basic elements of circus, constellations and octopus itself.”
This project is one of many public works Vanhala has collaborated on, as she has made murals and mosaics around the world for the past 12 years. She will graduate from Hunter in May, 2007 and intends to go forth with brush in hand.
“I plan to go to Japan to teach English, but before that I am working on lining up a mural project in Oahu, at the elementary school where my cousin teaches. I will always return to New York and be involved in the arts in as many ways as possible.”
Hunter Student Takes Action Against Global Warming
Global warming is a hot topic these days, and Hunter College environmental studies student Cordelia Lindgren intends to keep the subject alive. As one of the 1,000 people chosen to take part in the “Climate Project,” former Vice President Al Gore’s initiative to counteract global warming, she will be helping the public to become informed and conscientious citizens of this planet.
Lindgren and her fellow volunteers, who come from around the country, are a diverse group ranging from scientists to country singers. At training sessions conducted by Gore and his team, they were equipped with information and slides from Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” and sent out to conduct a minimum of 10 presentations at locations of their choosing.
So far, Lindgren plans on bringing her message to architectural and design offices, a public school, and maybe even Hunter. She is encouraged by this project, and hopes it will help people view energy use in a new light.
“In the US there is such a sense of individual right,” Lindgren said. “We have to bring the ‘me’ back to the ‘we.’ I hope this will encourage individuals to take more consideration in day to day decisions, and use their voices to make the government change its energy strategies.”
The personal sense of responsibility for the environment that Lindgren advocates is one that she has carried from a very early age.
“As a child, every summer, I traveled to France. I used to sit and stare out the plane window and see the curvature of the earth. I saw that home is not the city or the country you live in, it’s actually this planet.”
Hunter College Celebrates a Banner Year for Diversity with 26 New Faculty Appointments
Isabella Rossellini speaks with WNYC about getting her master’s at Hunter and her new theater production