Hunter College has assigned Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Díaz’s first book, Drown, as the primary reading in this year’s First-Year Seminar (FYSH) courses, taken by all incoming freshmen and transfer students. Drown, a collection of short stories, chronicles the Dominican immigrant experience in the Dominican Republic, the Bronx, and a number of Northern New Jersey towns.

Díaz's 2007 novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, earned a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the Sargent First Novel Prize, and the National Book Critics Award for Best Novel of 2007.

All FYSH students will be invited to hear Díaz read from Drown when he visits Hunter to deliver the FYSH Lecture on October 22. Díaz is no stranger to Hunter audiences. He read from his novel at a Distinguished Writers Series event on campus and also led a workshop for Hunter MFA students.

Hunter Poli Sci Professor Predicts Selection of Biden for VP

http://weblogs.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/politics/blog/2008/08/why_biden_how_a_local_prof_kne.html

Hunter Scores High Again in U.S. News & World Report Best College List

Once again, Hunter has won outstanding marks in U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges.” In its widely anticipated 2009 issue, the newsweekly rated Hunter an impressive 12th among “Top Public Universities” in the North and placed the College 52nd on its list of “Best Universities in the North” that grant master’s degrees.

In a category of special importance to the student body, Hunter repeated its first-place finish among master’s granting universities in the North whose undergraduates leave school with the lowest personal debt.

Hunter also got a top grade for the diversity of its student body. It ranked fourth in this category among masters-granting universities in the North. Significantly – but perhaps not surprisingly – CUNY had five campuses among the top six in this category. Besides Hunter, they are Baruch, City College, Brooklyn College and John Jay. CUNY’s commitment to diversity is strong, and Hunter is helping lead the way.

Hunter Alum Awarded 2008 NJ Governor’s Nursing Merit Award

Hunter alumna Maria Brennan has been awarded the 2008 N.J. Governor’s Nursing Merit Award, Nurse Administrator. Brennan was selected among New Jersey’s top nursing leaders to receive this award, which is given for excellence in nursing, compassion in care, and technical proficiency.

Brennan, who earned her MS in nursing from Hunter in 1984, is the chief nursing officer for St. Joseph’s Healthcare System (SJHS) and the vice president for patient care services at St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson, NJ.

As the senior nursing executive at SJHS, she has demonstrated her commitment to excellence in patient care by developing “swing” units to deal with the seasonal influx of patients, designating “urgent care” alternate sites, and creating additional patient-need nursing units. Brennan is also credited with decreasing the RN vacancy rate at SJHS from 12% to 2%. She has also advised organizations nationally and locally on how to improve patient care and nursing practice.

In December 2006, Brennan was elected to the Board of Directors of the Organization of Nurse Executives of New Jersey (ONE/NJ), and in 2007 she received the ONE/NJ Nurse Executive Award. She was also honored as a Healthcare Heroes Nurse of the Year finalist in June 2008 by NJBIZ magazine.

Prior to accepting her current position at St. Joseph’s in 2004, Brennan served as vice president for nursing and patient care services at other healthcare organizations including St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Center of New York, Staten Island Services Division, Meridian Health System, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, and Capital Health System in Trenton.

Hunter Alum Named COO of Amalgamated Bank

Hunter alumnus Barry Kipnis has been named Chief Operating Officer of Amalgamated Bank, reporting directly to the Bank’s CEO.

As the Bank's COO, Kipnis is responsible for reviewing bank-wide technology projects, expense control, development of new products and services as well as general oversight of operations and administrative functions.

Kipnis, who earned a BA from Hunter in 1973, has over 30 years of diversified experience in securities operations and administration. Before joining Amalgamated Bank, Kipnis served as Vice President, in Securities and Custody Services for the Global Wealth Management business at Morgan Stanley & Company.

Two Hunter Students Are First Authors of Article on Tumor-Fighting Substance

Two Hunter graduate students are the first authors of a just-published journal article on a substance that could play an important role in the fight against cancer.

The article appears in the July 1, 2008, issue of the peer-reviewed journal Clinical Cancer Research and also lists Hunter biology professor David Foster as an author. The article is titled “Honokiol Suppresses Survival Signals Mediated by Ras-Dependent Phospholipase D Activity in Human Cancer Cells.”

The Hunter students, Avalon Garcia and Yang Zheng, worked in the laboratory of Dr. Foster. The research on the substance—honokiol, a natural compound from magnolia cones—was funded by the National Institutes of Health and conducted collaboratively by labs at Emory University School of Medicine, NYU School of Medicine, and Hunter.

Earlier research conducted at Emory led to the discovery in 2003 that honokiol, which is found in Japanese and Chinese herbal medicines, has the ability to inhibit tumor growth in mice. Knowing more about how the substance works, said Dr. Jack Arbiser, the head of the Emory lab, “will tell us what kinds of cancer to go after.” The compound’s properties, he added, “could make tumors more sensitive to traditional chemotherapy.”

Fried Frank Partners With Hunter In Diversity Initiative

Hunter College has partnered with the law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP to form the Fried Frank Pre-Law Scholars Program. The intent of the program is to prepare the college's diverse student body to become competitive law school candidates through intensive LSAT and academic preparation and mentoring programs.

The Fried Frank Pre-Law Scholars Program will focus on intense and comprehensive preparation of Hunter's undergraduates, 33 percent of whom are identified as either black or Hispanic, for law school admissions. The program includes early and extended LSAT workshops, interaction with Fried Frank lawyers for help with law school essays and other aspects of the application process, and exposure to the legal profession.

“Thanks to our partnership with Fried Frank, many worthy applicants who otherwise might have been overlooked will get the opportunity they deserve - to compete with the best and live their dreams,” said Hunter President Jennifer J. Raab.

According to the last United States Census, while racial and ethnic minorities constitute 30 percent of the US population, they make up less than 15 percent of practicing attorneys in the US. Hunter College is ideally positioned to address this discrepancy. In addition to being one of the most diverse universities in the nation, two-thirds of Hunter's student population live in households with incomes under $50,000, including almost a third in households with incomes below $20,000. A significant number of students are immigrants and/or the first generation in their families to attend college

Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP is a leading international law firm with a long history of civic activism and student mentoring. “We are grateful to Fried Frank for their continued interest in pipeline programs and in ensuring that students from every background have the opportunity to succeed,” said President Raab.

Nine Professors Honored with Presidential Awards for Excellence

To celebrate the outstanding contributions of faculty from across Hunter’s campuses, President Jennifer J. Raab recently honored nine professors with Presidential Awards for Excellence. The winners were praised at a reception with friends, relatives, colleagues, and other members of the Hunter community.

Professor Adrienne Alaie of the Department of Biological Sciences won the award for Excellence in Teaching Full-Time. The award for Excellence in Teaching Part-Time went to Joseph Nelson of the School of Education’s Department of Educational Foundations. Three faculty members won for Excellence in Service: Dr. Robert Gyles in the School of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Teaching, Professor Susan Klitzman of Urban Public Health, and Professor Stanley Moses of Urban Affairs and Planning. Professor Helena Rosenblatt of the Department of History and Professor Hiroshi Matsui of the Department of Chemistry won for Excellence in Scholarship. Professor of Art History Katy Siegel won the award for Excellence in Creative Activity, and Professor of Social Work Terry Mizrahi won the award for Excellence in Applied Scholarship.

Hunter History Professor Awarded Gilder Lehrman Fellowship

Julie Miller, Adjunct Assistant Professor of History at Hunter College, has been awarded a research fellowship by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Dr. Miller will use her fellowship to conduct research on her second book, tentatively titled “Amelia Norman: Seduction and Betrayal in Antebellum New York.”

At Hunter, Dr. Miller teaches courses on nineteenth-century social history, the history of New York City, and the United States History survey course. Her first book, “Abandoned: Foundlings in Nineteenth-Century New York City” was published by New York University Press this spring. In 2005 the manuscript won the Dixon Ryan Fox Manuscript Prize of the New York State Historical Association.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History awards short-term fellowships to doctoral candidates, postdoctoral scholars, and independent scholars to conduct work in five archives in New York City—the Gilder Lehrman Collection at the New-York Historical Society, the library of the New-York Historical Society, the Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the New York Public Library, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (NYPL). Dr. Miller is one of twenty Gilder Lehrman Fellows for the second half of 2008.

Newfield Professor Wins Press Club Award

Former Jack Newfield Visiting Professor Tom Robbins – who also taught investigative reporting this past spring at Hunter – was honored by the New York Press Club on June 16th as the winner of one of the group’s prestigious 2008 Journalism Awards.

Robbins was cited for a story he wrote in the Village Voice last year called “Tall Tales of a Mafia Mistress.” The story played a key role in discrediting the testimony of a mobster’s girlfriend during a federal corruption court case - and led to charges against an ex-FBI agent being dropped.

Robbins, a longtime investigative reporter for the Voice and colleague there of Newfield, served as the second Jack Newfield Visiting Professor at Hunter in 2007. The position was created as a legacy for Newfield, who graduated from Hunter in 1960 and went on to an award-winning career as a journalist at the Village Voice and New York Post. Newfield was also a highly-acclaimed author and documentary filmmaker. He died in 2004.

Hunter Alum Sings in “The Love Guru”

Hunter alumna Linnette Harrigan has just recorded a song for the Paramount Pictures film, “The Love Guru,” starring Mike Myers and Jessica Alba, which opens June 20, 2008.

Harrigan, who graduated from Hunter in 1995 with a BA in media studies, is a singer, actress, and songwriter who has been a backup singer for R. Kelly and performed in musicals like “Sing Harlem Sing,” and “Freedom Train.” She attributes much of her success to her alma mater.

“Hunter had a huge influence on me, as it introduced me to the world of media,” she said. “I had some great classes and an excellent internship at Sony Music Entertainment, which allowed me to talk to music executives and even attend some events with music artists. I was able to network and learn the ins and outs of the business.”

Harrigan is currently recording songs for upcoming films in the UK as well as tracks for her own pop/gospel album. She is looking forward to hearing her song played in the “The Love Guru” when the film debuts.

“[That recording] opened up yet another door for me in the world of music,” she said, “another opportunity to do what I love.”

Class of 2008 Graduates at Hunter’s 197th Commencement

TV news anchor Chris Matthews delivered the keynote address to some 2,700 graduates and their friends and families who packed Radio City Music Hall for Hunter’s June 4, 2008 commencement ceremony.

Matthews – star of Hardball with Chris Matthews on MSNBC and The Chris Matthews Show on NBC, as well as a regular commentator on NBC’s Today show – told the graduates they were going out into the world at a historic time when Barack Obama had just become the first African-American to be nominated for President.

“This is one of those moments in history, people always remember where they were when it happened,” Matthews said. “You’ll always be able to say, “I was at Radio City Music Hall graduating from Hunter College.”

Matthews hailed the diversity of the Hunter graduating class and compared the hard work they had done to get there to the challenges facing all of the immigrants who had made America great. “It’s absolutely remarkable how immigrants move up in this country, how much this country owes to immigrants,” he said.

And he urged the graduates not to be afraid to start at the bottom – pointing out he began his career in Washington as a Capitol police officer before working his way up to presidential speechwriter, aide to the House Speaker and eventually a successful broadcast journalist.

This theme was also emphasized by the two honorary degree recipients, Joel Katz (BA’66), one of the nation’s top entertainment attorneys; and Abbe Raven (MA ‘77), president and chief executive of A&E Television Networks. Both talked about their early struggles before reaching the prominent positions they now hold in the entertainment industry – and urged the graduates to pursue their own dreams. Katz was the recipient of a Doctorate of Laws, Raven was honored with a Doctorate of Humane Letters.

MFA Student wins Javits Fellowship

Tennessee Jones, a first-year student in Hunter’s MFA Program in Creative Writing, has been awarded a Jacob K. Javits Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Education.

The Javits Fellowships are given to a select group of graduate students around the country based on their achievements, exceptional promise and financial need. In addition to a stipend, the students receive funds covering tuition and related fees for a year, renewable annually for up to three additional years.

Jones – who grew up without running water in a poor area of the Appalachian Mountains in East Tennessee – has published a book of short stories, Deliver Me From Nowhere (2005), which was praised in the New York Times Book Review; produced self-published magazines for several years; and worked as an editor for an independent publisher before joining the Hunter MFA program. He graduated magna cum laude from Hunter with a CUNY BA.

Hunter Students Participate in Model NY Senate

Hunter College was represented in this year’s Model New York Senate Session by two undergraduates, Dia Rueda and Bruno Daniel. Rueda, who is from Venezuela, is a political science and economics major. Daniel, who was born in Mexico, is an English/political science major.

The Model Senate program brings more than 60 CUNY and SUNY students to Albany each year for a series of training sessions in the legislative process conducted by prominent members of the Legislature and guest lecturers. The program culminates with students debating a bill on the floor of the State Senate chamber. In the debate, Rueda and Daniel were designated Republican senators, and Daniel eventually was named Senate Majority Leader as the participants engaged in a lively give-and-take over a proposal to impose congestion pricing on mid-Manhattan traffic.

The Model Senate project is run by CUNY’s Edward T. Rogowsky Internship Program in Government and Public Affairs in collaboration with SUNY and the State Legislature’s Puerto Rican/Hispanic Caucus.

Hunter Grad Wins NSF Fellowship

Hunter alumna Mitsy Chanel-Blot has received a 2008 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Chanel-Blot, a May 2007 anthropology major, is currently a doctoral student in social anthropology at the University of Texas-Austin.

Her research focus is the Afro-Caribbean diaspora in Europe, examining the notions of exclusion and invisibility as it pertains to the Haitian diaspora in France, and the broader impact of immigration in Europe.

The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program provides approximately 1,000 students with three years of funding -- up to $121,500 -- for research-focused Master’s and PhD degrees in the social and physical sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.

Two Hunter Pre-Med Students Awarded Salk Scholarships

Two outstanding Hunter College pre-med students have been awarded prestigious Jonas E. Salk Scholarships to attend medical school.

May Kong, a biology major and chemistry minor at the William E. Macaulay Honors College, will study at the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Kong, who emigrated to the U.S. from Myanmar with her family at the age of 11, has done research work with New York University physicians at Bellevue Hospital Center; participated in a summer research program at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass; and is currently working on a Barrett’s esophagus project at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Samia Mohammed, a biochemistry major and German minor in the William E. Macaulay Honors College, will study at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Mohammed joined the lab of Frida Kleiman, an assistant professor in the Hunter chemistry department, and participated in research on the coordinated response of mammalian cells to DNA damage – which resulted in the publication of a scientific paper of which she is co-author. She later joined Professor Hiroko Matsui’s lab at Hunter to do bionanotechnology research involving electronics and sensors.

Kong and Mohammed were among only eight CUNY students to receive the Salk Scholarships, which were awarded during a ceremony on May 15. The scholarships are the legacy of Dr. Jonas E. Salk, who developed the polio vaccine and was a 1934 graduate of City College. They provide for a stipend of $8000 per scholar, to be appropriated over three or four years of medical studies, to help defray the cost of medical school.

Three Hunter Students Chosen For UN Global Forum

Three Hunter College students - Nikolay Lisnyanskiy, Stella Ma and Jennifer Milosavljevic - were selected to be part of a Global Governance Forum at the United Nations. They were among 300 students from around the world chosen to participate in the UN event after a highly competitive international selection process.

The students heard ambassadors from several countries as well as prominent international leaders in business; politics and religion speak about the advancement of technology, the environment and other crucial issues facing governments around the world today.

“I was inspired to learn more about the world and to be open-minded and explore different possibilities and solutions to world problems of poverty, hunger, disease, etc.,” said Ma of the opportunity to attend the Global Governance Forum. “This was a truly unforgettable experience.”

The forum - sponsored by ATHGO, a non-profit organization of the UN Global Compact that trains 18-32 year old budding diplomats – is aimed at promoting youth involvement in many aspects of international policymaking.

Vote for Peter Carey’s Book as Best Novel

You can vote for Hunter’s own Peter Carey - executive director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing and an award-winning author - in a prestigious competition to select the most outstanding novel written over the past four decades.

Carey’s Oscar and Lucinda was nominated in May for The Best of the Booker. This competition -- based on voting open to the public -- will select the top novel to have won the Booker Prize since it was first awarded in 1969. Carey has won the Booker Prize twice - for Oscar and Lucinda in 1988 and True History of the Kelly Gang in 2001 - as well as numerous other major awards and distinctions. He is one of only six authors chosen to compete for The Best of the Booker Prize, a select list which includes such famous writers as Salman Rushdie and Nadine Gordimer.

To submit your vote, simply go to this website: http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/vote.

Voting will end at noon on July 8. The winner is to be announced on July 10.

Hunter College Study Finds That Despite Seat Belt Law, Many New York City Drivers Do Not Buckle Up

A new study released today found that 15 percent of New York City drivers do not wear seat belts even though it is required by law, and this number jumps to 20 percent when counting taxicab drivers, who are not required by law to wear them. These results are found in a Hunter College study directed by Sociology Professor Peter Tuckel. The study is the first systematic inquiry of seat belt usage focusing exclusively on New York City.

According to the study, there is also a noticeable gender gap when it comes to seat belt usage. Nearly 90 percent of females observed were buckled up compared to 77 percent of males. However, the incidence of seat belt use by male drivers when there is a female front seat passenger increases to 91 percent. There is no change in female drivers’ behavior when there is a front seat passenger. Drivers were observed in all five boroughs of the city at 56 intersections with traffic lights.

Professor Tuckel collaborated with Hunter students in his Introduction to Research Methods course to observe 3,329 drivers from April 6-30, 2008, making this the largest pool of drivers observed than in previous studies on driving behavior conducted by Hunter.

“The good news is that a lot of drivers are wearing seat belts, but that does not mean officials should become complacent, because we should have a higher rate of compliance with the law. Every day, and especially with many drivers hitting the roads soon for Memorial Day weekend, drivers and passengers should be buckling up because studies show that seat belts save tens of thousands of lives a year,” said Professor Tuckel.

Another major finding is behavior among taxicab drivers, who are predominantly male and are not mandated to wear seat belts under New York law. Male taxicab drivers observed in the study buckled up at the low rate of 44 percent, while female taxicab drivers wore seat belts 84 percent of the time.

The student researchers were also tasked with noting the behavior of drivers who smoke cigarettes, and the incidence of children in the car at the time. They found that smokers are 5 percent less likely to wear a seat belt, and that the presence of a child in a car is not a deterrent to lighting up.

“One might have anticipated that the presence of a child in the car would deter drivers from smoking. This result certainly went in an unexpected direction,” said Tuckel.

Conference on Hip Hop Culture Held at Hunter

Spoken word artist Bryonn Bain, "Platanos and Collard Greens" director Summer Hill Seven, and Professor Karen Hunter convened at Hunter for a conference on hip-hop.

On May 6, a panel of artists and scholars gathered at Hunter for a one-day conference which examined hip-hop from its roots to the route it may take in the future.

With this event, Hunter joined over 300 colleges and universities around the country which have held hip-hop conferences, offering insight into a phenomenon that has global youth appeal and a growing influence on society.

Speakers included Hunter Acting Dean of Diversity John Rose, alum and playwright David Lamb, Hunter Distinguished Lecturer Karen Hunter, hip-hop performer Talib Kweli, hip-hop/spoken word artist Bryonn Bain, director Summer Hill Seven, and educators Marcella Runnell-Hall, and Kersha Smith.

Professor Hunter, who has co-written books with hip-hop giants LL Cool J and Queen Latifah, showed hip-hop video clips with images of wealth, prison culture, violence, and misogyny. She explained that as hip-hop goes global, so too does the notion that black culture is exactly what these mainstream hip-hop images convey. “This is not what hip-hop was ever meant to be,” she said.

“These aren’t real images,” said David Lamb. “These are stereotypes pulled from the most racist images in history.”

Lamb, who wrote the play “Platanos and Collard Greens” and “From Auction Block to Hip-Hop,” described how the roots of hip-hop grew out of opposition to oppression. He recalled its earliest origins in the African Diaspora, traced it to Negro spirituals, to the blues, and up to today.

One of the conference’s main objectives was to encourage involvement. Several speakers discussed their efforts to contribute to hip-hop through their music, poetry, and plays, and suggested that an academic course on hip-hop be offered at Hunter.

Hunter Partners with the Red Cross

Adam Runkle of the Red Cross with Hunter's Red Cross team.

Twenty Hunter students and staff took part in disaster relief training at Hunter College in April as part of “Ready When the Time Comes”—an American Red Cross initiative to train volunteer teams to respond to local disasters.

Hunter is the first college or university in New York City to collaborate with the Red Cross on this campaign. Adam Runkle, a senior coordinator in the Disaster Volunteer Partnership of the American Red Cross, called the collaboration “an exciting new step.”

“We hope that this partnership with Hunter will be a model that other campuses can follow to be ready to assist victims of disaster when the time comes,” he said.

At the Hunter training, Runkle covered disaster response procedures and policies as well as approaches to comforting people affected by disasters at a shelter.

“Learning vital disaster relief skills from one of the world's foremost emergency response organizations—alongside compassionate Hunter students and staff—was gratifying and very informative," said Theoni Angelopoulos, special assistant to the vice president of student affairs.

The Red Cross estimates that it will need 10,000 volunteers to staff up to 100 shelters and provide aid to thousands of New Yorkers who might be forced to leave their homes in the event of an emergency.

History and Geography Combine at Hunter Workshop

On April 12, Hunter’s Center for Geographic Learning hosted an interdisciplinary presentation on “Infrastructure in U.S. History,” featuring Geography Professor Philip Gersmehl and History Professor Angelo Angelis. The event centered on the impact and legacy of the establishment of the Erie Canal and the U.S. Postal Service, and demonstrated the importance of interdisciplinary learning.

Utilizing multi-media geographic technology, Gersmehl guided the audience—composed of students and teachers— through basic principles of geography as well as the physical conditions that made the building of the Erie Canal not only feasible, but successful. Angelis followed with an elaboration on the development of towns and big cities along the path of the Canal, as well as the emerging pre-eminence of NYC as industrial development and trade expanded from the west to the Hudson River and southward.

In their discussion of the US Postal Service, Gersmehl shared examples of early census materials that were key to the construction of roads, and the realization of an effective postal service for the young nation. Angelis then documented the flow of materials, including newspapers and public communications, which were vital to the revolutionary struggle and to the democratization of social relationships.

Education Professor Sema Brainin—who coordinated the event and provided packets of primary sources for attendees—described the collaboration as a “powerful demonstration of the deeper understanding achieved when multiple perspectives interpret events and phenomena.”

Hunter Envoy is Now Online

The Hunter Envoy, Hunter College’s student newspaper, can now be accessed 24/7 on the newly-launched Hunter Envoy website, http://www.thehunterenvoy.com/

The website covers breaking news, features, arts, and sports, as well as opinion sections, blogs written by the editors and links to student and faculty websites. The site will soon include more graphics than the print version of the newspaper, along with more in-depth coverage of events at Hunter College. On the site, readers can also comment on and email Envoy articles to other users.

Three Hunter Students Win Scholarships to Study in Germany

Three Hunter students have been selected to participate in competitive study abroad scholarship programs focusing on U.S.-German intercultural exchange. Freshman Catherine Detrow will take part in InternXchange, a program sponsored by the German Academic Exchange Service, and juniors Olga Generalova and Kristina Kalpaxis will participate in the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX), sponsored by the U.S. and German governments.

Detrow, an anthropology major, is one 14 students nationwide selected for InternXchange. She will head to Berlin in the summer, spend her first six weeks at the renowned Freie Universität, and then embark on an intensive four-week internship with a German newspaper, magazine or radio station.

Generalova, a world history and German major, and Kalpaxis, a German and media major, are two of 75 students from across the nation who will participate in the 12-month CBYX program in Germany. Starting in July, they will have intensive German language training for two months, four months of classroom instruction at a German university or college of applied sciences, and then a five month internship in their career field.

While Hunter has had recipients of Congress-Bundestag scholarships in the past two years—Alexander Rodriguez and Sarah Wolf—this is the first year that two Hunter students were selected at the same time.

Chris Matthews to Deliver Hunter Commencement Address

Chris Matthews, broadcast journalist and host of MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, will address approximately 3,000 members of the Class of 2008 and their families and friends at Hunter College's 197th commencement ceremony, to be held on June 4, 2008 at Radio City Music Hall.

A television news anchor with significant depth of experience, Matthews has distinguished himself as a broadcast journalist, newspaper bureau chief, presidential speechwriter, and bestselling author. Matthews covered the fall of the Berlin Wall, the first all-races election in South Africa, the Good Friday Peace Accord in Northern Ireland, and the funeral of Pope John Paul II. He has covered every American presidential election campaign since the 1980s.

Matthews worked for fifteen years as a newspaper journalist, thirteen of them as a Washington bureau chief for the San Francisco Examiner and two as a national columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. Before that, he had a fifteen year career in public service: in the U.S. Senate for five years for Senator Frank Moss of Utah and Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine; in the White House for four years under President Jimmy Carter as a presidential speechwriter and on the President’s Reorganization Project. He previously served for six years as the top aide to Speaker of the House Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, Jr.

Hunter’s commencement ceremony will take place at 2pm on June 4. The College will also celebrate the achievements of Hunter alumni Abbe Raven, President and CEO of A&E Television Networks, and Joel Katz, prominent entertainment attorney who is chairman of Greenberg Traurig’s global entertainment practice. Raven and Katz both will be awarded honorary degrees.

Hunter Student Joins “Gossip Girl” Cast

The cast of the hit TV show “Gossip Girl” has added a Hunter girl to its ranks – junior Yin Chang has landed the recurring role of “Nelly Yuki” and had her debut on the show’s April 28 episode.

A teen drama that airs on the CW network, “Gossip Girl” follows the lives of young socialites attending elite schools on the Upper East Side. Chang, a creative writing and media studies major, describes her “Gossip Girl” role as a “stereotypically nerdy Asian who wears dorky oversized glasses.”

“I’m excited about the whole nerdy character, though,” she said. “I’ve never played anything like that in my work. I’m having a great time—the people are so nice. They are considered celebrities, but they’re so down to earth.”

Although she only began acting two years ago, Chang has already appeared in episodes of “Law and Order” and “Six Degrees,” and in commercials for Best Buy, Master Card, and Verizon.

Chang is juggling school with her acting schedule, and plans to graduate in spring 2009. She hopes to incorporate writing into her career, and—if acting doesn’t work out—become a casting director.