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HUNTER HEADLINES ( 2007 2006 2005 2004 archives ) Three Hunter Students Win Scholarships to Study in Germany Chris Matthews to Deliver Hunter Commencement Address Hunter Student Joins “Gossip Girl” Cast Hunter Senior Named NYC Urban Fellow Two Hunter Students Named 2008 Jeannette K. Watson Fellows Students Win Fulbright Awards to Teach Overseas Hunter Captures ECAC South Men's Volleyball Championship Merage Institute Awards Fellowship to Hunter Student MFA’s Meena Alexander Wins Guggenheim Fellowship Supreme Court Justices Breyer and O’Connor Speak at Hunter Hunter-Bellevue Student Nurses Win National Community Service Award Hunter’s MFA Program Ranks High in U.S. News & World Report Hunter Science Students Display their Research Metropolitan Opera Presents Philip Glass Opera With Libretto by Hunter’s Constance DeJong U.S. Government Official Visits Hunter; Talks about Fighting World Poverty Hunter Lab Student Wins Top Chemistry Honor Hunter Housing: Summer Rentals 2008 Hunter Group Offers Aid in Dominican Republic ‘Gossip Girl’ Takes SATs at Hunter Art History Professor Katy Siegel Honored at Guggenheim Social Work Student Wins Soros Fellowship Secretary of Interior Names Professor Ahearn to Geospatial Committee Men’s Volleyball Wins 12th Straight: Bello Gets 100th Coaching Victory Hunter Model U.N. Students Win 9 Awards Hunter Wrestlers Head to NCAAs Hawks Win CUNYAC Men’s Volleyball Honors Message from President Raab Concerning Northern Illinois University Alum Wins Grammy for Woody Guthrie Album Hunter Journalist Wins Romona Moore Scholarship Hunter Students Participate in Harvard National Model U.N. MFA’s Tom Sleigh Wins 2008 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award Hunter Students Plaunova & Foster Receive Humanitarian Awards Jeffrey Sachs Addresses Hunter Grads Peter Carey Named Distinguished Professor Hunter Alumna Ruby Dee Wins SAG Award Brokaw Hosts Opening Roosevelt House Event January ’08 Grad Named Soros Fellowship Finalist Hunter Awarded Stem Cell Research Grant Hunter Chemistry Department Named As One of Best in America
STUDENTS IN THE NEWS ( 2007 2006 2005 archives )
Freshman Wins National Italian American Foundation Scholarship Hunter Senior Wins Chemistry Award
HUNTER HEADLINES 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.
Chris Matthews to Deliver Hunter Commencement Address
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.
Rodriquez is currently in the Public Service Program at Hunter, where she has been working for Councilmember Gale A. Brewer. As an Urban Fellow, she will spend nine months working full time for a New York City mayoral agency. Once she is assigned to a specific agency job, Rodriquez – who plans to go on to law school after the fellowship is completed - will receive a $25,000 stipend. “As a native New Yorker, I have a passion to work as a public servant for all the native New Yorkers who are fighting to stay in a city that has become high priced and unaffordable for many,” Rodriquez said. “I have aspirations to work at a high level in a city agency so I can be in a position to effect policy for many people. I also hope to become an elected official so that I can help the residents of New York City.” The highly competitive NYC Urban Fellows Program selects only 25 young men and women from around the nation each year who want to pursue careers in government and public service. Three other students from Hunter have won this honor in previous years.
Hunter Awarded $1.4 Million Howard Hughes Medical Institute Grant for Science Research and Education Hunter College has received a $1.4 million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to expand its science and research programs and educational outreach initiatives. One of just 48 undergraduate institutions in the country awarded such a grant, Hunter was selected through a stringent review process by a panel of distinguished scientists and educators that considered the applications of 192 schools. HHMI initially invited proposals from just 224 colleges with a track record of preparing undergraduate students for research careers. Hunter is the only CUNY school to be awarded this HHMI grant. “The undergraduate years are vital to attracting and retaining students who will be the future of science,” said HHMI President Thomas R. Cech. “We want students to experience science as the creative, challenging and rewarding endeavor that it is.” Hunter plans to use part of the HHMI grant to expand an established program that gives students money for school full time while they also work in a research lab on campus. “They are essentially allowed to just do research and really see what it is all about,” said Shirley Raps, chair of the biology department. Many students at Hunter College must fit college in around full-time jobs. “Almost all of our students work and many can only attend school part-time,” said Raps. The current program, funded by the National Institutes of Health, is designed to encourage students from groups underrepresented in the sciences. The HHMI grant will expand the same program to women and students from underprivileged backgrounds. Hunter students will also get career counseling and mentoring by faculty members. In addition, Hunter students will have the chance to conduct research outside of the college with a program at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. There, students will immerse themselves in a research environment, working side-by-side with high-powered researchers. Four Hunter science students will be matched with four scientists for the summer. “It just opens up their horizons, which is what we want to have happen,” said Raps. “They will be very well known scientists as their careers progress. I’m convinced of that.” HHMI is the nation’s largest private supporter of science education. It has invested more than $1.2 billion in grants to reinvigorate life science education at both research universities and liberal arts colleges and to engage the nation’s leading scientists in teaching. In 2007, it launched the Science Education Alliance, which will serve as a national resource for the development and distribution of innovative science education materials and methods.
Centered on the love story between an African American man and a Latina, Platanos has been widely celebrated for its humor and pathos in handling issues of race and ethnicity. It has been performed before sold out off-Broadway audiences and in over 100 colleges across the country since its debut in 2003. Lamb, who graduated from Hunter in 1987 magna cum laude with a degree in economics, described his return to his alma mater as “fantastic.” “This is like a dream come true,” he said. Lamb’s company, Between the Lines Productions—which he founded and runs with his wife Jamillah—has also put out another critically acclaimed play of his called Auction Block to Hip Hop, which has achieved success in both the New York theater and national college markets. He also continues to be a sought after speaker at many colleges around the country, which is how he started writing plays. “I would go to schools for readings and students urged me to write a play,” Lamb said. “I think this play, Platanos and Collard Greens, captures the situation at so many schools. It’s a comedy. People laugh out loud uproariously. Forty to fifty times in the show. I hope it makes you laugh, I hope it makes you think and I hope it inspires you. If I can accomplish that with an audience, then I think I’m really accomplishing something.”
Edwin Meléndez Appointed Director of Centro Dr. Edwin Meléndez has been appointed as Director of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (Centro) and Professor of Urban Affairs and Planning. Dr. Meléndez brings to Hunter more than 20 years of vast experience in public policy, academic research and publishing, and Puerto Rican studies. He previously served as Professor of Management and Urban Policy at Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy at the New School in New York City. Earlier, he was Director of the Community Development Research Center at the Milano Graduate School. He also has authored or edited numerous books and research projects, including his most recent book: Latinos in a Changing Society. "Dr. Meléndez will bring a high level of intellectual and professional leadership to his new role and will usher Centro into an exciting new chapter of its storied legacy," said President Jennifer J. Raab in announcing the appointment. He officially begins his new position on July 1, although he will be at Hunter on a consulting basis before that.
Two Hunter Students Named 2008 Jeannette K. Watson Fellows
Hunter students Joseph Eastman and Peter Michalakis have been awarded 2008 Jeannette K. Watson Fellowships. The three-year fellowship program offers paid summer internships, mentoring, and enhanced educational opportunities to New York City undergraduates who demonstrate exceptional promise, outstanding leadership skills and commitment to the common good. Eastman is a second year student at Hunter and a member of the Honors College. He plans to major in political science and economics. Currently an intern for the New York State Democratic Committee, he has also interned in Congressman Anthony Weiner’s District Office. At Hunter, he is the founder, president, and administrative director of the Roosevelt Institution, the nation’s first student-run think tank that seeks to engage students in public policy. He is also the treasurer of the United Nations Student Association/ Model United Nations Debate Team, the secretary of the Student Political Science Association, a Student Senator, and a member of the Faculty Student Disciplinary Committee. Peter Michalakis is a first year student who plans to major in political science and journalism. He has participated in various local basketball tournaments and leagues, including the JCH Intramural League, the Leif Ericsson Summer League, and the Regina Poris Open. He hopes to pursue a career in broadcast journalism or politics. Eastman and Michalakis are currently in the process of interviewing for their first Watson summer internships. Established by the Thomas J. Watson Foundation in 1999, the Fellowship operates on the principle that “talent is broadly distributed but only selectively developed.” Watson Fellows have their pick of coveted job placements over three consecutive summers in non-profit agencies, business organizations, and government service that give them a chance to grow and develop interpersonal skills and gain self-confidence in a variety of professional settings.
Students Win Fulbright Awards to Teach Overseas Margaret Park and Alex Rodriguez are winners of Fulbright Fellowships for 2008. Each will be teaching English abroad -- Park in Korea and Rodriguez in Hong Kong. Park, who received her MA in childhood and special education from Hunter in January 2008, will teach English to elementary school children in Korea. Since 2005 she has been teaching in New York City through the support of a New York City Teaching Fellowship. After her Fulbright year, Park plans to continue teaching and eventually earn a doctorate in education. Rodriguez, a senior majoring in economics and German, is a member of the Macaulay Honors College. He has studied in Germany and looks forward to his year in Hong Kong, teaching English and learning Cantonese. He plans to earn an advanced degree in language and study international marketing. 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, travel, housing and living expenses.
Hunter Captures ECAC South Men's Volleyball Championship
Freshman outside hitter Wojciech Jakubiak had a match-high 25 kills and was named the Most Outstanding Player as the Hunter College Hawks defeated No.10 Stevens Institute of Technology 3-2 (25-30, 30-28, 32-30, 27-30, 15-13) to win the program’s first ECAC title, and the school's first since 1993 (women's volleyball). Hunter got to the finals after defeating CUNYAC foe Baruch earlier in the day by a 3-1 count. After dropping the first game 30-25, the Hawks stepped up their game in the second, battling point-for-point with the Ducks, tying the game 12 times and would pull ahead with a 10-7 run to close out the game. Hunter then owned the third game most of the way through, with Stevens taking their first lead at 20-19. Hunter would gain the 2-1 match advantage on a kill from Jakubiak and an attack error by junior middle blocker Doug Reger. Games four and five were neck and neck with the Ducks pulling away in the fourth after a 23-23 stalemate. In the fifth, the score was tied up at 8-8 and later 13-13 before Jakubiak once again gave Hunter a one-point advantage and they would win the match on an hitting error by Stevens outside hitter Jonathan Landis. Sophomore setter Zacarias Ripoll had a match high 50 assists and added 14 kills and nine digs to his performance. Freshman outside hitter Pablo Oliveira finished with 18 kills, seven digs and six assists, while fellow freshman Eryk Kowalski contributed with 12 kills. Hunter closes out the 2008 season with 32-4 record and had a program best 23 match win streak during the season.
Merage Institute Awards Fellowship to Hunter Student
Nataliya Binshteyn, a January 2008 Hunter graduate, has been awarded a 2008 Merage American Dream Fellowship, which recognizes students who have demonstrated academic excellence, leadership skills, creativity and initiative. Binshteyn is one of 12 students selected from colleges across the country. Applicants, who must be immigrants, were asked to describe their goals, their American dream – with respect to achieving leadership positions in an area of business, culture and the arts, science or education, or public service. The award is a stipend of $10,000 per year for two years of post-graduate study, travel or research. Binshteyn emigrated with her family from the Ukraine in 1993. She graduated from Hunter with majors in political science, Spanish and Special Honors and was a member of the Honors College. While at Hunter, she interned in the office of Senator Hillary Clinton and in the Americas Society/Council of the Americas. Binshteyn is currently interning at the US Embassy in Buenos Aires and plans to attend a joint degree program in law and international affairs in the fall.
MFA’s Meena Alexander Wins Guggenheim Fellowship
Alexander – whose most recent book of poetry, Quickly Changing River, was published in January -says she will use the prestigious award to write a new book of poems retracing her journeys as a child when she traveled by steamer across the Indian Ocean from her native India to Sudan. “I am thrilled to bits to have won a Guggenheim,” Alexander said. “I have a whole book of poetry coiled inside, waiting to be written, and now I feel I can give it a real shot. My project is a book of poems retracing the map of my migrant life, overlaying the travels I went through as a child. Now from New York I will make these journeys in life and in art.” Also awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship was Hunter adjunct Vicky Shick, a New York City choreographer who has taught in the College’s Dance Program for the past eight years. As a Guggenheim fellow, she will pursue a new dance project she is very excited about. “I will be working with dancers from New York and Budapest, setting a piece in both cities in January and March 2009,” Shick said. “I am extraordinarily lucky to have been awarded this Guggenheim Fellowship, which will support this project and allow me to work here in New York City and in my hometown, Budapest.” The Guggenheim fellowships are awarded each year to a select group of artists, scientists and scholars who have exceptional records of past achievement and also show extraordinary promise for future great accomplishments with their work.
Supreme Court Justices Breyer and O’Connor Speak at Hunter
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor came to Hunter on April 7 for an extraordinary “Aspen at Roosevelt House” discussion about the delicate balance of constitutional power between U.S. presidents and the nation’s highest court. Justices Breyer and O’Connor talked about the tension that has existed between the Supreme Court and the White House from the early days of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, through Lincoln, FDR, Truman, Nixon and right up until today – with controversial rulings on the Bush-Gore 2000 election and the rights of accused terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay. They emphasized the unique constitutional responsibility of the top court to provide a balance of power with a president- as well as some of the practical problems the court faces. “When we make a decision, it is not just a decision for the date and time when it comes down,” Breyer said, pointing out that no justice can predict future developments which could be affected by that ruling. “But when the Court decides something, who does it then? What happens when you get a case where the president doesn’t want to do it?” “The Court has serious problems with enforcement power,” agreed O’Connor, the first woman ever appointed to the Supreme Court - who retired in 2006. “We hope that when the court rules that other branches go along to take the hit. For the most part they do, but on occasion they don’t.” The discussion – one of a series of high profile political events leading up to the opening of a renovated Roosevelt House as Hunter’s new public policy center this fall – was moderated by Pulitzer-Prize winning New York Times correspondent Linda Greenhouse, who has covered the Supreme Court for the Times since 1978. The event was endowed by Hunter alumna Phyllis L. Kossoff.
Hunter-Bellevue Student Nurses Win National Community Service Award Students from the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing were honored for their outstanding service to the community at the National Student Nurses Association 2008 convention held in Grapevine, Texas this spring. Nine Hunter nursing students received the Most Successful School Community Health Project, Silver Community Health Award from the organization – which has a national membership of more than 45,000 students, faculty and nursing leaders. The award was for two projects – the Brookdale Campus Health Promotion and 68th Street Campus Nursing Recruitment Fairs, and Peer-to-Peer Mentoring for Professional Advancement. Both projects were carried out by junior nursing students in the NURS 200 Introduction to Nursing course and overseen by Professor Aida Egues, RN, one of the course’s faculty advisers, along with Dr. Donna Nickitas. “We were thrilled, given the importance of service to the community, to receive this award,” Egues said. “For this tremendous work done by our students to be recognized on the national level is such a wonderful validation. I salute their dedication, as well as that of all our students in the course.” Hunter’s MFA Program Ranks High in U.S. News & World Report
Hunter’s national academic stature continues to grow. The 2009 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Graduate Schools” has ranked Hunter’s Master of Fine Arts program as the 21st best in the country. This top ranking for Hunter is based on a survey of art school deans and other leading art scholars at some 220 master of fine arts programs in art and design throughout the nation. It is just the latest confirmation of the way Hunter’s reputation as a leading education institution keeps climbing. U.S. News and The Princeton Review both ranked Hunter as one of America’s “best colleges” last year – with The Princeton Review observing that “like the Big Apple itself, Hunter has a ton to offer academically.”
Hunter Science Students Display their Research
An array of posters lined Hunter’s third floor bridge on April 2 as part of Annual Science Poster Day, an event showcasing undergraduate projects by students in minority research programs. These programs, which include Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) and Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS), encourage greater minority participation in science research. Poster projects covered a broad spectrum of the sciences, ranging from the field of biology to sociology. There were studies on glaucoma detection, coastal storm climatology, and HIV risk among Latino and Black youth, to name a few. Vladimir Thomas, a senior in the MARC program, presented “Phytochemical Analysis of Tidestromia oblongifolia,” a project that analyzes a desert plant from the western U.S. with the aim of isolating and elucidating the structure of the plant’s compounds. “Usually plants that grow in extreme conditions have interesting compounds and bioactivities,” explained Thomas. “We hope that the extracted compounds have antifungal and antimicrobial properties.” Tidestromia oblongifolia, also known as Arizona honeysweet, is used in folk medicine in some parts of Asia to treat a variety of illnesses. Thomas, who has long been interested in medicinal chemistry, said the analysis of these plants might lead to the development of new treatments for disease. Like all students in Hunter’s minority research programs, Thomas regularly received guidance from a faculty advisor. Wayne Harding, an assistant professor in the Chemistry Department, assigned and facilitated Thomas’ project. “I’ve had two MARC students, and they are committed to what they want to do—they have a lot of potential,” said Harding. “I think the minority research programs are really good in terms of what they hope to achieve.” Several graduates of Hunter’s minority research programs have gone on to have distinguished careers in the sciences, including Arlie Petters, a Duke University professor of physics and math, and Erich Jarvis, a Duke neurobiologist who was named one of Popular Science’s “Brilliant 10” in 2006.
Metropolitan Opera Presents Philip Glass Opera With Libretto by Hunter’s Constance DeJong Stunning contemporary music combines with a paean to nonviolent political activism in a new Metropolitan Opera production of Satyagraha, an opera by Philip Glass with a libretto by artist/writer Constance DeJong, Distinguished Lecturer in Hunter’s Department of Art. The opera will be performed at the Met on April 11, 14, 19, 22, 25, and 28 and May 1. “Satyagraha,” explains DeJong, “is the name that Gandhi gave to his nonviolent civil disobedience movement. The opera covers the years during which Gandhi and members of the movement practiced Satyagraha in South Africa.” The opera’s text, she continues, reflects “the historical continuity of nonviolence beginning before South Africa, coming to fruition there, reappearing in the American civil rights movement, remaining still as a methodology among present-day political activists ill-disposed to terrorism. In this way the opera suggests the persistence of an idea.” DeJong, who received her MA from Hunter, has been teaching at the college since 1998.
U.S Government Official Visits Hunter; Talks about Fighting World Poverty
The head of the Millennium Challenge Corporation in Washington – a high level U.S. government position created in 2004 - came to Hunter on April 2 to talk about the innovative efforts this new government agency is taking to reduce poverty in underdeveloped nations around the world. Chief Executive Officer John Danilovich told a group of Hunter students and faculty members that the MCC has established successful grant programs for economic growth totaling more than $6 billion in 17 different countries so far – and achieved extraordinary results. “This is a good use of taxpayer money,” said Danilovich – a former U.S. ambassador to both Brazil and Costa Rica. “We’re not there to build a road to the governor’s mansion. “Our target population is the poor. It’s the poor who are the beneficiaries.” He said nations receiving money from the MCC must first meet a strict set of requirements – including such crucial areas as human rights; democratic government; education; gender reform to allow women an equal role in the country’s society; and efforts to stamp out corruption. “We don’t just give them money and hope it works out well,” Danilovich explained. He encouraged the Hunter students to join in this dramatic new U.S. concept to spur economic growth and aid people in poor countries around the world, telling the audience: “I hope some of you apply for a job with us someday." “Students who care about the issue of world poverty, like those at Hunter, are our next generation of leaders,” Danilovich said after the meeting. “I appreciate their interest in international affairs and welcome this interaction on ways to address long-term economic growth and the discussion about how the MCC is a new and different way to deliver U.S. Government assistance to some of the world's poorest countries."
Hunter Lab Student Wins Top Chemistry Honor Nurxat Nuraje, a member of Hunter Chemistry Professor Hiroshi Matsui’s laboratory, was selected recently to receive the highly-competitive 2008 Graduate Student Award from the Materials Research Society (MRS). These MRS awards are given out to only 21 chemistry students throughout the nation – many of them from top research institutions such as MIT, Harvard, Princeton and Columbia. At the group’s spring meeting in San Francisco, Dr. Nuraje won a Silver Award for his presentation which was praised as “particularly significant and timely research.” Nuraje graduated with a PhD in chemistry earlier this year from the CUNY Graduate Center, where he studied under Professor Matsui. He earned his undergraduate and masters degrees in China. He plans to do post-doctoral work at MIT beginning this June.
Hunter Housing: Summer Rentals 2008 Rooms for rent! Available June 12 – August 8, 2008. Conveniently located near public transportation, restaurants, and shopping, renters will have access to on-site laundry facilities, kitchen, and social lounge amenities. Tennis courts, gym, pool and Internet access are available for additional fees. Groups and weekly renters are preferred. For reservations, room rates, and other important details, please contact: Pamela.Burthwright@hunter.cuny.edu
Hunter Group Offers Aid in Dominican Republic Members of Hunter College’s Dominican Perspectives Club traveled to the Dominican Republic recently where they distributed toys to poor children and provided aid to residents of the country’s impoverished communities. Six Hunter students and former students made the trip from January 3-17. Toys, food and other supplies were given to many needy children, including one group at an orphanage for children with AIDS in the capital of Santo Domingo. Educational workshops were held and more supplies handed out to people at several other locations in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Perspectives Club group from Hunter consisted of Masiel Mejia (club president); Zawilky Santana (former president); Adela George (former president); Clary del Rosario; Hans Villamil and Anthony Peters.
‘Gossip Girl’ Takes SATs at Hunter
Those weren’t real students taking their SAT exams at Hunter on March 24th, it was the young stars of Gossip Girl. Nate, Vanessa, Blair, Penelope, Hazel, Jenny and other popular characters from the hit TV show – in which students from an exclusive prep school on Manhattan’s Upper East Side addictively follow school gossip –shot several scenes about taking SATs right here at Hunter as adoring fans looked on. Want to see more of how Hunter looks on TV? This Gossip Girl episode will air Monday, April 28th, at 8 p.m. (EDT) on the CW Network.
A Hunter College alumna and two current Hunter students have been accepted into prestigious programs for government and public policy study at Princeton University. Taína Borrero will begin studying for her master’s in public affairs at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs this fall. Since graduating cum laude from Hunter in 2006, Borrero has worked for the College in the Office of External Affairs – helping to coordinate with community groups and government officials. She also served as an intern in Sen. Hillary Clinton’s office while at Hunter. “I’ve always been deeply committed to public service,” Borrero says. “Two years spent at Woodrow Wilson will be the finest training for this objective.” Two Hunter juniors, Jessica Lee and Sehrish Bari, were selected to attend the highly-competitive Public Policy & International Affairs Junior Summer Institute at the Woodrow Wilson School. This influential program for encouraging diversity in our future world leaders only accepted 36 students for the summer session - so it is quite impressive that two came from Hunter. Lee is a political science major who plans to go on for a master’s degree in either public administration or international affairs. She currently interns at the United Way in Manhattan. “I’d like to work with issues involving poverty in the city and at some point with an international organization like the UN,” Lee said. “This program at Princeton is a great opportunity to help me reach those goals.” Bari, who has a double major in sociology and political science, hopes to continue on to earn a master’s in public health. She now interns at the New York City Department of Health and also the Global Business Coalition – which deals with health issues of malaria, TB and HIV. “I know going to this program in Princeton will provide me with the information I need in public policy and international affairs to help me pursue a career in public health,” Bari said. Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab, who also holds a master’s in public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School, is a past member of the advisory council of the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton.
Art History Professor Katy Siegel Honored at Guggenheim
Dr. Siegel was honored in Best Shows of 2006-07 by the International Association of Art Critics (AICA) – which gives out the only awards for extraordinary curators in the U.S. The exhibit has also been named one of the top 10 shows of 2007 by New York magazine and extensively written about in the New York Times, the New Yorker and major art publications around the world. “High Times, Hard Times” has appeared in six museums, including the National Academy in New York and major museums in Mexico City, Austria and Germany, where it is set to open this month. The catalogue is in its second printing Siegel is also a highly-acclaimed writer about contemporary art. She is co-author of Artworks: Money, published in 2004, and has written many catalogue essays on major contemporary art and artists for museums in the U.S. and Europe. She has been hailed as one of “today’s most visible critics” in the art world.
Social Work Student Wins Soros Fellowship
“This is not a rehabilitative model, it is a brutal practice. These people should be in treatment,” she said. Smith currently serves as the coordinator of Mental Health Alternatives to Solitary Confinement (MHASC), and is an organizer forRights for Imprisoned People with Psychiatric Disabilities (RIPPD). She will graduate from Hunter with an MSW in June and begins her fellowship in September.
Secretary of Interior Names Professor Ahearn to Geospatial Committee
“This appointment,” said Ahearn, “will give me an opportunity to advise the U.S. government on the critical geospatial data and processes necessary for emergency response based on my work following 9/11.” Ahearn’s work following the attacks on the World Trade Center included helping to select the remote sensing instruments that were used for evaluation and monitoring of ground zero, analyzing data to create 3-D visualizations of ground zero for the Fire Department, creating an application for cataloging the location of items found at ground zero, and creating an application for generating status maps showing which streets could safely be opened. Stressing the importance of the new committee, Secretary Kempthorne noted that “Geospatial information and technology help many programs ranging from wildlife conservation to weather prediction to national security. This committee will help provide advice and perspectives as we continue to develop new ways to utilize geospatial information for the benefit of the public.” The CARSI Lab directed by Ahearn is a state-of-the art teaching and research facility and one of the best-equipped laboratories in the U.S. for geographical analysis. In addition to its many other projects, CARSI has been working with the City of New York to develop its geospatial information infrastructure for over 12 years.
Freshman outside hitter Wojciech Jakubiak recorded a match high 15 kills to help the Hawks defeat the Gothic Knights of New Jersey City University 3-0 (31-29, 30-17, 31-29) which also gave Hunter head coach Ray Bello his 100th career coaching victory.
Bello reaches this milestone in his fifth season as Hunter coach. A 2003 Hunter graduate, Bello holds a career coaching record of 100-52. Hunter now leads the all-time series with NJCU, 12-10 and snapped a five match win-streak that the Gothic Knights held over the Hawks.
Freshman outside hitter Pablo Oliveira and freshman middle blocker Eryk Kowalski each added nine kills for the Hawks, while sophomore setter Zacarias Ripoll Plata, finished with 38 assists, seven digs and five kills.
The Gothic Knights were led by junior outside hitter Kevin Rogers who also had a match high 15 kills and freshman outside hitter Marley Pena-Guzman contributed eight kills and six digs.
The Hawks return to CUNY Athletic Conference action on Saturday, March 8, 2008 when they are scheduled to play York College and Brooklyn College at a CUNYAC Multi-Match hosted at City College.
Hunter Model U.N. Students Win 9 Awards
The Hunter College Model U.N. Team came way with nine awards – the most prizes of all schools participating – during a three-day, 11-college CUNY Model U.N competition. The 26 students – who also distinguished themselves recently at the Harvard National Model U.N. - are from the Hunter College Model U.N. class, an initiative launched this year. The class is taught by Professor of Political Science Pamela S. Falk. Each of the student delegates represented a separate country in the U.N – and Hunter won an award in every phase of the competition. “We are a mini-United Nations ourselves,” said Caroline Grangier, one of the award-winning Hunter students. “Our team speaks two dozen languages…this is what education is all about.” New York Congressman Charles Rangel delivered the opening address at the event.
Hunter is pleased to welcome Peter J. Monahan as the college’s new Director of Human Resources. Monahan brings more than 35 years of experience to his new position, having served in the HR departments of several prestigious public and private institutions in New York. After earning a BS from Fordham and an MBA from Pace University, Monahan began his career in 1971 as a labor relations specialis | |||||||||||||
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.
Elizabeth Rodriguez, a political science major who will graduate in June, has been selected as a New York City Urban Fellow – a program that offers a handful of America’s finest college students the opportunity to gain work experience in local government and public service. 
The hit play Platanos and Collard Greens came to the Kaye Playhouse on April 17 for a special performance—a homecoming of sorts for both the playwright, Hunter alum David Lamb, and the play, which is set at Hunter College. 
Distinguished Professor of English Meena Alexander, an award-winning poet and novelist who teaches in the MFA program at Hunter, has been named a 2008 Guggenheim Fellow.
Katy Siegel, associate professor of art history at Hunter, received a prestigious curatorial award at the Guggenheim Museum on March 17 for the show: “High Times, Hard Times: New York Painting, 1967-1975.” 
Sean Ahearn, professor of geography and director of Hunter’s CARSI (Center for Advanced Research of Spatial Information) Lab, has been named by U.S Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne to the newly formed National Geospatial Advisory Committee. Ahearn is one of only two academics named to the committee, which will give advice and recommendations on federal geospatial policy and provide a forum to convey views of members of the geospatial community. 
