search

 

HUNTER HEADLINES FOR 2006 ( 2007 2006 2005 2004 archives )

Hunter Professor Awarded Grant for Smoking Study

End of Semester Brings Final and Fission

Professor Ender Wins MLA Award

Isabella Rossellini Speaks at Hunter

$800,000 Grant Will Help Hunter Train More Teachers Of Learners with Severe Disabilities

Hunter Gets $1.6 Million Grant to Study Factors Related to Drug Abuse

‘06 Alum Places High in NYC Marathon

Barron’s Names Hunter “Best Buy” in College Education

NYT’s Kristof and Student Journalist Come to Hunter to Discuss Darfur

Women's Tennis Claims Seventh Straight Conference Title

Hunter Hailed as Top School for Fulbright Scholars

Two Distinguished Alumnae Honored for Library Gifts

Nursing School Gets $300,000 Grant To Maintain Its Leading Edge in Technology

Manhattan/Hunter Science H.S. Seniors Come To Hunter

Hunter Alumnus Named to “Brilliant 10” List

Hunter Ranks Among the Best Northeastern Colleges, According to Princeton Review

Hunter Awarded $130,000 Grant

Professor Dennis Awarded Prestigious NIMH Award

Village Voice Publishes Special Issue Written by Hunter Students

Hunter to Co-Sponsor 12th Annual Avignon/New York Film Festival

Hunter Professor to Direct Human Rights Seminar

Screening Room Named in Honor of Cecile Insdorf

Class of 2006 Presents Legacy Gift

Hunter President Honored by A Better Chance

Newsweek’s Fareed Zakaria Delivers Keynote Address at Hunter Graduation;

Activist Gloria Steinem Honored during Ceremony

Senator John Edwards Speaks at Hunter

Hunter Holds Dialogue on Diversity

Professor Eva Bellin Named Carnegie Scholar

Women’s Swim Team Earns National Honor

Spring 2006 Undergraduate Student Elections

Hunter’s Michael Gitlin Wins Guggenheim Fellowship

Did Your Mother Go To Hunter?

“Our New York” Neighborhood Project Screening in West Lobby

Anthony Lewis, Molly Ivins Receive Aronson Lifetime Achievement Awards

Hunter Named One of America's "Best Values" by Princeton Review

Actress Tyne Daly Brings Broadway to Hunter

Hunter’s Braun Wins National Jewish Book Award

CUNY Teacher Academy at Hunter

Bella Abzug Leadership Institute Launched at Hunter

Opera Star Angela Brown Gives Sneak Preview Before Hunter Concert

Science Students Recognized for their Research

Journalist Wayne Barrett Named Newfield Visiting Professor

HEO Award Winners Have Served Hunter a Total of 142 Years

Hunter Grads Urged to Make World Better Place

 

STUDENTS IN THE NEWS FOR 2006 ( 2007 2006 2005 archives )

Hunter Junior Heads to DC for International Relations Internship

Hunter Nutrition Student Promotes Healthy Lifestyle

Hunter Senior Named Young Ambassador by German Academic Exchange Service

MoMA to Premiere Film Produced By Fulbright-Winning Hunter Student
Hunter Soccer Star Represents College in South Africa

Music Student Selected for Highly Competitive NPR Internship

Hunter Student Wins a Fulbright Grant to South Korea

Two Students Travel to Germany Via Prestigious Awards

Hunter Doctoral Student to Attend Meeting of Nobel Prize Winners

Hunter Student Wins Fulbright to Spain

Merage Institute Awards Fellowship to Hunter Student

Two Hunter Juniors Awarded HIA Fellowships

Hunter Student Wins APA Minority Scholarship
Hunter Wrestler Headed to NCAA Wrestling Championships


HUNTER HEADLINES FOR 2006

Hunter Professor Awarded Grant for Smoking Study

Dee Burton of Hunter’s Center for Community and Urban Health has been awarded a $378,000 research grant from the New York State Department of Health for an innovative program aimed at helping Chinese restaurant workers stop smoking.

The launch of the Chinese Restaurant Workers Project on Dec. 15 – which was reported in several major Chinese newspapers – involves incorporating Chinese cultural traditions into a unique counseling plan for smokers recruited from restaurants in Flushing, Queens.

“Smoking is more prevalent among Chinese –American men than any other group except Native-Americans,” said Dr. Burton, an adjunct associate professor in the School of Health Sciences.  “Chinese restaurant workers tend to be recent immigrants who work long hours - and their smoking provides a bond to their homeland, where most men smoke.”

The Center’s three-year study will offer phone counseling to the workers in Mandarin, Cantonese, Fujianese and Wenzhounese dialects.  There will also be other customized approaches provided such as Chinese meditation exercises and quit-smoking teas.  

“At the end of the three years, we’d like to have a protocol for smoking cessation based on Chinese cultural traditions and then see that incorporated into the regular stop-smoking programs within the community by hospitals and volunteer groups,” Burton said.

Burton is a co-director of the Center, which is part of Hunter’s School of the Health Professions.  Asian Americans for Equality, a community organization, is collaborating with Hunter College on the study.

back to top

 

End of Semester Brings Final and Fission

A Thomas Hunter Honors class takes an inside look at a nuclear power plant.

As a course comes to a close, nervous energy is generally expected, but one Hunter class ended with nothing short of nuclear power.  Students enrolled in the Thomas Hunter Honors colloquium Our Energy Future, Hydrogen or Else?, taught by Hunter professors Steve Greenbaum (physics) and Haydee Salmun (geography), finished the term with a trip to Entergy's Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant in Buchanan, NY.

The plant provides about 20% of the electricity needs of New York City and the lower Hudson Valley.  After touring the facility, Hunter student Steve Osit remarked, “It was truly an amazing once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

The class took a look at the “gargantuan” electricity-generating turbines, spent fuel rod pool, and control room simulator, which is a replica of the actual control room.  They also saw the rotating safety screens that prevent Hudson River fish from being drawn into the massive pumps that feed the steam generators.

The students understood that, like a final exam at the end of a class, their experience will probably not be repeated.  “I doubt I will be able to go to a nuclear power plant again,” said Lulu Zhong.

back to top

 

Professor Ender Wins MLA Award

Hunter Romance Languages Professor Evelyne Ender has been awarded the Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Comparative Literary Studies by the Modern Language Association of America for her book, Architexts of Memory: Literature, Science, and Autobiography.

Awarded annually for an outstanding scholarly work that is written by a member of the association and involves at least two literatures, the prize includes a monetary award of $2,000 and a certificate. It is one of seventeen awards that will be presented on December 28 during the Association’s annual convention.

Hailed as “personal and provocative” by the selection committee, Architexts of Memory, published by the University of Michigan Press, is an interdisciplinary study that explores human remembrance by revisiting great works of literature. Through examining texts by Proust, Eliot, Freud, and others, she reveals that memory is grounded not only in the factual, but in the fictional and aesthetical.

Ender, who joined the Hunter faculty this fall, has a doctorate in comparative literature from the University of Geneva. A scholar in the fields of nineteenth- and twentieth-century English and French literatures, feminist criticism and gender, and memory studies, Ender has also published Sexing the Mind:Nineteenth-Century Fictions of Hysteria and multiple articles in such journals as Yale Journal of Criticism, Nineteenth-Century French Studies, Compar(a)ison, and Science in Context.

back to top

 

Isabella Rossellini Speaks at Hunter

 

Isabella Rossellini came to the Chanin Language Center at Hunter on November 21 to present “The Flowers of St. Francis,” a film directed by her late father, the renowned Roberto Rossellini.  The celebrated actress, model, and writer was introduced to the audience by Cecile Insdorf, a longtime Hunter professor in the Romance Language Department and great supporter of the Foreign Language Film Festival.

Rossellini spoke warmly of her dad, saying, “His uniqueness and originality were his strengths.”  She talked of his affinity for using non-actors in his films, as they have an “authenticity in their faces,” and said he cast real Franciscan monks in the featured film.  “Papa said ‘If you make up Cary Grant to look like a fisherman, he will look like Cary Grant made up to look like a fisherman.’ ”

“The Flowers of St. Francis” was made in 1950, a time when Europe was in a state of unrest.  “My dad looked at St. Francis, at the teachings of this saint, to see how they could be applied to Europe to reconstruct a peaceful society.  He used cinema to create awareness or knowledge rather than as an instrument for fantasy or escape.”

Roberto Rossellini would have been 100 this year, and several screenings of his films will be featured in a retrospective at MoMA.

back to top

 

$800,000 Grant Will Help Hunter Train More Teachers Of Learners with Severe Disabilities

Hunter will be able to prepare more people to teach children who are severely/multiply disabled and have auditory and visual impairments, thanks to a four-year $800,000 grant brought in by Rosanne K. Silberman, professor of special education.  The grant is from the U.S. Department of Education.

“There is a severe shortage of qualified teachers in this field, particularly in the area of deaf-blindness,” explains Silberman, “and this grant will help us increase the supply of these much-needed teachers.”

Hunter is one of only six colleges in the country—and the only college within CUNY and SUNY—that has a program to train teachers in the area of deaf-blindness.

The grant will provide tuition waivers and stipends to highly qualified candidates seeking to enter the Hunter master’s degree program.  Students who complete the program earn an MSEd and are qualified to become special education teachers with a specialty in severe disabilities including deaf-blindness.

“I’m really excited about this grant,” says Silberman.  “It will help students who might not have been able to afford a graduate education earn a degree and build a rewarding career in a much-needed field.  In turn, these Hunter graduate students will be able to provide deaf-blind children and youth with severe disabilities, including deaf-blindness, with a superior education that will enhance their quality of life.”

Silberman estimates that the grant will aid more than 40 graduate students over four years.

back to top

 

Hunter Gets $1.6 Million Grant to Study Factors Related to Drug Abuse

Hunter was recently awarded a five-year $1.6 million grant to support three research projects that are examining aspects of drug abuse.  The grant is from the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.

Professor Gordon A. Barr is principal investigator for the new grant, which supports the research projects of Professors Rebecca Huselid, Shirzad Jenab, and Vanya Quinones-Jenab, with Professor Jeffrey Parsons acting as a consultant/advisor to the grant.

The five professors are all members of the Psychology Department faculty.  “All of the projects,” explains Barr, “are seeking to determine how best to understand the factors, both social and biological, underlying drug abuse and how best to mitigate drug use.”

These are the research projects: 

  • Huselid is studying how perceptions of personal and group-level race discrimination are related to substance use, psychological distress, and academic achievement; she will also test the effects of racism on coping responses to stress.

 

  • Jenab proposes to use molecular biological methods to determine novel mechanisms that mediate cocaine’s effects; he will also seek to devise new strategies to prevent cocaine addiction.

 

  • Quinones-Jenab is testing the hypothesis that the rewarding effects of cocaine are modulated by the female hormones estrogen and progesterone, since women are more susceptible to the addictive properties of cocaine and other stimulant drugs than are men.

 

The new grant will also support a research seminar, to be given in the spring, featuring outside speakers who are experts in research on drug abuse.  The specific program funded by the grant is Hunter’s MIDARP (Minority Institutions’ Drug Abuse Research Program), which is directed by Barr.

back to top

 

‘06 Alum Places High in NYC Marathon

 

Former Hunter cross-country star Omri Holzman was among the leading runners in the New York City Marathon on November 5.

 

The June 2006 Hunter graduate – participating in his first career marathon - placed 20th in his age group and 48th in the male category among nearly 38,000 finishers. Overall, Holzman’s time of 2:29.21 put him in 54th place.

 

During his four years at Hunter, Holzman – an Israeli native – was the top men’s cross-country runner in the CUNY Athletic Conference and the most successful long distance runner in Hunter history.  He earned 17 championship medals and was the league’s cross-country champion all four years.

 

back to top

 

Barron’s Names Hunter “Best Buy” in College Education

Hunter College has been listed in the new edition of Barron’s “Best Buys in College Education” – the only CUNY school to receive such recognition

In recommending Hunter as one of a select group of colleges where it says the education dollar goes further, Barron’s praised it as a dynamic “working class college, with an energy that makes the campus sizzle.”

“Its curriculum is rich in traditional subjects like English and political science,” the Barron’s survey said, “as well as in programs such as women’s studies and Latin American and Caribbean studies that are targeted at the interests of its special populations, many of whom are the children of immigrants and the first in their families to attend college.

“The student body is highly stratified, starting with competitive honors undergraduates at the top and working down to remedial students at the bottom, with every ability level in between.”

The prestigious publication quoted one recent Hunter graduate as saying the school offered a rewarding educational experience that “culturally and politically is more different, more diverse, and more radical than what most mainstream or Ivy League Colleges provide.”

The final conclusion from the Barron’s Best Buys college survey:  “Mature, self-reliant undergraduates who are culturally and politically active and who appreciate diversity in all areas, including their course of study, are happiest at Hunter.”

back to top

 

NYT’s Kristof and Student Journalist Come to Hunter to Discuss Darfur

 

Student journalist Casey Parks (in yellow sweater) discusses her recent trip to Africa

at a dinner with Hunter journalism students.

Pulitzer-prize winning New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and student journalist Casey Parks discussed their recent journey through central Africa at Hunter College on Tuesday, October 24, 2006.  The discussion, titled “Africa, Genocide and the World,” was part of The New York Times “Times Talks” series.

Parks, a graduate student in journalism at the University of Missouri, was selected by Kristof out of about 4,000 entrants to accompany him through Ecuatorial Guinea, Cameroon, and the Central African Republic. The contest was, Kristof freely admits, “a gimmick” geared largely toward finding a way to communicate the problems in Africa to a younger audience. 

Parks had never traveled abroad before and had thought of herself as poor before seeing poverty in Africa. “I can’t imagine talking about my family as being poor now,” Parks said, explaining that her family always had food and medical care.

The pair answered audience questions after the talk, tackling such issues as the value of journalistic distance and Darfur. “It’s ridiculous to think it would be a better story to watch people die,” Kristof said in reference to his donating his own blood to a sick woman in a hospital in Cameroon.

Kristof, whom Parks lauded as the journalistic authority on Darfur, answered questions about the region, where he says the genocide is “at rock bottom and getting worse, expanding into [neighboring countries] Chad and C.A.R.” He accused the international community and the White House of “dropping the ball” and placing economic interests before humanitarian values, drawing applause from the large audience in the Kaye Playhouse.

Pulitzer-prize winning Hunter Journalism Professor Bernard Stein and his opinion writing class dined with Casey Parks at Hunter following the talk. Professor Stein and his class had been in contact with Parks after reading her blog and Kristof’s column.

back to top

 

Women's Tennis Claims Seventh Straight Conference Title

                                                                                      Photo Credit: Lisa Tao Yen

Top-seeded Hunter Hawks (19-0) won their seventh straight CUNYAC Women’s Tennis Championships, defeating the No. 2 seeded Baruch Bearcats 8-1 at the U.S. National Tennis Center on Saturday, October 21.

The victory gives the Hawks the conference's first automatic bid to the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships, which will be held this spring, as well as the first undefeated season in program history.

“I’m very proud of this team for finishing the season undefeated and accomplishing our goal of earning a bid to the NCAAs,” said Hunter head coach Mel Kerper. “It’s a very exciting step for our program, which will now be able to attract more top players and become more of a metropolitan power.”

Sophomore Monica Calungcagin was named the Tournament Most Valuable Player for the second consecutive season after avenging her only conference loss of the campaign to Baruch sophomore Kateryna Pylypyshyna, 6-4, 6-2. “We' re very evenly matched and it was a fight to the end,” said Calungcagin. "Losing to her earlier in the season definitely helped motivate me to defeat her today."

Hunter opened the match by taking all three doubles points to position Baruch into a quick hole. The Hawks then put the match away by winning five of the six singles matches.

“ I think that our team learned a valuable lesson today,” said Kerper. “We may have underestimated Baruch a bit, as we trailed early in several matches today. They were very competitive and fought very hard. It was good to see our team turn things around, but we will need to play harder when the NCAA Tournament comes around.

back to top

 

Hunter Hailed as Top School for Fulbright Scholars

Hunter College is highlighted in the October 20 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education for the success of its students in winning highly sought-after Fulbright awards.

Hunter – with four Fulbright scholars for the 2006-07 academic year – appears on the “Top Producing” schools list of Master’s Institutions having the highest number of U.S. Fulbright students this year, according to The Chronicle.

The Hunter students who won Fulbrights include Alice Arnold, a graduate student in the MFA program in Integrated Media Arts who won a Fulbright Grant for a video project in Hong Kong; Sarah Osewalt, a June 2006 graduate, who is teaching English in South Korea; Erica Seppala, a graduate student in the School of Education’s Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages program who is teaching English in Spain; and Carla Minami, a June graduate who is teaching English as a foreign language to German students.

Begun in 1946, the Fulbright Program – founded by the late Arkansas Senator J. William Fulbright and sponsored by the U.S. State Department as well as governments in other countries – has provided the opportunity for top students to study aboard and exchange ideas with other cultures.

It now operates in more than 150 countries and is considered one of the most prestigious academic award programs in the world.

back to top

 

Two Distinguished Alumnae Honored for Library Gifts

Two Hunter College benefactors and alumnae were honored in a ceremony at the Jacqueline Grennan Wexler Library on October 4 for generous gifts they gave to renovate the library.

A donation by Helen Galland ‘45 was used to dramatically update and redesign the browsers’ lounge in order to make it a more inviting place for students to read, study and learn.  She is a member of the Hunter College Hall of Fame and the Hunter College Foundation Board of Trustees.

Another contribution from Ada Peluso ’60 provided for a new and vastly improved circulation desk area.  Dr. Peluso, a member of the Hunter College faculty for some 40 years, is the Chairman of the Mathematics and Statistics Department.  She gave the gift along with her brother Romano in memory of their parents.

Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab described Ms. Galland and Dr. Peluso as “two extraordinary Hunter women” and vowed that these were just the first of many positive changes to the East 68th Street library, which opened nearly a quarter century ago.  “Today we celebrate a new circulation desk designed by the staff, a pleasant place for students to study and wireless access,” Raab said at the dedication ceremony.

In addition to aiding the library, Helen Galland’s gift to Hunter provides for a number of student scholarships and an innovative new program for summer interns.  Known as the Galland Internships, the program offers grants to Hunter students to work in public service or non-profit jobs over the summer for organizations that otherwise couldn’t afford to pay them.

back to top

 

Nursing School Gets $300,000 Grant To Maintain Its Leading Edge in Technology

Hunter’s nursing students will soon be learning how to work with patient records through state-of-the-art technology, thanks to a $300,000 grant to the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing.

The three-year grant will enable the nursing school to modernize the curriculum for teaching students to work with high-tech information systems in hospitals and home-care settings. Students will learn the latest techniques in reading and updating patients’ electronic records and in using cutting-edge technology to communicate the information to other health-care workers.

The grant comes from the Jonas Center for Nursing Excellence, an arm of the Barbara and Donald Jonas Family Fund of the Jewish Communal Fund.

Dr. Kathleen Nokes is director of the program and Dr. Donna Nickitas is co-director. The two Hunter professors will work in partnership with the chief nursing executive at the New York Harbor Health Care System of the city’s Department of Veterans Affairs and the chief operating officer of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York. The aim of the three-way partnership is to increase the use of patient-record software systems at the Department of Veterans Affairs at the visiting nurse service and to teach nursing students to use this new technology.


back to top

 

Manhattan/Hunter Science H.S. Seniors Come To Hunter

A remarkable success story is taking place on the Hunter campus as seniors from the new Manhattan/Hunter Science High School began attending classes here this fall semester.

Seventy-seven members of the Class of 2007 – the first to graduate next June from the unique science-focused “early college” high school – will take college-level courses along with Hunter students during their entire senior year. The credits they earn count for both their high school and college records.

MHSHS Principal Susan Kreisman said her students were already enthusiastically settling in to college life – talking excitedly about freshman classes, their professors, things to do on campus and even telling her proudly how they now had Hunter College E-mail addresses.

Many said they planned to go to Hunter next year after they graduate. “The goal is to make the transition to college as seamless as possible,” Kreisman said of the “dual credit” concept which allows them to begin their college experience while still in high school. “We want to help these students become the self-reliant, independent learners they need to be in college.”

The Manhattan/Hunter Science High School opened in September 2003 as a partnership between Hunter College and the New York City Department of Education – funded in part by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It is one of several schools located in the old Martin Luther King School building on the Upper West Side.

Despite its emphasis on science, the school does not seek out super-achievers with top grades – instead the goal is to recruit average students and make them academically successful. Admission is based on attendance records, interviews and letters of recommendation. Between 3000 and 4000 students applied last year – and 115 were accepted.

“I know of no other school quite like it,” Kreisman said proudly.

back to top

 

Hunter Alumnus Named to “Brilliant 10” List


Hunter graduate Erich Jarvis (’88) has been named one of Popular Science’s Brilliant 10, the magazine’s annual list of young scientists and researchers to watch. In the October issue of the magazine in which the list appears, editor-in-chief Mark Jannot calls the Brilliant 10 “some of the brightest, most promising minds in science,” adding, “their work will change our lives.”

While he was still an undergraduate at Hunter, Dr. Jarvis published six papers on bacterial molecular genetics. After earning his BA in biology and mathematics, he went on to receive a Ph.D. from Rockefeller University. In 1998, he joined the faculty of Duke University where he is now an associate professor of neurobiology.

Dr. Jarvis uses songbirds to study the neurobiology of vocal communication, and his research has changed the understanding of the role of genetics and molecular biology in learned vocal communication. He has also led an international consortium of neuroscientists that proposed a drastic renaming of the structures of the bird brain to correctly portray birds as more comparable to mammals in their cognitive ability.

This is not the first time Dr. Jarvis has been singled out for national attention. In 2002, the National Science Foundation awarded him its highest honor for a young researcher: the Alan T. Waterman Award. And in 2005, he received the National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer Award, which provides unrestricted grant support of $500,000 per year for five years.

back to top

 

Hunter Ranks Among the Best Northeastern Colleges, According to Princeton Review

Hunter College’s growing academic stature has been confirmed by its inclusion in the Princeton Review’s Best 361 Colleges for 2007. Only about 15% of the four-year colleges in America are in the guidebook, and they are ones that offer students “an outstanding undergraduate education,” according to The Princeton Review. The rankings are based on a survey of 115,000 students (about 300 per campus on average) attending the 361 colleges in the book.

The Princeton Review ranked Hunter No. 5 in the nation in diversity of the student body and hailed its “stellar faculty.” Among the College’s “many tremendous assets,” The Review said, are its New York City location and its ability to provide “fantastic learning opportunities.”

The Princeton Review’s 80-question survey asks students to rate their schools on several topics and report on their campus experiences. Ranking lists report the top 20 schools in categories that range from best professors, administration and campus food to lists based on student body political leanings, interest in sports and other aspects of campus life.

There’s more: In America’s Best Value Colleges, a guidebook that profiles 150 schools named by The Princeton Review as the best deals in undergraduate education, Hunter was one of 103 public colleges that met the “best value” criteria, as judged by academic excellence, the generosity of financial aid and low costs.


back to top

 

Hunter Awarded $130,000 Grant

Hunter College has been awarded a $130,000 Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) grant for the restoration of Roosevelt House. The landmark is currently being restored as Hunter College’s Public Policy Center honoring the Roosevelt legacy.

Hunter’s EPF grant is one of 7 grants administered through the State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. The awards support a variety of projects, including waterfront improvements, repairs and restoration work to historic properties, and enhancements to public recreation and playground facilities in city parks and community gardens.


back to top

 

Professor Dennis Awarded Prestigious NIMH Award

Assistant Professor of Psychology Tracy Dennis has been awarded the prestigious Mentored Research Scientist Development Award from the National Institute of Mental Health.

This highly-sought-after honor provides for a five-year grant that will allow Dennis to do intensive research, as well as receive advanced training and mentorship, in the field of child emotion regulation (ER) – how children learn to control their behavior and emotions when upset.

“In my research, I am attempting to identify child brain activity and behavior that predicts whether a child will go on to show effective emotion regulation or specific problems with ER and psychological adjustment,” she said. “Ultimately, this understanding will help us to screen children for problems with ER and to better prevent and treat mental illness.”

Dennis is a clinical psychologist who received her Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University and a post-doctorate at the NYU School of Medicine.

“Hunter College has been immensely supportive of my research efforts,” Dennis said. “Without the resources and support of the college, and of my colleagues in the Psychology Department, I would not have been able to obtain this award.”

back to top

 

Village Voice Publishes Special Issue Written by Hunter Students


A class of dedicated student reporters at Hunter has carried on the work of legendary journalist and alumnus Jack Newfield (’60) by writing a special edition of his famed “10 Worst Landlords” feature for the Village Voice.

The Voice devoted its entire July 5th issue to the unique investigative project – which was supervised by Wayne Barrett, Hunter’s first Jack Newfield Visiting Professor of Journalism.

The 13,000-word article was the result of a semester long class in which the student journalists targeted, researched and wrote about the worst New York City landlords – in the same way that Newfield did for years as the Voice’s preeminent investigative reporter.

“They showed tremendous interest and energy, and some of the pieces they wrote were good enough to go into the paper almost unedited,” said Barrett, Newfield’s longtime colleague and later his successor at the Voice.

The Newfield Visiting Professorship – named in honor of the crusading journalist, who died in 2004 – was created by Hunter in partnership with Newfield’s wife and family to carry on his legacy. A continuing series of distinguished journalists will teach the spring term classes each year.

back to top

 

Hunter to Co-Sponsor 12th Annual Avignon/New York Film Festival

The Avignon/New York Film Festival, one of the most important and provocative film festivals in America, will be held on the Hunter campus from November 15-19. This is the 12th Avignon/New York Festival, and the second to be hosted by Hunter.

Avignon/New York is the American version of France’s 23-year-old Avignon Film Festival. The events at Hunter, which will be held in the Kaye Playhouse and the Lang Recital Hall, will include premieres of high-caliber new works, retrospectives, round-table discussions with film industry experts, interviews with filmmakers, and receptions.

The French and American events, note the festival’s sponsors, form the only transatlantic film celebration in the world today.

For more information visit www.avignonfilmfest.com.

back to top

 

Hunter Professor to Direct Human Rights Seminar

Human rights experts and educators from all over the country will gather for a five-week seminar examining “Human Rights in Conflict: An Interdisciplinary Perspective” at the CUNY Graduate Center this summer. The seminar, the 2006 NEH Institute for College and University Teachers, will take place from June 26-July 28 and is being directed by John R. Wallach, associate professor of political science at Hunter and the Graduate Center.

The seminar “will focus particularly on conflicts involving relationships between human rights and power,” says Wallach, and it will address four aspects of human rights in conflict: philosophical and historical; legal; cultural; and political.

Speakers will include Professor Seyla Benhabib, Yale; Associate Professor Roxanne Euben, Wellesley; Professor Paul Kahn, Yale Law School; Professor Martha Minow, Harvard Law School; Kenneth Roth, executive director, Human Rights Watch; and Professor Michael Walzer, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton.

Wallach, who will be assisted in organizing the institute by graduate students in political science and anthropology, has published in contemporary political theory, ancient Greek political theory, and the political theory of human rights.

For more information, visit http://web.gc.cuny.edu/nehhumanrights06.

back to top

 

Screening Room Named in Honor of Cecile Insdorf


Professor Cecile Insdorf (center) stands with her daughter Annette, son-in-law

Mark Ethan Toporek, and President Raab at a dedication ceremony in her honor.

Cecile Insdorf, a longtime professor and adviser in the Romance Languages Department, recently gave a gift of $100,000 to the College and was honored at a ceremony on June 5 dedicating a room in the Chanin Language Center as the Cecile Insdorf Foreign Language Screening Room.

 

Insdorf's gift will support the Foreign Language Film Festival and a variety of programs in the Romance Languages Department and the Chanin Center.

 

Insdorf created the Foreign Language Film Festival, which has screened many foreign-language masterpieces and hoste d such celebrated speakers as Pedro Almodovar, Paul Auster, Ben Kingsley, and Martin Scorsese. Insdorf has also brought Milos Forman, Liam Neeson, Meryl Streep, and other film luminaries to Hunter for her course on "Film and the French Novel."

 

At the dedication ceremony, Insdorf thanked the guests-faculty members, friends, and family members-"for the honor of keeping my name alive at my beloved Hunter College."

back to top

 

Class of 2006 Presents Legacy Gift

Launching a new tradition at Hunter, members of the Class of 2006 Legacy Gift Campaign presented a Legacy Gift to the College — a check for $620 — during the
June 1 Commencement ceremony. The money, which was raised through a student-led campaign, will be used to purchase a clock and plaque to be displayed in a prominent area of the College as an emblem of the graduating class’s time at Hunter. The purpose of the gift is to symbolize the memories, education, and plans for the future of the Class of 2006.

The check was presented to President Jennifer J. Raab by two members of the Class of 2006 Legacy Gift Campaign Committee, Pierce Varous, president of the Student Government, and Alina Plotkina. Other members of the committee are Taina Borrero and Mohammad Saleem.

As of June 5, a total of $675 has been contributed toward the Legacy Gift, and additional gifts will be accepted until June 30. If you are interested in supporting the 2006 Legacy Gift please visit https://onlinedonation.hunter.cuny.edu/form.php?fundname=2006%20Legacy%20Gift&fund=1000


back to top

 

Hunter President Honored by A Better Chance

A Better Chance, the national resource for identifying, recruiting and developing leaders among academically gifted students of color, is honoring Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab with its Benjamin E. Mays Award. The award memorializes the late Dr. Mays, scholar, orator, writer, civil rights figure and president of Morehouse College.

“If Hunter is the heart of New York City’s public university system, then Jennifer Raab keeps it ticking,” said Sandra E. Timmons, president of A Better Chance. “Under her watch, Hunter’s reputation as an urban leader has soared and its innovative classes and programs enrich the city’s academic and cultural fabric. Like Dr. Mays, for whom Ms. Raab is receiving this namesake award, her efforts have a significant impact on the many students she serves.”

“The rich diversity of our student body – a vast community of different backgrounds, cultures and strengths – is something we are very proud of at Hunter College,” said President Raab. “That is why I am especially pleased to receive this award named for such a great civil rights figure as Benjamin E. Mays. It is a tremendous honor for me and for Hunter.”

A Better Chance was founded in 1963 by 23 private schools wishing to diversify their student populations. It has expanded its network to 250 affiliated college preparatory schools. Past recipients of the A Better Chance Benjamin E. Mays awards include: Dr. Shirley Tilghman, president, Princeton University; Lee Bollinger, president, Columbia University; Lloyd G. Trotter, president and CEO, GE Industrial Systems; Tim McChristian, general manager, IBM Global Computer Services Industry; and Steven Rogers, clinical professor of finance and management, Kellogg Graduate School of Management.


back to top

 

Newsweek’s Fareed Zakaria Delivers Keynote at Hunter Graduation; Activist Gloria Steinem Honored during Ceremony

Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, addressed some 2,000 graduates and their friends and families and received a President’s Medal at Hunter’s 193rd Commencement on June 1, 2006. Zakaria , who is also an analyst for ABC News, is a frequent guest on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” His most recent book, The Future of Freedom, was a New York Times bestseller. Zakaria has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, The New Republic, and Slate. In 1999, he was named “one of the 21 most important people of the 21st century” by Esquire.

During the commencement exercises, President Jennifer J. Raab conferred an honorary degree on feminist activist Gloria Steinem. Steinem, a writer, lecturer and editor, is the cofounder of the National Women’s Political Caucus, the Women’s Action Alliance, and the Coalition of Labor Union Women. She is also the founder and original editor of Ms. magazine, and has authored five books, including the bestseller, Revolution from Within:A Book of Self-Esteem.

back to top

 

Senator John Edwards Speaks at Hunter



 

John Edwards – the 2004 Democratic vice presidential candidate – said in a speech at Hunter on May 11th that poverty in America was “the great moral issue of our time.”

The former senator from North Carolina was the keynote speaker and special guest at this year’s highly-acclaimed Presidential Public Leadership Program. Edwards spent the day on the Hunter campus, interacting with students and faculty and taking part in seminars on politics and media studies.

During his address at the Kaye Playhouse, Edwards talked about the 37 million people in this country “who wake up in poverty every day.

“It’s wrong,” said Edwards, currently the director of the Center for Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina Law School. “We’re better than that. And we have a responsibility to do something about it.”


He urged Hunter students to make the battle against poverty their cause in the same way that young people in the ‘60s fought for civil rights and to end the Vietnam War. “I have seen young people change the country,” he said. “This country needs the passion and idealism of young people again.”

Widely mentioned as a potential candidate for President in 2008, Edwards was highly critical of the Bush White House on such issues as the war in Iraq, tax cuts for the rich and the federal response to Hurricane Katrina. “There is a hunger in America,” he said. “A hunger to be inspired again. People are looking for something that makes them proud to be Americans.”

back to top

Hunter Holds Dialogue on Diversity

A Hunter College Summit on Diversity was held on campus May 3 – the start of a long-term effort to focus on this crucial issue.

Pointing out that more one-third of the freshman class this year came from different countries, President Jennifer J. Raab described Hunter to the gathering of some 75 students, staff and faculty as “a school of immigrants.”

“It is our strength and our beauty,” Raab said, “but we all realize it is also our challenge.”

Laura Schachter, Dean for Diversity & Compliance, said the Hunter student body consisted of people from 150-200 countries at any one time, speaking nearly 100 different languages.

“I hear dozens of languages being spoken in the halls,” said Hunter student Taina Borrero, citing all the different cultures and ethnic backgrounds as her favorite thing about going to school here. “Every classroom, every hall is a testament to our rich diversity.”

After opening remarks, the participants all broke off into individual groups – led by facilitators from outside the Hunter community – to discuss different diversity issues facing the campus and the best ways to encourage an ongoing dialogue to solve them.

More discussions are planned in the future as a follow-up to the Summit.

“This really is a kickoff,” President Raab told the group. “As an administration we’re continually committed to free speech and respect. This is a long-term commitment to the discussion about the beauty of diversity and the challenge of diversity.”

back to top

 

Professor Eva Bellin Named Carnegie Scholar

Hunter Political Science Professor Eva Bellin has been named a 2006 Carnegie Scholar, one of 20 scholars chosen by the Carnegie Corporation to study issues relating to Islam and the modern world. Bellin will receive nearly $100,000 to study Islam-centered research themes over the next two years.

Bellin is regarded as one of the most outstanding U.S. scholars in the field of Middle Eastern politics, and has published scholarly papers in many prestigious academic journals. Her research project, “Arbitrating Identity: High Courts and the Politics of Islamic-Liberal Reconciliation in the Muslim World,” aims to explore the roles that high courts play in Muslim countries whose institutions are informed both by religious identity and by liberal democratic values. Bellin’s research will culminate in a book intended for academic, policymaking, and general audiences.

The goal of the Carnegie Corporation's new emphasis on Islam is to encourage the development and expansion of the study of Islam within the United States and to stimulate research on which to help build a body of thoughtful and original scholarship.

This year's scholars were selected from the largest number of nominations to date. They represent an array of U.S. universities and institutions, indicating that Islamic Studies is a growing area of interest in American academia.


back to top

 

Women’s Swim Team Earns National Honor

After winning their fifth consecutive City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) Championship earlier this year, the Hunter Women’s Swim team has achieved yet another milestone.

The defending champions were named an Academic All-America team by the College Swim Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) for their tremendous efforts in the classroom.

To qualify for Academic All-America, an entire swimming and diving squad must average at least a 2.8 grade point average (GPA) on a 4.0 scale.

The Hunter Hawks, who boast a team GPA of 3.15, qualified for the “Excellent” award within the Academic All-America criteria. The “Excellent” category honors teams who average a 3.00 to 3.25 GPA.

This is the second time in three years that the Hawks have earned Academic All-America status.


back to top

Spring 2006 Undergraduate Student Elections

As the College did so successfully the last two 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 students to vote while at school, work or home. In addition to a computer students may have at home or work, there are many computers throughout campus from which they can also vote. By bringing the “polls” to the students, 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. The student's 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, May 1 (12:01 a.m.) ­ Friday, May 5 (11:59 p.m.).

How to Vote:
In order to vote on the web, students must set up their Hunter e-mail account. If they received previous e-mails from Hunter, they are properly set up. Students should advise their 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 24, the company administering the election will send students an email (Subject: 2006 Hunter College Student Elections) with a voter registration code, which they will need in order to vote. The voter registration code, along with instructions, will allow them to view and submit their ballot on the company’s special Hunter elections website when the “polls” open on May 1. Election results will be posted on the election site immediately after the polls close. (Note: If others are able to access a student's e-mails, or if they think they have the ability to do so, they should make the necessary adjustments immediately).

What Positions are on the Ballot:
Students 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, May 5, 2006 in the main lobby from 9:30 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. Hunter I.D. will be required).

B) Fourteen Undergraduate Students

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 http://studentservices.hunter.cuny.edu/elections06-07.html 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 students in selecting their candidates:

* Each candidate was asked to submit a 100 word campaign statement which will be posted on the election website, which students will be able to access when they receive their elections email.

* 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 26, at 1:00 p.m. in room 615 West.

* The list of candidates and their party affiliation, if any, is now posted in the glass-enclosed “Elections” bulletin board on three West. This list will also be on the elections site when students receive their ballot and voting instructions.

For any questions about student elections or web-based voting, please contact Dean Michael Escott in the Office of Student Services, Room 1103 East.

Your vote counts……use it wisely to determine who represents you next year.


back to top

Hunter’s Michael Gitlin Wins Guggenheim Fellowship

Hunter Film and Media Studies Professor Michael Gitlin has been named a 2006 Guggenheim Fellow and is the only CUNY faculty member to win this year’s fellowship. One of the most prestigious fellowships in the arts and sciences, the Guggenheim will support Gitlin’s work on his current project, which Gitlin describes as “a kind of ethnographic film about Young Earth Creationists, dealing with philosophy-of-science issues.”

Gitlin is one of 187 artists, scholars, and scientists selected by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for this year’s awards from a pool of almost 3,000 applicants. The fellowships are awarded to applicants who have exceptional records of past achievement and are taking their work in especially promising future directions.

Gitlin’s films have been shown at numerous film festivals and other venues, both nationally and abroad, including the Toronto International Film Festival, the London Film Festival, the New York Video Festival at Lincoln Center, the 1997 Whitney Biennial Exhibition, and on Independent Focus, a PBS television program. His latest film, The Birdpeople, premiered in January 2005 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Gitlin, who has been at Hunter since 1995, teaches Experimental Film and Video, Film Production, Sound Production for Film and Video, and Editing Technique. He previously taught at Pratt Institute, the New School for Social Research, NYU, and the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

back to top

Did Your Mother Go To Hunter?


Hunter College has a long, proud tradition of offering ambitious young people an exceptional education. Armed with a Hunter degree, Hunter alumnae have gone on not only to touch the lives of their own families, but also to shape the world around them. To honor these remarkable women, we have established the Mother’s Day Scholarship Program. The Mother’s Day Scholarship Program celebrates Hunter mothers (or other family members) in an extraordinary way by building a scholarship fund that provides a new generation of students access to the higher education they might not otherwise receive.

We invite you and your family to join us in building the Mother’s Day Scholarship Fund by giving a different kind of gift this Mother’s Day - the gift of education. Click here to make a gift. If you have any questions please contact, Katy McNabb at 212-650-3349 or email kmcnabb@hunter.cuny.edu.


New York Times Advertisment


back to top

“Our New York” Neighborhood Project Screening in West Lobby


The School of Arts and Sciences ORSEM Program (First Year Orientation Seminar) is presenting “Our New York,” a digital slideshow screening in the lobby of the West Building on April 5-11 from 9:30am – 8pm. The 19-minute slideshow represents the work of 146 Hunter students, who recorded their impressions of neighborhoods in all five boroughs of New York City. The photographs are just a sample of those photos that were collected by first year Hunter students in the ORSEM program last fall.
The images are part of a larger Hunter College project documenting the history and culture of New York neighborhoods.

back to top

Anthony Lewis, Molly Ivins Receive Aronson Lifetime Achievement Awards

Creators Syndicate columnist Molly Ivins and former New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis will receive lifetime achievement honors at an April 11 ceremony for winners of Hunter’s James Aronson Awards for Social Justice Journalism. The event will also feature a keynote introduction by Wayne Barrett, longtime Village Voice investigative reporter and the first Jack Newfield Visiting Professor of Journalism at Hunter.

Winners of this year's Aronson awards include Kirk Anderson for "Cartooning with a Conscience," Gary Fields of the Wall Street Journal for exposing problems in the system of "get-tough" prison sentencing, Kevin Fagan of the San Francisco Chronicle for his coverage of the homeless issue, and Tracie McMillan of City Limits magazine for reporting on low-income and working-class people in New York City. Also, the first Aronson Award for blogging is going to University of Michigan Professor Juan Cole for his Iraq War-related "Informed Comment" blog.

The awards have been administered since 1990 by the Hunter College Department of Film & Media Studies and a committee of journalists, media professionals, scholars and activists. James Aronson was a longtime distinguished Hunter professor of journalism and a founder and editor of the crusading news weekly, The National Guardian.


back to top

Hunter Named One of America’s “Best Values” by Princeton Review


Hunter College is one of the nation’s “Best Value” colleges, according to America’s Best Value Colleges, a guidebook that profiles 150 schools named by The Princeton Review as the best deals in undergraduate education this year. http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/news/pdf/princeton-review.pdf

In the 2007 edition, Hunter College is one of 103 public colleges that met The Princeton Review’s best value criteria of excellent academics, generous financial aid packages and relatively low costs. The colleges were evaluated in four major categories: academics, tuition; financial aid (how well colleges meet students’ financial needs) and student borrowing.

The Princeton Review selected the schools for the book from a field of 646 colleges that the organization considers academically excellent. In determining which colleges were the “best values,” The Princeton Review took into account institutional data from the schools and its own surveys of students attending them.

back to top

Actress Tyne Daly Brings Broadway to Hunter

Actress Tyne Daly with Hunter alumna Floria V. Lasky

Actress Tyne Daly and other cast members from the Broadway play “Rabbit Hole” came to Hunter College on March 15 to speak a class of more than 200 students.

Daly – known for her roles in TV shows such as “Cagney & Lacey” and “Judging Amy” – talked about the differences in performing before a live audience; how a single line of poetry in the script convinced her this was a play she wanted to do; and the way she prepares to go on stage.

“I love to listen to the audience filing into the theater,” she told the students, who had attended a performance of “Rabbit Hole” – which also stars Cynthia Nixon (Hunter High School ’84) - prior to the class. “That’s a great sound.”

Joining Daly at Hunter were cast members Mary Catherine Garrison and John Gallagher Jr. They were peppered with questions from the students – members of an introductory theater course - -about everything from forgetting your lines on stage to the best ways to eat food and speak at the same time in front of an audience when the role calls for it.

“Rabbit Hole,” presented by the Manhattan Theatre Club, tells the story of a suburban mother (Nixon) and her family whose life is turned upside down by the tragic death of their young son. Daly plays the role of Nixon’s mother.

Hunter alumna Floria V. Lasky (’42) is the head of the Frederick Loewe Foundation, which made possible the purchase of the tickets for the students to attend the play.

back to top

 

Hunter's Braun Wins National Jewish Book Award

 

Jewish Women and Their Salons: The Power of Conversation, by Emily Braun (Art) and Hunter College High School alumna Emily Bilski, has won a 2005 National Jewish Book Award. The illustrated book, published by Yale University Press, took the prize in the Visual Art Category. It is based on an exhibition co-curated by Braun and Bilski that premiered at the Jewish Museum in New York last spring and traveled from there to the McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College.

Jewish Women and Their Salons examines the role played by the salons of Jewish women in the development of art, literature, music, theater, philosophy, and politics in Europe and America from the late 18th century through the 1940s. The book includes chapters on such subjects as “The Romance of Emancipation,” “Expatriates and Avant-Gardes,” and “Music, Femininity, and Jewish Identity: The Tradition and Legacy of the Salon.”

back to top

CUNY Teacher Academy at Hunter


For over 135 years, teacher education has been the heart and soul of Hunter College. This is where it all began. For generations, Hunter College has played a crucial role in the preparation of thoroughly trained, highly skilled, enlightened teachers to answer the needs of New York City and beyond.

Today, Hunter continues this tradition with the new CUNY Teacher Academy at Hunter College.  The Teacher Academy is an innovative program designed to train and prepare the next generation of science and mathematics teachers.

The Teacher Academy at Hunter is housed in the College's School of Education. Through its educational mission, the School creates equal opportunity for all members of the city's racially, ethnically and economically diverse population. Through classroom activities, laboratory experiences, paid internships and field placement, the program will deepen your understanding that learning and teaching are interwoven with the cultures and ethnic richness and diversity of the city's neighborhoods and schools.

You will be taught by a nationally recognized, doctorally-prepared faculty, many of whom began their careers as classroom teachers in the public schools.

The Teacher Academy instills deep and broad knowledge of theories and the scholarly literatures, but is firmly grounded in real world, field-based experience.

"We make what we teach useful in our students' own classrooms. Our students know that if they have a class at Hunter on Wednesday, they'll know something new and helpful when they teach on Thursday," said Frank Gardella, Associate Professor.

For additional information, admission requirements, and application, please visit the CUNY Portal.

back to top

Bella Abzug Leadership Institute Launched at Hunter

Hunter President Jennifer J. Raab (center) announces the launch

of BALI with Eve Abzug (left) and Liz Abzug (right).

High school and college women will learn essential leadership skills at a newly launched institute housed at Hunter and named for one of the College’s most celebrated alumnae—legendary feminist leader Bella S. Abzug (1920-1998).

The launch of the Bella Abzug Leadership Institute (BALI) was announced at a news conference held at Hunter on February 8.

A lawyer when female attorneys were a rarity, a Congresswoman whose famous campaign slogan was “This woman’s place is in the house—the House of Representatives,” and an internationally renowned leader in environmental crusades, the peace movement, and, most notably, the women’s movement, Abzug was already recognized as a leader at Hunter, where she was head of the student government. She graduated in 1942 and went on to get a law degree from Columbia.

BALI, founded by the late Congresswoman’s daughters, Liz Abzug and Eve Abzug, will run training programs to help young women build the speaking, advocacy, business, and other skills they need to become effective leaders.

Speakers at the February 8 conference included Hunter President Jennifer J. Raab, the co-host; Gloria Steinem; and singer Lesley Gore.

back to top

Opera Star Angela Brown Gives Sneak Preview Before Hunter Concert

 

Opera star Angela M. Brown gave a sneak preview of her appearance with the Hunter College Symphony to a group of students and alumni on March 7, 2006.

Ms. Brown talked about growing up in Indiana, learning to sing gospel in churches and her meteoric rise to stardom with the Metropolitan Opera and other major houses during a discussion group in the Lang Recital Hall led by music professor Richard Burke.

“You have to be connected to something other than you - a higher power,” she said when asked about her critically-acclaimed successes in “Aida” and other famous roles. “The Lord literally pushed me to New York. He said: ‘I’m gonna be with you, girl. Go!’”

She sang arias from “Porgy and Bess” and selected American spirituals in her performance with the Hunter symphony on March 8, her only New York appearance of 2006.


back to top

Science Students Recognized for their Research


Undergraduate students from the Hunter MBRS/RISE and MARC Programs attended the 5th Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students in Atlanta from November 2-6, 2005. There were over 1200 students from 700 colleges and universities in the U.S., and more than 1100 presentations of biomedical research. Hunter students made 21 of these presentations, including 5 students who were invited to present their research as prestigious oral presentations. The oral presenters were Lawrence James (Chemistry major), An Chen (Chemistry major), Elizabeth Rodriguez (Psychology major), Bernadine Akukwe (Chemistry major), and Julius Arijeloye (Chemistry and Physics majors).

Six Hunter students garnered awards from scientific research societies for the quality of their research and presentations. Five poster presentations and an oral were chosen. The awardees were: Lawrence James (Chemistry major), Ingrid Tulloch (Psychology major), Joanna Ayoung (Biology major), Amy Colon (Physics major), Dalia Francis (Biology major), Mahendra Samaru (Chemistry major).

The director of the MARC Program is Dr. Peter Lipke, Dr. Derrick Brazill is the Coordinator and Susana Vargas is the Program Administrator. For MBRS/RISE, Dr. Victoria Luine is Director, Dr. Karen Philips is Coordinator and Janerie Rodriguez is Program Administrator. For more information about these programs and the conference, please see the MARC/MBRS web site http://marcmbrs.hunter.cuny.edu/

back to top

Journalist Wayne Barrett Named Newfield Visiting Professor

 

Wayne Barrett, a Senior Editor at the Village Voice, has been awarded the inaugural Jack Newfield Visiting Professorship in Journalism at Hunter College. The professorship, named in memory of journalist Jack Newfield, was created by Hunter in partnership with Newfield's wife and family to maintain his legacy through special classes, other programs and activities.

"As Jack Newfield's colleague at the Voice and an investigative journalist in his own right, Wayne Barrett brings a unique insight to Hunter students," said Hunter President Jennifer J. Raab. "They will learn from one of New York's best reporters how journalists can continually rediscover, and tell the story, of the drama of a great city remaking itself again and again. We look forward to his presence on campus and to his challenging our students."

Jack Newfield graduated from Hunter in 1960, with a BA in English, and began his distinguished journalism career as sports editor of the Hunter Arrow. It was as a reporter for the Village Voice that Newfield developed his reputation as a crusading journalist, and his annual lists of "Ten Worst Judges," and "Ten Worst Landlords" quickly became "must reads" among New Yorkers.

Barrett said he is honored by his selection as Hunter's first Jack Newfield professor, and that he will spent his semester as a professor offering his students "a window into the life of City Hall and the state capitol in Albany, offering insiders' views of city and state politics as seen through the eyes of guests from the mayor's office, the city council, and the journalists who cover them."

back to top

HEO Award Winners Have Served Hunter a Total of 142 Years

Six longtime Hunter employees have received this year’s Presidential HEO awards and were honored January 10th at a reception held in the President’s Conference Room. The annual awards, created last year, recognize staff members in Higher Education Officer titles “whose dedicated efforts,” said President Raab, “have led to a significant improvement in the way the College serves its students, faculty, and staff.”


The recipients each received an award of $1,500—“in addition,” said the president, “to our appreciation and gratitude.” Nominations for the awards were made earlier in the year by faculty and staff. The six award winners are:


Jim Barry (Instructional Computing and Information Technology) joined the Hunter staff in 1981 as a computer operator in the days when we had a computer mainframe. For the past seven years he has been in charge of the ICIT Help Desk, a job that has entailed managing 16,000 requests for help with computer and telecommunications issues. In addition, aware of the need to upgrade hardware on desktop computers, Jim refurbished some 600 computers, thus helping the entire network. And as a member of the HEO Forum, he has been of great help to his colleagues.


Ruth Brooks (Facilities Management and Planning), who earned an MS at Hunter, returned to her alma mater in 1978 as a member of the Facilities staff and was project manager of FM&P when she retired in July 2005. She had responsibilities related to scores of College renovations—as well as the construction of the East and West Buildings—and created the work order system used College-wide. A member of the HEO Forum, Ruth was captain of the CUNY Campaign for many years and chair of the Holiday Gala for 12 years. Two of her children and her daughter-in-law are Hunter graduates.


Robert Hassel (Welcome Center), whose many achievements include playing a major role in the design of the all-important Undergraduate View Book, became a Hunter staffer after getting his BA here in 1984. A veteran of both