Hunter College Receives Major Gift from Alumna

Date: February 8, 2005
Contact: Meredith Halpern (meredith.halpern@hunter.cuny.edu)
Phone: (212) 772-4068

(New York, NY) February 8, 2005 -- Hunter College today announced a major gift from Anna Cohen Rockowitz, class of 1939, to help support the Hunter College Writing Center. The Center will be renamed "The Dr. Murray and Anna C. Rockowitz Writing Center" in honor of Anna and her late husband, Murray.

"We are honored that Anna Rockowitz has made this generous gift to her alma mater in memory of her husband, Dr. Murray Rockowitz, whom she met while she was a student at Hunter," said Hunter President Jennifer J. Raab. "Hunter's Writing Center is the ideal place to memorialize Dr. Rockowitz's love of language, commitment to education and passion for the written word."

The Hunter College Writing Center is a comprehensive resource for the entire college community, offering tutorial and computer-assisted instruction to students and technical support and development to faculty and staff. Students can receive tutoring in reading and writing skills, critical reading, and the writing process. For more information on the Center, go to http://rwc.hunter.cuny.edu.

Dr. Rockowitz, a 1938 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of City College, was a distinguished educator and author who helped over 1.5 million people receive their high school diplomas through his best-selling book, How to Prepare for the GED High School Equivalency Examination. His book is now in its 13 th U.S. edition.

Dr. Rockowitz began his career in education as a junior high school teacher and advanced through the ranks as a high school English department chairman, high school principal and finally, as the Chairman of the New York City Board of Examiners. He also served for more than 50 years as a contributing editor for Scholastic, Inc. where he wrote word game and crossword puzzle books.

The Rockowitzes met as undergraduate students rehearsing for a play performed entirely in French. Mrs. Rockowitz, a French major at Hunter, received her Master's in French from Columbia University. In addition to French, Mrs. Rockowitz is also fluent in Spanish and Yiddish, and taught at Queens Touro and Mercy Colleges. She is the author of the book, 201 Yiddish Verbs , published by Barrons Educational Series.

About Hunter
With a highly diverse student population of more than 20,000, Hunter is the largest college in the City University of New York (CUNY) system and the first choice among all CUNY applicants. Founded in 1870, the College offers more than 170 undergraduate and graduate programs. Hunter is noted for its professional schools in education, health sciences, nursing and social work, as well as its excellence in the liberal arts. Heralded as the "Crown Jewel of CUNY" by The Princeton Review, Hunter College has a distinguished reputation for nurturing talented minority scientists and meeting the challenge of providing high-quality science education in the 21st century. The College also oversees the Hunter College Campus Schools serving gifted and talented students, preschool through grade 12. For more information about Hunter College, please visit our Web site at http://www.hunter.cuny.edu.

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