Skip to main content
  • Information for
    • Students
    • Alumni & Friends
    • Faculty
    • Staff
    • Community
  • QUICK LINKS
  • DIRECTORY
  • APPLY
  • GIVE
  • RENT
Hunter College
About
  • Overview
  • Mission
  • Strategic Plan
  • Accreditation
  • Fast Facts
  • Office of the President
  • Capital Projects & Planning
  • Sustainability
  • Campus Information
  • Contact Us
Academics
  • Approach
  • Provost
  • Schools
  • Departments & Programs
  • Majors
  • Honors & Scholars
  • Education Abroad
  • Advising
  • Research & Creative Works
  • Course Catalogs
Admissions
  • Overview
  • Undergraduate
  • Graduate
  • Course Catalogs
Student Life
  • Clubs & Organizations
  • Residence Life
  • Athletics
  • Dining On Campus
  • Community
  • Events
  • News
  • Libraries
Hunter College Schools
  • School of Arts & Sciences
  • School of Education
  • School of Health Professions
  • Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing
  • Silberman School of Social Work
More Schools
  • Hunter College Campus Schools
  • Hunter College Continuing Education
  • Libraries
  • Students
  • Alumni & Friends
  • Faculty
  • Staff
  • Community
  • Events
  • News
  • APPLY
  • GIVE
  • RENT
  • QUICK LINKS
  • DIRECTORY
News /

Two Hunter Researchers Receive CUNY Award for Junior Faculty

April 29, 2025
Share
Sarah Ita Levitan and Catherine Kramarczuk Voulgarides

Two Hunter College researchers have won a CUNY award recognizing younger faculty members for outstanding research.

Computer scientist Sarah Ita Levitan and special-education expert Catherine Kramarczuk Voulgarides have received the Gross-Wasser Award, which honors academically impressive assistant professors from CUNY campuses.  

The award is named after two founding members of the CUNY Academy for the Humanities and Sciences, Feliks Gross and Henry Wasser. Each awardee presents their research in a talk as part of the Feliks Gross and Henry Wasser lecture series. Levitan and Voulgarides also hold appointments at the CUNY Graduate School. 

The awards underscore Hunter’s commitment to its role as an anchor institution providing opportunities for high-impact research benefiting the broader community. 

Levitan was one of nine CUNY faculty members receiving funding from Google as part of a three-year, $3 million grant from the company. She won the award for her research project “News or Opinion: Fine-Grained Analysis of Text Data to Inform Online Readers.” The project aims to develop computational models that help users determine the trustworthiness of online content by distinguishing between opinions and facts in text. 

Levitan joined Hunter in 2020.  She earned a PhD in Computer Science from Columbia University.  Her research is in natural-language processing, which aims to teach computers to understand and generate language. Her focus is on building computational models to detect information about speakers and authors from spoken and written language. She is working on building models to understand and model trustworthiness in spoken language, written language, and combinations of images and speech — in both human and machine-generated language. 

 

“I am truly honored to receive this award, and I am grateful to the selection committee for the recognition,” Levitan said. “I look forward to continuing my research in natural-language processing together with my fantastic students and collaborators.” 

 

Voulgarides, who came to Hunter in 2019, last year won a $1.7 million, four-year federal grant for a four-state study of racial disproportionality in special education. Her research examines legal mandates and policy compliance for students receiving specialized educational support and the structures and procedures that contribute to disparities. 

She earlier worked as a special education teacher in New York City public schools. She earned a PhD in the sociology of education from New York University.  

“I am truly honored to receive this award recognizing my scholarship,” Voulgarides said. “It affirms the importance of examining how systems-level education policies shape the experiences and outcomes of students who receive specialized support. I remain committed to producing research that bridges policy and practice to promote more responsive, inclusive, and accountable educational systems.” 

PreviousNext

Office of Communications
for media information and more
student watching online event
Hunter on Demand

Enjoy virtual lectures, discussions and readings by members of Hunter’s distinguished faculty.

Join Us

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Flickr

NEWS SPOTLIGHT

June 16, 2025
Four From Hunter College Go Abroad as Fulbright Scholars

Four recent alumni are going abroad as Fulbright Scholars for the 2025 – 26 academic year.

June 12, 2025
Hunter College Marks the 13th Anniversary of DACA

This week the nation marks the 13th anniversary of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.

See All Spotlight News

EVENTS CALENDAR

Jun 23, 2025
Elaine Weiss — Spell Freedom: The Underground Schools That Built the ...

Roosevelt House is pleased to present a conversation with acclaimed historian Elaine Weiss about her new book Spell Freedom: The ...

Jun 25, 2025
The Second “Little Aunt Dora” Public Lecture: Still Asking Dr. Ruth

5:00 PM: Doors open 5:30 PM: Conversation with Dr. Ruth’s Co-Authors 6:15 PM-7:55 PM: Screening of Ask Dr. Ruth In the second “Little Aunt ...

See All Featured Events

HUNTER

Hunter College
695 Park Ave NY, NY 10065
(212) 772-4000

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Flickr
  • ABOUT
  • ACADEMICS
  • ADMISSIONS
  • EVENTS
  • NEWS
Hunter College Schools
  • School of Arts & Sciences
  • School of Education
  • School of Health Professions
  • Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing
  • Silberman School of Social Work
  • School of Arts & Sciences
  • School of Education
  • School of Health Professions
  • Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing
  • Silberman School of Social Work
Our Other Schools
  • Hunter College Campus Schools
  • Hunter College Continuing Education
  • Hunter College Campus Schools
  • Hunter College Continuing Education
Hunter College Libraries
More Info
  • Bookstore
  • Contact Us & Feedback
  • Jobs
  • Public Safety
  • Roosevelt House
  • Student Housing
  • Space Rentals
  • Bookstore
  • Contact Us & Feedback
  • Jobs
  • Public Safety
  • Roosevelt House
  • Student Housing
  • Space Rentals
Public Information
  • Annual Security & Fire Safety Report
  • Consumer Information
  • CUNY Tobacco Policy
  • Enough is Enough
  • Focus on Campus
  • Annual Security & Fire Safety Report
  • Consumer Information
  • CUNY Tobacco Policy
  • Enough is Enough
  • Focus on Campus
CUNY
  • © 2025 Hunter College
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Terms