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Goodbye, Ms. Chips 10 The Boys of Summer Remembered 14 Special Scholar for Brooklyn 26 Fall 2007

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Page 1: Brooklyn College Magazine, Fall 2007...driving young, talented teachers out of the profession. Chief among them is a disconnect between public schools and schools of higher education

Goodbye, Ms. Chips 10 The Boys of Summer Remembered 14 Special Scholar for Brooklyn 26

Fall 2007

Page 2: Brooklyn College Magazine, Fall 2007...driving young, talented teachers out of the profession. Chief among them is a disconnect between public schools and schools of higher education

From Brooklyn College students…to successful citizens of the world

A journey made possible byyour support of the Annual Fund.

Your gift to the Brooklyn College Annual Fund

finances academic scholarships for deserving

students, faculty research grants, improved

campus facilities, advanced classroom

technologies, and support for the library and

academic departments. By giving to the Annual

Fund today, you are helping to transform

Brooklyn College students into the next

generation of successful Brooklyn College alumni

in the world.FOUNDATION

For more information please contact

Stephanie Ehrlich, associate director,

Annual Fund for the Brooklyn College

Foundation, at (718) 951-5074 or

[email protected].

Page 3: Brooklyn College Magazine, Fall 2007...driving young, talented teachers out of the profession. Chief among them is a disconnect between public schools and schools of higher education

Editor in Chief

John P. Hamill

Managing Editor

Tom Quinn

EditorsStephen GaroneElaine Weisenberg

Contributing WritersJamilah EvelynJoe FodorLisa LincolnRichard Sheridan

Class Notes EditorStefanie Low

Brooklyn College Magazineis published by the Office of CommunicationsBrooklyn College 2900 Bedford AvenueBrooklyn, New York 11210-2889.Copyright © 2008 Brooklyn College.E-mail: [email protected] site: www.brooklyn.cuny.edu

table ofContents

D E PA RT M E N T S

2 From Our Readers

4 College News

28 Alumni News and Sightings

36 Class Notes

41 In Memoriam

42 Recent Books

44 A Road Less Traveled

14 Day of Infamy ReduxIt is now fifty years since theDodgers abandoned Brooklyn,but borough historian RonSchweiger, ’70, still bleedsDodger blue.

16 Stand and DeliverBC’s School of Education has alot to teach the rest of Americaabout training the nextgeneration of teachers.

Vol. XXI • No. 2 • Fall 2007

26 Brooklyn on Her MindGretchen Maneval, the recentlyappointed director of theCenter for the Study ofBrooklyn, sees a major new rolefor the center, and the College,in Brooklyn’s continued revival.

Art DirectorJoe Loguirato

Senior DesignerLisa Panazzolo

Production AssistantMammen P. Thomas

Staff PhotographersClaudia MandlikJohn Ricasoli

Cover art: Lisa Panazzolo

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from ourReaders

E D I TO R ’ S N OT E

Quick, who are among the hardest

working, most undervalued workers in

America? Hint: They’re the primary

transmitters of America’s democratic

values; their success will determine the

country’s future place in the world;

they are charged with nurturing the

minds and spirits of our most precious

national asset, our children. That’s

right—America’s teachers.

Today, one-third of all teachers

leave the profession in their first three

years. By five years, half of them have

left—troubling statistics, and ones

that threaten the nation’s future

well-being.

Experts in the field of teacher

training point to several factors

driving young, talented teachers out of

the profession. Chief among them is a

disconnect between public schools and

schools of higher education charged

with the job of preparing teachers.

No school of education in the

country is making a more concerted

effort to bridge that gap than

Brooklyn College’s.

You can read about the depth and

breadth of that effort in this issue.

It’s another example of how the

College is playing a critical role in

finding solutions to some of the most

persistent problems that Brooklyn, and

America, face.

Right On, Dr. Gideonse

To the Editor :As a left-of-center Democrat (from apro-New Deal home), I probably did notmeet a single Republican until I graduatedfrom Brooklyn College. However, while Iwas a student here, I became friendlywith a large number of leftist professorsand also had numerous experiences withPresident Harry Gideonse.

Two are worth sharing.They shouldhelp set the record on Dr. Gideonsestraight for those who want to celebratethe legacy of Vanguard.

First, I took the one course that waspersonally taught by Dr. Gideonse. Onnearly every issue, we clashed to thepoint that my close friends feared I wouldbe expelled from the class and wouldsuffer disastrous consequences to mycareer. Approximately a third of the wayinto the semester, Dr. Gideonse asked if Iwould stay a few minutes after class tochat with him. He told me that he foundour interaction very stimulating to theclass and that I was earning a high Agrade. He also told me that as long as Ibacked up my arguments withdocumented facts and logic, I wouldcontinue to score well. At the end of thesemester he thanked me for my efforts,which he again emphasized were veryuseful to him and the class.

Second, some years later, while I wasserving in the U.S. Army, I testified insupport of several professors who werebeing terminated from Brooklyn College.I received several notes in appreciationfor my testimony and thanking me for my“courage.” Among those thanking me formy appearance was Dr. Gideonse.

I recall my friends on Vanguard whowere very smug in using college fundsand resources to promote their politicalagendas. . .. My memories of Vanguardand of my friends from the left give me agreater appreciation for Dr. Gideonse andI believe that he should be evaluated onthe basis of his contributions to assuring

the academic and financial strength ofBrooklyn College. His contributions aretruly the legacy on which I have built anacademic and professional career.

Howard Laitin, ’52

To the Editor :I applauded what Dr. Gideonse was doingto keep the campus under control. I’msure he was as embarrassed as I was atthe communist reputation that was beingdumped on Brooklyn College because ofleft-wing weirdos.

I did have one run-in with theadministration after I returned from mymilitary sojourn in February 1946. Iwanted to re-enter college as a formerstudent who had been off to war. No, theadministration insisted. I was to sign upfor the G.I. Bill so that Brooklyn Collegecould collect G.I. dollars. I eventually gavein, but it always bothered me.

David Herbach, ’46

Same Ol’ Melting Pot,Different Ingredients

To the Editor:Regarding the article on Coney IslandAvenue [“Their Avenue of Dreams,”Brooklyn College Magazine, Spring 2007], aletter that I sent to The Nation, publishedon December 4, 2006, summarized thestate of affairs 60 years ago when I grewup between Newkirk and Foster avenuesand went to Public School 217(graduating class of January 1945) on thecorner of Coney Island and Newkirkavenues: “[It] was home to first-generation Americans; [they were] Irish,Italian, German, Polish and East EuropeanJewish. English was the lingua francaamong the parental generation, many ofwhom spoke Gaelic, Italian, German,Polish and Yiddish.The butchers,delicatessen owners, tailors, bakers,barbers, and other storekeepers spokethe same languages. By happenstance, oneof my daughters lives in the sameneighborhood now. It is Haitian,Yemenite,

Page 5: Brooklyn College Magazine, Fall 2007...driving young, talented teachers out of the profession. Chief among them is a disconnect between public schools and schools of higher education

Pakistani, Afghan,Turkish, Korean, Japanese,Russian, Israeli, etc. English is the linguafranca, and the parental generation andstorekeepers speak their native tongues.My grandson graduated some years agofrom the same public school I did in1945.The ‘bilingual’ coordinator told methat she coordinated twenty-sevenprimary languages there! Theneighborhood is completely different—and entirely the same! Three cheers forthe Tower of Babel.

David C. Garron, ’52; M.A., ’55

To the Editor :In his interesting article, “Their

Avenue of Dreams,” writer Richard M.Sheridan erroneously states that ConeyIsland Avenue ends at Neptune Avenue.Actually, it continues south beyondNeptune for about three avenue blocks,where it finally comes to an end at theboardwalk.The beach at that point isBrighton Beach, not Coney Island. Coneybegins a mile or so west down theboardwalk from where Coney IslandAvenue terminates. Unfortunately, theavenue’s name causes people unfamiliarwith the area to conclude that thisthoroughfare leads directly to the beachesand amusement parks of Coney Island.

Claudia Bienenfeld, ’03

Richard M. Sheridan’s Reply: I apologize forany misunderstanding that I might havecaused. I was attempting to describe themain stretch of Coney Island Avenue andthe route taken by the B68 bus as it windssouthward through Brooklyn neighborhoodsfrom the southern boundary of ProspectPark to the northern border of BrightonBeach, which I understood to be the mainarea of study for Professor Krase and hisassociates.To me, a born-and-bred Queenskid, everything south of Neptune Avenueresembles beachfront property—whether it’sConey Island, Brighton Beach, the Rockaways,or the South Shore of Long Island.

BROOKLYN COLLEGE MAGAZINE FALL 2007

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A Heated Response

To the Editor :A statement by Professor Robert

Bell regarding geothermal energy (“AnInterview with Professor Robert Bell,”Brooklyn College Magazine, Spring2007) gives a misleading impression.His statement that “the hot rocks haveto be close to the surface, and therehas to be water closely available” is nolonger the case.

Geothermal energy comes invarious forms and serves multiplepurposes.

First, hot water from shallowaquifers is used directly as a heatsource for structures of all sorts.This isdone worldwide, and such facilities inthe United States effectively offset theuse of 2,000 MW of electricity. In thistype of use, Professor Bell is partlycorrect.There does need to bethermal water at a moderate depth(usually not greater than about 1,000meters).

Secondly, steam or hot water isused to generate electricity via turbine-generators.Worldwide, the total isabout 9,000 MW, of which some 2,000MW are in the United States—atwenty-fold increase since 1973, theyear I founded GeothermEx, Inc.

More to the point, the type ofgeothermal power plant and well-fieldoperating practice also have changedgreatly. Geothermal fields do notproduce potable water, but rather amineralized brine. At all geothermalfields, the thermal fluid is injected backinto the underground formation (“thereservoir”) after heat is extracted.Verylittle is released to the atmosphere inthe form of steam or water vapor, andnothing goes to pollute the groundwater. Additionally, the binary cycleheat-exchanging technique, used at agrowing number of fields, releasesabsolutely nothing to either the

atmosphere or the shallow ground-water system. Put another way, the netconsumption of the geothermal fluidhas been reduced by more than 75percent from earlier days.

Therefore, the geothermalindustry is not a consumer of potablewater. Indeed, its net fluid consumptionis far lower than for coal, oil, andnuclear power generation, or for theproduction of ethanol fuel, or oil fromtar sands, shale, or coal.

Geothermal fields currently underdevelopment in the U.S. will addbetween 100 MW and 300 MW ofelectricity generation in the nextcouple of years. Because 1 MW ofelectricity (or electricity-equivalent inthe case of direct hot-water heating)serves about 800 homes, the presentand soon-to-be available geothermalsystems provide light and/or hot-waterservice to some 3 million householdsnationally.

But that’s not all the good news.Increasingly, homeowners, business

executives, and others are discoveringthe advantages of shallow-sourcegeothermal heat pumps.These, like solarpanels, work on a building-by-buildingbasis and provide a steady anddependable source of both home

continued on page 43

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On the walls of the Brooklyn College Library’s magnificentsecond-floor reading room are murals of two of theworld’s greatest libraries—Egypt’s Alexandrian Library andRome’s Augustan Library. The murals, entitled FamousLibraries of the World, are the work of Olindo Mario Ricci,who painted them from 1936 to 1939, with funding fromthe Federal Arts Project. Ricci, who began the murals as aWPA artist and completed them as a Brooklyn Collegeprofessor, wanted students “to feel as if they are in thecompany of the greats” as they studied. Now these

important works are available for viewing online, alongwith sixty others by internationally recognized artistsincluded in the library’s art collection.

Diverse in character and international in scope, thecollection features works by Elizabeth Murray,WilliamKentridge, Chakaia Booker, Shahzia Sikander, Sarah Sze,John Walker, Edward Ruscha, and Xu Bing. Several of theseartists live and work in Brooklyn’s dynamic art community,and all of them have works in major museums around theworld.The collection also includes drawings and prints byAlberto Giacometti, Käthe Kollwitz, Alexander Calder,Georges Braque, Robert Motherwell, Chaim Gross, andJoe Loguirato, M.A., ’02, who is the art director in theCollege’s Office of Communications.

Most of the art collection was acquired just beforethe 2002 opening of the expanded library. Many of thepurchases were funded by New York City’s “Percent forArt” law, which ensures that public spaces are graced withart. Numerous other works were acquired through gifts,and some are on loan.

The new online catalogue displays digitalreproductions and brief written descriptions, also availableon podcast, that offer insights into the works and theartists. Suggested readings and links to sites that providecontextual information about the work, as well as tomuseum and gallery exhibitions, are included in the Webpage documents.

For onsite viewing, the library is now offering an audiotour of works available to the public. The audio tourpresents about twenty selected works, according toAssociate Professor Miriam Deutch, the chairperson of theLibrary Art Acquisition committee.You may access theonline art collection at http://library.brooklyn.cuny.edu/art/index.html.

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BC’s Virtual Art Museum

Potted Plants, by Joe Loguirato, 40" x 30", acrylic on canvas, 2003

Above: artists, from left, Henry Botkin, Anthony G. Gennarelli, David Deutsch, Chaim Gross, Unknown, Chakaia Booker, Cynthia Winings, Seymour Meyer, Asya Dodina and Slava Polishchuk, Harold Baumbach, Robert Motherwell, Elizabeth Murray.

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Almost six decades after theoriginal Vanguard closed,staff members who never

quite lost touch with each otherhave created a Web version, and thepublishing comeback has provedinvigorating. “It’s a terrificcommunications link,” says AlbertLasher, ’51.“The website allowseveryone to ‘see’ and talk to oneanother, just the way we used to doin the old Vanguard office. In fact, weall suddenly realized, we’re back inbusiness! We’re reporting on ourenvironment, on how it affects us all,on how we see it, and we’reenriching that by including our viewof the developments that led up towhere we find ourselves today.”

Lasher is not alone in hisenthusiasm for the groupexperience that changed the lives ofevery student involved with thepaper.

About twenty-five alumni nowcontribute to the online Vanguard

(www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bc/offices/vanguard).Three times that numberare on the site’s e-mail address list,proof not only of the close followingVanguard once inspired in print, butalso of its present “virtual print”success.

There is no lack of expertiseamong the old student staff. Sixyears ago Brooklyn College Magazinerecalled Vanguard’s heyday in afeature article that ran togetherwith a “Where Are They Now?”insert: Eighteen of the formerVanguard staff were listed as topeditors and staff writers for majornewspapers and magazines aroundthe country. The list also includedbook-publishing executives, radioand television broadcasters andproducers, a staff director for theU.S. Commission on Civil Rights, andthe CEO of the Consumers Union.

The new version is manned bywebmaster Herbert Dorfman, ’51,former news producer for ABC,

NBC, and CBS, and first director ofthe broadcast journalism program atBrooklyn College. A frequentcontributor is Larry Friedman, ’53,former Associated Press reporter,Life magazine executive, and aide toNew York Governor MarioCuomo—check out his piece on theearly Vanguard days, in the “History”section. For a taste of the humorthat permeates the site, go to Issue4 in the new “Quadrangle” section,edited by Larry Eisenberg, ’51, andread his piece “You Can’t Go RomeAgain” as well as the piece by thelate Norma Liberman Friedman, ’50,on four great excuses for notattending your college reunion.

Soon to be posted is theVanguard blog. Name suggestionsfrom the new staff included“Rearguard” and “En garde,” butthey finally settled on “On Guard:The Vanguard Blog.”

You Can Go Home(page) Again

BROOKLYN COLLEGE MAGAZINE FALL 2007

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Breathing new life into theater worksthat have lived a long time is onlyone part of the equation for the Outof the Box Theatre Company. Theother part is allowing actors whohave lived a long time to bring thepassions and talents gained by longexperience to roles they may neverhave had a chance to play before.The idea is the brainchild of analumnus of the Brooklyn CollegeM.F.A. program in theater, ScottRobinson, ’92, who founded thecompany and serves as artisticdirector. Last summer Out of theBox presented its first production—Molière’s The Miser, set to the musicof Mozart. Robinson says that “manyof the plays we plan to do are eitherforgotten or so stereotyped inpresentation that they lose much oftheir character. We want to bringthem new life.”

But that isn’t the company’s onlygoal, according to Robinson.They willalso primarily feature actors,directors, and set designers over theage of fifty. “One thing that I thoughtwould make my theater companyspecial,” he says, “was if I allowedolder actors a chance to revisit rolesthat maybe now they’d be too oldfor commercially.”

Out of the Box wasincorporated in August 2006, andRobinson lined up a number ofBrooklyn College alumni to workwith him: John Scheffler, the setdesigner, is the former director of theCollege’s set design program and aprofessor emeritus of the Theater

Department; Lin Snider, ’94, (right) acast member and vice-president ofthe theater company, is also agraduate of the M.F.A. program intheater ; Peter J. Coriaty, ’73, is anothercast member; Marge Linney, treasurerof Out of the Box, was director ofthe graduate program in acting and isalso a professor emerita of theTheater Department; and OscarAward winner F. Murray Abraham, anhonorary board member, taught inthe Theater Department.

This summer the company willproduce a classic temperance play ofthe nineteenth century, Ten Nights ina Bar Room, by T. S. Arthur. Theperformance will continue themusical tradition begun with TheMiser, Robinson says, and will “blendthe words of the playwright with themusic of a recognized composer.”And Arthur’s sensational classicmelodrama, he says, will be stagedwith “special effects in the Perils ofPauline fashion, including vaudevillianolio acts—a type of theater rarelyseen in New York City.” Thecompany hopes to tap the BrooklynCollege Theater Department’scostume-design students to helpcreate period clothes for the play.

Out of the Box’s innovativetreatment of Molière’s classic alsoincorporated the traditional“showboat” melodrama format: bothbetween and during scenes,performers provided musicalinterludes, or olio acts, as commentson the dramatic action. Robinsondescribes it as a “musical approach to

a straight play without its becoming amusical comedy.”

The group’s Equity showcaseproductions (an arrangement thatgives union actors a chance to“showcase” their talents) run atGreenwich Village’s Bank StreetTheatre, which Robinson, whodirected last summer’s production,hopes to make his company’s regularhome.

After graduating from BrooklynCollege, Robinson began a career intelevision commercials. He alsoserved as executive producer andartistic director of the Lake AreaPerforming Arts Guild in Lake Ozark,Missouri, where he learned all aspectsof running a theater company, fromfundraising to ticket sales. “It wasextremely good training ground forwhat I’m doing now,” he says.

The theater company may be found online atwww.outoftheboxtheatre.com.Visitors may download order formsfor tickets on the website.

Over the Hill? No, Out of the Box!

C O L L E G E N E W S

Page 9: Brooklyn College Magazine, Fall 2007...driving young, talented teachers out of the profession. Chief among them is a disconnect between public schools and schools of higher education

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Cell Gazer,Path Breaker

On August 10, 2007, theNational ScienceFoundation announced that

a Brooklyn College research team ledby Professor of Biology Ray Gavinshattered the long-held belief that nodirect pathway exists betweenmaterial outside a cell and the cellnucleus.

The findings of the NSF-fundedbreakthrough research study havebeen published in “Cell Motility andthe Cytoskeleton,” and will be key inunderstanding more completely thefunction of the cell—nature’s smallestmetabolically functional unit of life.

Eve Barak, an NSF programdirector, hailed Gavin’s discovery as“an amazing and potentiallyparadigm-changing observation,” andpredicts that it “will have anenormous impact on how scientiststhink about how cellular functions areregulated.”

Gavin reports that the discoveryof the pathways in the one-celledprotozoan Tetrahymena thermophilaoriginated with an observation hemade about ten years ago whilesimply watching cells through amicroscope. “I am a patient andconstant observer of living things,” hesays. “And I watch them all the timewith no agenda in mind. Somepeople are window gazers.They

stand in front of the window and justlook. I do the same with cells.”

As a result of Gavin’s work,biologists may now study the kinds ofexternal molecules that can gainentry to the nucleus through thesenewly defined pathways and howthese materials influence the nucleicmaterial and its processes.

Credit: Nicolle Rager Fuller, National Science Foundation

Professor Robert D. (KC)Johnson, of the Brooklyn CollegeHistory Department, was one often faculty members from theCity University of New Yorkchosen as 2007–2008 Fulbrightfellows, enabling them toparticipate in the U.S.government’s flagshipinternational exchange program.

The grants, based on academicmerit and leadership potential,send selected scholars abroad toengage in a variety of educationalactivities, primarily universitylecturing, advanced research,graduate study, and teaching inelementary and secondaryschools.

Johnson, who joined theBrooklyn College faculty in 1999after earning his bachelor’sdegree from Harvard Universityin 1988, his master’s from theUniversity of Chicago in 1989,and his Ph.D. from Harvard in1993, holds the FulbrightDistinguished Chair in theHumanities at Tel Aviv University.

Fulbright Fellow

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For Sale:Dracula’sCastleSince he graduated from BrooklynCollege in 1961 with a bachelor’sdegree in economics, Michael Gardnerhas led an exciting and rewarding life.A former naval officer, he currently isthe CEO and chairman of theManhattan-based Baytree Capital investment firm, which sofar has raised more than $1 billion on behalf of small tomidsize public companies. Also, in a secondary career as atheatrical producer in New York, London, and Las Vegas, hehas lent his skills to such works as A Year in the Life of Frogand Toad, for which he received a Tony Award nominationin 2003.

In all things, he says, he has tried to follow theprinciple that “life is supposed to be fun.” Among theprojects to which this philosophy has led him is the sale ofthe centuries-old fortification known as Dracula’s Castle.“This is not a real estate deal,” he explains. “I’m not a realestate broker.”

Perched atop a rugged peak in Romania’s mountainousTransylvania region, the fortress—officially named BranCastle—has a long and tumultuous history. Built in thethirteenth century to keep out invading Turks, it is said tohave briefly sheltered one of Romania’s national heroes,Vlad III, also known as Vlad the Impaler because of his likingfor skewering captured foes on long wooden stakes.

In the late nineteenth century, Irish horror writerBram Stoker based his fictional character Count Dracula(the Romanian name translates either as “son of theDragon” or sometimes “son of the Devil”) on Vlad, andmodeled the vampire’s lair on Bran Castle. In 1920 the oldcastle became home to Romania’s ruling family, who livedthere until after World War II when the Communists tookover Romania and kicked the family out, turning theircastle into a museum.

Among those displaced was then ten-year-oldArchduke Dominic von Habsburg. Now an architect living

in upstate New York, Habsburg in summer 2006 regainedtitle to Bran Castle, which sits on twenty-two acres of land.At the time, he agreed to keep the museum open until2009. Nearly half a million vampire fans annually trek tothe site, which in guidebooks and tour bus brochures allaround the world is billed as “Dracula’s Castle.”

Habsburg offered to sell Bran Castle back to thegovernment, but officials declined. He then sought anotherbuyer, turning to Michael Gardner for his expertise inworking out a development plan.

After taking the Habsburgs on as clients, Gardner said“they’re looking to flat out sell the entire project, but theyare particular about who they sell it to.” He also notedthat “while they are amenable to someone building aresort that continues the castle and such, they are notamenable to blood dripping on swords.This is not going tobe Vampire Land.”

Since then, a faction of Romanian politicians in one ofthe two houses of the parliament has sought to overturnthe castle’s transfer to Habsburg’s control, citing “improperprocedures.” Says Gardner, “This has placed a shadow overthe project.” However, he adds, “we’re working to makethe local people and their representatives in governmentsee how development will make things so much better forthem.The museum is not going to close.”

He says he hopes that requests for bids on theproperty can be put out in spring 2008.

“Romania is a beautiful travel destination, and BranCastle is one of its top places to visit,” Gardner says.

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As a kid growing up in a tight-knit Jewish family inBrooklyn’s Sheepshead Bay

neighborhood, Joel Eisenberg liked tocollect baseball cards, comic books,and other such boyhood things.When he wasn’t collecting, he wasdreaming about becoming ascriptwriter or filmmaker inHollywood.

But the young Eisenberg alsorecognized that the odds wereagainst his making a go of such a riskycareer. So later, as a member of theBrooklyn College Class of 1985, heearned a bachelor’s degree in specialeducation before packing up andheading west to try his luck in LosAngeles.

“I thought I might need a fall-back career just in case I got toCalifornia and couldn’t make it as awriter or filmmaker,” Eisenberg, forty-three, recalled recently from his SanFernando Valley home, northwest ofLos Angeles.

As it happened, luck was onEisenberg’s side. Over the past coupleof decades, he has done very well athis dream career. He has writtenscreenplays, books, and articles, andheads his own company, EisenbergMedia Group.

Over the years, he also hasmade a lot of friends in and out ofthe entertainment industry. One ofthem was the late theatrical producerErnest Martin. “Ernie was like myCalifornia grandfather,” says Eisenberg.

Sometime after Martin’s death,Eisenberg went to his home tointerview the older man’s widow fora book he was writing, Aunt Bessie’sHow to Survive a Day Job WhilePursuing the Creative Life. When theinterview was over, she mentionedthat she was going through herhusband’s belongings and askedEisenberg to sort through an old boxof papers that had been stored in acloset for nearly a half-century.

“I guess she knew from Erniethat I was something of a collector,”he says. “Anyway, I agreed to helpher.”

Inside the dusty box, hiddenunder an old brown and crumblingcopy of the L.A.Times, Eisenberguncovered a trove of previouslyunseen works by NobelPrize–winning American writer JohnSteinbeck. “This stuff wasunbelievable, just lying in a box,” hesays. “I had this ‘Aha!’ moment when Irealized not only what I had here, butwhat I had the responsibility to do.”

It took Eisenberg almost a yearto go through the jumble of papersand put it in order. The hoardincluded a 188-page manuscript ofSweet Thursday, the sequel toSteinbeck’s highly acclaimed CanneryRow; the unfinished draft of a musicalcomedy called The Bear Flag Café; amanuscript of another book, The Logfrom the Sea of Cortez; carbon copiesof thirteen letters dealing with SweetThursday dating from 1953; and anunpublished story set during theMcCarthy era, “If This Be Treason.”

Earlier this year the wholecollection went on the auction block.The manuscript for Sea of Cortez andother papers brought in roughly$100,000, but no buyer met the$300,000 reserve price for the SweetThursday material, which went unsold.

The outcome of the auction wasdisappointing, admits Eisenberg, whoearned a share of the profits for hisefforts. However, he says, he comfortshimself with the knowledge that hehas touched and helped preservehistory. “I truly feel I made adifference in saving importantliterature.”

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Eureka! Steinbeck Literary Trove Unearthed

Page 12: Brooklyn College Magazine, Fall 2007...driving young, talented teachers out of the profession. Chief among them is a disconnect between public schools and schools of higher education

Goodbye, Ms. ChipsIn spring 2007, the papers of Professor Emerita of HistoryMadeline Robinton, 1909–2006, were made available tothe public by the Brooklyn College Archives and SpecialCollection Division. Of interest to any who encounteredher during her forty-five years in the classroom, thecatalogued documents are also of great value to thosewho wonder what turns a student into a fine teacher, notto mention those studying the history of Brooklyn andBrooklyn College.

When Madeline Robinton retired from the College in1976, she had seen it through its entire evolution up tothat point, from a time when separate political science,sociology, economics, and history departments did not

exist, from the Willoughby and Lawrence Street buildingsto the Midwood campus.

Robinton’s legacy lies not in her publications, nor inher intense involvement with the national professionalsocieties of academe so much as in her contributions tothe Brooklyn College History Department curriculum, hercompilation of the primary source books for History 1 and2, and—perhaps most importantly—her effect uponstudents.

In letters collected as part of the College’s May 1976farewell tribute, scores of past pupils wrote in praise of theradiantly attractive teacher who conducted herself withuncompromising personal integrity. Her admirers wishedProfessor Robinton well while expressing regret at the lossthat her retirement represented. In their words, here’show her example carries on.

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“...the course in modern history, I took in her first year teaching.I recall vividly...the immenseearnestness with which the youngteacher asked her questions....The solicitude she showed forher students...established a warmpersonal relationship with themthat endured long after they leftthe classroom. And that initialimpression of earnest inquiry wasa permanent reminder of themeaning of historicalscholarship.”

— Oscar Handlin, ’34, Emeritus Professor ofHistory, HarvardUniversity; Pulitzer Prize–winning author ofThe Uprooted (1952)

[To Professor Robinton:] “...youtaught me a great deal—thatteaching must be fun (you soobviously enjoyed it)...thatwarmth and familiarity did notmean favoritism or therelaxation of standards...”

— John A. Garraty, ’41,Gouverneur MorrisProfessor Emeritus ofHistory, ColumbiaUniversity; GeneralEditor, American NationalBiography; FormerPresident, Society ofAmerican Historians

“Like everyone else I haveforgotten most of what I learnedin college. But I seem to own astore of odd, bright bits ofstrangely significant knowledge,almost all of which I can traceback to Professor Robinton’sEnglish History classes...thehumane vividness of her class wasto us the reading of history forlife.”

— Eva Brann, ’50, Tutor,Saint John’s College;Recipient of the BrooklynCollege PresidentialMedal, 2007

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“She treated her students withdignity, honesty, and respect thatdemanded the same inreturn…A serious student ‘hadto’ work with Madeline Robintonbecause she offered a type oftraining in history which almostno one else did…the novel ideathat history was written bypeople, not automatons…”

— Charles J. Halperin, ’67,Researcher, Russian andEuropean Institute,Indiana University,Bloomington

[To Professor Robinton:] “…youwere an awesome figure to me.Not in an authoritarian way…Imarveled at your erudition andyour sophistication…You nevertalked down to us, althoughheaven knows, you often hadjustification to do so.”

— Myron Kandel, ’52,President, Initiative forCorporate Governanceand Investor Protection(New Hampshire);Founding FinancialEditor, CNN BusinessNews; former sportseditor, Vanguard, aBrooklyn College studentnewspaper

“Her course…taught me thatone cannot comprehend the logicof the law withoutunderstanding the political,economic, and social forces thatshaped the society…I have beenable to spot a ‘Robintonhistorian’ in my law classes.When we compared notes, weagreed that her course wasamong the most important inpreparing us for our law careers.”

— Alan Dershowitz, ’59,Felix FrankfurterProfessor of Law, HarvardLaw School

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Madeline Robinton is just one of thedistinguished faculty members whosecollections are housed in the BrooklynCollege Library’s Archives and SpecialCollections Division, which includes thepapers of Alfred McClung Lee, BelleZeller, and Harry Slochower. For moreinformation on donating BrooklynCollege materials to the archives, contact Professor Anthony Cucchiara,associate librarian for informationservices and distinctive collections,[email protected].

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Check, MateBrooklyn College alumnus Gata Kamsky, ’99, won the prestigious 2007 Chess World

Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, in a spectacular victory over Alexei Shirov,catapulting the Russian-born Kamsky to the game’s international elite.

Kamsky’s victory earned him $120,000 in prize money and the opportunityto challenge 2005 world champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria. If Kamsky wins

that match, he will take on the 2008 World Chess Champion for the 2009 title.Kamsky, thirty-four, registered no losses on his way to winning the World

Cup, beating Ahmed Adly, Boris Avrukh, and Kiril Georgiev in his first three matches.Then he drew his two-game mini-match against the Russian Peter Svidler before goingon to defeat Ruslan Ponomariov and Magnus Carlsen in the quarterfinals andsemifinals, respectively.

In the closely fought four-game World Cup final, Kamsky and Shirov drewthe first game. Kamsky won the second game.The third was a draw and so wasthe fourth, which ended after thirty-four moves.

Kamsky, a Brighton Beach resident, retired from chess in 1996, after losingto Anatoly Karpov in the World Chess Championship twenty-match contestfought in Elista, Russia. In 1999 he returned, playing in the Knockout WorldChampionship in Las Vegas, but again lost, this time to Alexander Khalifman.Five years later he finished in a tie for first place in the New York Masters.

After graduating from Brooklyn College, Kamsky entered medical schoolbut dropped out after a year. He then switched to law school and graduated

from Touro College Law Center in 2004.

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C O L L E G E N E W S

The English Department’s M.F.A.program, recently named one of thetop five “Up-and-Coming Programs”in the country by The Atlantic Monthly,keeps turning out attention-grabbingwriters. The play is the thing forThomas Bradshaw, an adjunctprofessor of playwriting at BrooklynCollege and an alumnus of the EnglishDepartment’s M.F.A. playwritingprogram. His latest work, titled Dawn,was recently selected to be read atthe New York Theater Workshop onEast Fourth Street in Manhattan.

Dawn is the story of a father’sredemption and reconciliation after

having led a life scarred by alcoholism,which has left him totally estrangedfrom his family. While on the road torecovery, he finds God and isconfronted with dark revelations thatcombine to destroy the world heonce knew.

This is not the African-Americanwriter’s first encounter with publicnotice. He previously woweddowntown audiences with otherpolitically incorrect works such asPure, about a scholar with a cocainehabit who fantasizes about being aplantation owner whipping his blackslaves. Another of his works is titledStrom Thurmond Is Not a Racist.

Another graduate of the M.F.A.program,Thomas Grattan, was chosenas the winner of the Colorado Review’sNelligan Prize for Short Fiction.Thestory, titled “I Am a Souvenir,” will beappearing in the fall issue of theColorado Review.

Still a resident of Brooklyn,Grattan was also a finalist for the Iowa Review Fiction Award and arecipient of Brooklyn College’s LainoffPrize for fiction. Grattan recently readselections from his work at apublication party for Brooklyn Review,Number 23, in the East Village.

M.F.A. Program Writers Honored

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Eric Alterman, journalist, author,political blogger, and professorof journalism in the Brooklyn

College English Department, hasbeen named a distinguished professorof English by the trustees of the CityUniversity of New York.

A native of Bayside, Queens,Alterman, forty-eight, received a B.A.in history and government fromCornell University, an M.A. ininternational relations from YaleUniversity, and a Ph.D. in U.S. historyfrom Stanford University.

Alterman launched his journalismcareer covering politics for RollingStone, Mother Jones, the Nation, Elle,and the Sunday Express in London, aswell as freelancing for the New YorkTimes, the New York Post, Vanity Fair,Harper’s, and other publications. In1992 he published his first book,Sound and Fury:The Making of thePunditocracy. The book was wellreceived and led to appearances onthe Today Show, the Tonight Show andNightline.

In 1996, Alterman was hired as acommentator by the MSNBC cablechannel. In 2002 MSNBC asked himto write a daily weblog, which hetitled “Altercation.”

Alterman and MSNBC partedways in 2006, and his weblog waspicked up by Media Matters forAmerica, a liberal website devoted todebunking conservative“misinformation.”

Alterman himself is both reveredand hated, depending on the politicalviewpoint of the observer. Staunchconservatives find him detestable. Buthe has also feuded with some whowear the liberal label. Among those isRalph Nader, who Alterman criticizes

for the activist’s actions in the 2000U.S. presidential election, arguing thatNader is partially to blame for theelection of George W. Bush becauseof vote splitting.

Before 2000, Alterman says, he“had the same high opinion of RalphNader that most liberals shared. I’verevised my opinion of the pre-2000Nader downward.”

Alterman has his supporters. Hehas been called “the most honest andincisive media critic writing today” bythe National Catholic Reporter. Andthe San Francisco Chronicle hasreferred to him as the author of “thesmartest and funniest political journalout there.”

English Department ChairpersonEllen Tremper describes him simply as“one of the very few publicintellectuals in America under the ageof sixty who is just as comfortable inthe university as in the newsroom, aswell as in most places in between.”

Alterman describes hisexperience at Brooklyn College thusfar as “wonderful” and praises theindustry and dedication of thestudents here. “So many of themhave to juggle so many aspects oftheir lives—study, work, family life,” hesays. “I really admire how they hold itall together.”

Before joining the faculty ofBrooklyn College, he served as anadjunct professor of journalism atNew York University and atColumbia. He continues to serve as asenior fellow of the World PolicyInstitute at the New School.His recent elevation to distinguishedprofessor has been “a particularhonor,” he says. “Universities aregenerally not so welcoming of

journalists. In the past, I have oftenthought of my two careers—education and journalism—as beingdivided. Now, as a distinguishedprofessor, I feel that my two halveshave been unified.”

Besides his academic pursuits, heis a media columnist for the Nation.The busy professor is also a seniorfellow at the Center for AmericanProgress, where he writes and editsthe “Think Again” column, and is ahistory consultant to HBO Films.

Professor Alterman is the best-selling author of a half-dozen books,the latest being When Presidents Lie: AHistory of Official Deception and ItsConsequences (2004).This bookcaused former Nixon White Houseattorney John Dean to opine: “I’venever read a better explanation ofwhy presidents lie.”

His latest book, titled Why We’reLiberals: A Political Handbook for Post-Bush America, is scheduled to hitbookstore shelves on March 17.

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Eric Alterman: A Sharp Wit Plus a Sharp Pen Make for a “Distinguished” Career

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This past October marked a hard-to-believe half centurysince the Boys of Summer abandoned their legendaryballpark on Bedford Avenue thirty blocks north of BrooklynCollege and high-tailed it for a sunny canyon in Tinseltown.

In the chilly Brooklyn spring of 1957, an alarmedgroup of Brooklyn baseball fans known as the “Keep theDodgers in Brooklyn Committee,” led by sporting-goodsmerchant Henry Modell, set out to collect one millionsignatures in support of their cause. Of the first 25,000signatures they recorded, 3,500 were inscribed by studentsat Brooklyn College. No doubt one or more personsreading this was on that list.

Ron Schweiger was only twelve years old then, hisBrooklyn College days—or nights—several years ahead ofhim. (He was, like Borough President Marty Markowitz, a1970 night-school graduate.) But his memories of the great1950s Dodgers cavorting at Ebbets Field are nonethelessvivid. And last year, when a producer from Home BoxOffice called Borough Hall looking for someone to sharesuch memories for a major feature on the late, lamentedteam, Schweiger, the official Brooklyn borough historian andan Alumni Association board member, stepped up torepresent all BC students and all of Brooklyn.

As a kid, Schweiger was passionate about rooting forthe Brooklyn Dodgers and about playing the game, as well.He was, he is pleased to recall, a “pretty fast” Little Leagueoutfielder.

Fifty Years? Say It Ain’t So!Ron Schweiger, ’70,Remembers Brooklyn’sBeloved Bums by Robert E. Murphy

Ebbets Field, ca. 1913, Merlis Collection, brooklynpix.com.

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“My batting-stance was Jackie Robinson’s,” he says. Helearned to be a switch-hitter by imitating Duke Snider, theDodgers’ left-handed, slugging center-fielder.

Schweiger saw these heroes in person for the firsttime at age seven in 1952 when his father, also a sometimeballplayer, known as “Yip,” treated him to a box-seat behindhomeplate at Ebbets Field. In later years he would often sitin the upper deck with his older brother and severalfriends from their block in Gravesend. His mother suppliedthem with chopped-liver sandwiches, made with matzohs ifit was Passover. He estimates that he visited Ebbets Fieldabout twenty or thirty times.

After the games, Schweiger and his friends would waitfor the players where their cars were parked, in a Mobilstation beyond the tall right-field wall. He can still see in hismind’s eye Roy Campanella’s gold Cadillac and Jackie’s “bigblack Buick.”

“When I met Rachel Robinson,” he says, “I told herthat Jackie didn’t leave until everybody got an autograph.She nodded to me and said, ‘Yes, Jack never wanted todisappoint the kids.’”

Robinson’s retirement—after being traded to theGiants!—before that final Brooklyn season fifty years ago,seems in retrospect like a harbinger of doom. AndSchweiger remembers well the fans’ growing anxiety, as theschedule waned, over losing the Dodgers.

“When the ’57 season was well under way,” he says,“we became extremely aware that nothing had beensettled yet with the Dodgers getting a new ballpark.Therumors became very much real, and we thought, hey, thiscould really happen!”

And if it did, the consequences might be moredevastating for Ron Schweiger than for the average Dodgerfan. “Going to sleep at night during the season,” he recalls, “Iwould dream of playing left field for the Dodgers andleaping up to make a game-saving catch against the wall.”

On October 8, when the team tersely announced,with principal owner Walter O’Malley nowhere in sight,that they were westward-bound, Schweiger thought tohimself, “I knew this was going to happen.”

Ironically, during the week that Schweiger wasremembering these things, “The O’Malley,” as the self-aggrandizing owner of the Dodgers called himself, waselected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The interveningyears have mellowed Schweiger and allowed him to gain

some perspective on what he and millions of Brooklynitesfirst saw as an act of unparalleled treachery. “I don’tbegrudge him being elected,” Schweiger says. “What he didwas very innovative. It really was experimental. And hishiring of Jackie Robinson can’t be overlooked. As an adultand as a historian—not when I was a kid, of course—I seethat, in a business sense, it was the best move O’Malleycould have made. He opened up baseball to the rest ofthe U.S.”

Well, maybe Ron Schweiger’s willingness to forgive the“Gaelic Machiavel,” as Arthur Daley of the New York Timescalled him, is admirable, as was his determination fifty yearsago never to root for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and is hiscurrent affection for the Mets’ New York-Penn Leagueteam, the Brooklyn Cyclones.

But what about his expressed hope, though he is aMets’ fan, that those Angelenos will take on the Yankees inthe next World Series, and vanquish them, under theguidance of Brooklyn’s own Joe Torre? That may be takingforgiveness one step too far. BROOKLYN COLLEGE MAGAZINE FALL 2007

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Robert E. Murphy is a freelance writer and a lifelongresident of Brooklyn. His book on the circumstancessurrounding the Brooklyn Dodgers’ and the New YorkGiants’ leaving New York in 1957, tentatively titledAfter Many a Summer, will be published next fall.

Home alone: Ron Schweiger with Ebbets Field’s home plate,now a permanent part of the College’s archives.

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On a crisp fall morning, Haroon Kharem, an assistantprofessor in the School of Education, paces the honey-colored wooden floors in a small classroom at thePerforming Arts and Technology High School in Brooklyn’sEast New York neighborhood. He is encircled by a groupof roughly twenty students who simply can’t understandhow slaves ate pig intestines, commonly known aschitterlings.

“You all say ‘ewwww’ but they kept your ancestorsalive,” explains Kharem, a bald and towering professor intinted eyeglasses, blue jeans, black button-up shirt, andAdidas sneakers.

One student says he’d rather starve. “It’s easy to saythat, but these people were trying to survive,” Kharemshoots back.

In a discussion that ranges from slavery to abusedwomen to welfare, there are no easy answers.What’smost important to Kharem—an East New York native whowent from running with street gangs in his youth toearning a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction at PennState—is that the questions keep coming. “They want tolearn, but they also want to be heard,” says Kharem afterclass. “I want to keep pressing them.”

Kharem’s dogged commitment is emblematic of thelarger culture in Brooklyn College’s School of Education,

No Child LeftBehind—

With 80 percent of full-time faculty working in Brooklyn’s public schools, the School of Education is finding new and creative approaches to teaching—and to developing the next generation of teachers.

by Jamilah Evelyn

Brooklyn StyleBrooklyn Style

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which emphasizes real dirt-under-the-fingernails communityengagement and, if not rocket science renovations in thearea of pedagogy, certainly new and creative approachesto teaching. But most important, say many professors andthe dean, is that they always remember that their greatestasset is the rich and textured laboratory that is Brooklynand its schools—with all the diversity, the hope, and theenormous challenge.

“What makes us unique is that we are in Brooklynand we get a taste of so many different kinds of scenarios,”says Peter Taubman, an associate professor of adolescenteducation. Dean Deborah Shanley says that about 80 percent of full-time faculty members in the School ofEducation have some kind of connection with Brooklynpublic schools, whether they are teaching a course,conducting research, doing professional development withteachers, or are involved with one of the many Collegeprograms. Along with the performing arts school in EastNew York, known as PATHS, the School of Education hasestablished formal and informal associations with a sizablenumber of Brooklyn’s public schools.The philosophy

behind it is simple: “We can’t really make an impact unlesswe are where the action is,” says Wayne A. Reed, assistantprofessor of childhood education.

Their efforts have produced some impressive results.Many of the schools with which the College hasestablished relationships have attendance and graduationrates above 90 percent, while national graduation rates aturban public schools hover at 50 percent.The College’sScience,Technology, and Research (STAR) Early CollegeHigh School graduated 96 percent of its first class lastspring. (See box, page 20) What’s more, officials at theschools say many of the benefits of forging these kinds ofcollaborations with the School of Education don’t show upin commonly measured statistics.

“Kharem’s class is the carrot for students to step upand be counted as serious learners,” says Lottie Almonte,the principal at PATHS, where 70 percent of students areconsidered below proficient for their grade level and 77percent qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. “They thinkabout their work in a different way. They refer tothemselves as researchers.”

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Deborah Shanley, dean of the

School of Education, leads the

school’s efforts to find alternative

ways to prepare the next

generation of teachers in full

partnership with public schools

and community organizations.

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When Shanley left her position as dean of the Schoolof Liberal Arts and Education at Medgar Evers College tenyears ago to become the dean at Brooklyn College, shesays she saw forging more of these kinds of affiliations as apriority.

“One of my first goals was to create a deeperpartnership with the schools in Brooklyn and to thinkabout those partnerships in new ways,” she says.

She figured one of the easiest ways to accomplish thatwould be to hire professors who were already inclined tocommunity involvement. She says she also knew it wasimportant to diversify the faculty.

“I think there were two Latinos when I got here, andthat was the extent of our diversity,” she says. “At one ofour first meetings after I became dean, I told them to takea look around this room because it’s not going to remainthe same.”

She recruited from historically black colleges anduniversities and became conscious of including people ofcolor in many of the school’s publications and other printwork. “Everything from Chalkboard, the School ofEducation’s newsletter, to our holiday cards,” she says,

noting that some of the hires since her tenure includeabout a half-dozen African American professors and onesfrom Lebanon, Greece, and South Korea.

The ultimate goal, she says, is to create a facultywholly committed to turning out innovative andresourceful teachers, both inside and outside theclassroom. “Ones who are able to work with families, whoknow how to tap into the city’s vast resources, who knowhow to reach out to community groups,” says Shanley. “Wedon’t want students who make excuses about a kid’sparents not being involved. Find a sibling. I want ourstudents coming out of here having the ability to exhaustthe possibilities.”

In one widely heralded example of the kind ofinventive students the College has produced, graduatestudent Georgina Smith started a tutoring service atneighborhood laundromats when she noticed the numberof idle kids waiting with their parents for their laundry tobe finished.What started out as an experiment at oneEastern Parkway Clean Rite turned into a program that,thanks to a $12,000 grant from the laundromat’s parentcompany, has expanded across Brooklyn.

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School of Education Assistant

Professor Haroon Kharem, second

from left, teaches a class twice a

week at Performing Arts and

Technology High School. He

exemplifies the commitment of the

College’s faculty to Brooklyn’s

public schools.

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In order to mold such students, many of the School ofEducation professors lead by example. Reed, for instance,last year piloted a course at another East New York schoolthat brings members of the community into the school toteach.

“In the last four or five years these projects havedeveloped a life of their own, so it has become easy formore and more faculty members to plug into what’s goingon,” says Reed.

Many of the collaborations, like Reed’s and the one atPATHS, have come about organically: A professor knew anassistant principal, and they got together and made it happen.

Other affiliations, like the one with Brooklyn CollegeAcademy, are more formal. BCA is an early college highschool, part of a national movement of schools thatencourage students to earn an associate degree or twoyears worth of college credit by the time they finish highschool. BCA has six hundred students in grades seventhrough twelve split up on two campuses—one for gradesseven through ten, is on Coney Island Avenue.The other,for grades eleven and twelve, is in Brooklyn College’sJames Hall.

“When we were founded, the idea was to put kids ona college campus and allow them to take a few collegecourses,” explains Nicholas J. Mazzarella, the academy’sprincipal.

Currently, about 125 BCA students are takingBrooklyn College courses. Last year the school receivedsome grant money from the Bill and Melinda GatesFoundation to formally become an early college highschool. Prior to the fall 2007 semester, BCA was a middlecollege, essentially the same as an early college high schoolbut students typically graduate with fewer college credits.The underlying notion is that students who areunderserved by higher education are well served byexposure to a college environment and that creatingtighter links between schools and colleges will help to easethe transition for students.

Because of affiliation with the School of Education,“there are all these connections we have that otherschools don’t,” says Mazzarella, who reports to Shanley andalso sits on a number of committees in the School ofEducation.

He credits the synergy the relationship has createdwith a lot of the school’s success. Last year, BCA had a 90percent attendance rate and a 95.5 percent graduationrate, and its seniors received $800,000 in scholarshipmoney.

The statistics are similar to those at the BushwickSchool for Social Justice, another partner of the School ofEducation, which, like PATHS, is one of forty-two formerlarge schools the city has broken up into several small ones.

STARs Over Brooklyn Last June, seventy-one of the original class of seventy-fourstudents who entered Brooklyn College’s Science,Technologyand Research Early College High School in fall 2003 stepped tothe stage at the College’s Gershwin Hall to receive theirdiplomas.

At a time when the graduation rate for public high schoolstudents in New York City and other urban areas is around 50percent, STAR's 96 percent rate stands out as a testament tothe effectiveness of what started four years ago as anexperiment.

STAR was one of seventy early college high schools fundedby the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2003. Dismayedthat only two of every ten high-school graduates in the countrywent on to earn a college degree, the foundation decided toSTAR’s first graduation ceremony, 2007.

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Taubman explains that two former students, one ofwhom was teaching in the New York City public schoolsystem, approached him five years ago and said theywanted to propose a new school. They asked if he couldget the School of Education to be a lead partner, whichthey would need to qualify for the city program.Taubmangot the green light and the two Brooklyn College alumniset about turning on its head a school that formerlymaintained a 20 percent graduation rate: Some 85 percentof its first class of seniors graduated last June.

The smaller size definitely helped a lot, says Taubman,but he gives equal credit to the out-of-the-box curriculumthe former students designed. Students and parents areincluded on the planning of the curriculum and often theirvoices are given equal weight to those of administratorsand faculty members.There’s one class during the daydesigned strictly for students and teachers to get to knoweach other better. For one project, the school’spredominantly Latino students counted the trash cans ontheir own Bushwick streets and those on the Upper EastSide of Manhattan. Realizing the huge disparity, theycontacted the city’s sanitation department to requestadditional trash cans for Bushwick.Taubman says those trashcans have not yet been forthcoming. Still, “the point is toget them thinking about these kinds of things,” he says.

It’s a sentiment that is echoed by Kharem. “So manyof these kids have been taught to just receive,” he says. “It’sabout pushing their thinking.”

Kharem, who teaches at PATHS two days a week andalso brings his students from the high school with him totutor at a nearby elementary school where he teaches, sayshe’s trying to create students who shake up the status quo.

Last year, he took nine of his PATHS students withhim to Chicago for the annual conference of the AmericanEducational Research Association, where he encouragedthem to challenge the scholars. One student quizzed apanelist on why students like himself were often labeled“at-risk”; another asked if any of the researchers had anyquestions for them, while they were there.

“He teaches us things that we don’t learn in ourtextbook,” says PATHS student Elizabeth Miranda. “Hemakes us really think.”

Principal Almonte says she’s extremely grateful for allthe effort from Kharem and others from Brooklyn College.Two to three School of Education professors teach atPATHS every year. Additionally this year, Laurie Rubel,assistant professor of adolescent mathematics education,will start doing some professional development withPATHS math teachers because Almonte says the school isweakest in its math scores. Another School of Educationprofessor, Alma Rubal-Lopez, will teach a course forHispanic female students on self-confidence and pride.

Almonte says she’s sure all the help has played a rolein the school’s success. Approximately 82 percent ofseniors are on track to be part of the first graduating classthis spring, and the school has a 92 percent attendancerate.

But back in the classroom, Kharem is not satisfied. Sohe keeps pressing.

As he and his PATHS students progress in theirconversation from slavery to modern times, one student ishaving trouble stringing her thoughts together. Kharem tellsher to take her time. She laments that too many of herpeers don’t take their education seriously and adds thatthose without an education tend to live in a kind ofmodern slave mentality.

“One thing you guys should always realize,” Kharemtells the class, “is that the struggle’s not over.”

fund the schools in the hope that they would help studentsunderserved by higher education.Today there are 17,000students at 130 early college high schools across thecountry.

Located at the historic Erasmus Hall High School inFlatbush, Brooklyn, STAR is the result of a collaborationbetween Brooklyn College and the Gateway Institute.STAR students take college courses in addition to theirregular secondary curriculum.All of the seventy-onegraduates have been accepted to college. Some have earnedenough credits to bypass a whole year of college.Together,they earned more than $200,000 in scholarships to attendcolleges and universities that include Cornell, Dartmouth,Carnegie Mellon, and St. John’s universities as well asBrooklyn College and other CUNY institutions

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Creating a New Kind ofBR

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by Jamilah Evelyn

Several years ago, a group of faculty

members from the Brooklyn College

School of Education decided to get

together once a month over coffee

and bagels to discuss their research

interests. Their discussions and

research drafts eventually became a

book, Teaching Teachers: Building

a Quality School of Urban Education

(Peter Lang Publishing, 2004).

Coedited by Joe L. Kincheloe, Alberto

Bursztyn, and Shirley R. Steinberg,

the book is a collection of essays on

urban education that features the

research of several Brooklyn College

professors. Brooklyn College

Magazine gathered three of the faculty

who contributed to the book—

Bursztyn, Wayne A. Reed, and Alma

Rubal-Lopez—to find out what they

think the College can tell the rest of

the education world about

teaching teachers.

BC Magazine: Professor Reed, in yourchapter, you talk about a tragic dividebetween schools and theircommunities, and you say that urbanschools of education are in a uniqueposition to negotiate that divide. Butyou also talk about how muchdistrust there has been historicallybetween many colleges and locallow-income communities. How doesa college tackle that mistrust in orderto make inroads in the community?Or is that a chicken-and-egg kind ofthing? How has the Brooklyn CollegeSchool of Education dealt with this?

Reed: You’re right in identifying thisissue. I think the primary way acollege can tackle this mistrust is bybeing present and active in low-income communities. It’s one thingto invite community constituents tocome to the College; it’s quiteanother for the College to seek andmaintain a presence in thesecommunities. I remember leading ahigh school class a couple of yearsago. One of the students raised hishand and asked, “Professor, why don’tyour students want to come to ourneighborhood?” What could I say?Concerning the School of Education’sapproach to this, I think the growingpresence of our faculty in the schoolsof East New York and Bushwickspeaks for itself.

BC Magazine: How has the School ofEducation infused the kind ofcommunity-building spirit that youtalk about into the curriculum here?Are there certain courses thatemphasize this? Is it more of a culturethan a curriculum issue?

Reed: I see community-orientedapproaches emerging in the cultureof the School of Education and in thecurriculum. Because more educationfaculty members are intersecting theirwork with low-income schools andneighborhoods, it follows that thenarratives we bring into our collegialrelationships influence, at least tosome extent, the culture of ourpractice. In our curriculum, I seemore readings and discussion ofissues related to urban education andurban issues. Quite a few of ourcourses now include community-based assignments—that is,assignments that help students in theSchool of Education develop theircommunity knowledge. Also, since2006, I’ve been working on a coursecalled “Community Teaching.” Thepurpose of the course is to helpteachers develop their practice in thecontext of the social and culturalframework of the neighborhood theyserve.

Bursztyn: It’s really in how weconceptualize our work in general,and it has to do with understandingthe complexity of urban settings. It’snot enough to teach students how toteach a certain subject and then sendthem out. Teachers have tounderstand the community in whichthey will be working.

BC Magazine: Professor Rubal-Lopez,I think you hit on this notion in yourchapter when you talk aboutunderstanding the greater context ofthe students’ lives.

Rubal-Lopez: I always teach mystudents that they should usewhatever their students bring with

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them instead of making assumptionsand going from there.There arecertain assumptions made that veryoften end up being stereotypes. If youare a teacher and you are sentsomewhere in Crown Heights, forexample, you cannot assume thatbecause you have twenty black kids infront of you, they are poor, that theirparents are illiterate, that they don’tknow anything, and that you are goingto be their savior and teach them.There’s such diversity in New Yorkthat assumptions like that are deadly.You can’t assume that just because astudent is Chinese he’s good at math.And I can tell you as a counselor thatassumption was made for years. Ifstudents are Chinese, you put themin advanced math, and then youknow what? They’re failing the mathcourse. Rather, you should find outwhat they know and use that as abasis of teaching. If you’re justthrowing information and you’re notconnecting that information toanything in that student’s experience,he or she is much less likely to retainthe information. Really knowing thecommunity, instead of makingassumptions, will help you connectwith your students.

Bursztyn: In Brooklyn, you have avery rich variety of perspectives anda very diverse student population.We have to create conditions thatintroduce our students in the Schoolof Education to those differences.Wehave to prepare them to developempathy. If you look at most of thework in the School of Education, youwill find an interest in helpingstudents develop a critical view ofschool practices and an openness tochange. Part of our mission is tointroduce our students to new ideas.It’s not sufficient to give them thetools to teach lessons that maintainthe status quo in underperformingschools.We see ourselves as helpingstudents develop critical thinking, a

sense of advocacy, and anunderstanding of the nature of thechallenge in front of them.We alsoteach them to work collaborativelywith parents and with administrators.It’s a complicated job.We have tohelp them find meaning behind theirwork.

BC Magazine: Professor Rubal-Lopez,in your chapter you talk aboutknowledge management versusknowledge acquisition. Can youexplain that a little?

Rubal-Lopez: It’s about not justaccepting knowledge but questioningthat knowledge. I’m teaching theories.I always ask my students:What’s theproblem with this theory? You haveto deconstruct knowledge. And Ialways tell them, don’t take all thisseriously. Look at the theory, usewhat you can, and disregard the rest.Nothing is written in stone. And Ithink that’s how you should approachteaching and learning.

BC Magazine: Is that kind of thinkingtypical in American education rightnow?

Rubal-Lopez: I don’t think so.Especially right now with No ChildLeft Behind, they are teaching for thetest.Teachers are under a lot ofpressure; they’re being told basicallywhat to teach, and that becomesvery hard.

Bursztyn: Because of state andfederal mandates, much of theirworking lives will be spent focusedon test results, which is not entirelyinappropriate. But there is so muchmore to teaching.

Rubal-Lopez: You can’t just stuffsomebody’s head with information.It’s like the way we teach language inthis country. You learn languagethrough using it, but it is not taughtthat way in most places.Teachers

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Really

knowing the

community,

instead of

making

assumptions,

will help you

connect with

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stand in front of the blackboard andwrite a bunch of stuff, but they don’treally use language. Classrooms areset up so that kids don’t talk to oneanother. You have to develop groupexercises in which they are talking toone another. It’s the same with othersubjects. You have to connect towhat they know. In the last ten tofifteen years, a lot of information hascome out on how the brain worksand how we learn and retaininformation.Teaching has to changeto take all of this into account.

BC Magazine: One of the biggestways that teaching has changed overthe last several years is through thecreation of so-called learningcommunities. Professor Reed, in yourchapter you mention that you helpedset up a learning community in EastNew York that is now seven yearsold. Can you update us on how it’sgoing? Has Brooklyn College madethe long-term commitment that yousay is so necessary?

Reed: The learning community westarted seven years ago is alive andwell. (However, if I were to rewritethe chapter I might not use the termlearning community since it hasdeveloped its own identity in highereducation.) Our collaborativerelationships with schools andcommunity organizations are broaderand more comprehensive than theywere in 2000. Our deepening ties toPerforming Arts and Technology HighSchool have contributed to this in amajor way. Having a high school as abase has solidified our ties to theelementary schools and has given us astronger platform from which to workin the East New York community. Forexample, we are in the third year ofthe East New York Teen Summithosted at Brooklyn College everyspring. It brings youth from eight EastNew York high schools to the campusfor a day of dialogue.

BC Magazine: There’s such a highlevel of community involvement onthe part of the School of Educationfaculty. Has that made all thedifference?

Bursztyn: It’s absolutely necessarythat everyone working in teachereducation keep some kind of linkwith the field.What might bedifferent about us is the extent of ourfaculty involvement. Most schools ofeducation will put an emphasis onone or two schools. But we haveindividual faculty members who takeadvantage of the opportunity wehave for broader engagement incommunities. Our students need tobe engaged in the field and exposedto a variety of circumstances. I thinkmost of us see it as a necessary partof the training we do, because weneed to impart a nuancedunderstanding of the urban setting.It’s very helpful—actually it’s aprivilege—to be in this diverse andvibrant setting. So many of ourstudents are immigrants, or fromunderrepresented groups in theteaching profession. I think they comehere with an openness to seeingdifferent perspectives. The work ofteaching is about trying to make abetter future for all children.There’s areal interest in the other and in selfimprovement, and I think we need toknow how to capitalize on that.Wedon’t have all the answers, but onething we do well is that we keepasking questions.We keep trying tofind approaches that make sense. Ifwe restricted ourselves to thetextbook, we wouldn’t accomplishour goals.We want our students tounderstand the leeway they have increating their own roles as agents ofchange.

We don,t have

all the answers,

but one thing we

do well is that

we keep asking

questions. We

keep trying to

find approaches

that make sense.

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Gretchen Maneval, a widely respected city planner andnational housing expert, has assumed the role of director ofthe Center for the Study of Brooklyn, succeeding PulitzerPrize–winning Professor Paul Moses, who served as thecenter’s director from its creation in 2005.

Maneval joins the center after working for five yearswith the Fifth Avenue Committee (most recently as FAC’sdirector of housing development), a Brooklyn-basednonprofit organization with twenty-nine years ofcommunity development experience. At FAC, Manevalmanaged an affordable housing, commercial, andcommunity development portfolio of over $100 million,with more than three hundred residential units in twenty-eight buildings. At FAC, Maneval’s research and advocacywork with inclusionary zoning precipitated a reexaminationof this policy tool as a way to ensure the creation ofaffordable housing with new residential construction inNew York City.

“Ms. Maneval’s keen insight into the issues that shapelife in our borough will solidify the center’s unique positionas a critical source of urban research and analysis,”President Kimmich said in announcing her appointment.

Maneval has a master’s in city planning from theMassachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. from theUniversity of Virginia. She has worked on public housingissues at the federal level, first as a consultant in HUD’sOffice of Public and Indian Housing, and then as a senioranalyst with the Harvard Graduate School of Design’sPublic Housing Operating Cost Study.

“In socioeconomic terms, Brooklyn is dynamic, vibrant,and nuanced, reflecting myriad trends that are emergingnationwide with the climate of reinvestment in our innercities,” Maneval says.

The Center for the Study of Brooklyn is the firstacademic research center devoted exclusively to the study ofpublic policy issues in Brooklyn. It is a primary source ofindependent, nonpartisan research on the complex issuesfacing the borough and its 2.5 million residents. Key amongManeval’s responsibilities will be identifying new sources offunding for the center and ensuring that the student bodybecomes actively engaged in the center’s work.

What attracted you to the Center for the Study ofBrooklyn?

After spending five years developing affordable housing ata Brooklyn-based community development corporation, Iwas looking for an opportunity to continue to give back ina venue that was broader in scope policywise.The Centerfor the Study of Brooklyn seemed like a perfect fit.

The center addresses the need for an elevated andcoordinated presence representing Brooklyn in the city,state, and federal arenas. I have a deep respect for thosealready doing important public policy work in Brooklyn.We will work to create a harmonized voice that includesresidents, businesses, local government, nonprofit groups,and academic institutions. Also, having the opportunity todevelop partnerships with Brooklyn College faculty, staff,and students, as well as community groups, elected officials,and others for the advancement of the center’s work isphenomenal.

How did your experiences as a senior research analyst ina Harvard housing study help you in your role?

I learned how important it is, when you’re framing a publicpolicy issue, to listen to those experiencing the effects ofwhatever that issue is. For instance, in the public housingoperating cost study, we met monthly with twenty or soexecutive directors from public housing authorities acrossthe country for over two years, in addition to visiting theirpublic housing sites. We found that the most importantinformation was embedded within the experience of thoseoperating and living in public housing, not in the federal-level data. So much of analyzing a problem properly islearning how to ask the right questions of the right people,and really listening to their answers.

What are the benefits of having the center located oncampus at Brooklyn College?

Being based at Brooklyn College gives us the opportunity todraw on the expertise of the faculty, staff, and alumni, as wellas the talent and vision of the students.We are in this greatborough of Brooklyn, and the diversity of Brooklyn Collegereflects the diversity of the borough. Students, faculty, andstaff not only feel the impacts of the same public policyissues that other people in the borough are dealing with,

New Director Appointed at the Center for the Study of BrooklynGretchen Maneval will lead the center in its study of critical issues affecting the borough.

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they can also inform our work and disseminate findings inthe communities in which they live and work.

Since college, you have been involved in communitydevelopment programs.When and why did you becomeso interested in urban planning?

My parents work in the fields of urban planning,community development, and printing. I learned fromthem how giving back to society could be manifested in acareer path.

What really solidified my commitment to taking theroute of community development and urban planning wasan internship at the Enterprise Foundation one summer incollege. The Enterprise Foundation was founded by JamesRouse, who revitalized many downtown areas, like HarborPlace, at the inner harbor in Baltimore. Jim Rouse believedyou had to tackle problems like affordable housing,education, health care, and economic development in acomprehensive way rather than separately. His positiveoutlook against daunting conditions, and his belief in agoodness that resides deep in us all, certainly inspired mylife’s work.

What are the center’s goals for the coming years inregard to public policy?

One of the reasons the Center for the Study of Brooklynwas founded was a perceived lack of data about Brooklyn.For example, a community group wants to find indicatorsfor HIV/AIDS infection rates.Where can they find these?Well the data are probably out there somewhere—city

agencies, foundations, hospitals—but people might nothave the time or know how to look for them.

One of the roles that the center will be playing is as arepository of data.We’ll provide links on a new websitethat we’re launching so that community groups, electedofficials, faculty, students—anybody in the community—could go to our website and say, “I want information aboutBrooklyn, about my neighborhood, on this subject” and beable to find it with ease.

Further, there are some incredibly talented andinfluential faculty here at Brooklyn College.We want tofind out who is doing what work about Brooklyn in orderto produce a catalog to be posted on our new website sothat people at Brooklyn College, as well as in thecommunity, have access to this information.This catalogcould, for example, help to connect a professor who mightbe studying water quality issues at the Prospect Park laketo a community group that needs such research butdoesn’t know where to find it.

We also hope to launch three public policy initiativesin 2008—one on HIV/AIDS, one on sustainability, and oneon diversity and tolerance.

Brooklyn has been identified by the Centers forDisease Control as having the highest number ofadolescents diagnosed with HIV/AIDS nationally. Further, in2004, 89 percent of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses in Brooklynwere in persons of color (70 percent black, 19 percentHispanic). These are alarming statistics. The center willstrive to examine a public policy issue such as this from adifferent perspective (like how incarceration rates inspecific neighborhoods are affecting neighborhoodHIV/AIDS rates).

We will then apply the findings of our research byworking with stakeholders to propose and advancesolutions to public policy concerns. Oftentimes our workwill develop through a lens of social and economic justice.I’m encouraging all Brooklyn College faculty, staff, andstudents to contact the center if they’d like to becomeinvolved with any of these initiatives, or have ideas for new work. I can be reached via e-mail [email protected], or by calling (718) 951-5852.

We’re very much focusedon linking the center’sresources and those ofBrooklyn College withthe community.

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G OT C L I P S ?

If you’ve been in the news

lately, let us know. Items for

Alumni News and Sightings

may be e-mailed to

[email protected]

or mailed to Brooklyn

College Magazine.

Celebrating her ninetieth birthday inApril, Frieda (Weinstein) Greene, ’37,was hailed by American Librariesmagazine as “the oldest gainfullyemployed library worker in America.”Greene headed a hematology labwhile living in Brooklyn, but when sheand her husband retired to Floridashe began volunteering at theBoynton Beach City Library. In 1993they hired her, and she currentlyworks four hours a day, five days aweek, reshelving books in thenonfiction section.

Stan Fischler, ’54, a sportsbroadcaster and author, is one of fourrecipients of the 2007 Lester PatrickTrophy.The prestigious award, namedin honor of the longtime generalmanager and coach of the New YorkRangers, has been presented annuallysince 1966 by the National HockeyLeague for outstanding service tohockey in the United States. Fischler,who began working for the Rangersthe year that he graduated from BC,is known for his vast knowledge ofthe game. He is not only a hockeyanalyst but has also authored manybooks on hockey (and also on theNew York subway system), often withhis wife, Shirley, as coauthor. His latestbook, MetroIce: A Century of Hockey inGreater New York, deals with the NewYork Rangers, the New York Islanders,and the New Jersey Devils.

In October, Richard L. Sandor, ’62,was named one of forty-three“heroes of the environment” by Timemagazine. Sandor was recognized asthe founder of the Chicago ClimateExchange and the “father of carbontrading.”The Climate Exchange is self-described as “a greenhouse gas

emissions reduction, registry, andtrading system.” Sandor is chairman ofthe exchange’s parent company,Climate Exchange PLC, based in theUnited Kingdom. The recipient of anhonorary degree from the SwissFederal Institute of Technology in2004, he was lauded for “pioneerwork in the design andimplementation of innovative andflexible market-based mechanisms toaddress environmental concerns.”

“Selina Trieff: Master of the Look, a30-Year Overview” was the title ofthe career retrospective at theProvincetown Art Association andMuseum this summer. Trieff, ’55, andher husband, Robert Henry, ’55, along-time faculty member in Art atBrooklyn College, are an artisticpower couple—their half-century ofcollaboration has been memorablycaptured in the 2005 documentaryTheir Lives in Art: Robert Henry andSelina Trieff. These days both are busyat work in their Wellfleet studios. “If Iwasn’t painting,”Trieff told theProvincetown Banner, “I’d be impossible.”

Shed no tears for Karen Benezra, ’83,who stepped down after thirteenyears with Brandweek, the nation’s topmarketing magazine, the last six in theeditor’s chair. She “quit smart,” as sheexplained in her final editor’s note, andwill now head NielsenTrend, a newventure that will incorporate thewealth of information from theNielsen company to deliver accurate

alumniNews and Sightings

© Selina Trieff, Two Sheep

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analysis of future trends in consumerbehavior. “What will it feel like on theother side?” she mused.“Mightystrange, I’m sure. Having covered theheadiest days of the cola wars to fast-food chaos and Hollywood flameouts,I’ve had a great ride.”

Those looking for Cindy Gatto, ’85,will find her in The Mudpit—the claystudio she opened in Williamsburg,Brooklyn, in 1999. Housed in a 2,700-square-foot space, Gatto’s thrivingbusiness serves more than twohundred students and artists whosculpt clay and throw pots in thestudio and fire the resultant work inone of the many kilns on thepremises. One of the attractions atThe Mudpit is a permanent raku kiln,described in an AM New York profileas “similar to the ones used in ancientJapanese firing techniques.”

The New York Sun treated MorrisMark, ’61, to “Lunch at the FourSeasons,” a regular feature in thenewspaper. The discussion rangedover free markets, global investment,and the strategies he uses to manage$1 billion in assets as the president ofMark Asset Management. But hismost profound insights were learnedfrom his parents, Max and Frieda,during his early years in Flatbush.“Professional success is great to have,but one’s family is most important,”

he told the reporter. “In my schemeof things, here’s how I see myself:husband, father, and then a businessperson.Within that context, I’m avery involved person.”

Next time you’re in Fortunoff ’sshopping for jewelry or homefurnishings, drop Arnie Orlick’s nameand see what it gets you. In May, theveteran retailer and Class of 1969graduate became the first CEO ofthe New York-based retailer, foundedin 1922, ever recruited from outsidethe Fortunoff family. Furniture Todayreported that Orlick wants to keepthe traditional styles of the Fortunofffurniture but broaden into a more“casual, lifestyle vein.”

Herbert Leibowitz, ’56, has beenediting Parnassus: Poetry in Reviewsince cofounding the journal in 1973,but this fall, citing budget constraints,he produced the final issue.The WallStreet Journal noted the differencebetween Parnassus and Poetry, theChicago-based journal that received a$200 million bequest in 2002 fromthe heiress to a pharmaceuticalfortune: Parnassus has scrimped byon an annual budget of less than$100,000 and was produced out ofthe apartment next door toLeibowitz’s Upper West Side home.Poetry has a $1.3 million annualbudget, a suite of fancy offices inChicago, and can now afford to giveprizes to its poorer relations.Thisyear Poetry bestowed the RandallJarrell Award in Criticism onLeibowitz for editing a journal thatwas “intelligent and learned as well aslively and enjoyable to read.”

The New Pittsburgh Courier praised the“Stevie Wonder-ful vibe” of the debutdisc from Kendra Ross, M.A., ’06,entitled New Voice. Ross is a recordindustry insider who has performedwith such artists as Kanye West andTalib Kweli. Besides writing, producing,and performing the music on NewVoice, she also was involved in the

packaging and marketing of the ten-track CD. Ross, a Pittsburgh native,now makes her home in Brooklyn andis busy promoting her current releasewhile working on her next.

Congratulations to Ruth N. Quiles,M.S., ’85, who is among the winnersof Time Warner’s first “Principal ofExcellence Awards” that honor“exemplary leadership in New YorkCity public schools.” Since becomingprincipal of the School of PerformingArts (P. S. 131) in Borough Park in1999, Quiles has focused onimproving the scores of her school’sgrowing population of Englishlanguage learners, who now make up40 percent of the student body. Shehas also partnered with a number ofcultural organizations, includingLincoln Center and the BrooklynConservatory of Music.

Silvio Torres-Saillant, ’79, nevergraduated from high school. Butthanks to Brooklyn College, thisnative of the Dominican Republic hasenjoyed a fruitful academic career. Hewas recently named a TolleyDistinguished Teaching Professor atSyracuse University, where he is anassociate professor of English and thedirector of the Latino-Latin AmericanStudies Program. Coming to BrooklynCollege after earning his G.E.D.,Torres-Saillant immersed himself inthe humanities and took languageclasses in Latin, Spanish, French, andEnglish. He told the Syracuse Post-Standard that his love of languages

Cindy Gatto’s Lidded Jar 2

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was sparked when, as a boy, hewalked over a bridge and observedthe ripples in the water. “It dawnedon me . . . that I didn’t have a richenough vocabulary to describe what Iwas seeing.”

Playwright Michael Bradford, M.F.A.,’01, continues the string ofmemorable plays that he began whilea student at Brooklyn College.Thisfall, Hygienic Art Inc. performed threeof Bradford’s plays in New London,Connecticut, near the University ofConnecticut, where Bradford nowteaches. Included were performancesof Root Woman and Willy’s Cut andShine, and a new work, Fathers andSons, a play with music about threegenerations of African American menwho spend a restive night togetherwaiting for news of a fourth-generation son who has been missingand is feared dead.

Dr. Howard Bracco, ’64, CEO ofSeven Counties Services Inc. inLouisville, Kentucky, is an eloquentadvocate for the mentally ill whomoved to the Bluegrass State in 1966to pursue his doctorate in psychologyat the University of Kentucky. One ofthe defining moments of his lifeoccurred shortly after he received hisdegree and was working as apsychiatric aide at a mental hospital.A former boxer had developed asevere psychosis after killing someoneand was in a catatonic state. Forweeks, Bracco stopped and spoke tothis bedridden patient and talked tohim while gently stroking his beard.One day he altered his routine, and,after speaking with the unresponsivepatient, turned to leave the room.The man unexpectedly sprang to life,

and shouted, “What’s the matter, you( — )?! Aren’t you gonna stroke mybeard?” “What I’ve come tounderstand over the years,” Braccotold Business First of Louisville, “is howmuch hope there is.”

At five feet, seven inches tall, LonnieRitzer, ’76, didn’t have much of afuture in sports, so he became a taxattorney. Through his work as apartner at Shapiro Sher Guinot &Sandler, a Baltimore-based firm, Ritzerbecame Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr.’stax attorney, advising the sports iconon the many ventures of RipkenBaseball, the Cal Ripken Sr.Foundation, and the AberdeenIronbirds, the minor league baseballteam Ripken owns. But old dreamsdie hard: Ritzer told the BaltimoreBusiness Journal that he still “can’t goto a baseball game without fantasizingabout being the pitcher.”

The Times Herald-Record reports thatEsther (Lelah) Grossman, ’53, washonored by the Fallsburg SchoolDistrict this fall. A track and field starin her native India, Lelah was amember of that country’s 1948Olympic team and won nationalchampionships in basketball and tabletennis. At Brooklyn College, whereshe majored in physical education, shewas on the basketball, water ballet,and field hockey teams. Moving to

upstate Sullivan County in the 1950s,she was the first woman hired as aphysical education teacher at FallsburgHigh School, where she spent thenext thirty years, taught swimming,began the girls’ intramural sportsteams, and coached championshipteams in field hockey and volleyball.

Woodwind virtuoso Eddie Daniels,’63, released a new double CD,Homecoming––Live at the Iridium, thatwill please fans of his clarinet andsaxophone playing. One CD featureshis clarinet work and the other histenor saxophone. But not too longago, it seemed Daniels had packed uphis sax for good. He told the Santa FeNew Mexican that when he moved toSanta Fe in 1994, he stopped playingthe sax in public, and insteadconcentrated on clarinet, an instrumentthat Daniels plays in both the jazz andclassical idioms (Leonard Bernsteinonce called him “a thoroughly well-bred demon”). But Daniels hassubstantial sax chops and first achievednotice on that instrument in The ThadJones/Mel Lewis Big Band in the 1960s.Recorded on his sixty-fifth birthday athis favorite New York City jazz club,Daniels’s newest release is “relaxingand comfortable,” as one critic has said.“To me,” says Daniels,“that’s theultimate compliment.”

Jumaane Williams, ’01, and hisbusiness partner, K. Bain, ’01, hadgood jobs.Why did they want to quitthem to open a vegetarian sandwichshop in Park Slope? “The ‘crazy’word has come up a lot,”Williamsadmitted to New York Newsday, whichprofiled the two entrepreneurs. Onegreat help was the RestaurantManagement Bootcamp, a city-

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sponsored restaurant trainingworkshop designed to help neophytefoodies navigate their way throughNew York City’s dozens of permitsand inspections.The Earth Tonez Caféopened in October, and features ameatless menu of sandwiches, wraps,herbal teas, and healthful desserts.

Larry Horn, ’54, is retiring from PierceCollege in Woodland Hills, California, atwo-year community college in theSan Fernando Valley. At Pierce, wherehe taught sociology for fifty years,Horn was legendary, often dressing upin period costume for his classes andpassing on unforgettable lessons tothree generations of Pierce students.The Los Angeles Daily News called him“the professor of second chances” forhis belief in his students’ potential.“When you think of the thousands ofyoung lives Larry has touched andchanged here, well, you just don’treplace a teacher like that,” saidsociology chairperson Betty Odello.“His retirement is a huge loss.”

Another retiree is Sidney Berger, ’57,who leaves the University of Houstondrama department after thirty-eightyears. He will, however, continue torun the Houston Shakespeare Festivaland the Childrens’Theater Festivalthat he started in the 1970s, as well asteach. “A Brooklyn College professorof English named Randolph Goodmanchanged my life when he handed mea worn copy of Shakespeare’s playsand commanded, ‘Read this.’” he toldthe Houston Chronicle. “An hour later,tending to an injured ankle in awhirlpool bath at the gym, I openedrandomly to Henry VI and wasimmediately enrapt. I’ve stayed thatway for the past fifty years.”

Take that, John Steinbeck! The thirdnovel by author Rilla Askew, M.F.A.,’89, follows a family of down-on-their-luck Okies in the depths of the GreatDepression. In Harpsong (University ofOklahoma Press, $24.95), Askew tellsthe tale of Harlan Singer and his child-bride, Sharon Thompson, as theysearch hobo jungles and Hoovervillesand ride the rails looking for a home.As the Oklahoma City Oklahomannotes, “Unlike The Grapes of Wrath,Harpsong was written by a nativeOklahoman, not a carpetbagger whonever visited the locale.”

Dirk Johan Stromberg, M.Mus., ’04,currently on the faculty at BilgiUniversity in Istanbul,Turkey, was aguest at Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh CityConservatory of Music in September,where he collaborated with localVietnamese folk musicians accordingto Vietnam.net. It was the third visit tothe Far East for this peripateticcomposer, whose first CD, Tropendrift(2006), was inspired by the exoticpoems of Albert Hagenaars aboutThailand, Malaysia, Singapore, andIndonesia.While recording it,

Stromberg supported himself byplaying piano on a cruise ship inMexico.

Businesspeople of San Diego will notbe the same once Laura Darius, ’71,gets through with them.The CEO ofDarius Communications Inc. hasopened a West Coast branch of herNew York City–based executiveconsultancy and aims to teach the laid-back CEOs of “America’s Finest City”how to look and behave moreprofessionally—minor adjustments thatcould make a big difference in theboardroom. Her specialty is turningschlubby scientists in the biotech andpharmaceutical industries into polishedpros. “People here pride themselveson being so casual,” she told the SanDiego Business Journal. “I think theyreally need to up the ante—instead ofthe flip-flops, Hawaiian shirts, andwrinkled Dockers.”

Hip-hop producers are not all men—there are strong women in thestudios laying down phat beats andbringing the heat.This summerTashelle “Shamash” Wilkes, M.A., ’99,presented her first film, Lady BeatMakers, Vol. 1, at the Atlanta Hip HopFilm Festival, Austin Women’s Film andMusic Festival, and the Hip-HopOdyssey International Film Fest.Wilkes, a journalist, poet, andeducator, runs Femmixx.com, awebsite devoted to womenproducers in the hip-hop industry. Herthity-two-minute film looks at fiveurban music producers who reflect ontheir lives, music, and the feministmovement within the hip-hopindustry. For more on the film andwomen producers in hip-hop, checkout www.Femmixx.com.

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Don and Mera, ’65, Rubell haveamassed one of the world’s mostsignificant collections of modern art,and the Rubell Family Collection inMiami is a jaw-droppingly amazingassembly of work arranged in twenty-seven galleries, open to the publicfrom December to May. In Israel forthe opening of the Memorials ofIdentity exhibit at the Haifa Museumof Art featuring works from theircollection, the Rubells talked to thenewspaper Haaretz about theirlifelong obsession with art, whichbegan soon after they met in theBrooklyn College Library, when Don,a Cornell student, was briefly takingchemistry classes at BC. Don wouldlater have a thriving obstetricspractice and Mera did well in realestate, but their collecting maniabegan when they were poornewlyweds and shared a walk-upapartment with a badly cracked wall.“It was literally too expensive to paintit,” Mera told Haaretz, “so wedecided we would buy reproductionsat the Museum of Modern Art.Wecleverly framed them ourselves andcovered all the cracks. It was aninteresting exercise.”

Felice Oringel Frankel, ’66, is a topscience photographer, and her workconsists of fanciful images that looklike fine art. But she rejects the artistlabel, telling the New York Times that“my stuff is about phenomena.”Holding dual appointments atHarvard University and theMassachusetts Institute of Technology,Frankel has a regular column inAmerican Scientist magazine, and herwork is exhibited around the world.Her two books, Envisioning Science

(2002) and On the Surface of Things(1997), have revolutionized thetechniques and aesthetics of scientificphotography. “She has a wonderfulsense of design and color,” herHarvard colleague GeorgeWhitesides told the Times. “It’s hardto say she is not an artist.”

BCAA Post-Fiftieth Alumni ReunionDinner and Awards Ceremony

The Seventeenth Annual BCAA Post-Fiftieth Alumni Reunion Dinner andAwards Ceremony took place inSeptember. Alumni of the classes of’32, ’37, ’42, ’47, and ’52 came to thecampus to celebrate their seventy-fifth, seventieth, sixty-fifth, sixtieth, andfifty-fifth reunions respectively. Amongthe guests were Ethel LagarennéHagquist, ’32 (left below), andGandolfa Aiosa DeFronzo, ’32 (rightbelow), members of BrooklynCollege’s first graduating class, whocame to take part in the school’s firstseventy-fifth reunion.

Lifetime Achievement Awardswere presented to fourteen reunionclass alumni, and Dr. Gerald W. Deas,’52, was the recipient of the MiltonFisher, ’38, Second Harvest Award,acknowledging his accomplishmentssubsequent to his fiftieth reunion.

BCAA Gala

The Brooklyn College AlumniAssociation hosted its annual GalaReunion Dinner at El Caribe in MillBasin, Brooklyn, in October. TheAlumna- and Alumnus-of-the-YearAwards were presented to writerand feminism advocate FrancineLifton Klagsbrun, ’52, and theHonorable Sterling Johnson, Jr., ’63,

senior judge of the United StatesDistrict Court for the Eastern Districtof New York. A Family AchievementAward was presented to artistJoAnne Williams Carter, ’76, and herbrother, E.T.Williams, Jr., ’60, financierand former Brooklyn CollegeFoundation trustee. Alumni ofBrooklyn College studentpublications, such as Vanguard,Broeklundian, Kingsman, Excelsior,Belfry, and Calling Card, were alsosaluted at the event.

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Galleries Open House

In October, the Brooklyn CollegeAlumni Association hosted its firstGalleries Open House in DUMBO atthe 111 Front Street Galleries.Alumni and friends were invited tovisit and view contemporary fine artfrom eleven independent galleries,including the Brooklyn Arts Council.Guests enjoyed wine, cheese, andpiano music. Many were attendingfor the first time this treasure troveof art in Brooklyn’s DUMBO.

Alumni Chapters

Members of the Israel Chaptervisited the archaeological excavationat Tel Beit Shemesh, in July, wherestudents from several branches ofCUNY and other institutions weredigging for the second year throughBrooklyn College’s “Israel:Then andNow” program under the supervisionof Professor H. Arthur Bankoff, ’65,chairperson of the BC Anthropologyand Archaeology Department.

In August, Brooklyn College alumni inNorthern California once againjoined with transplanted alums fromCity College and PolytechnicUniversity for the annual family-style,all-you-can-eat Summer Picnic at theFremont Hills Country Club.

San Diego alumni and guests heldtheir Membership AppreciationBrunch and Musicfest in October atthe Eastview Rancho BernardoCommunity Center. The juke boxcame loaded with music from the’40s through the ’70s and beyond,and the bagels were loaded with loxand cream cheese––Brooklyn style!

In October, the Mid-New JerseyChapter hosted a lecture at theMillburn Public Library entitled“Caring for Caregivers” given by lifecoach (and Hofstra alumnus) JeffAmbers. Ambers addressed theneed of boomer generationcaregivers to attend to their ownpsychological needs while caring forailing or elderly parents or spouses.

In October,Tucson alumni and guestsgathered at the home of Judge LillianFisher, ’42, for lunch and apresentation by Dr. Hunter Yost on“Maintaining Good Health,Vigor, andIncreased Vitality.” Yost offeredinformation drawn from alternativehealing, nutritional therapy, andtraditional medicine.

Long Island alumni and friends cameback to Brooklyn for their secondvisit to Green-Wood Cemetery for awalk through its magnificent groundsand a visit with such departedluminaries as Horace Greeley, SamuelMorse, Leonard Bernstein, and “Boss”Tweed. The unusual October heatdid not daunt the group, who wereplanning a return trip before the tourended. Also in October, Professorand Chairperson of the BCAnthropology and ArchaeologyDepartment H. Arthur Bankoff, ’65,presented a program entitled “BCDigs the World.” Bankoff showedslides of his work with students from

excavations all over the world,including Bulgaria, Cyprus, Israel, andsites closer to home in Brooklyn andManhattan. The enthusiastic alumniwere eager to tag along on his next dig!

The members of the NorthernMetropolitan Chapter were literallyhypnotized by the grippingpresentation of guest speaker JoannAbrahamsen, ’70, at a dinner in RyeBrook in October. During thepresentation she taught the group howself-hypnosis can be a stress reducerand helpful to those dealing with suchproblems as insomnia and beingoverweight.

The members of the SouthwestBrooklyn Chapter learned aboutsome of Brooklyn’s Victorian houseswhen Brooklyn borough historian Ron Schweiger, ’70, gave a slidepresentation for the group. The eventwas held on Halloween, so someguests wore costumes, and the dinnermenu included a cauldron of punch.

In September, the Campus Chaptersponsored Musicale, a membershipappreciation event at which theperformances of students from theConservatory of Music and theChamber Choir included some originalcompositions. The chapter’s annualtheater party was held in Novemberon the opening night of The Seagull. Atthe dinner prior to the performance,Thomas A. Bullard, chairperson of theTheater Department, and MaryRobinson, the director, spoke aboutsome of the preparations for the show,at which the entire audience wasseated on the stage.

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What was it like to attend BrooklynCollege in the 1950s?First of all, for me as a returning vet,age twenty-two as a frosh, it was reals-c-a-r-y. Had it not been for areference librarian named AntoinetteCioli, who took me through thelabyrinth of beautiful La Guardia Halland got me started on my first termpaper for English 101, I may not havemade it through my first semester.

And there were so manystudents running hither and yon allthe time. Folk singers and theirguitars and banjos seemed to beubiquitous on the Quad.

Who were your classmates backthen and what were they seekingfrom Brooklyn College?My classmates were very bright, forthe most part, and generally fouryears younger than I.The coedsappeared to be much too young forme. And there was a handful of vets.What were they seeking? I guess the

same thing that I was.They werelargely the children of immigrantswho were using education to “makeit in America.”

How do the needs of today’sstudents differ from those whowere your classmates?Having visited the Brooklyn Collegecampus about a half-dozen times ayear for the past six or so years, andhaving spent most of my career onthe campuses of three small colleges,it is my sense that today’s studentsare so busy getting a degree that theyare unable to participate in activitiesthat don’t have a direct relation totheir career goals.

How can Brooklyn College alumnihelp today’s students?The BCAA Board has standingcommittees that assist withrecruitment, internships, career advice,mentoring, and post-graduateemployment. Perhaps local alumnicould visit the campus more often and

meet with students for Big-Brother- orBig-Sister-style chats. Also maybe ourmany alumni who contribute to theBrooklyn College Foundation couldencourage and motivate their friendsand classmates to think about givingback to the College.

You recently established ascholarship in your name and yourlate wife’s. Do you think otherBrooklyn College alumni shouldfollow in your footsteps? The woman who eventually becamemy wife after we re-met in 2001 wasnot only a fellow member of theBrooklyn College Class of 1956, shewas also a professional dancer whowas offered a professorship of danceby Florida Atlantic University in the late1960s.The only restriction I put on thescholarship I established was that itshould be awarded yearly to a studentin the creative or performing arts.

We all have reasons for whatwe do. It is clear to me thatwithout Brooklyn College I wouldnot have been able to achieve what Ihave in my life—three degrees, asuccessful career, wonderful friends,and ample opportunities to give backto society, to continue to learn, totravel,and to enjoy my leisure-timeactivities; to live to see my three sonsmature, become successful in theirown right, and go forward with theirlives; and to enjoy my five grandchildren.

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Soldier,Teacher, Parent, PrezHal Schaffer, ’56, the new president of the Brooklyn College Alumni Association,was much more worldly-wise than most freshmen when he entered BrooklynCollege in fall 1952. Two years earlier, in September 1950, he had landed withthe First Marine Division at Inchon, Korea. It was his first, and most enduring,lesson in leadership. “MacArthur’s strategy of outflanking the North Koreanarmy worked,” he says. “Unfortunately he didn’t believe, or wouldn’t believe, theChinese would enter the ‘police action.’ The rest of his strategy got a lot of uskilled for nothing. Truman did the right thing by firing him.” His experiencemade Schaffer a firm believer in “the democratic governance process.”

After graduating from Brooklyn College, Schaffer enjoyed a highly successfulcareer as an educator, serving as a faculty member at Adelphi University on LongIsland and as an administrator at Cortland State in the SUNY system, SalisburyState in the Maryland system, and Wilson College in Chambersburg,Pennsylvania, until 1988. He now lives in retirement in South Florida. Here hetalks about his experiences at Brooklyn College and his plans for the future.

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BenchmatesThis past June, as an expression of gratitude to BrooklynCollege and the important role it has played in their lives,several graduates from the 1950s and ’60s returned to theCollege to dedicate a handsome wooden bench. Inscribed“DuBois House, ’58–’62,” the bench was the gift of formermembers of one of the house plans that were part ofCollege life in those years.

The DuBois House bench stands with seven othersalong the brick pathway that surrounds the Lily Pond nearthe southern corner of the Brooklyn College Library.Thepool, with its walkways and lush foliage, forms a peacefulrefuge where faculty, staff, and students can escape to read,study, meet a friend, or take a break from the hustle andbustle of campus life.

During their visit in June, the graduates received abrief tour before joining Brooklyn College PresidentChristoph M. Kimmich at the Lily Pond for the benchdedication ceremony.

“Brooklyn College is definitely a state-of-the-artlearning facility,” said alumnus Victor Bardack, ‘62, one of theDuBois House group. “The school offers students use ofhundreds of computers, and Internet and wi-fi access. TheLibrary Café even has twenty-four-hour computer andInternet accessibility.”

Bardack, now a successful screenwriter and filmproducer living in Beverly Hills, California, added: “The newsports and fitness complex and the Science Center, whichare now under construction on the West Quad, are onlypart of the transformation that is creating a twenty-first-century campus here.”

In addition to Bardack and his wife, Sherry, the groupincluded Mike Salkin, Saul and Laurie Heitner, Sam andNancy Raskin, Bob Feldman, Harvey Grossman, and MelSchwartz. Other members who spent many pleasanthours at DuBois House but could not make the trip backwere Michael Friedman, Jerry Imber, Harvey Mirsky, andMike Phillips.

Urging alumni who were members of other groups tosupport the College, Bardack said, “The experiences andeducational opportunities at Brooklyn College changed ourlives and opened wonderful opportunities for us. Now isthe time to give back.”

You and your organization can join the DuBois House

group in dedicating a bench at the College’s Lily Pond

or elsewhere around campus by contacting William Healy

of the Brooklyn College Foundation at (718) 951-5074.

Bill can also help you and your group plan a visit to the

campus.

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Marvin Glassmann, ’57, and Deanna

Moskowitz Glassmann, ’59, with their

grandchildren. “After celebrating the

fiftieth anniversary of Marvin’s

graduation,” Deanna says, “we purchased

shirts for all our grandchildren at the

College bookstore. When our fifteen-year-

old granddaughter was asked, while

wearing her sweatshirt to school, whether

her parents went to Brooklyn, she proudly

replied, ‘No, my grandparents did!’”

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1 9 3 3Herbert NestlerClass Correspondent5850 Sugar PalmCourt, Apt. BDelray Beach, FL33484-1093

1 9 3 5Irwin Glick Class Correspondent5071 C NestingwayDelray Beach, FL33484-1093

1 9 3 7Harry W.AnisgardClass Correspondent2563 Greer RoadPalo Alto, CA 94303

1 9 3 9Leo AshenbrennerClass Correspondent52 Mackey AvenuePort Washington, NY11050

1 9 4 0Beatrice Persin FadenClass Correspondent7185 N.W. 9 CourtMargate, FL 330631936

University of MichiganProfessor Emeritus ofMathematics MaxwellReade celebrated hisninety-first birthday lastApril. In June, MalvinWald’s play Stake Outpremiered in ShermanOaks, California, as partof the FirstStagePlaywrights Expresstwenty-first annualmarathon of fifteen-minute plays.

1 9 4 1Dr. Shirley EdelmanGreenwaldClass Correspondent1 Washington SquareVillage, Apt. 16BNew York, NY 10012

Author, editor, translator,New York UniversityEnglish professor, andKurt Vonnegut confidantWalter James Millerhas published EssentialVonnegut: InterviewsConducted by WalterMiller, the first CD in aseries that includesNPR reviews from1971, 1984, and aspecial final talk in 2006.He also published TheMeteor Hunt, the firstEnglish translation ofJules Verne’s originalmanuscript (see AlumniBooks). Dr. Jerome Z.Litt published thethirteenth edition of hisdermatology database,Litt’s Drug EruptionReference ManualIncluding DrugInteractions. He is anassistant clinicalprofessor ofdermatology at theCase Western ReserveUniversity School ofMedicine in Cleveland(see Alumni Books).

1 9 4 3Romola EttingerKaplanClass CorrespondentP.O. Box 648East Quogue, NY11942

1 9 4 4Renee B. Landau EidlinClass Correspondent30 Oak StreetExtension, Apt. 507Brockton, MA 02401

1 9 4 6Bernard R. SchwarzClass Correspondent404 Beach 143 StreetRockaway, NY 11694

1 9 4 7Reva Frumkin BiersClass Correspondent4631 Ellenita AvenueTarzana, CA 91356

1 9 4 8Eneas Sloman ArkawyClass Correspondent271-08G GrandCentral ParkwayFloral Park, NY 11005

Ruthe Kerner Meiselwas appointed a judgeby the Orange CountyBoard of Elections forthe Booker CreekPrecinct in Chapel Hill,North Carolina.

1 9 4 9Constantine K. HallClass Correspondent190 Maple StreetBrooklyn, NY 11225

1 9 5 0Louise J. KaplanClass Correspondent175 West 12 StreetNew York, NY 10011

Audrey Galligenreceived a certificatefrom the boroughpresident of Queensin recognition of twentyyears of service on theQueens CommunityBoard. A devotedpatron of the arts, shealso wrote a poetictribute to AngelaLansbury, which wasread at a ceremony inher honor in June atThe Players Club inNew York City.

1 9 5 1Marion Unger GordonClass Correspondent70 East 10 StreetApt. 9PNew York, NY 10003

Gerd Korman,professor emeritus ofAmerican history atCornell University’sSchool of Industrial andLabor Relations,

recently published amemoir entitledNightmare’s Fairy Tale: AYoung Refugee’s HomeFronts, 1938–1948 (seeAlumni Books).

1 9 5 2Sheila Talmud RaymondClass Correspondent3 Lakeside LaneBay Shore, NY 11706

Irene Deitch, professoremerita of psychologyat the College of StatenIsland, was elected tothe board of theDivision of GroupPsychology and GroupPsychotherapy of theAmerican PsychologicalAssociation. She wasreelected to the boardfor Media Psychologists,another APA division. InSeptember, shereceived a LifetimeAchievement Award atthe Post-Fiftieth AlumniReunion at BrooklynCollege. She wasrecently the recipient ofa Woman ofAchievement Awardpresented by the StatenIsland Advance toresidents of theborough who havedevoted themselves tothe betterment of thecommunity. Formerprofessor of English atCity College andYeshiva UniversityHenry Grinbergpublished his debutnovel, Variations on theBeast, an allegorical taleabout life in NaziGermany.

1 9 5 3Ben SuntagClass Correspondent1311 Franklin LaneRockaway, NJ [email protected]

classNotes

To all alumni:Many class yearsinclude the name andaddress of a classcorrespondent, who is the link betweenyour class andBrooklyn CollegeMagazine. When youhave news about youraccomplishments thatyou would likepublished in themagazine, please writeto your correspondent.If your class has nocorrespondent, pleasesend items directly to Brooklyn CollegeMagazine, BrooklynCollege, 2900 BedfordAvenue, Brooklyn, NY11210-2889.

You may alsoreach us by fax, (718) 951-4609, or e-mail, [email protected].

If you wish tovolunteer to serve as aclass correspondent,please write to theaddress above or call(718) 951-5065.

—Class Notes Editor

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1 9 5 4Marlene (Marcia)Jacoby HillmanClass Correspondent255 West 94 Street,Apt. 6QNew York, NY 10025

1 9 5 5Geraldine MarkowitzClass [email protected]

1 9 5 6Mike SaluzziClass Correspondent1351 E. Mountain StreetGlendale, CA [email protected]

1 9 5 7Micki GinsbergClass Correspondent217 E. Maple AvenueMoorestown, NJ [email protected]

1 9 5 9Rosalie Fuchs BerleClass Correspondent260 Garth RoadApt. 3J5Scarsdale, NY 10583

Marlene FishbaneRosenbaum wasrecently appointedassociate dean ofUniversity College atFairleigh DickinsonUniversity in NewJersey.

1 9 6 0Saul KravitzClass Correspondent3382 Kenzo CourtMountain View, [email protected]

1 9 6 1David S. HerskowitzClass Correspondent1175 Kildeer CourtEncinitas, CA [email protected]

1 9 6 2Steven J. NappenClass Correspondent38 Troy Hills RoadWhippany, NJ 07981

Dr. Richard Derman isthe associate dean forwomen’s health at theSchool of Medicine ofthe University ofMissouri-Kansas City.He recently receivedthe InternationalRelations CouncilAward for InternationalAcademic Leadership.Educator and children’sbook author MarionMargolis recentlypublished the book Sit!Stay! Sign! (see AlumniBooks).

1 9 6 3Cliff RosnerClass Correspondent111 Blue Willow DriveHouston,TX 77042-1105

Roberta (Bobbie)Johnson is a professorof politics at theUniversity of SanFrancisco. She recentlywon the USF SarloPrize for Excellence inTeaching. She editedThe Struggle againstCorruption: AComparative Study (seeAlumni Books).

1 9 6 4Dr. Jay OrlikoffClass Correspondent20 Beaverdale LaneStony Brook, NY 11790

Walter Block isprofessor of economicsin the College ofBusiness Administrationat Loyola University inNew Orleans. He holdsthe Harold E.WirthEminent ScholarEndowed Chair.Richard Brenner is aneurologist at theUniversity of PittsburghMedical Center. He is

also the author of EEGon DVD: Adult–AnInteractive ReadingSession, a teaching toolfor neurologists, fellows,and technologists (seeAlumni Books). RonaldFeldman coordinatedMonroe (N.J.)Township’s participationin the Senior Olympicscompetition for thethird year in a row.Rochelle KliotFollender works as apart-time librarian inMontgomery County,Maryland. Daniel Kaiserretired in 2003 afterforty years with theNew York CityDepartment ofEducation. For the lastthree years, he hasbeen a work-studycoordinator at a privateresidential specialeducation high schoolin Lake Grove, LongIsland. Stephen Kutaylives a semi-retired lifein Santa Fe, NewMexico. SheldonMichaels retired in1997 as the attorney incharge of litigation forthe Western Region ofAT&T. He lives inOakland, California, andis currently anarbitrator specializing inemployment cases.Stanley Pearlman runsthe retained executivesearch firm StanleyHerz & Co., which hefounded in 1980. Helives in Somers, NewYork. Marie Shear is awidely unheraldedwriter and editor bytrade; satirist andmusical comedy loverby temperament; andfeminist by necessity.Her articles haveappeared in fiftyperiodicals andanthologies. RochelleFridzon Sitzer is achildren’s book authorand actress. Sherecently completed a

stint as Morgan le Fayin the Charlottesville,Virginia, communitytheater production ofCamelot.

1 9 6 5Barbara BermanLeveeneClass Correspondent24 Jubilee CircleAberdeen, NJ 07747

1 9 6 6Felicia FriedlandWeinbergClass CorrespondentP.O. Box 449Clarksburg, NJ 08510

1 9 6 7Sharon WeinschelResenClass Correspondent1740 Kimball StreetBrooklyn, NY 11234

Jan Wade Gilbert, whodiscovered a cure forperiodontal disease,also masquerades as The ObviousPhilosopher, conducting“thank you” seminarsfor companies. He isthe author of The Guy’sCookbook, now in itssecond edition.

1 9 6 8Eileen McGinnClass Correspondent210 East 15 StreetApt.10NNew York, NY 10003

Nancy Lynch wasawarded the prestigiousKnuth Prize fortheoretical computerscience. She is the NECProfessor of SoftwareScience and Engineeringat MIT.

1 9 6 9Edward M. GreenspanClass Correspondent1237 Avenue Z,Apt. 6GBrooklyn, NY 11235-4360

[email protected]

1 9 7 0Barry SilvermanClass Correspondent176 Stultz LaneEast Brunswick, [email protected]

1 9 7 1Constance FortePigozziClass Correspondent7802 16 AvenueBrooklyn, NY 11214

Nanette Helena Yavel,a therapist who workswith autistic childrenand developmentallydisabled adults, recentlyhad a poem publishedin risk, courage, andwomen: contemporaryvoices in prose andpoetry.

1 9 7 2Dr. Stanley A.AlexanderClass Correspondent4 Indian Valley RoadEast Setauket, NY11790

1 9 7 3Linda E. Gross CarrollClass Correspondent32 Vienna Hills DriveHackettstown, NJ07840(908) [email protected]

1 9 7 4Diane Oeters VaughnClass Correspondent80 Kelsey PlaceMadison, CT 06443

1 9 7 5Rubin LeitnerClass Correspondent138 East 96 StreetBrooklyn, NY 11212

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For ninety-year-old alumna Marjorie Louer, ’59,the same attributes that make a good teachermight well be the keys to a long life.

Back in winter 2006, Marjorie Louer, a Brooklyn Collegegraduate and retired public high school principal, tried towithdraw cash from an ATM. The machine rejected her.When she went to her bank, a clerk cut up her card rightin front of her. Her account had been closed because shewas dead, she was informed.

“Each time they talk to you about you being deadthere is a little pain,” the Brooklyn native told the DailyNews at the time, after finding out that a minor clericalerror at the Social Security Administration had led to herunfortunate post-mortem status.

Louer eventually managed to persuade both the fedsand her bankers to correct their mistakes and “revive” her.Rejoining the ranks of the quick pleased her mightily. Afterall, she was only eighty-nine years old and figured she stillhad a lot of living left to do.

As a child, growing up against the backdrop of WorldWar I, Prohibition, the Roaring Twenties, and the GreatDepression, she dreamed of becoming a doctor. Herfather, who had suffered a head wound in the Navy duringthe war, eventually became paralyzed and unable to work.Marjorie, meanwhile, had been accepted to HunterCollege’s pre-med program. With her dad no longer ableto support the family, she had to give up her dream andwent to work as a secretary.

Her marriage and the birth of two daughters—Susan,who like her mother would graduate from BrooklynCollege, and Stephanie, who graduated from Columbia—followed. When the girls were old enough, Louer returnedto work as a secretary. A neighbor, who worked as a cityschool teacher, casually mentioned to Louer that she mightbe able to get a higher-paying job as a school secretary.

She began as a substitute school secretary at P. S. 225in Brighton Beach. The assignment gave Louer her firstexposure to the type of student who would later shapeher career—troubled young men whose unruly behaviorled to their being called to the principal’s office. She found

she liked them. “Over the years,” she recalls, “I guess I’vedeveloped a thing for bad boys. The young ones, not theold ones.”

When she landed a permanent secretarial position at P. S. 9—where she had once been a student—one of herassignments was to handle the school’s payroll. Theexperience taught her that teachers made a lot moremoney than secretaries. Over her husband’s objections, inSeptember 1949 she registered for night classes atBrooklyn College.

Louer graduated in 1959, after ten straight years ofclasses, evenings and summers included, with only oneshort break in 1953. With her B.A. degree, plus 30 credits,she was hired as a New York City teacher. She steadilyclimbed the career ladder through acting assistant principal,assistant principal, acting principal, and finally principal.

“I took over a high school that was just for boys whocouldn’t get along in their regular zoned high schools,” sherecalls. “The school just had a number. I took to calling it‘Sterling High School’—which was kind of an ironic name.But they liked the name and it stuck.”

Louer remained as principal at Sterling High Schooluntil 1992, when she was seventy-five years of age. “Bythen my kids were calling me ‘Grandma Dynamite’,” shesays. The school authorities figured it was time for her toretire. “I didn’t want to retire,” she says. “I spent my firstweek sitting around the house. I was bored.”

She went out for a walk and found a card shop with a“Help Wanted” sign in the window. “I went in and talkedthe manager into hiring me,” she says.

After a short time at the card shop she responded toa want ad in the paper. “The IRS was looking for peoplewho could advise them on how to improve their customerrelations,” Louer says. “I got the job.”

These days, she’s involved with the day-to-dayoperations of her co-op board. “Then, too,” she says, “ I’vefinally gotten interested in this whole grandmother andgreat-grandmother thing.” Louer has three grandchildrenand six great-grandkids.

“Oh, yes,” she adds. “And then there’s the thing withthe medians.”

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The thing with the traffic medians is a multimillion-dollar rehabilitation plan for the two-block stretch ofEastern Parkway in front of her home betweenWashington Avenue and Grand Army Plaza in ProspectHeights. Louer led a five-year fight to collect five hundredsignatures to petition the city to redo the ragged stretch ofthe parkway. The improvements include widening themedian, narrowing the service road, and reconstructing themain roadway. The project is scheduled to be completedin 2009, when the entire renewed length of roadway willbecome “Brooklyn’s Champs Elysées,” according toBorough President Marty Markowitz.

“A dream” was how Marjorie Louer described theplan that she put five years of her life into and now hopesto see completed.

It is also how she describes graduating from BrooklynCollege. “The College gave me a career of working withand helping troubled teenagers. I fill with nostalgiawhenever I realize the depth of the contribution thatBrooklyn College made to my life.”

She says that “the topping on the cake was when theyawarded me the Distinguished Alumna Award” in 1979.

A Commonsense Formula for Teaching Marjorie Louer, retired principal of Sterling High School in

Brooklyn’s Fort Greene section—where her charges included

male teens chosen from all the borough’s neighborhoods who

either had proved too difficult to handle by their locally

zoned high schools or who had had run-ins with the

juvenile justice system—says she was fortunate that her

superiors had given her “pretty much a free rein in hiring

teachers” for her own school.

“A lot of my students came from really bad homes,” she

says. “I got along fine with many of them—it was like a gift

I had—and I was fortunate in that I was able to use my

own judgment in the selection of teachers for my school.”

Among the several qualities she says that she looked for

in a teaching candidate at Sterling High School was

flexibility. “Teachers in my school needed to be flexible,”

Louer says. “They needed a full, rich background that they

could fall back on to help them explain the various concepts

of their lessons in different ways that the students could

comprehend.”

Another quality that she sought out in a teaching

prospect was a genuine liking for children. “Teachers in my

school had to really like kids,” she says. “They had to see

them as someone they wanted to teach, someone who could

learn, and someone who could grow up to be a productive

member of society.”

Also important when selecting prospective teachers, in

Louer’s mind, was a sense of humor. “This might even be

the top quality you have to look for in a teacher,” she says.

“They have to be able to get along easily with the kids, to be

able to laugh at things. They have to be optimistic.”

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C L A S S N OT E S

1 9 7 6Henry P. FeintuchClass Correspondent50 Barnes LaneChappaqua, NY 10514

In September, author,speaker, and martialarts hanshi(grandmaster) StephenKaufman gave a talkon the philosophy ofthe Tao at the ChineseScholars Temple at theSnug Harbor CulturalCenter on StatenIsland. Larry Schiffer isa partner at Dewey &LeBoeuf, LLP, in NewYork. He recentlycompleted a two-yearterm as the presidentof the Albany LawSchool NationalAlumni Association. Hehas also been electedto the law school’sBoard of Trustees.

1 9 7 7Michael HannaClass Correspondent12 Woodlawn RoadSomerset, NJ 08873

1 9 7 8Susan A. KatzClass Correspondent120 Pinewood TrailTrumbull, CT 06611-3313

1 9 7 9Anthony EspositoClass Correspondent265 Hamilton DriveRed Bank, NJ 07701

Barbara Rubel, speakerand director of theGriefwork Center, Inc.,in New Jersey, cowroteCompassion Fatigue, atraining manual for theDepartment of Justice.She also contributed achapter toRemembering OurAngels: Personal Storiesof Healing from aPregnancy Loss.

1 9 8 0Agnes C. Puellopublished an essayentitled RememberingOur Times Together:Stories of Family andHome, a mini-memoirthat chronicles the lifeand times of Puello’sfriends and family (seeAlumni Books). InAugust, iUniversepublished ChristopherA. Puello’s Papers froma Harvard/Yale Man:Examples of CollegeWork, a collection offour papers dealingwith major events inthe twentieth century(see Alumni Books).

1 9 8 2Eileen ShermanGruberClass Correspondent69 Derby AvenueGreenlawn, NY 11740

1 9 8 3Michael KosikClass Correspondent331 Newman SpringsRoadBuilding 1Red Bank, NJ [email protected]

1 9 8 5Peter HuertasClass Correspondent5135 Fedora DriveSan Antonio,TX [email protected]

Eric Rothenburg, CPA,has been promoted toprofessor of accountingand economics atKingsboroughCommunity College ofthe City University ofNew York. He serveson his department’spersonnel and budgetcommittee as well asbeing heavily involvedwith CUNY’s ACTwriting and CPEexams.

1 9 8 6Ian Lee BrownClass Correspondent13978 Sawteeth WayCenterville,VA 20121

1 9 8 7Eric SteinhardtClass Correspondent915 East 7 StreetApt.1HBrooklyn, NY 11230

1 9 8 8Lauren Korn PopkoffClass Correspondent951 Woodoak DriveBaldwin Harbor, NY11510

1 9 9 0Beth Debra KallmanClass Correspondent8718 Ridge BoulevardBrooklyn, NY 11209

1 9 9 3Award-winningsinger/songwriterLarry Loftin (aka J.Phoenix), celebratedthe release of hisdebut album,Masterpiece, with aperformance at NewYork’s legendary clubThe Bitter End.

1 9 9 4Ilene BerkowitzClass Correspondent1575 46 StreetBrooklyn, NY 11219

1 9 9 5Dr. Nathan SolatClass Correspondent2793 Lee PlaceBellmore, NY 11710

Arlene Gralla Feldmanfacilitates a creativewriting workshop inMonroe Township,New Jersey.

1 9 9 6Anthony VitaleClass Correspondent554 Beach 129 StreetBelle Harbor, NY11694

Tina Wells has beenmade head of earlychildhood educationfor the Cooke Centerfor Learning andDevelopment, NewYork City’s largestprovider of inclusiveeducation for studentsages three to twenty-one. Her job entailsincreasing thescreenings ofpreschool childrenwho are at risk forlearning delays.

1 9 9 9David MoskowitzClass Correspondent2327 East 18 StreetBrooklyn, NY 11229

2 0 0 1Tatesha Bennett ClarkClass Correspondent540 East 82 StreetBrooklyn, NY 11236

2 0 0 2Igor GalanterClass Correspondent1342 East 18 StreetApt. 6CBrooklyn, NY 11230

2 0 0 3Geoffrey S. Hersko, anattorney in the RealEstate and FinancePractice Group atHodgson Russ LLP, wasrecently admitted tothe New York StateBar.

2 0 0 4Yael AbrahamClass Correspondent966 46 StreetBrooklyn, NY [email protected]

2 0 0 6Thomas Nazziola wasthe featured composeron a radio programentitled “MondayAfternoon Classicswith Gandalf ” onWJFF-FM, RadioCatskill. He wasinterviewed about thecontemporary scorehe and co-composerJohn Florio wrote forthe classic 1931 filmThe Blue Angel.

2 0 0 7Ezra Rich Class Correspondent205 West 95 StreetNew York, NY [email protected]

Meghan Keane is anartist who directs theindependent art studiobearing her name,which she founded in2004. She is thefounding director andcurator of theBrooklyn CollegeHonors Academy ArtGallery. She hasreceived BrooklynCollege’s Charles G.Shaw Memorial ArtDepartment Award forpainting in each of thelast three years.

Attention Alumni:

Please help us help

you stay connected

and up to date with

information and

communications

from the College and

your alumni

association. Please

send your e-mail

addresses to:

alumni@brooklyn.

cuny.edu.

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Faculty

Lucille S. BaconPhysical Education andExercise Science Department

Morton BerkowitzPolitical Scince Department

Abraham S. EisenstadtHistory Department

Martha Jean HakesConservatory of Music

H.Wiley HitchcockConservatory of Music

Jack KuneyTelevision and RadioDepartment

Ernest J. LeoModern Languages andLiteratures Department

Wendy Hall MaloneySEEK Department

Elizabeth MurrayArt Department

Edwin Terry ProthroPsychology Department

Herman RoseArt Department

Alfred RussellArt Department

Alumni

Sylvia Brazaza Segal, ’32 Edward Propper, ’33 Sylvia Trow Gail, ’34 Arthur J. Levenson, ’34 Jessie Lubart Levey, ’34Amelia Patterson Prince, ’34Anne E. Sunderland, ’34Miriam Kessin Fishman, ’35Ruth Fishman Goldstein, ’35Milton Novak, ’35 Mortimer J. Abramowitz, ’36 Daniel D. Bier, ’36 Henrietta Marks Brooks, ’36David Fishman, ’36 Arline Ferns Henry, ’36May Medzibor Lipson, ’36Gladys Bloom, ’37 Lillian Selinger Kalos, ’37Esther Saggese Marrone, ’37Sylvia Kornreich Orans, ’37 Jennie Scurti Cusenza, ’38Milton L. Kleinman, ’38Shirley Rich Klugman, ’38Michael Mongiello, ’38 Morris Rockstein, ’38 Robert Rosenthal, ’38 Charles M. Seifried, ’38Anthony (Tony) Sugameli, ’38Fannie Schutz Benson, ’39Elizabeth Chirico, ’39 Gertrude Tucker Weker, ’39Evelyn Harris Betman, ’40 Barbara Harris, ’40 Nina Zimet Chernowitz

Schneider, ’40 John A. Garraty, ’41Juanita Kane Kaye, ’41 Seymour Weinstein, ’41 Charlotte Zucker, ’41

Seymour Benzer, ’42Ralph Bray, ’42 Ralph C. Goldman, ’42 Norman Botnick Gordon, ’42Georgia Heaslip, ’42 Elsie Shapiro Klein, ’42Jackson Parker, ’42Elaine Garfinkel Rosenthal, ’42 Marvin S. Flowerman, ’43Emanuel (Manny) Saltzman, ’43 Ruth Drucker Cooperman, ’44 Seymour J. Lederer, ’44 Stella Moskowitz Propper, ’44 Pauline Horowitz

Grossbard, ’45Muriel Goodman Engel, ’46 Pearl Pressel Herman, ’46 Shiela Marin, ’46 Herman Becker, ’47 Roy Frank, ’47 Leatrice Fluhr Isaacson, ’47Zenia Cohen Hines Katz, ’47Ruth Kait Lesser, ’47 Bernice Shaw (Boshie)

Levine, ’47 Samuel H. Popper, ’47 Irvin Bartels, ’48 Robert Drogin, ’48Raul Hilberg, ’48 Allan R. Mendelsohn, ’48Pearl Ann Baron Simonoff, ’48 Henry P. Stetina, ’48Helen Nagelberg Rosenthal

Zucker, ’48Harold Berman, ’49 Andre Philippe, ’49 Carmela Scioscia Primak, ’49 Morton Zied, ’49 Sondra Kaplan Slade, ’50Alex W. Szogyi, ’50 Frederick B. Bartlett, ’51

Sylvan Fox, ’51Eileen Ratchik Kantor, ’51 Saul W. Grey, ’52 Jerome Palley, ’52 Byrd Drucker, ’53Ethel Karcag Jacobson, ’53 Betty Finkelstein Kitay, ’55 Harvey Mozer, ’55 Marcia Hein Rubin, ’58Robert R.West, ’58 Anne Spiegel Snyder, ’59 George Henry Stein, ’59 James W. Garafola, ’60 Adele Bozio, ’61 Deborah Gross Rothman, ’61 Stephen Henry Saul, ’61 John (Jack) Deltuvia Sr., ’62 Bruce L. Metzger, ’62Barbara L. Fisher, ’63 Merrilee J. Possner, ’63Rebecca Levine Schwartz, ’64Allen Ewig, ’66Marilyn Meyers Fried, ’67Jay Newman, ’68 Fredric M. Suser, ’68Gerald M. Labush, ’69 Philip Janowitz, ’70 David C. Mann, ’70 Stephen Victor Linetsky, ’71 Albert Parker, ’73 George C. Motchan, ’76Morton Halpern, ’78Henry Coppedge, ’79 Clark Siegfried, ’79 Sheryl Taub Leibert, ’85 Benedict A. Bowman, ’86 Charles Giuliano, ’89 Frank P. Neve, ’96Digna Maria Davis, ’04

inMemoriamBROOKLYN COLLEGE MAGAZINE FALL 2007

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Faculty Books

Jeffrey Biegel, Conservatory of Music,ed.Various composers, SonatinaAlbum. G. Schirmer, Inc., 2007, $12.95,softcover with CD.

Jeffrey Biegel, Conservatory of Music,ed. Schumann, Kinderscenen (Scenesfrom Childhood), Opus 15. G.Schirmer, Inc., 2007, $12.95, softcoverwith CD.

Joseph B. Entin,Department ofEnglish, SensationalModernism:Experimental Fictionand Photography inThirties America.University of North

Carolina Press, 2007, $22.50, softcover.

Gertrude Ezorsky, Professor Emeritaof Philosophy, Freedom in theWorkplace? Cornell University Press,2007, $12.95, softcover.

Tanni Haas, Department of SpeechCommunication Arts and Sciences,The Pursuit of Public Journalism:Theory,Practice, and Criticism, New York,Routledge, 2007, $24.95, softcover.

Lee Haring,Professor Emeritusof English, Stars andKeys: Folktales andCreolization in theIndian Ocean, withtranslations byClaudie Ricaud and

Dawood Auleear. Indiana UniversityPress, 2007, $65, hardcover.

Joshua Henkin,Department ofEnglish, Matrimony.Pantheon, 2007,$23.95, hardcover.

Foster Hirsch,Department ofFilm, Otto Preminger:The Man Who WouldBe King. Alfred A.Knopf, 2007, $35,hardcover.

KC Johnson, Department of History,and Stuart Taylor Jr., Until ProvenInnocent: Political Correctness and theShameful Injustices of the DukeLacrosse Rape Case. Thomas DunneBooks, 2007, $26.95, hardcover.

Alumni Books

StephanieCalmenson, ’73,Birthday at thePanda Palace.HarperCollins,2007, $15.99,hardcover.

Stephanie Calmenson, ’73, and JanOrmerod, May I Pet Your Dog:TheHow-to Guide for Kids Meeting Dogs(and Dogs Meeting Kids). ClarionBooks, 2007, $9.95, hardcover.

Louis Camporeale, ’84,New York City ParkingSurvival Guide. ParkingPal Company, Inc.,2007, $18.95,softcover.

Angelina C. Corbet,’73, ’76, The LittlePink Book of Feminine Leadership. TheMobius Company, 2006, $16,hardcover.

RobertNathanson, ’70,and ArthurKimmel, TheCollege Athlete’sGuide to AcademicSuccess:Tips from

Peers and Profs. Pearson Prentice Hall.$25, softcover.

Manuel Schonhorn, ’55, Defoe’sPolitics: Parliament, Power, Kingship, andRobinson Crusoe. Reprint of hardcoveredition published in 1991. CambridgeUniversity Press, 2006, $29.99,softcover.

Helen ZegermanSchwimmer, ’69, Likethe Stars of theHeavens. Jay StreetPublishers, 2007,$18.95, softcover.

Angelina Sithebe, ’86, Holy Hill. Umuzi,2007, $16, softcover.

Benjamin Wrubel, ’86, Word Speaking,iUniverse.com, 2007, $25.95.www.iUniverse.com/bookstore/book-detail.asp?isbn=0-595-46676-1

recentBooks

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BROOKLYN COLLEGE MAGAZINE F ALL 2007

43

heating and cooling.The process involvesholes to perhaps 10 meters’ depth, and thecirculation of tap water via one-inch pipe ina closed loop between the subsurface andthe house. No water is consumed in theprocess. (By comparison, geothermal wellscommonly are drilled to 2.5 to 3 kilometersdepth, and in some fields to 4 kilometers—not exactly close to the surface.)

The number of structures using thisshallow-source geothermal heating nowexceeds 1 million, and the number isgrowing rapidly.

It is that combination of techniquesand end uses that is surprising thegeothermal industry in this country.Utilization would be accelerated ifCongress in its wisdom offered the taxcredits and financial grants given to otherenergy-producing industries.We reallydon’t need to have the “hot rocks . . .close to the surface.”What we need is alevel playing field.

James Koenig, ’54The writer is a director of GeothermEx, Inc., and

of the International Geothermal Association.

Robert Bell’s Reply:Dr. Koenig’s exposition of geothermal heatpumps is truly important. The tragedy forthe U.S. in the now concluded house-buildingboom is that heat pumps were not requiredon all new structures that couldaccommodate them.This is truly arenewable energy technology that worksnow and will get better and cheaper in thenear future. It would go a long way toreducing both heating and air conditioningexpenses for houses and many commercialbuildings—and it does so with no CO2output.

The advantages of heat pumps are soobvious that they are truly a “no brainer.”But the utter absence of political will forrenewable energy during the current

Administration in the U.S. encouraged astaggering number of new structures to bebuilt without these heat pumps. (Retrofittingexisting structures is certainly moreexpensive.) Congress should act now to useall the potential powers of the federalgovernment to require geothermal heatpumps in every new public and privatebuilding for which they are appropriate, andto offer financial aid for retrofitting those forwhich it is not too costly.

In addition, Dr. Koenig brings upanother urgent matter: “a level playing field.”The simple fact is that fossil fuel companiesare the beneficiaries of a wide network ofsubsidies, some of which I detail in myrecent book, The Green Bubble.Renewable energy, to the extent that it getssubsidies at all, gets them with nowherenear the same range, size or subtlety. Sincethe burning of fossil fuel pumps CO2 intothe atmosphere, subsidies to the fossil fuelindustry are literally paying for our ownsuicide.

Oil subsidies are also literally pouringmoney into the bank accounts of, in someinstances, people linked to those who payfor terrorist attacks on us. In any case, allimported oil or natural gas requires theexport of our money to pay for it. This is, infact, one of the major reasons for the fall ofthe dollar and the continuing rise of oilprices; to make up for the fall in the dollar,OPEC sees to it that oil, which is priced indollars, gets more expensive. OPEC officialsadmit this in public statements!

Exported dollars could have been usedto finance the growth of jobs here in theUnited States. Green jobs in Germany, themost advanced country in the deploymentof many sectors of renewable energy, forexample, went up from 157,100 in 2004to 231,300 in 2006. Geothermal jobsthere more than doubled from 1,800 to4,200. Also consider that geothermal

energy is inherently local, so whatever jobs itcreates around the drilling sites and localinfrastructure are also local.

I would go much further on this matterthan does Dr. Koenig in his letter. Forsurvival, national security, and prosperity, Ithink the U.S. should dramatically tilt theplaying field in favor of renewable energytechnologies that work now—includinggeothermal.We should shift the subsidiesfrom what is bankrupting and killing us,fossil fuels, to what can save us and bringus prosperity—renewable energy. And weneed to do this now. Europe has maderenewable energy a priority—we need towake up and do the same.

I certainly hope the geothermalindustry keeps drilling deeper.

Robert BellChair, Department of Economics

L E T T E R S continued from page 3

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Robert Leopoldi, ’92, set out on the road to highereducation with a dream of going into politics, or possiblybecoming a lawyer. But along the way, an internship in theAlbany office of a Queens assemblyman soured him onthat aspiration.

“It wasn’t allegations of corruption, backroom deals, oranything like that in the political system you read about inthe newspaper or hear on the TV that turned me off,”Leopoldi recalls. “Instead, it was a combination of things.

“My family situation had changed quite a lot while Iwas in college,” he explains. His father died in 1989 andhis two older brothers, Joe and Peter, were left to run thefamily business in Park Slope, Joe Leopoldi’s Hardware, onFifth Avenue between Seventh and Eighth streets.

“Also, there were a lot of warm feelings and goodmemories that were drawing me back,” he notes,remembering how while growing up all three brothers hadworked part time in the store alongside their parents.

“A lot of our friends worked in the store, too. So after Igraduated from Brooklyn College, I decided to come home.”

With his bachelor’s degree in political science,Leopoldi returned to the Brooklyn neighborhood wherehe had grown up, to join his brothers, who both hadbusiness degrees from Baruch College.

Park Slope has undergone many changes over the pastfew decades, becoming one of New York’s trendiestneighborhoods, but Leopoldi’s still stands in the middle of acommercial block of small shops and stores that serve a localclientele.Although big-name chain stores have not yet madeit to the Leopoldi’s block, they are beginning to close in.“We

had Home Depot open up in the neighborhoodabout ten years ago,” says Joe Leopoldi. “Lowe’s gothere a little later. But we’re still here and holding ourown.We have a good reputation.”

Robert, thirty-eight, and his brothers grew up justaround the corner from the hardware store, onSeventh Street. “Our father bought the hardwarestore at an auction in 1966,” he says. “He didn’t knowanything at all about hardware back then. He was justan independent kind of a guy who was looking for abusiness that required fewer hours than the candystore and luncheonette he owned before.”

To this day Leopoldi’s remains an old-fashionedneighborhood hardware emporium. Outside,depending on the season, the brothers displaybuckets of roofing tar, sheaves of lawn rakes, snow

shovels, and other lawn and yard accoutrements. Inside, thestore is a cluttered, homey space with narrow aisles andshelves that reach up to the ceiling. Every flat surface andsquare inch of vertical wall space is crammed withdoodads, gadgets, and all sorts of replacement parts. If youcan’t find what you’re looking for here, one of the brothersor their assistants will find it for you in the pages of one oftheir dog-eared catalogues. “We can get you whatever youneed,” Leopoldi says proudly.

The customers who patronize Leopoldi’s Hardwarethese days are a mix of long-time neighborhood residents,newly arrived young couples, and contractors who flood infrom opening till closing. “We get a lot of contractors inthe store,” Leopoldi says. “They don’t buy their heavystuff—beams, cement, and the like—from us, but theycome in for the small things—replacement parts, hammers,drills, that sort of thing.They come here because theyknow we have what they need, and that we’ll take care ofthem quickly.They won’t have to stand in any long line.”

Despite all the fond memories and ongoing pleasuresof operating a successful family business, Robert Leopoldisays that he and his wife, Christa, are not going to insisttheir three children, Alyson, Gianna, and Robert Vincent,work in the hardware store in their turn, except, perhaps,helping out part time. And college will be part of theirchildren’s future, too.

“Oh, sure, they will be going to college,” he says.“Education will open up lots of options for them. It wasgood for my brothers and me. It will be good for mychildren, too.”

a roadLess traveled

Page 47: Brooklyn College Magazine, Fall 2007...driving young, talented teachers out of the profession. Chief among them is a disconnect between public schools and schools of higher education

Start a Brooklyn College Foundation Charitable Gift Annuity.

A Brooklyn College Foundation Charitable Gift Annuity offers you a way to earn a guaranteed rate

of return for life based on your age—with no market risk.

It’s easy to set up with a gift of $10,000 or more.What’s more, a Charitable Gift Annuity

enables you to earn a significant tax break while supporting the historical mission of Brooklyn

College—high-quality, affordable education.

Call Bill Healy, senior philanthropy adviser, at (718) 951-5074 or send an e-mail to

[email protected] to find out more about Charitable Gift Annuities and other planned

giving options through the Brooklyn College Foundation.

Give yourself a tax break.Plus a guaranteed income for life.

Support Brooklyn College’s mission.

Page 48: Brooklyn College Magazine, Fall 2007...driving young, talented teachers out of the profession. Chief among them is a disconnect between public schools and schools of higher education

Brooklyn CollegeThe City University of New York 2900 Bedford AvenueBrooklyn, New York 11210-2889

Nonprofit OrganizationU.S. PostagePAIDBrooklyn, N.Y.Permit No. 3091

The Soprano Is a Tenor: At the First Annual President’s Concert in spring 2007, held in Whitman Hall, Sopranos star Dominic Chianese, ’61, a.k.a. Uncle Junior

(accompanied here by Brian Willson from the Conservatory of Music), played guitar, sang,and recited poetry. The hour-long concert also featured works performed by the

Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music Choir, Chamber Choir, Orchestra, Brass Ensemble, Opera Theater, and Jazz Ensemble.

The Second Annual President’s Concert will be hosted by another Sopranos star and BC alumnus, Steve Schirripa,’81, a.k.a. Bobby “Bacala,”

on Thursday, April 3, at 3:30 p.m. in Whitman Hall.