to Mary Lu Bilek, who has served as InterimDean since May 2005, for “her outstanding dedi-cation and service.”

The new Vice Chancellor for StudentDevelopment, Dr. Moore, has been AssociateProvost and Vice Chancellor for Student Life atEast Carolina University since 2002.

An administrator with a strong commitmentto helping students succeed, Dr. Moore holds a

cuny.edu/news THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK • FOUNDED 1847 AS THE FREE ACADEMY

“Open the doors to all — let thechildren of the rich and the poor taketheir seats together and know of no

distinction save that of industry,good conduct, and intellect.”

— Townsend Harris, founder

MAY 2006

Julia Rafal, a special-education teacherearning her master’s at Lehman College, hasa clear aim: to open the Bronx’s first all-inclusive charter school.

Ryan Merola, a Brooklyn College juniorenrolled in the Honors College, wants tobecome an assistant district attorney.

And Rachel Schnur of Queens Collegesees her future in cancer research and auniversity teaching position.

As winners of three highly competitivenational scholarships, the students recentlytook giant steps toward reaching theirrespective goals. Rafal was named aMarshall Scholar; Merola, a TrumanScholar; and Schnur, a Goldwater Scholar.

“CUNY students are once again com-peting successfully for the most prestigiousawards at the highest levels of academicachievement,” said Chancellor MatthewGoldstein. “This is a tribute to the studentsand their families, our dedicated faculty,and the reforms implemented at CUNYover the past several years.”

Britain’s select Marshall Scholarship,which counts U.S. Supreme Court JusticeStephen Breyer among its alumni, wasawarded to Rafal and 42 others for 2006.As a Marshall Scholar, she will receive$60,000 to pursue her Ph.D. at theUniversity of Cambridge, England, focusingon inclusive and comparative education.

“Ultimately, my goal is to return to theU.S. and design and implement charterschools nationwide based on the inclusionmodels used in the U.K.,” said Rafal, whonow teaches at Bronx PS 246 throughTeach for America.

Opening the Bronx’s first all-inclusivecharter school, an approach she believeswill aid in erasing the special-educationstigma and help children learn while

Prominent legal scholar Michelle J.Andersonwas appointed Dean of the CUNY School ofLaw and Dr. Garrie W. Moore was named ViceChancellor for Student Development, in actionstaken by the Board of Trustees at its April 24meeting.

The Board also announced the retirement ofEmma Espino Macari, the University’s ViceChancellor for Facilities Planning, Constructionand Management.The Interim ViceChancellor will be Eduardo N. del Valle.

A member of the faculty of VillanovaUniversity School of Law since 1998,Anderson has taught criminal law andfeminist legal theory. She is a graduate ofYale Law School, where she was NotesEditor of the Yale Law Journal and Editorof the Yale Journal of Law & Feminism.

Chancellor Matthew Goldstein said,“Professor Anderson brings to the CUNYSchool of Law an impeccable academicbackground and an enduring commit-ment to the highest standards of schol-arship and teaching.”

The Chancellor expressed thanks

tenured faculty appointment in East CarolinaUniversity’s School of Allied Health. Hisappointment, like Anderson’s, is effective July2006.

Chancellor Goldstein said,“Dr. Moore hasdemonstrated an unwavering commitment toempowering students from diverse backgroundsto become productive college graduates. Hebrings to the University an impressive range ofexperiences aimed at strengthening the quality ofstudent life.”

Dr. Moore holds a doctorate in educationfrom North Carolina State University. Frommodest beginnings as a teacher training school inNorth Carolina, East Carolina University hasgrown to become an emerging, national researchuniversity with an enrollment of more than23,000.

Speaking of Macari, the retiring ViceChancellor for Facilities Planning, the Board not-ed she has served since 1993 and has overseen“an estimated $7.5 billion in planning, design andconstruction.”The new interim appointment, delValle, has been CUNY’s Director of Design,Construction and Management.

accepting differences, is on Rafal’s agenda.Marshall Scholarships, founded by

Britain in 1953 as thanks for U.S. help forEurope after World War II, annually recog-nize 40 high-achieving American scholarswho are likely to become leaders in theirfields. The awards, named for George C.Marshall, whose Marshall Plan helped torebuild Europe, pay for two years of gradu-ate-level studies at a British university.

Exceptional leadership potential is alsorecognized by the Truman Scholarships,which are named for President Harry STruman and provide $30,000 for graduatestudy to college juniors committed to pub-lic service careers. Ryan Merola, a BrooklynCollege political science-philosophy dou-ble major who aspires to graduate schooland law school, is the second CUNY stu-dent in two years to receive the Truman.

Last year’s went to his friend CharlesClaudio Simpkins of City College, whohas been accepted to Harvard LawSchool for this fall.

Merola is a vice chair for fiscal affairsof the University Student Senate. TheMarine Park resident’s parents and oneof his grandmothers also studied atBrooklyn College. That fact, combinedwith his acceptance into CUNY’sHonors College program, made hisdecision to attend Brooklyn “a no-brain-er,” he said.

The highly competitive HonorsCollege provides qualifying studentswith full tuition, an academic stipend, alaptop, and intensive advisement,including essay-writing guidance andinterview practice for their scholarshipapplications.

CUNY also had a repeat performancethis year with the prestigious GoldwaterScholarship. Named for Arizona Sen.

Barry Goldwater, the program recognizesoutstanding math, science and engineeringstudents, covering the cost of tuition, fees,books and room and board up to $7,500per year.

Last year’s Goldwater winner wasPhilipa Njau, who graduates from CityCollege in 2007 and aspires to a career as aresearch scientist. This year’s CUNYawardee is biology major Rachel Schnurof Hillcrest, Queens, a junior in QueensCollege’s honors program in mathematicsand natural sciences.

Schnur wants to earn a doctorate inmolecular biology/genetics, and pursue can-cer research and university teaching. Thesedays, though, she works with QueensCollege Professor Timothy Short, studyingplants’ responses to their environment: “I'min the lab all day long, and I love it.”

Pictured, left to right, are award-winning studentsJulia Rafal, Ryan Merola and Rachel Schnur.

Marshall, Truman and Goldwater Scholars are Named,Continuing the String of Highly Prestigious Awards

Online BA Steps ontothe StageAfter years of offering online

courses to students who want –no, need – them, the Univer-sity is preparing to offer itsfirst online bachelor’sdegrees. The Online

Baccalaureate makesits debut.

Citizenship Now!The University continued its part-

nership with the New York Daily News,setting aside weeklong sessions forexperts to answer questions aboutbecoming naturalized. The sessions are

among the mostpopular call-insin the city’shistory.

Race Matters – IssuesRaised andDiscussed

With former BrooklynCollege professor JohnHope Franklin as a fea-tured speaker, CUNYaddresses the plight ofyoung black males. Racealso became an issue inthe case of a murderedHunter College student.

Center Tracks Cancer inNuclear Plant Workers

Queens College’s Center for the Biology ofNatural Systems, headed by Dr. Steven

Markowitz, has received$40 million to test

workers exposedto radiation

and toxicchemicalplantsaround

thecountry.

MFA Program GivesBirth to Theater Company

Using plans they developed as students inBrooklyn College’s MFA program in the-ater, two young men form a permanenttheater company in Brooklynand offer the borougha series ofclassacts.

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Inside

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4

New Law School Dean Michelle J. Anderson

New Vice Chancellor for StudentDevelopment Garrie W. Moore

Board Appoints New Law Dean, New V.C. for Students

FROM THECHANCELLOR’S DESK

2 CUNY MATTERS — May 2006

degree-grantingauthority for someof our flagshipenvironment cam-puses, and expan-sion of master’sprograms as feeders to the Ph.D.

Enrollment in CUNY’s math, science,and engineering degree programs increasedby 26 percent over the last five years, com-pared to total enrollment growth of 12percent, and included more than 11,000undergraduate and graduate students inFall 2005.

In Fall 2006, CUNY’s Teacher Academywill welcome its first class at six campuses:Brooklyn College, City College, theCollege of Staten Island, Hunter College,Lehman College, and Queens College. Theacademy will educate students at the bac-calaureate level by integrating hands-onteaching experience in the public schoolswith a rigorous academic program in theirmajors—biology, chemistry, earth science,or mathematics. Each student will receivetuition support and will teach for a mini-mum of two years in New York Cityschools after graduation.

CUNY’s extensive—and growing—College Now program to prepare studentsfor college enrollment will continue to runsummer science programs and plans toexpand summer programs in mathematics.

The University is also introducing a new“Science Now” program for middle andhigh school students, as part of the CollegeNow program. CUNY will work with theNew York Academy of Sciences and theDepartment of Education to create aware-ness and interest in science disciplinesthrough specially designed courses andworkshops after school and during thesummer; an annual science competitionthat extends existing competition models,such as the Intel Science Talent Search, tostudents who have not traditionally partici-pated in such contests; and an interactivetelevision program to bring science activi-ties and innovations to a wide audience ofyoung people.

Science is not made in a laboratory; it ismade when a young person gets that initialspark of inspiration, that flash of exhilara-tion. Through the University’s Decade ofScience, we hope to encourage and sustainthat sense of excitement and curiosity,whether in budding scientists or seasonedresearchers.

CUNY’s Decade of Science

Board of TrusteesThe City University of New York

Benno C. Schmidt Jr.ChairmanValerie L. Beal Randy M. MastroJohn S. Bonnici Hugo M. MoralesJohn J. Calandra Kathleen M. PesileWellington Z. Chen Carol Robles-RománKenneth Cook Nilda Soto RuizRita DiMartino Marc V. ShawJoseph J. Lhota Jeffrey Wiesenfeld

ChancellorMatthew Goldstein

Secretary of the Board of Trustees andVice Chancellor for University Relations

Jay HershensonUniversity Director for Media Relations

Michael ArenaEditor Ron Howell

Writers Gary Schmidgall, Rita RodinPhotographer André Beckles

Graphic Design Gotham Design, NYCArticles in this and previous issues are availableat cuny.edu/news. Letters or suggestions for futurestories may be sent to the Editor by email toMediarelations@mail.cuny.edu. Changes of addressshould be made through your campus personnel office.

Susan O’MalleyChairperson,Faculty Senate

Carlos SierraChairperson,Student Senate

enhanced or fully online, according to esti-mates of George Otte, CUNY’s Directorof Instructional Technology.

Key is FlexibilityWhile online courses generally don’t

require less time or effort than traditionalclasses, they do allow CUNY students torearrange their schedules to make coursework feasible.

Eric Jackson is one such student. “Thecommute from the Bronx can be extreme-ly time-consuming,” said Jackson, who hastaken online writing and literature courseswith Associate Professor Bill Bernhardt atthe College of Staten Island. Jackson hastwo time-consuming internships, as well asan outside job. The online courses reducedcommuting time while allowing him tofulfill his academic needs, said Jackson,who hopes to graduate by next spring witha B.A. in history.

“And besides,” he said, “what’s coolerthan sitting in a class at 2 in the morning?”

Still, the main question many peopleask is: “Does that ‘classroom’ measure upto the face-to-face instruction of tradition-al courses?”

For many CUNY students and faculty

Over a year ago, we designated theyears 2005 to 2015 the “Decade ofScience” at CUNY, renewing theUniversity’s commitment to creating ahealthy pipeline to science, math, technolo-gy, and engineering fields by advancing sci-ence at the highest levels, training studentsto teach in these areas, and encouragingyoung people to study in these disciplines.

Recent news at CUNY indicates thatthe University is meeting these challenges.As reported in this issue of CUNYMatters, the Center for the Biology ofNatural Systems of Queens College justreceived a four-year $19.5 million awardfrom the U.S. Department of Energy tosupport a research program of early detec-tion of occupational disease. In addition,the National Institutes of Health awarded$13.2 million to Hunter College’s Centerfor the Study of Gene Structure andFunction, and $12.5 million to CityCollege’s Center for the Study of theCellular and Molecular Basis ofDevelopment. The grants were madethrough the NIH’s Research Centers inMinority Institutions Program.

These and other awards indicate thehigh quality of faculty research at CUNYand the lead role faculty play in advancingscience at every level within theUniversity. Since 1998, CUNY has addedalmost 800 new full-time faculty to itsranks, in part by targeting selected areas,including photonics and biosciences, forongoing cluster hiring. In the last fouryears alone, more than 400 full-time facul-ty have been hired in engineering, math,and science.

Our Decade of Science is moving for-ward on several other fronts, as well.

We will see a dramatic increase in theconstruction and modernization of sciencefacilities around the University, mostnotably the CUNY-wide Advanced ScienceResearch Center—which will concentrateon emerging disciplines such as photonics,nanotechnology, biosensing and remotesensing, structural biology andmacromolecular assemblies, andneuroscience—and science facilities atBrooklyn, City, Hunter, Lehman, andQueens colleges. Over the next decade, wewill be expending about $1 billion acrossthe University on capital projects in thesciences.

The University has begun anoperational review of our Ph.D. programsin the laboratory sciences, leading to newinvestments in graduate student supportfor highly competitive students, Ph.D.

When Casandra Kelting started col-lege more than 18 years ago in SanFrancisco, she suffered a back injury andwas suddenly forced to withdraw. Afterrecovering from the injury, she beganworking as a paralegal and spent the nextseveral years in various jobs and traveling.

Recently, however, the Staten Island res-ident felt she was being turned down forjobs because she didn’t have a bachelor’sdegree. It was time to finally get thatdegree, Kelting decided. The trick wouldbe to find a way to juggle a course sched-ule around her two jobs.

The answer, in part, was an onlinecourse at CUNY’s College of StatenIsland, where Kelting also worked part-time in the financial aid office.

“I’m online everyday with this class,”said Kelting, who also works as an inde-pendent title closer.

Taking an online class, she said, is “verychallenging, but it’s convenient, too. I canget online any time, morning or night.”

For Kelting and thousands of others atthe City University of New York, onlineinstruction represents an opportunity to goto college when various life circumstancesget in the way.

This fall CUNY will open its arms evenwider to students like Kelting.

That’s when the School of ProfessionalStudies will launch the CUNYOnline Baccalaureate inCommunication and Culture,enabling students who havealready earned at least 30 col-lege credits to complete theirbachelor’s degree throughonline instruction.

Historical MomentIt will be an historical

moment for the University andcollege education.

“Most of these people other-wise would have no access,” saidPhilip Pecorino, a philosophyprofessor at QueensboroughCommunity College, who hastaught about 50 online coursessince 2001. The most motivated onliners,said Pecorino, include “women with smallchildren returning to college, people withphysical disabilities or health problems,and those who can’t come regularly tocampus because of their job.”

Today, about 2.3 million studentsnationally are currently enrolled in onlinecourses, according to researchers at aMassachusetts-based consortium known asSloan-C, which exists to improve the qual-ity of online education. Some online class-es are called “hybrid,” or “blended,” whichmeans they combine online and traditionalclassroom instruction; others are totallyonline, or “asynchronous.”

CUNY has been involved with onlineeducation since the mid-1990s, saysAnthony Picciano, professor in the graduateeducation program at Hunter College and afounding member of Sloan-C’s board ofdirectors. Supported by funding from theAlfred P. Sloan Foundation and the NewYork State Department of Education,CUNY has trained hundreds of facultywho have offered online courses to thou-sands of students over the last five years.

Now more than 70,000 CUNY studentsare taking courses that are either Web-

A Short GlossaryOf Online Instruction Terms

Asynchronous learning – courses taught fullyonline, with virtually no face-to-face interaction.

Hybrid or blended courses – classes taught withcombination of face-to-face and online instruction.

Blackboard – a type of course management soft-ware enabling instructors to post assignments, keepattendance, conduct tests, track grades and facili-tate discussions.

Tablet computers – computers that allow facultyand students to make notations on the screen, theway they would mark with pen or pencil on paper.

Deborah Adler of Riverdale is taking an online graduate course at Hunter, allowing her to spend time withher newborn son at home and to work as a fifth-grade teacher in Dobbs Ferry.

Online Courses Open Doors of Opportunity for Thousands Who Otherwise Could not ‘Attend’ College

students, it’s not as much a concern formost online students who are faced withthe choice of taking a course online — ornot at all.

For Amy Greenberg, who is taking anonline graduate seminar with Picciano atHunter College, the lack of faculty “face-time” is not an issue, particularly sincethere were two initial regular class sessionsat the beginning of the semester andanother session at the end.

Greenberg said the experience can beintense and fulfilling. “It’s time-consumingwith 23 people; you have to read every-one’s posting,” said the Manhattanresident, referring to herself and her class-mates. “I didn’t expect it to be likethis...But it’s a discussion, and you want torespond.”

Training is RequiredNot being in a physical classroom also

may have other unexpected benefits.Pecorino, the Queensborough philosophyprofessor, recalls one day when a studentcame by his office and said in brokenEnglish, “I just came by to thank you.”

“I asked why,” Pecorino said. The stu-dent replied that as an immigrant whospoke English as a second language, he wasself-conscious and reluctant to speak up ina regular class. “But in your class,” he said,“I’m like anybody else. We’re all the same.”

While online courses may spur morefrequent and fluid commu-nication, they are not easieroverall, advocates say. Infact, they usually requiremore training, organization-al skills and work — forboth faculty and students.

Online CUNY coursesuse Blackboard, e-learningsoftware that debuted oncampuses in the fall of 2004.Using Blackboard, facultycan post assignments, con-duct online discussions, keepattendance and track grades.

Faculty do need to bevery organized. Studies bythe State University ofNew York show that facul-ty spent between 100 and500 hours (an average of

200 hours) training and preparing beforetheir first day of teaching an online class,Pecorino said.

CUNY offers technical assistance forprofessors and for students who need to

learn Blackboardsoftware, andwho may needhelp whenthings go wrong.

But noteverything isdifferent fromtraditionalclasses.

For example,in teaching hisintroductorywriting courses,Staten Island’sBernhardt uses atablet computerthat allows himto mark paperson the screen, asif they wereessays on paper.

CUNY MATTERS — May 2006 3

the answer is yes –although there’s atradeoff: What’s lostin the spontaneity of atraditional classroomis compensated by asignificant gain inreflection, they say.

“You don’t havethat kind of physicalpresence of the class-room, the ability toask a question when itcomes to mind,” saidBernhardt, who’s beenteaching online classessince 1999. But onlineis “a more thoughtfulmedium,” he said, not-ing that there areoften more written interactions betweenteachers, students, and their classmates.

Besides, Bernhardt added, while havingthe opportunity to listen to a dynamic lec-turer may be important for on-campus

Marshalling its full range of educa-tional resources — a renowned faculty,an innovative program of study and thelatest Internet technology — the CityUniversity of New York is offering itsfirst Online Baccalaureate this fall.

Designed for those who seek to com-plete their college degree, CUNY’s newonline baccalaureate combines a strongliberal arts curriculum with a concentra-tion in communication and culture.Courses will be diverse and challenging— and include such areas as mass mediastudies, organizational change, globalculture, historical perspectives, scientificreasoning, and urban affairs. Offering adistinctive “virtual classroom” experi-ence, the online baccalaureate combinesflexible scheduling and Web-based toolsto facilitate a high degree of interactionamong students, their instructors, andfellow classmates.

“The online degree wasspecifically created forthose who have been suc-cessful academically, butwere unable to finish theirstudies for unrelated rea-sons, such as a demandingjob or family responsibili-ties,” said CUNYChancellor MatthewGoldstein. “This kind ofprogram fits perfectly withthe mission and traditionof the University — toreach out to New Yorkersand provide access to aquality education, which they might nothave otherwise.”

Offered through CUNY’s School ofProfessional Studies, the degree will enrollstudents who already have earned at least30 credits from an accredited college oruniversity. It will also draw students whohave completed their associate’s degreeand seek to embark on a baccalaureateeducation. Full-time CUNY faculty willteach the inaugural class of approximately300 students. The University’s Board ofTrustees and New York’s State EducationDepartment have formally approved theonline baccalaureate.

“It's a strong liberal arts program, onethat will equip graduates with skillsincreasingly useful in professional envi-ronments,” said Selma Botman, ExecutiveVice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.“Among the goals of the program is forstudents to develop an awareness of thesocial implications of the technologiesthey use, not just learn technical skills.”

A key aspect of the online degree,according to John Mogulescu, Dean ofthe School of Professional Studies, is thecommitment to student support ser-vices, including financial aid, tech sup-port, career counseling, tutoring andpersonal academic advisors. Along withflexible course schedules, these servicesare critical to making college moreaccessible — particularly for studentswho were unable to finish their degree.

College degree-completion has eludedmany students nationwide. In 1986, morethan half the students in four-year publicinstitutions completed their degrees, saidGeorge Otte, CUNY’s Director ofInstructional Technology. Since that time,he said, research shows that the numberof students completing their degree hassteadily declined across the country, withnot much more than a third of students

now achieving their degree.The launch of CUNY’s

Online Baccalaureate fol-lows extensive work withonline instruction between2000 and 2004, supportedby grants from the AlfredP. Sloan Foundation.During that time, morethan 20,000 students havetaken online courses atCUNY campuses acrossvirtually every discipline,Otte said.

Online instruction hasincreased dramaticallyover the last decade.

“There is a strong sense among studentsthat online courses are just as good asface-to-face classes, that there is actuallyas much or more interaction, student-to-student, and student-to-faculty,” Ottesaid. Ninety percent of the students sur-veyed said the experience was “as goodas or better” than a similar traditionalcourse, he said.

Those findings were mirrored amongthe faculty who were surveyed, Otteadded. While 90 percent of participatingfaculty acknowledged that onlineinstruction required more time andwork, they wanted to keep doing it. “It'sreally developed in a grassroots way,”Otte said. “Now faculty are saying, ‘Let’sbuild on the work so many of us havebegun and develop an online degree thatmaximizes the benefits to the students.’”

Students can come to CUNY and fin-ish what they started. For more informa-tion, please visit www.cuny.edu/online orcall 212-652-CUNY.

The online B.A.program is for

those who havebeen “unable to

finish their studiesfor unrelated

reasons, such asdemanding job

or family responsibilities.”

– Chancellor Matthew Goldstein.

uate course at Hunter, allowing her to spend time withfi de teacher in Dobbs Ferry.

The most motivatedonliners are: “womenwith small childrenreturning to college,people with physicaldisabilities or health

problems, and those whocan’t come regularly tocampus because of their

job,” says PhilipPecorino, a philosophy

professor atQueensborough

Community College.

Casandra Kelting has two jobs and saves on commute time by taking anonline class at the College of Staten Island.

f Opportunity for Thousands Who Otherwise Could not ‘Attend’ College

CUNY Online B.A. Makes Its Debut

At the same time, because studentsoften file assignments as they finish them,rather than waiting to submit them on thedeadline day, Bernhardt marks them asthey come in, instead of going through theentire stack in one day. “I tell them, theearlier they do the work, the more atten-tion they’re likely to get,” Bernhardt said.

Deborah Adler of Riverdale, who is alsotaking Picciano’s graduate research courseat Hunter, agrees that online classes leavemore time for discussion and thinking.“The first time (we) used Blackboard, Ithought, ‘Wow, it’s really a place you canhave a discussion.’”

But developing friendships from purelyonline interactions is more challenging,said Adler, also a fifth-grade teacher inDobbs Ferry, who wanted to continue hereducation while pregnant with her son.(He was born in late February.)

Kelting, the Staten Islander who recent-ly returned to college, said one of herbiggest challenges was preparing for tech-nical glitches, such as computer crashesthat end up eating an entire paper.“Professor Bernhardt told me, ‘You’re goingto have that happen sometimes,’ so youneed a backup plan. You can’t be a personwho’s discouraged by that.”

4 CUNY MATTERS — May 2006

a good agent or a good clinician you needto be a great listener.”

Lyne, raised in Westport, Conn., becamean agent while studying cinematography atNew York University. She took a positionat the Gersh Agency representing cinema-tographers, and within a few years was co-heading the firm’s literary division, as well.An offer to join International CreativeManagement had her packing for the WestCoast.

She had a pivotal moment, though,when she read an article in The Atlantic onattachment theory that was written by BobKaren, a CCNY graduate student who wasworking with Professor Arietta Slade atCity. Attachment theory is defined by

Wikipedia as “a theory (or group of the-ories) about the psychological concept ofattachment: the tendency to seek close-ness to another person and feel securewhen that person is present.”

The topic piqued Lyne’s interest andsoon she was devouring “everything Icould read on the subject,” she recalled.

She eventually decided on CCNY forthe opportunity to study with Slade, aswell as with Professor Eliot Jurist, whoco-authored the authoritative book onmentalization along with ProfessorFonagy.

The difficulty of returning to collegestudies was made easier by CCNY’s sup-portive environment, she said. “City hasa thorough support system that takes thefear out of returning and worrying thatyou’ve forgotten too much,” she said.

“Also, no matter how much you havelearned or experienced, there are bril-liant professors who have somethingnew and exciting to teach you.”Lyne’s motivation, preparation and

enthusiasm earned her an importantopportunity at the Yale program. Dr.Mayes asked her to join ongoing researchon the “Minding the Baby” project, anintervention program for at-risk parents.

Lyne is happy with her evolving andexpanding world. ”I’m starting to seemyself as part of a network of colleaguesdoing psychological research,” said Lyne,who will apply to Ph.D. programs this falland is president of CCNY’s PsychologyClub, encouraging other undergraduates topursue advanced degrees.

“It changes your perspective andapproach when you are part of a networkof people working toward the same goals.”

A Hollywood talent agent-turned-City College psychologymajor has become the first under-graduate student admitted to a pres-tigious psychoanalytic trainingprogram co-sponsored by the AnnaFreud Center at University College,London, and Yale University’s ChildStudy Center.

Jen Lyne, a member of CCNY’sClass of 2007 and a City CollegeFellow, was one of 12 asked to thePsychoanalytical Research TrainingProgram at Yale in mid-March, anearly weeklong gathering normallyopen only to advanced doctoral can-didates and other professionals.They attended presentations andhad their work critiqued by promi-nent faculty, including Peter Fonagy,Ph.D., chief executive of the AnnaFreud Center.

“It was extraordinary to have theundivided attention of such great faculty,and it was a networking opportunity barnone,” Lyne said. “Everyone else was eitherin a Ph.D. program or a practicing clini-cian. I was the only one who didn’t haveany patients to talk about.”

A screenwriter for EUE/Screen Gemswhen not attending CCNY, Lyne sees herdecision to study psychoanalysis and childdevelopment as a natural extension of herearlier professional life.

She compares her time as a talent agentto “10 years of clinical experience. Whenyou’re someone’s agent, you need tounderstand where they are emotionally,”she explained. “That’s the same point ofdeparture for a clinical psychologist. To be

Citizenship and Immigration Project and aProfessor of Law at Baruch College.

“The need for citizenship applicationassistance is great and growing,” he added,“despite existing federal and state resourcesfor these services.”

A clear indication of the need for suchservices is the overwhelming response to theCUNY/Daily News Citizenship Now! Effort.Typically during each of the twice yearlysession, more than 100,000 calls are placed.

The University also makes it campusesavailable, free of charge, for immigrantswearing-in ceremonies. This initiative isled by President Eduardo J. Marti ofQueensborough Community College,himself an immigrant.

Dominican ExchangeStudents at City Tech“Imiss my country, but I’m learning alot and I do like it here. Our group reallyhas a chance to make a difference — toleave a legacy about the importance ofcross-cultural communication.”

So said Jose Heriberto Martinez, one ofseven students from the DominicanRepublic who are studying at New York CityCollege of Technology (City Tech) as part ofthe new “Study at The City University ofNew York (CUNY) Scholarship Program”sponsored by CUNY and the government ofthe Dominican Republic.

Martinez and the other newly arrivedDominican students have had their transi-tion to life and college in New York easedby the large Hispanic contingent of studentsenrolled at City Tech. Currently, nearly 28percent of the student body is Hispanic,with 227 born in the Dominican Republicand 810 indicating they are of Dominicandescent. In CUNY as a whole, there aremore than 23,000 students of Dominicandescent now enrolled in degree programs.

Executive Vice Chancellor forAcademic Affairs Selma Botman, who hasspearheaded the project, expressed herappreciation to His Excellency LeonelFernandez, President of the DominicanRepublic, and CUNY Trustee Dr. HugoMorales for their strong support of theinitiation of the program.

The Dominican students were chosen ina national competition last spring. Theyreceive full tuition plus a $300 stipendcourtesy of their home country and CUNY.

Jen Lyne

She Changed Careers, Now Studies with Eminent Psychoanalysts

The Daily News and CUNY haveteamed up again for “Citizenship Now.”

The University’s immigration expertsgathered at the News’ offices for anotherweeklong round of answering phoned-inquestions about becoming an Americancitizen.

More than 100 immigration expertswere available to take calls in English orSpanish during the most recent call-in,between April 18 and 22.

Each year some 100,000 permanent res-idents settle in the city, and approximatelythe same number qualify for naturalizationannually, according to Allan Wernick, theChair of CUNY’s highly regarded

Helping Immigrants Become Naturalized

Queensborough Community College makes its campus available every semester for the swear-ing-in of new Americans. This was from a ceremony last year.

York’s Student/Scientist

As a McNair Scholar, VanessaCrevecoeur is among the top sciencestudents at York College. Now the seniorhas won national recognition.

Crevecoeur has been selected toreceive a UNCF-Merck UndergraduateScience Research Scholarship Award,which provides up to $25,000 toward thecosts of her last semester at York, as wellas paid internships at Merck & Co. Inc. forthe next two summers.

The scholarship is a joint initiative ofthe United Negro College Fund andMerck, a pharmaceutical products andservices firm. Fifteen UNCF-Merckundergraduate awards are issued everyyear to encourage African-Americans topursue careers in biomedical research.

Crevecoeur, a Haitian-born chemistrymajor, hopes to earn an M.D./Ph.D.

Emmys for Alums

At the 49th Annual New York EmmyAwards on March 12, the spotlight wasshining brightly ontwo CUNY alums,who were called tothe stage at theMarriott Marquis inTimes Square toaccept TV’s mostcoveted symbol ofachievement.

Amanda Perez,a recent graduateof BrooklynCollege and the CUNY Honors College,received the award for “FollowingWashington’s Trail,” a short segment shereported and produced for “Transit TransitNews Magazine,” the TV program of theMetropolitan Transportation Authority.

Winston F. Mitchell, news director ofthe half-hour transit PBS program – whohas also been an adjunct at a number ofCUNY colleges – won an Emmy alongwith Perez for being the cameraman onthe segment.

Also, Walter Garaicoa, a 1994 graduateof Bronx Community College and a 1996graduate of Lehman College, took homethe statue in the outstanding editing cate-gory for “Secrets of NY.”

Garaicoa’s shining statue will be placedwith the two others he has won in the past.

Fulbrights at Hunter

James Jackson, a Hunter College senior,has a won a Fullbright grant and willspend the next academic year teachingEnglish at a university in Argentina. Amember of the Thomas Hunter HonorsProgram, Jackson was one of five studentsto receive the teaching assistantship toArgentina in this nationwide competition.

Hollie Ecker, a master’s degree studentin Hunter’s Communications Sciencesprogram, has been awarded a Fullbrightgrant for her research proposal in Italy.

KPMG Scholarship

Elisabeth Peltier, a doctoral candidate inBaruch’s Stan Ross Department ofAccountancy, has won one of KPMGFoundation’s Minority AccountingDoctoral Scholarship for 2005-2006.

KPMG LLP funds the scholarshipsand the $10,000 award is renewable forfive years.

STUDENT HONORS

Amanda Perez

ARPA

DPA

P

NOTEDANDQUOTED

CUNY MATTERS — May 2006 5

Acclaimed Novelist JoinsMedgar Evers English Dept.

Colin Channer, author of the best-sell-ing novels Waiting in Vain, Satisfy My Soul,and Passing Through, has joined theMedgar Evers College English Departmentwhere he will teach Creative Writing.

Born and raised in Jamaica, Channer is afamiliar face on the Brooklyn arts scene.After earning a degree in media communi-cation from Hunter College, he began as afreelance writer and also worked as acopyeditor for advertising and design firms.

Channer became co-creative director ofEziba (eziba.com), a leading retailer ofglobal craft, where his redefinition of thefirm’s brand identity became a majorfactor in its international success.

In 2001, he launched the CalabashInternational Literary Festival Trust, whosemission is “to transform the literary arts inthe Caribbean by being the region’s man-aged producer of workshops, seminars andperformances.” The annual festival hasattracted authors and visi-tors from throughoutthe world.

“I’m influencedby reggae, by theway politics, spiri-tuality, and sensual-ity intersect andinteract in it,”Channer wasquoted assaying in aprofiletwo yearsago in TheMiamiHerald.

Grallas and Kupferbergs Give $10 Million toRespective Alma Maters, CCNY and Queens

Larry and YvetteGralla have pledged$7 million to The CityCollege of New York toexpand a scholarshipprogram operating inpartnership with selec-tive public high schools.The donation brings theGrallas’ total giving tothe college to $10million.

“Yvette and LarryGralla are true cham-pions of City College’smission,” said PresidentGregory H. Williams.

That gift came asQueens College announced its Colden Center was being renamed the Selma and MaxKupferberg Center for the Visual and Performing Arts. The renaming was in recogni-tion of the Kupferbergs’ recent gift of $10 million, the largest single gift received todate by Queens.

The money will be used to establish an endowment to provide annualprogramming support for the arts at the college, as well as to provide much-neededsupport for renovations to the facility.

In a speech announcing the renaming, President James Muyskens thanked theKupferbergs and summarized the career of Max Kupferberg, an alumnus. “After Maxgraduated from the college with a degree in physics (in 1942), he went to work forthe United States Army on the Manhattan Project, conducting nuclear research in LosAlamos, New Mexico,” Muyskens noted.

“In 1946, building on their experiences as inventors of power equipment during thewar, Max and his three brothers started Kepco, Inc. This internationally known compa-ny has been a mainstay of the Flushing business community ever since, and Max con-tinues today as chairman of its board.”

As for City College alumnus Larry Gralla, four years ago he, with some supportfrom fellow CCNY and Stuyvesant High School alumni, launched the Stuyvesant-CCNY Scholarship Project, which awards grants to Stuyvesant students who havehigh SAT scores and are enrolled in honors programs at the college. Last year, Grallaled an effort to establish a similar program for students of the Bronx High School ofScience. Later this year the program will be launched at Brooklyn Technical HighSchool, and between eight and 10 additional NYC public high schools are being evalu-ated as potential future partners in the project.

“City College opens a door of opportunity for people who might not have any oth-er way of obtaining an education,” Gralla said.

With his brother Milton, Gralla established Gralla Publications, which publishedtrade magazines. Larry Gralla (Class of 1951) and Yvette Gralla (’52) met at City 55years ago, and married soon after.

Queensborough ContinuesSlam Poetry Victory Streak

For the second month in a row, Queens-borough Community College studentswon the Intercollegiate Poetry Slam at theBowery Poetry Club.

Grace Perez won the $100 prize inMarch and Gabriel Hualluanca was thewinner in February. Teams from New YorkCity Tech, Borough of ManhattanCommunity College, NYU and West-chester Community College are regularparticipants in the contest.

Poetry Slam, the competitive art of per-formance poetry, challenges artists to focuson both their writing and performance.Original works of no more than three min-utes and 10 seconds are performed withoutprops, costumes or musical instruments.The judges have included artists, journal-ists, musicians, and other poets.

“I can’t imagine anything that’s moreimportant than having students write andshare their own work. It makes them thinkabout the major issues of our day,” saidGeorge Guida, Associate Professor ofEnglish at City Tech and the co-founder ofthe competition.

Program Leads to BetterGrades, Bigger Pay Checks

Engineering technology courses arerough going, and many students in thoseclasses have been discouraged by lowgrades they’ve received.

But a bulb lit up in the mind of ElaineMaldonado — the New York City Collegeof Technology’s director of AcademicLearning Centers — and she came up withthe idea of boosting pass rates by usingadjunct professors — rather than studentpeers — as tutors.

How successful was the effort?Pass rates in an

Electrical Circuitscourse went from52 percent in fall2004 to 82 percentin the fall 2005.The rates for aCircuits Analysiscourse jumpedfrom 62 percent to89 percent duringthe same period.

Maldonado wastaking a page fromthe successful pilot program she had runfor freshman composition students in thefall 2003 — in which part-time Englishfaculty were hired to help students withwriting and with the complexities of lan-guage acquisition.

She applied for, and received, a $500,000U.S. Department of Education Fund for theImprovement of Postsecondary Education(FIPSE) grant to expand the writing initia-tive to City Tech’s School of Technology &Design.

Results show that both students andfaculty benefit from what Maldonado hastermed the “Adjunct Academy.”

“Students are benefiting from having atutor who is not only a professor at thecollege, but…also serves as a mentor,”Maldonado explained.

And the adjunct faculty can now sup-plement their teaching salary by tutoringor conducting study groups before or afterclass. They are also compensated to helpstudents make connections to the work-place by sponsoring students in design andexhibition competitions.

Elaine Maldonado

million in federal funds for the once-squalid river’s rebirth. He called the plac-ing of more than 200 herring in the river“a historic moment,” adding that there issweet symbolism in the development. Heremembers when Puerto Rican, Jewish,Italian and Irish kids grew up together inthe Bronx and became aware that Jewishfamilies appreciated herring.Every once in a while, Serranosaid, he still likes to nosh a wedgeof herring out of a jar.

At present, the herring willcontinue to be blocked by threedams. But the ConservationSociety and the National Oceanicand Atmospheric Administration,which stocks other coastal rivers,are seeking $1 million toconstruct fish ladders — gentlysloping water passageways – toallow returning herring to climbover. If the money does notbecome available, volunteers withnets will help the spawning fishsurmount the dams.

For decades, the eight-milestretch of river that winds

For the first time in 350 years, herringare swimming in the Bronx, and thanks golargely to a Lehman College professorwho spent years doing research on theriver that flows through the borough andbears its name.

“It represents a kind of a culminationphase in all of the restoration activitythat’s been going on in the Bronx torestore the Bronx River,” said ProfessorJoseph W. Rachlin, an ichthyologist anddirector of Lehman’s Laboratory forMarine and Estuarine Research (La MER).

“My speculation based on research wasthat the herring probably disappeared fromthere back in the late 1600s, somewherearound 1639 or thereabouts, because adam was established near 182nd St.” Thedam — built near a flour mill owned byJonas Broncks, after whom the borough isnamed — blocked herring from reachingtheir spawning grounds, Rachlin noted.

Key players in the return of herring tothe Bronx were The Wildlife ConservationSociety and the office of U.S. Represen-tative Jose E. Serrano.

Serrano has obtained more than $15

Lehman Ichthyologist Helps Herring Return to Bronx, after 350-Year Absencethrough the Bronx was a virtual dumpingground for automobiles and tires. Owingto cleanup efforts that began in 1997 theriver is now a place where canoeists paddleand 45 species of fish, including eel, small-mouth bass and sunfish, thrive. Hopefully,it will be a place where herring multiplyalso.

Larry Gralla, who with his wifeYvette gave millions to CCNY,speaks with students. MaxKupferberg and his wife, Selma,inset, gave millions to QueensCollege.

Left to right, Dr. Tony Pappantonious, Lehman biologyprofessor; Dr. Barbara Warkentine, Lehman alumnaand professor at SUNY Maritime; and Dr. JosephRachlin, Lehman ichthyologist and director of La MER(the Laboratory for Marine and Estuarine Research).

Colin Channer

One of the most important classes hetook while working toward his masters offine arts in theater at Brooklyn College,Robert Weinstein recalled, was StephenLangley’s legendary theater managementcourse.

“That was an eye-popping experiencefor me professionally,” said Weinstein,referring to the early ‘90s when he was inthe MFA program.

“Professor Langley laid out what youneed to make a theater and make it suc-cessful: find a location near all transporta-tion, preferably an already existing theater,in an area next to similar media – I’mlaughing, because that’s exactly what we’vefound here, more than ten years later.”

He was referring to the Brooklyn MusicSchool Playhouse, a lovely little theaterthat in the summer of 2005 became homebase for the Sackett Group, a companydirected by Weinstein and his friend DanHaft, who forged bonds while students inBrooklyn College’s Theater Department.

The playhouse is indeed near all majorsubway lines, and is literally around thecorner from the Brooklyn Academy ofMusic. (The area will soon boast a brand-new theater designed by Frank Gehry andHugh Hardy. It is being developed for theTheatre for a New Audience, one of sever-al innovative Manhattan-based organiza-

tions relocating to Brooklyn.)After a decade of peripatetic production

in rented theaters that strained its budget,the Sackett Group now finds itself with along-term home in the heart of the vibrantBAM Cultural District, surrounded by otheradventurous theaters and the culture-hungryaudiences of brownstone Brooklyn. “It’s adream come true!” Weinstein exclaimed.

Making it come true took many yearsand a lot of hard work. When they met in1987 during a Brooklyn Heights Playersproduction of “Joseph and the AmazingTechnicolor Dreamcoat,” Weinstein wasrunning the light board and Haft was inthe cast. But Weinstein wanted to direct,and Haft, along with several other actors inJoseph, shared his vision of an ensemble-based company.

A bond was formed“We picked plays where no one part

stood out and everybody had an equal role,”Haft recalled. The name Sackett Group waschosen in honor of Brooklyn’s SackettStreet; where Haft and his wife owned ahouse and Weinstein was their tenant.

Early productions of the Sackett Groupincluded two contemporary plays andClifford Odets’ “Awake and Sing!” Twomonths after that classic family dramaopened in July 1993, artistic directorWeinstein and producing director Haft put

the Sackett Group on temporary hiatus toenter Brooklyn’s MFA program.

“Our friend Laureen Lefever, who wasin ‘Awake and Sing!,’ had already started inthe program,” Haft said. “She was so excit-ed about it, she kept telling us about whatwonderful work they did and howabsorbed you got in the theater; she said,‘You guys gotta come!’”

“I had already been thinking about grad-uate school,” added Weinstein. Working ona professional production at The Lambs inmidtown Manhattan, he said with a grin,“it was clear that anyone who was getting acheck had a master’s degree. It was some-thing I had to do in order to move mydirecting career into the arenas I wanted.”

Among the professors he wouldencounter in the MFA program, Weinsteinhad a special tenderness for StephenLangley, the late scholar whose bookTheatre Management in America remains apreeminent text in the field. But he addedthat there were a number of others whowere “instrumental in my artistic growth”and gave him “something to reach for, alevel of production quality and care anddetail that I hadn’t put into my workbefore…” Weinstein said.

As for Haft, he recalled that while inthe MFA program he learned about“speech and diction” and about “the avail-ability of our bodies, how to relax and con-nect emotionally.”

Haft and Weinstein even carried one oftheir professors along with them into theSackett Group: John Scheffler, once headof the college’s design program, is thecompany’s resident set designer and mem-ber of the board of directors.

During their two years in the MFA pro-gram, Haft and Weinstein solidified theircommitment to a professional partnership.They did their thesis production together.

“We did ‘Talley’s Folly,’ which is a two-character, 97-minute play with no inter-mission, so you have to keep the ball inthe air the entire time. We already knewwe loved working together as actor anddirector, but that ground base of educationreally helped things blossom.”

Life beyond the MFAHaft earned his MFA in May 1995;

Weinstein, derailed by his mother’s deathin January, completed all the course workbut never handed in the written portion ofhis thesis. They revived the Sackett Groupthat October by transplanting “Talley’sFolly” to a lowerManhattan theater.

“We went along, doinga production here and aproduction there,”Weinstein said. “But withthe huge increase in realestate costs, we realizedthat we couldn’t afford tokeep rattling around,renting Manhattan the-aters for two or threeweeks with all thoseexpenses. We startedsearching for space inplaces other thanManhattan.”

Brooklyn was the logi-cal place to start. Haftand Weinstein were both

6 CUNY MATTERS — MAY 2006

As one of New York’s lead-ing dramatists and a recipientof two OBIES — including onefor Lifetime Achievement in2003 — Mac Wellman knowsthe sweet sound of applause.

But when it comes to hisMFA play-writing program atBrooklyn College, he would ratherthat his students take the bow.

Especially students like YoungJean Lee. “She is a remarkably intelli-gent and focused young person,”Wellman said about the award-winningyoung experimental playwright, Lee.

Lee, who graduated from the MFAprogram last year, won a $20,000 grant inFebruary from the Foundation forContemporary Arts, whose mission is topromote innovation in artistic expression.

Lee said she thanks the stars, as itwere, for introducing her to BrooklynCollege’s MFA program under Wellman.“I was living in New Haven and I con-tacted Jeffrey M. Jones, who was teach-ing play-writing at Yale. Herecommended that I go to Mac’s pro-gram because he knew that I was inter-ested in doing experimental work,non-linear narratives,” recalled Lee, whowrites and directs her own plays.

In a description of one of her pieces,“Songs of the Dragons Flying toHeaven,” Lee, a Korean-American, writesthat it “presents my confused, disturb-ing, and frequently offensive take on mycultural background in all of its romanti-cized, half-informed, and brutal honesty.

The show is also aboutbeing in love and trying to be happy

when you're so f ----- up that all youwant to do is destroy everything in yourpath… “

Those who know Lee say she faces abright future in playwriting.

Wellman says he stacks Brooklyn’splaywriting program up against the bestin the country. “It’s as strong a programas there is anywhere – Yale or Brown orNYU,” said Wellman, who has taught atYale, Brown and NYU.

(The program for playwriting is inBrooklyn College’s English Department,not in the Theater Department.)

Wellman has been a prolificplaywright and a staple at off-Broadwaytheaters since the 1980’s. He receivedconsiderable attention in 1991 when hededicated his OBIE Award-winning play,“Sincerity Forever,” to then Senator JesseHelms “for the fine job you are doing ofdestroying civil liberties.”

Playwright MacWellman and hisaward-winningstudent YoungJean Lee.

born there and still live in the borough, asdo many of the Sackett Group’s longtimemembers. The arts scene was flourishing, asBAM imported some of the world’s finestcompanies for its famous Next Wave festi-val, and amateur theater groups and even

Robert Weinstein (glasses and cap) and Dan Haft, who started a Brooklyn-based theatre company, TheSackett Group. They pose here outside the Group's new home at the Brooklyn Music School Playhouse,located in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn.

A BOROUGH OF CHURCHES BECOMES A BOROUGH OF THEATER

Straight out of Brooklyn, and an MFA Program, Ambitious Producers Create a Permanent Theater Company

Brooklyn College Turns OutAward-Winning Playwrights

program: acting; directing; dramaturgy;design and technical production; and per-forming arts management, which trains thepeople who run the theaters – the agents,producers, the marketing and publicitypeople.”

Dr. Frank Hentschker is quick to notethat the CUNY Grad Center offers Ph.D.’sin theater – for those interested in it as ascholarly pursuit – and that Hunter,Queens and CCNY are among the colleges

The chair of Brooklyn College’s TheaterDepartment likes to boast that his gradu-ates are filling theater positions all aroundNew York City, and beyond.

The college is unique within CUNY asthe only one offering an MFA degree intheater, said Dr. Samuel L. Leiter, the chair.Leiter explained that the MFA “representsa certain level of professional (as opposedto theoretical) training.”

He added: “We have five MFA’s in our

Training for Jobs in the Theater

pitch the idea to someone who couldmake it happen when the Sackett Groupthrew a tenth-anniversary party inNovember 2003.

“We invited Borough President MartyMarkowitz, just because he’s an importantperson in Brooklyn,” Weinstein said.

“Much to our surprise, he actuallyshowed up. While Dan was emceeing theperformance, I sat the borough presidentdown, looked him in the eye and said, ‘Wereally want to explore moving our compa-ny’s operations here.’ I told him that when Iwas a kid, BAM had a repertory companyand produced its own shows; as a publicschool student I went there almost once amonth. It was a big part of Brooklyn’s iden-tity. When BAM changed directions, theybrought in unparalleled, high-level outsideentertainment, but what they were doingdidn’t grow out of the community anymore.It really bothered me that Brooklyn didn’thave its own professional company of, by,and for the residents of the borough. I’vedreamed of building that since I was ateenager sitting on the Promenade.”

Markowitz, himself a Brooklyn Collegegrad, was impressed. The arts, he knew, wereone of the driving forces behind the Brooklynboom, and it was his mission as boroughpresident to keep it booming. At a subse-quent meeting, Markowitz and his aidessuggested underutilized spaces that mightmeet the Sackett Group’s needs, amongthem the Brooklyn Music School’s theater.

The dream came trueChecking it out, Haft and Weinstein

liked what they saw. “Companies our sizeusually get to share a tiny basement,”Weinstein said. “Here we found a beautiful,266-seat theater that was nothing short ofa jewel. It’s got opera-house style acousticsand a wonderful, full proscenium stage –which needs some attention and renova-tion, but hopefully we can achieve thatwith both organizations working together.”

Liz Koch of the borough president’soffice put Haft and Weinstein in touch withBrooklyn Music School executive directorKaren Krieger, and over the next 18 monthsthe two organizations negotiated, reachingan agreement in the spring of 2004.

The Music School got technical supportfor its dance recitals and other performances;and the Sackett Group got the opportunityto produce plays throughout the year, as longas it accommodated the Music School’sschedule.

In August 2004, theSackett Group opened itsfirst-ever full-scale seasonwith Tennessee Williams’“Suddenly, Last Summer,”directed by Weinstein.“Women’s Work V” fol-lowed in October, andArthur Miller’s seldom-seen “The AmericanClock” in January. Theseason will close in Aprilwith an original play,“One Big Happy Family,”written and directed byJoe Costanza, who has aBA in theater fromQueens College.

“We chose Americanplays because that’s who

CUNY MATTERS — May 2006 7

we are,” Weinstein commented.Regarding the company’s special inter-

est in presenting works by women,Weinstein says the inspiration came from“the talented women we met at BrooklynCollege.” The Sackett Group has mountedfive separate productions showcasing one-act plays written and directed bywomen, the most recent inOctober 2005.

Weinstein’s ambitions cover awide stage.

“In the big picture, in the longrun, we want to create a theaterhere in Brooklyn with a nationalvoice,” he said. “And our compa-ny’s sensibility fits in nicelyamong the other theaters here.BAM is mostly an import house.Theatre for a New Audienceconcentrates on classics. TheIrondale Ensemble, which ismoving into a gorgeous room inthe Presbyterian Church downthe street, does very experimen-tal theater. These are organiza-tions with a long history ofproduction, large endowments,built-in audiences for their kindof theater. Fortunately, there wasroom for us.

“The exciting thing about hav-ing the company producing year-round is that we can grow,” hecontinued. “Over the years we’vefound some amazing actors, whoembrace the kind of ensemblewhere the only star is the showitself; we’ve had greatexperiences, and many of themcome back to us over and overagain.”

Haft interjected, “We didn’teven have auditions for ‘TheAmerican Clock.’ Rob just castpeople he’d directed before. Butnone of the actors in our nextproduction have ever workedwith us. It’s a widening net.”

The partners hope that thatwidening net will attract morespectators as well.

“Now that we have a perma-nent home, we don’t have toreorient our audience to anotherpart of town and another streetwith every production,”Weinstein said. “We can tellthem, ‘We’ll always be here. Youcan come three or four times ayear.’ This isn’t just our home;it’s their home for affordabletheater.”

The Sackett Group’s 2006-7season will begin in the fall with“Picasso at the Lapin Agile” bySteve Martin, possibly followedby one of the late AugustWilson’s plays. It’s thrilling butexhausting, the partners admit,to be running one season whileplanning the next.

“Up until now,” saidWeinstein, “doing just one pro-duction at a time, we had timeto save money, to plan, to makeall the phone calls. Now we’reperpetually working on severalprojects at the same time:

putting one up on stage, doing preproduc-tion for another, doing post-mortem finan-cial comparisons on another. It’s all so wecan move closer toward our goal, which isa full, annual 12-month season. If we’renot working on something every day, we’renot doing the right thing.”

Performances around theUniversity duringMay include:Brooklyn College,GERSHWIN THEATER

“The Crucible”by Arthur Miller, directed byRose Burnett BonczekMay 5 at 8 p.m.; May 6 at 2p.m. and 8 p.m.; May 8 at 2 p.m.Tickets: $12 general public, $10 seniors,$5 students

City College, COMPTON-GOETHALS HALL,Room 318

“Dreamgirls,”music by Henry Krieger,lyrics and book by Tom EyenDirected and choreographed by Keith Lee Grant May 11, 12, 13 at 7 p.m.

Hunter College, FREDERICK

LOEWE THEATER

“Henry V”by William Shakespeare,sponsored by the GraduateTheater Club and directedby Jason Andrew EckardMay 3, 4, 5 at 8 p.m.;May 6 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.Tickets: free with Hunter ID, Adults $12,seniors and students (other than Hunter) $5

LaGuardia Community College,BLACKBOX THEATRE-Room M-122

“The Antigone Project”an original multimedia productiondirected by John Henry Davis andproduced by Will KoolsbergenMay 22 at 4 p.m.; May 23 at 2:15 p.m. and6 p.m.; May 24 at 11:45 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and6 p.m.; May 25 at 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.;May 26 at 2:15 p.m. and 6 p.m.Tickets: free

Lehman College, THE STUDIO COLLEGE

Two plays by Edna St. Vincent Millay:

“Aria da Capo” / “The Murder ofLidice”

directed by OsnatGreenbaumMay 3 at 3:30 p.m.;May 4 at 8 p.m.;May 5 at 12 p.m.and 8 p.m.; May 6at 8 p.m.; May 7at 3 p.m.Tickets: free for students, sliding scale for othersCall 718 960-5637 for ticket information

some Equity showcase companies present-ed fine plays to grateful audiences.

But there was no resident, year-roundprofessional theater.

Weinstein thought their organizationcould fill that gap, and he got a chance to

who started a Brooklyn-based theatre company, The new home at the Brooklyn Music School Playhouse,

ECOMES A BOROUGH OF THEATER

bitious Producers Create a Permanent Theater Company

ecting; dramaturgy;l production; and per-ement, which trains the theaters – the agents,

keting and publicity

hker is quick to notead Center offers Ph.D.’sse interested in it as aand that Hunter, are among the colleges

offering MA’s or BA’s in theater.In fact, virtually all CUNY colleges,

including the community colleges, havetheater programs of some kind,Hentschker said. He has compiled a 60-page booklet describing theater programsand faculty around the University.

Hentschker said those interested inobtaining “The CUNY Interschool TheatreFaculty Directory” can contact him by e-mail at fhentschker@gc.cuny.edu.

obs in the Theater

larger concentration of black students. Thisfall, CUNY plans to launch a TeacherAcademy to encourage more black malesto teach at New York City public schools,especially in the sciences. There also existother programs such as CUNY Prep, whichprovides high school dropouts with a “sec-ond chance” to prepare for college andobtain a General Equivalency Diploma.

The Black Male Initiative is alreadyreceiving an enthusiastic push atQueensborough Community College,through Men Achieving and Leading inExcellence and Success — or MALES — anew program that includes a range of men-toring services in addition to workshopsand orientation programs for high schoolstudents.

“We want to provide hope by showingthem that there is light at the end of thetunnel,” said Queensborough PresidentEduardo Marti.

John Jay College will play a crucial rolein coming up with ways of overcomingconditions that lead to the high rates ofincarceration.

“There’s an interplay between educationand the criminal justice system,” said JohnJay President Jeremy Travis. The college isfocusing on strategies for helping young menavoid the path to incarceration and, instead,to find the one leading to employment.

“We have a chance to help them gettheir lives back on track,” Travis said.

According to Franklin, a large-scale,concerted effort can serve as a nationalmodel for addressing the crisis of theyoung black male. “If we confront thisproblem, we can deal with it successfully,”he said, “and there’s hope in it – sinceHope is my middle name.”

success.”CUNY is working on that goal at its

eleven senior and six community collegeswith a $2 million grant from the New YorkCity Council. As much as anything else,the University wants to improve the num-bers with respect to college attendanceand graduation rates.

Nationally, males in the United States,irrespective of race, trail females in collegeenrollment and graduation; but the gapbetween black men and black women isespecially high, demographers have said.The gap is distressingly wide amongHispanics also.

At CUNY, for example, only 33 percentof the 58,000 black students are males; 36percent of the 50,000 Hispanics are males;42 percent of the 54,000 whites are males;and 47 percent of the 29,000 Asians aremales.

But as a chilling article (with the head-line: “Plight Deepens for Black Men”) inthe March 20, 2006 issue of The New YorkTimes pointed out, the more alarming dataare in the incarceration rates and jobless-ness rates. In inner cities across the nation,more than half of all black men do notfinish high school. And of the blackdropouts, 72 percent are jobless, the articlenoted, and 34 percent are in prison.

The huge pool of poorly educated blackmen in the United States is “becomingever more disconnected from the main-stream society, and to a far greater degreethan comparable white or Hispanic men,”the Times article stated.

Central to boosting the number ofblack males at CUNY is an aggressive cam-paign to strengthen existing pipeline pro-grams, particularly at high schools with a

8 CUNY MATTERS — May 2006

challenge,” said Executive Vice Chancellorfor Academic Affairs Selma Botman, whowas chosen by Chancellor MatthewGoldstein in 2004 to oversee planning forthe Black Male Initiative. “We concludedthat our institution had to become a moralvoice in this area by increasing access and

Scholarships have been established atJohn Jay and Hunter colleges for twoyoung female students who were murderedin cases that stood out for the wanton,depraved nature of the killings.

Imette St. Guillen, 24 and a graduatestudent at John Jay, was killed in Februaryafter visiting late night spots in SoHo. Herdeath was one of the most brutal in recentNew York City history, and the casereceived prominent daily coverage in thelocal print and broadcast media.

John Jay College and the New YorkDaily News, together with the Associationfor a Better New York, recently announceda $250,000 fund-raising drive to endow ascholarship in St. Guillen’s name.

But some critics of the media andpolice have complained that the 2003 tor-ture-killing of RomonaMoore also stood out forits viciousness, and thather case received far lessattention.

Hunter College offi-cials say they hope therecent media stories aboutMoore’s death, thoughthey have been few, willlead to more contributionsto a scholarship fund inher name.

Moore’s mother, ElleCarmichael, has publiclycomplained that race was

the factor in the disparate treatment by themedia and police. Moore was black. St.Guillen’s race was not highlighted in storiesabout her, but the establishments she visit-ed the night of her death are popular witha young white college crowd.

“I hope something good comes out ofthis,” the still-distraught Carmichael said,sitting in the living room of her home inthe Flatbush section of Brooklyn. “I hopethe police come to realize they shouldn’ttreat black children as if they are nobody.”

Regarding the more recent murder ofSt. Guillen, the student’s body was foundin a desolate part of Brooklyn. Her feetwere bound, her mouth gagged and herhead completely wrapped in tape, policesaid. She had been raped, officials said. Abar bouncer has been arrested.

As the St. Guillen case was developing,

the killers of Romona, who was 21,appeared in court to face charges in thatthree-year-old murder. The city quicklybecame aware of the similarities – and dis-similarities – in the two killings.

Back when Moore was missing, herfamily says they could not get police totake the case seriously and had to make uptheir own missing person fliers.

Moore’s mother says that only recently,in the wake of the St. Guillen case, has themedia paid attention to Romona’s murder.In mid-April two men were sentenced tolife in prison. The prosecutor, Anna-SiggaNicolazzi, said, “They tortured her physi-cally, sexually and mentally for hour onhour, not ending until they took her life.

Moore’s mother said she hopes theeffort to raise scholarship money in herdaughter’s name gets stronger. So far,$5,000 has been raised and scholarshipsgiven to two students.

Those wishing to contribute to theImette St. Guillen scholarship can makechecks payable to the John Jay CollegeFoundation, Imette St. Guillen ScholarshipFund, and mail them to John Jay CollegeFoundation, 899 10th Ave., Room 623T,New York NY 10019.

Those interested in contributing to theRamona Moore Scholarship should makechecks out to The Hunter CollegeFoundation, c/o Romona MooreScholarship, and mail them to The HunterCollege Foundation, 695 Park Avenue,New York, NY 10021.Imette St. Guillen Romona Moore

By Curtis Stephen

From the moment John HopeFranklin, 91, became an educator in1939, one issue has concerned himmore than any other – the precari-ous state of black men in America.“It’s at the top of my mind all thetime,” he says.

Currently on a national tour topromote his book, an autobiogra-phy entitled Mirror to America,Franklin – once a Brooklyn Collegeprofessor, now a professor emeritusat the University of Chicago andDuke University – has had amplecause for alarm as he’s traveled thecountry.

“I was in San Francisco the oth-er day,” Franklin recalled. “I sawliterally hundreds of men standingaround, homeless and jobless. Theywere not all black, but largelyblack. I asked myself, ‘What is thisin the richest country in theworld?’”

Franklin, who in 1955 becamethe first African American to heada department at a primarily whiteuniversity — when he was chair ofBrooklyn College’s HistoryDepartment — was selected as thekeynote speaker for a late April,CUNY-sponsored conference onthe plight of the black male.

The symposium, titled “Black MaleYouth: Creating A Culture For EducationalSuccess,” was held at John Jay College andgrew out of CUNY’s Black Male Initiative,a multi-million dollar plan to increaseblack male enrollment by 25 percent overthe next two years.

The initiative was inspired largely bythe innovative program that Medgar EversCollege established several years ago.

“You can’t save the whole world, butwe wanted to engage more young blackmales to participate in higher education,”said President Edison O. Jackson. InFebruary, Gerald Jackson, a former profes-sor of Africana Studies at CornellUniversity, was named executive directorof Medgar Evers’ Male Development andEmpowerment Center.

For students like 24-year-old LavarDopwell, the attention to black males hasbeen paying off. Born in Harlem, Dopwell,a sophomore majoring in business manage-ment, arrived at Medgar Evers in 2002,after a two-year hiatus following gradua-tion from Washington Irving High School.

“I saw people getting cut in gang fightson a regular basis,” he recalled. “It was sostressful that I couldn’t deal with schoolanymore.”

Dopwell joined the workforce and helda number of entry-level jobs before realiz-ing that he “could only go so far” with onlya high school diploma. “It’s not just thedegree,” said Dopwell, who aspires to bean advertising executive. “College developsskills that you definitely need in life.”

As recently published studies and newsarticles have highlighted critical social indi-cators, such as high incarceration andunemployment rates among black males,the Black Male Initiative is designed tocome up with ways of ameliorating thecurrent condition. The main tool is educa-tion, especially at the college level.

“We realized very early on that we hadto look inwardly and think more broadlyabout public policy in order to meet this

John Hope Franklin

An American Challenge: Tackling the National Issue of the Young Black Male

John Jay, Hunter Set Scholarships for Murdered Students

the 19th century, Warren became a court-room habitué, and thereby hangs a tale ofcollegial serendipity. Back in the 1970s, theNew York State Supreme Court was inneed of storage space and chose to discardthe testimony and supporting records ofthousands of cases from the 1840s to 1920.Warren’s colleague at Queens, historian

Leo Hershkowitz,intervened and sal-vaged them, eventu-ally donating thecollection to HofstraUniversity in 1994.“This collection hasbeen invaluable,”Warren writes,giving her informa-tion on “womenwhose storieswere in facterased fromhistory.”

Focusing onthe momentousdecades sur-rounding theCivil War,1845 to 1875,Warren lookedat more than2,500 casesand foundnearly 400,or about 15

percent, in whicha woman figured as a litigant. “All but a

handful of these cases focus on a monetarydispute.” Warren then set out to connectthe dots between ubiquitous financial-legalthemes in prominent women’s fiction andthe particularities of these real-life cases.

Women, Money and the Law alternateschapters that present narratives of illumi-nating or typical cases (there’s not a littlesordid human drama here) with chaptersin which Warren shows how this case lawis reflected ubiquitously in women’s fictionof the time. To acclimatize the reader to alegal landscape often intimidating to awoman plaintiff, Warren sets forth in detailthe case of Trust v. Trust, a suit for supportby a wife against a wealthy husband wholeft her and several children after 17 years.Mary Trust pursued her rights against herdespicable husband for 14 years.

Chapter 2, “The Dominant Discourse,”sets forth the social, legal, religious, medi-cal, and commercial premises employed todiscourage women from access to and con-trol of their own money. My favorite anec-dote: Hetty Green, the most successfulwoman Wall Street investor of her daywho died worth $1.6 billion in today’smoney, being chastised as “unfeminine,”

By Gary Schmidgall

In 1838, Catherine Grimké publishedAmerica’s first comprehensive demand forwomen’s rights, Letters on the Equality ofthe Sexes and the Condition of Women. Oneof those letters was on “The LegalDisabilities of Women,” and just howastonishingly disabled women were beforethe bar of justice in the19th century isa central focusof a new bookby JoyceWarren, profes-sor of AmericanLiterature anddirector ofWomen’s Studiesat QueensCollege.

Picture it. Onmarrying, all of awoman’s propertybecame her hus-band’s. A New Yorkstatute of 1828specifically statedthat a married wom-an could not write awill. A widow wasnot only responsiblefor the debts of herhusband, but alsocould inherit only a lifeinterest in a third of herhusband’s real property(thus greedy sons could,and did, sue to force the sale of a mother’shome). On a wife’s death, the husband gotit all. Married women had to get a male“next friend” to sue in court. Needless toadd, women could not become lawyers,judges, or jurors.

One can only roll one’s eyes and recallthe immortal words of Charles Dickens’sMr. Bumble: “If the law supposes that, thelaw is a ass — a idiot.”

As we learn in Warren’s study, Women,Money and the Law: 19th-CenturyFiction, Gender and the Courts(University of Iowa Press), the legal system— then virtually created to keep womenfinancially dependent upon an arrogantpatriarchal capitalism – very grudginglydisgorged its controls. In 1848, with theMarried Women’s Property Act, New Yorkbecame one of a few states to allow wom-en to control their own pre-marital prop-erty and earnings during marriage. Inresponse, James Fenimore Cooper wrote awhole novel, The Ways of the Hour, con-demning the law. If a woman has money ofher own, Cooper fatuously opined, sheshould “reverently pour it into herhusband’s lap.”

Hard though the patriarchylabored to incarcerate women withinthe parlor, kitchen and nursery,Warren is convinced by her widereading among women writers of theperiod, both white and African-American, that there was a palpableconsciousness of economicdependence among women then, aswell as a growing thirst for financialfreedom. One finishes the book think-ing the battle for economic indepen-dence even more momentous thanthe battle for suffrage. Intent ondeconstructing “the fiction of wom-en’s purity in financial matters” during

BOOK TALKOF THECITY

a “dollar worshiper” and “the witch of WallStreet.”

The next chapter, “Economics and theAmerican Renaissance Woman,” isconceived as a satiric contrast to F.O.Matthiessen’s 1941 study of five famousmale writers who, Warren explains, wereby and large totally clueless about or unin-terested in money: Emerson, Thoreau,Whitman, Hawthorne, and Melville.Warren’s five countering women are most-ly not so well known — Susan Warner,E.D.E.N. Southworth, Harriet BeecherStowe, Maria Cummins, Fanny Fern — buttheir astute consciousness of the need forfinancial smarts Warren makes thoroughlyevident.

Chapter 4 returns to court cases inwhich women were plaintiffs, mostfrequently with the desire to regain moneyor property they owned. The next chapter,“The Economics of Race,” fascinatinglyexplores the special economic preoccupa-tions displayed in the fiction of fourAfrican-Americans, notably HarrietJacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl(1861) and Harriet Wilson’s Our Nig(1859). Chapter 6 explores the three vari-eties of suits in which a woman was thedefendant: non-payment of debt, mortgageforeclosure, and inheritance disputes.

Chapter 7 offers a panorama ofinstances in which the law figures in theplotting of ten women authors. In Chapter8, “The Economics of Divorce,” Warrenpresents highlights from divorce cases,which made up about a quarter of the cas-es she read.

The last chapter, “Woman’s EconomicIndependence,” is devoted, rousingly, to thethree authors who most clearly and elo-quently espoused the wave of the future.Easily the pluckiest is Fanny Fern (1811-72), who was left in poverty with two chil-dren when her husband died in debt in1846. (Warren has a separate book on Fernto her credit.) Fern went on to be afamously rambunctious novelist andreformer; no wonder she greeted WaltWhitman as a soul mate. It was she whoasked witheringly in 1870, “Why shouldn’twomen work for pay? Does anybodyobject when women marry for pay —without love, without respect, nay, witheven aversion?” She it was who also boldlydeclared the year before, “I want all wom-en to render themselves independent ofmarriage as a mere means of support.”

Warren follows up with Louisa MayAlcott (1832-88), focusing not on LittleWomen but on her more subversive fictionfor adults published under a pen name.Then she ends with a revealing look atCharlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935)and offers a bracing recontextualization of

Gilman’s 1892 story, “The YellowWallpaper.” Not merely a lurid,Poe-like divertissement, the story,Warren says, is a “searing portrayalof the 19th-century middle-classwoman’s life, in which the womanwas confined to the home sphereand treated like a child. For bothFern and Gilman, the solution towhat they considered a madness-inducing situation was economicindependence.”

Six years later Gilman reiteratedthe moral of her story in a nonfic-tion study. She titled it, appropri-ately enough for Warren’s ownbook, Women and Economics.

Peering into Times Square

Described as “a continuous carnival”and “the crossroads of the world,” TimesSquare is a singular phenomenon in mod-ern New York, the place where imagina-tion blends with reality.

To scholar and authorMarshall Berman, it is alsothe flashing, teeming, andstrangely beautiful nexusof his life. In his new book— On The Town: OneHundred Years of Spectaclein Times Square, publishedthis year by RandomHouse — Berman takes readers on athrilling illustrated tour of that specialpart of New York City, and of his life.

Berman is a Distinguished Professor ofpolitical science at The City College ofNew York and The Graduate Center.

Cuban Revolution Revisited

Samuel Farber, in The Origins of theCuban Revolution Reconsidered,challenges dominant views of the revolu-tion’s origins and historical trajectory.

A professor of political science atBrooklyn College, Faber argues that thestructure of Cuba’s political economy inthe first half of the Twentieth Centurymade the island ripe for radical social andeconomic change.

Taking advantage of recently declassi-fied U.S. and Soviet documents, the pro-fessor highlights the fateful convergenceof events that introduced the SovietUnion to Cuba, and made it Cuba’s allyand sponsor.

Mexicans in Two Worlds

Drawing on morethan fifteen years ofresearch, Mexican NewYork: Transnational Livesof New Immigrants offersa view of globalizationfrom a very human per-spective.

Professor RobertCourtney Smith’s study focuses onMexicans who move back and forthbetween New York and their homevillage in Puebla, Mexico. Smith showshow the immigrants borrow from bothcommunities as they develop newnotions of race and politics.

Smith is an associate professor ofSociology, Immigration Studies and PublicAffairs at the School of Public Affairs atBaruch College and at the GraduateCenter. Mexican New York was publishedby the University of California Press.

Sex and the Cold War

When Americans talked about poli-tics in the 1950s, they often seemed tobe talking about sex.

In Manhood and American PoliticalCulture in the Cold War, Kyle A.Cuordileone argues that the highly gen-dered language of the Cold War was theproduct of specific anxieties centering onpost-war notions of masculinity.

A history professor at the New YorkCity College of Technology, Cuordileone’sbook, published by Routledge, shines alight on tensions that can still be found inAmerican political culture.

Financial Facts of Life for19th Century American Women

• Upon marriage, all of a woman’s prop-erty became her husband’s.

• A New York statute of 1826 specif-ically stated that a married woman

could not write a will.

• Hetty Green, the most suc-cessful female Wall Streetinvestor of her day – she diedleaving what would be $1.6billion in today’s money – waschastised as “unfeminine” andthe “witch of Wall Street.”

19th-Century Women Pursue Financial Independence

CUNY MATTERS — May 2006 9

10 CUNY MATTERS — May 2006

secured one of 11 contracts to put the planinto action. This contract — funded at atotal of $20 million from 2000 to 2005 andanother $19.5 million recently — accountsfor 40 percent of screenings nationally andis the only one scanning for early-stage lungcancer. Receiving almost $40 million forboth contracts, Markowitz is CUNY’sbiggest recipient of research grants.

It was a natural fit for the college’sCenter for the Biology of Natural Systems.Founded by legendary ecologist BarryCommoner, the center is an environmentaland occupational health institute thatstrives to identify and help rectify environ-mental threats to human health.

Markowitz, soft spoken and with a mod-est demeanor, credits the union and otherswho created the program for its success.

But Senate Majority Leader MitchMcConnell (R-TN) has no hesitation giv-ing credit where he feels it’s really due:“Under the leadership of Dr. Markowitz,thousands of workers have been screenedand dozens of cancers were detected earlyenough to be treated.”

As the Cold War ended in the late1980s, pressure built on Congress and theDepartment of Energy to clean up toxicwaste left by the nuclear arms race. TheDOE, which still builds and maintainsthese weapons, has spent billions ondecontamination, although much remainsto be done.

Meanwhile, Portsmouth workers weretelling their senator, Democrat JohnGlenn, that they had been poisoned aswell. “They worked with radiation and,what’s less apparent, they worked witha lot of toxic chemicals,” Markowitzsaid.

Glenn inserted a provision in theDefense Reauthorization Act of 1993directing DOE to provide retired work-ers with ongoing medical evaluations,since many occupational diseases don’tshow up for as long as 30 years afterexposure.

“It was common sense — workersshould get evaluations to see if they hadproblems stemming from their work —and on the other hand it was quite radi-

Gonsher Wins EmmyAmong recent Emmy winners thisyear was Debra Gonsher Vinik, chair ofBronx Community College’s Depart-ment of Communication Arts andSciences.

“It was absolute-ly hysterically fabu-lous,” said Gonsher,who attended theceremony at theMarriott Marquis inNew York’s TimesSquare, where shereceived a 2006Emmy.

The documen-tary — titled “Andthe Gates Opened: Women in theRabbinate” — examines the struggle bywomen for the right to be ordained asrabbis. It was directed by her husband,David Vinik.

Hunter Profs Win Fulbrights

Hunter faculty members, GodfreyGumbs and Terry Mizrahi, receivedFulbright Scholar grants to conductresearch abroad.

Gumbs, the Maria A. Chianta andAlice M. Stoll Professor of Physics, justreturned from a five-month stint at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat-Gan, Israel,where he carried out the research fund-ed by the Fulbright.

Gumbs’ investigations are related tosuch high-priority areas as energy,homeland security, climate, andnanotechnology.

Mizrahi, a professor of social workand the director of ECCO (EducationCenter for Community Organizing), willspend six months at Hebrew Universityin Jerusalem, where she will teach aseminar and conduct research on com-munity social work.

Fernandez is ACE Vice Chair

Ricardo R. Fernandez, president ofLehman College, has been elected vicechair of the American Council onEducation (ACE), the major coordinatingbody for higher education in the U.S., withmore than 1,800 member institutions.

A member of the ACE board since2003, Fernandez was elected by acclama-tion during the organization’s 88th annualmeeting in Los Angeles and will automati-cally assume the position of chair in 2007.

Based in Washington, D.C., ACE pro-vides leadership on key higher educationissues.

Jordan Wins Lifetime Award

Legendary vocalist Sheila Jordan, anAdjunct Professor of Music at CityCollege, received the ManhattanAssociation of Cabarets & Clubs (MAC)Lifetime Achievement Award for jazz.

The award recognizes outstandingwork in the fields of cabaret, jazz andcomedy. Past recipients include LizaMinnelli, Joan Rivers and jazz greatsKenny Barron, Bucky Pizzarelli and TheManhattan Transfer.

Jordan, who lives in Manhattan, saidshe was so shocked when she heard thenews that she fell off her chair. “I’ve beendoing this music for so long, I don’t expectanything except the joy I get from teach-ing and singing,” she said.

FACULTY HONORS

Professor Gonsher

Queens Center Receives $40 Million tonuclear weapons. Until 1951, it also wasused in fluorescent tubes — the kind thatwere gathering dust at the Portsmouth,Ohio, nuclear weapons plant until the1970s, when Sexton was directed to smashthem in 55-gallon drums for disposal.

Beryllium scars the lungs, impedingproper functioning.

“I used to run. Now if I walk a shortdistance I have to stop,” he said.

“Sometimes just taking a shower andbrushing my teeth I have to sit down andtake a rest,” he added.

Sexton is one of hundreds of nuclearweapons plant workers who discoveredmedical problems or their causes throughthis unique, federally funded screeningprogram operating out of Queens College.It was born through moral suasion, con-stituent politics and savvy lobbying by theOil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union,now merged into the United Steel Workersof America.

In Washington’s corridors,Markowitz not only helped

shape the nationalscreening protocol,

but with theunion also

Garry Sexton knew working in anuclear weapons plant might harm hishealth, but he was wary of doctors. So helet time pass.

Then Steven Markowitz, the occupa-tional physician who heads QueensCollege’s Center for the Biology of NaturalSystems, cornered him at a conference.Markowitz offered weapons plant employ-ees federally funded screening for work-related illnesses. Sexton was a union safetyrep whose duties included encouragingworkers to take these free exams.

How, Markowitz asked bluntly, couldSexton have credibility if he hadn’t beenscreened himself?

Some weeks later, Markowitz phoned toinsist. “He made me commit,” recalledSexton, 56, who at the time was experi-encing bouts of shortness of breath.

The screening showed why: chronicberyllium disease.

This rare condition is triggered by sensi-tivity to beryllium, a metal found in golfclubs, dental crowns and electronics, besides

Top Research Grant Winners* (figures cover recent five-year periods)

PROFESSOR COLLEGE DEPARTMENT AMOUNT START YEAR

Markowitz, Steven Queens Center for Biology of Natural Systems $19,483,507 12/01/05SUMMARY: A medical screening program for Y-12 and ORNL workers is needed because selected workers at these facilities have likely had significant

exposure to radiation and chemical toxins.

Khanbilvardi, Reza City Civil Engineering $12,850,000 01/01/01SUMMARY: CCNY is the lead Institution for the multidisciplinary CREST Center, to conduct research consistent with NOAA's environmental assessment

and prediction and environmental stewardship mission and to recruit and train graduate students from under-represented minorities.

Mills, Pamela CUNY Chemistry $12,500,000 09/15/04SUMMARY: Mathematics and sciences in the New York City school system are confronted with a number of serious problems which are expected to be

addressed by the strategy of a Micro/Macro approach for reform at both the local level and system-wide.

Filbin, Marie Hunter Biological Sciences $7,797,019 09/30/00SUMMARY: Immediate goals include the development of the research careers of two young neurosciences faculty already at Hunter and to establish

the animal model of spinal cord imaging at Hunter.

Alfano, Robert City Physics $5,998,566 05/01/03SUMMARY: The City College of New York proposes to establish a Center for Optical Sensing and Imaging (COSI) in order to develop enabling optical

technologies, instrumentation, and methods for sensing and imaging of the earth and environment and to attract and train under-represented U.S. minority students in related science and engineering disciplines at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.

*Information compiled by the CUNY Research Foundation, the not-for-profit educational corporation that engages in post-award administration of private- and government-sponsored programs at the University.

Dr. Steven Markowitz of Queens College’sCenter for the Biology of Natural Systems.

CUNY MATTERS — May 2006 11

cal, because there is no other industry inthe United States for which there are com-prehensive occupational health evaluations,”Markowitz said.

In 2000, with bipartisan support,Congress also passed a compensation lawthat so far has paid $1.2 billion to nuclearweapons workers diagnosed with 22 cancersor other specified work-related illnesses.

“For a number of people, this is a way ofmaking peace with the past, which was avery unkind past,” said Richard D. Miller, apolicy analyst with the nonprofit Govern-ment Accountability Project, which protectswhistleblowers; he played a behind-the-scenes role in securing both laws.

These progressive health-care initiativesare backed by what might appear to bestrange conservative bedfellows, includingMajority Leader McConnell and SenatorsJim Bunning (R-KY), Mike DeWine (R-OH) and George Voinovich (R-OH, whosucceeded Glenn in 1998). The legislatorsall came from states with weapons plants.

The Queens College center startedscreening at three gaseous diffusion plantsin 1998 — K-25 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee;Paducah, Kentucky; and Portsmouth, Ohio— and a year later it added Idaho NationalLaboratory. In the first three of thoseplants, workers mix uranium ore withchloride to produce a vapor that is sentdown long tubes to separate two isotopes,U-238 and U-235. The former goes intonuclear bombs, the latter is waste calleddepleted uranium, some of which goesinto armor-piercing shells.

These plants are in rural areas, whereworkers don’t have access to independentphysicians with expertise in occupationalmedicine. Often their only recourse is the“company doctor,” whom they may not trust.

Sylvia Kieding, a consultant to the SteelWorkers and its predecessor unions, saysthe workers strongly believed that screen-ing “should not be dominated byacademics, that it had to be a partnership— and not one in which we were a juniorpartner. Workers had no faith in studies;they thought they were whitewashes andoften they were.”

Markowitz agrees. “The goal of the

screening is to tell people the truth abouttheir health. Secondarily we want to detectdisease early and help people,” he said.

To boost credibility, the union runs cen-ters staffed by fellow workers, active andretired. There, the union offers a two-hourpre-exam workshop to talk about workplacetoxins, and to discuss how to talk to a physi-cian and how the special compensation lawworks. Medical analysis is done in Queens.

Miller, of the Government Accounta-bility Project, said: “I’ve been in these facil-ities when they were in full-scale operation— giant windowless buildings, often physi-cally very hot, no windows, very noisy,thick clouds of toxic vapors in the air. Youoften needed earplugs. These are giantindustrial facilities with toxic materials andradioactive substances, or reactor facilitiesthat release neutrons, or industrial process-es that generate industrial particulate. Theywere defined as ultra-hazardous facilitiesunder the Atomic Energy Act.”

So it’s a wonder that Markowitz foundonly limited rates of workplace-relatedlung disease among the self-selected groupthat chose to be tested. As of March, theprogram had evaluated 12,702 DOEworkers, finding that: Almost three-quar-ters have hearing loss.; 17 percent havechronic bronchitis; 10 percent show lungscarring consistent with significant occupa-tional exposure to asbestos; 4 percent haveemphysema, brought on at least in part bypowerful lung irritants used in the gaseousdiffusion process, like hydrofluoric acid; 3percent have sensitivity to beryllium.; Aseparate lung-scanning program detected44 early lung cancers (see sidebar).

“This is not an epidemiological study,”which would track all of the 600,000 peoplewho ever built nuclear weapons, Markowitzsaid. “But I’m encouraged that we haven’tfound large numbers of people who are ill.”Similar results have been found by otheruniversities screening other weapons plants.

DOE last year expanded screening toother plants, resulting in the center’s latestgrant. The five recently added plants are inOhio, Tennessee and — right here in NewYork — at Brookhaven NationalLaboratory on Long Island.

Track Nuclear Plant Workers

Research into proteins involved in cancer growth is among the projects being funded at City Collegethrough the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Program.

Two science faculty members at the college have received grants, Assistant Professor of Chemistry IbanUbarretxena-Belandia and Assistant Professor of Physics Carlos A. Meriles.

Ubarretxena plans to investigate the molecular basis for regulated intra-membrane proteolysis, which isa signal transduction mechanism controlling cell growth and proliferation, in everything from bacteria tohumans. He plans to study the biochemistry of intra-membrane proteins and their three-dimensionalstructures, in order to understand their biochemical properties in atomic detail.

“This mechanism is directly involved in many forms of cancer as well as the pathogenesis ofAlzheimer’s disease,” the professor noted. “Understanding its properties at this level could lead to noveltherapeutic strategies against cancer and neuro-degenerative disorders.”

Authorized funding for Ubarretxena’s project, “Biochemical and Structural Characterization ofIntramembrane Proteases,” totals $934,363.

Meriles’ project, “Long-Range Dipolar Fields as a Tool for Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Microscopy”has been authorized for $587,000 over five years. The year one appropriation is $147,000.

His investigation aims to develop techniques for using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to analyzethe chemical composition of cells and functions of cellular components. He explained that MRI has beendifficult to apply to microscopy because reconstructed MRI images have resolutions no greater than onemicron (one thousandth of a millimeter).

Of his project, Meriles said, “If successful, this strategy could be very helpful because it maintains thewell-known advantages of MRI to investigate biological matter without sacrificing spatial resolution.”

The NSF awards, which run for five years, are given to support “early career-development activities ofthose teacher-scholars who most effectively integrate research and education.”

Lori Brannon is a Queens College employee but she lives in Charlotte, N.C., andshe travels innumerable miles around the country, from one nuclear weapons plantto another, in a huge white truck containing a low-dose helical CT scanner.

Brannon works for the college’s Center for the Biology of Natural Systems, andshe performs the scans, checking workers for signs of cancer and other diseases.

“You have to be self-reliant and independent,” she said of the work she does.Brannon has made the mobile CT suite comfortable, playing soft jazz, creating a

sitting area and placing posters on the ceiling over the scanner. Each Sunday shedrives or flies to the location of the week and camps out in a motel; Friday she goeshome. “It gets old some days, but I have rapport with the patients and feel I’m mak-ing a contribution. It’s much more personal than a hospital is, where you never see apatient again.”

Her work has saved lives.For one example, her scans found an early lung cancer in Sam Ray, who worked

in a Portsmouth, Ohio, plant for 41 years and lost his natural voice to laryngeal can-cer a dozen years ago.

“There were no real safeguards for the first 30 or 35 years,” he said through anartificial voice box. “There was radiation, all types, penetrating radiation and also air-borne. That’s no longer possible, because restrictions today are so much greater.”

In addition to Ray, there was a 47-year-old man with a suspicious lung nodulethat Brannon followed for three or four visits; at the appropriate time, he hadsurgery and today is back working. “Every time I see him he hugs me, saying hewould never have gone anywhere else,” Brannon said. “The realization hits you thathis kids could be without a father and his wife a widow.”

And then there was the young man whose scan showed an abdominal aorticaneurysm. (The abdominal aorta is a large blood vessel that supplies the abdomen,pelvis and legs; an aneurysm is a blood vessel that expands like a balloon.)

“It was about to rupture, and if it ruptures, you’re going to bleed to death.What hit him was that’s the way his father died, at about the same age,” Brannon said.

Surgeons fixed the problem.Said Brannon: “That’s what keeps me going.”

Lori Brannon travels in a van, working for Queens College and testing workers for signsof cancer.

On the Road – with Music in theBackground – and Saving Lives

Carlos A. Meriles, Assistant Professor of Physics, (left) and Iban Ubarretxena-Belandia, Assistant Professor of Chemistry (right).

CCNY Professors Receive NSF Grants for Cell Research Projects

Baruch CollegeAnnual SpringFling Street FairMusic, games,and food12 PM Free

QueensboroughCommunityCollege2nd Annual CUNYGeneralEducationConference9 AM Free

QueensboroughCommunity CollegeSwing Into Spring Big Band orchestra7 PM $25, $20,$18.50

Borough ofManhattanCommunityCollegeHighlights In JazzBlossom Dearie8 PM $30 /$27.50 S

QueensboroughCommunityCollegeLeslie Uggams3 PM $45

QueensboroughCommunity Col.Happy 250thBirthday, Mozart!Oratorio Society ofQueens 4 PM $20, $18

Queens College∂Yom HashoahCeremonyHolocaust remem-brance9:30 AM Free

College of Staten IslandObservatoryPublic ProgramHighlights Saturnand the moon 8PM Free

College of Staten IslandLaughter ArtsFestival, ItalianNight8 PM $45, $42, $39

College of Staten IslandCrystal GayleGrammy award-winning countrysinger1 PM $45, $42, $39

Queens CollegeFashion ShowTraditional costumes andcontemporarydesigns.5 PM Free

Lehman CollegeLehman BrassQuartet12:30 PM Free

Lehman CollegeThe UnstoppableDebbie Reynoldsin Concert3:15 PM $50, $45,$40, $35

Graduate CenterThe Color ofWealth: EconomicApartheid inAmerica 7:30 PM $10

Graduate CenterLead-Safe WorkPractices forContractors Course in properprocedures9 AM to 5 PM $75

Graduate CenterFood SystemsPolicyUrban farmers’markets7 to 9 PM $20

Graduate CenterLose Weightthrough Hypnosis12-1 PM $40

Graduate CenterStop Smokingthrough Hypnosis12-1 PM $40

FREE SUMMER HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAMSThirteen CUNY college campuses are offeringsummer programs for New York City public high school students. Row a boat down theHudson River or meet some of the city’s leadingjournalists. Conduct research in a state-of-the-artaquatics lab. Act. Write. Play the sax.

It’s all part of a COLLEGE NOW SUMMER. Most schools provide transportation money and lunch. For more information: http://collegenow.cuny.edu/students/summer

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go after them with a seeming fearlessness. Itis curious to note today that many citybureaucrats — the very kind who in thepast would feel the sting of Newfield’s darts— have adopted his views and even, to adegree, his methods.

The city’s Department of HousingPreservation and Development has “isolat-ed its own list of worst landlords.” In a sign

of openness, HPDofficials showedBarrett’s class how touse the department’sdatabases.

“The agency itselfnow seems to be fol-lowing in Jack’s foot-steps,” Barrett said.The class’s exposureto media and govern-ment movers and

shakers hasmade Huntersenior TainaBorrero con-sider journal-ism as apossible career.“Wayne’s classhas been anamazing expe-

rience. He brings(guests) into almost

every class,” said the 22-year-old politicalscience major who has interned with Sen.Hillary Clinton’s press office.

“The fact that (Barrett) brings in peoplehe doesn’t necessarily agree with, I think isgreat.”

Forty-six years ago, in 1960, JackNewfield graduated Hunter with a BA inEnglish. He began his journalism career assports editor of the school newspaper, theHunter Arrow. At the Voice, his annual listsof Ten Worst Landlords and Ten WorstJudges were widely read, and influential.Barrett, who joined the Voice nearly 30years ago, was co-author, with Newfield, ofCity for Sale, about the political corruptionscandals during the administration ofMayor Edward I. Koch. Barrett has alsowritten Rudy! An Investigative Biography,about Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, andTrump: the Deals and the Downfalls.

Newfield, said Barrett, was “anenormous influence on my life. ... He wasone of the funniest people. We’d talk 10times a day if we didn’t see each other, andhe’d always keep me in stitches.”

Teaching the class at Hunter “keeps mein touch with him,” Barrett said. “I can stillhear him talking.”

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They met 30 years ago. As longtimecolleagues at the Village Voice, the twomuckrakers helped hone the weekly into abruising thorn in the sides of some of NewYork’s most powerful, greedy and corrupt.Today, one of them, Jack Newfield, is gone.The other, Wayne Barrett, carries onNewfield’s legacy in a Hunter Collegeclassroom.

This semesterBarrett, a senioreditor at theVoice, is the firstto hold the JackNewfieldVisitingProfessorship inJournalism,named for thecrusading inves-tigative journal-ist and Hunteralumnus whodied inDecember2004. Guidedby Barrett, 12students are get-ting an insider’sview of city andstate politics —and the mediacoverage thereof — through guest speak-ers, reporting projects and assigned read-ing. They are also stepping into Newfield’sshoes, spending a good chunk of thesemester reviving one of his best-knownand best-read Voice features: the annual listof New York’s Ten Worst Landlords.

The Voice “has agreed to publish the TenWorst Landlords, which we haven’t pub-lished in about eight years,” said Barrett.The paper has agreed to pay every studentand give them bylines, and the 5,000-plus-word cover story will be “in honor of Jackand will say that it was inspired by hisjournalism.”

The Newfield professorship is expectedto go to a different distinguished journalisteach year, with a faculty committee select-ing the fellows, said Hunter spokeswomanMeredith Halpern. At the time of Barrett’sappointment, Hunter President JenniferRaab said he would bring “a uniqueinsight” to students as an investigative jour-nalist who was also Newfield’s colleague.

The class, Local Political and InvestigativeReporting, is “a conscious effort on my partto carry on Jack’s traditions in many ways,”Barrett said. Newfield used to train his sightson the greedy and the corrupt, and would

Village Voice writer Wayne Barrett,who holds the Jack Newfield VisitingProfessorship in Journalism at HunterCollege. Newfield, inset, was knownfor his “Ten Worst Landlords” inves-tigative articles in the Voice.

Crusading Journalism Lives onwith Jack Newfield Professorship