For nearly 20 years the Alan Lomax Collection –the musicologist’s unique library, spanning 50 years of folk music and culture — was housed at the Association for Cultural Equity (ACE) at Hunter College’s MFA building on West 41st Street. Founded by Lomax in 1983, ACE’s goal was to promote every culture’s right to express and develop its distinctive heritage. The original collection, 5,000-plus hours of sound recordings, was acquired in 2004 by the Library of Congress. But Lomax’s daughter, Anna Lomax Wood, is continuing ACE’s work, digitizing the original Lomax recordings in order to share them with local libraries, artists and communities. These “dissemination and repatriation programs are in the spirit” of ACE’s mission, said Wood. “We’re making the research that Alan did available to everyone who wants it.”
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Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s move to extend term limits was passed by the City Council, signed into law, and prompted legal challenges. In a panel discussion on the controversial proposal, Kenneth Moltner of New Yorkers for Term Limits outlined a key objection to the mayor’s action: “Voters voted not once, but twice, in 1993 and 1996 (against a proposal to extend term limits from two terms to three), so the issue is about respect for their vote.” The panel, at Baruch College, was moderated by former City Council Speaker Peter F. Vallone Sr.
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As a veteran reporter for The New York Times, Joseph Berger has written about the city’s immigrants and how newcomers to areas like Astoria, Ditmas Park and East Harlem have improved these neighborhoods. In his book “The World in a City,” published by Ballantine Books in 2007, he took a deeper look at his subjects. “I could do interviews in exotic places like Ecuador, Uzbekistan, Guyana and Ghana simply by getting on the subway for the cost of a Metro card,” said Berger, discussing New York’s changing cultural landscape as part of the Jewish Faculty & Staff Association’s Distinguished Speakers Series at New York City College of Technology.
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Sen. Barack Obama made history with his Presidential win and with his record-breaking $650 million in fundraising — $400 million more than Sen. John McCain. That gap, says Republican strategist Ed Rollins, presents future challenges for the GOP. “When you’re being outspent four or five to one, it is very difficult to make up the numbers you need (to win),” Rollins said at a Baruch College panel discussion, “Politics, Pundits and Polls: Election 2008.” Also participating: Democratic strategist Harold Ickes, pollster Kellyanne Conway and Daily News columnist Errol Louis.
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Linda Norden, the new director of the Amie and Tony James Gallery at the CUNY Graduate Center, wants the space to be known for contemporary art that wil encourage a new “dialogue to the New York art world and the community within the Graduate Center.” Located in the former B. Altman building, a city landmark at Fifth Avenue and 34th Street, the recently renovated gallery is free and open to the public. Its inaugural show, “People Weekly,” features six contemporary projects that highlight various aspects of the redesign. “I needed artists who had very strong responses to the space,” explained Norden.
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Nancy G. Siraisi, Hunter College’s distinguished professor emeritus of history, is one of 25 recipients of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s prestigious “genius awards,” presented annually to individuals for their creativity and contributions to their fields of work. Dr. Siraisi, who received her Ph.D in history from the Graduate Center in 1970, is an historian of medicine, focusing on the Renaissance. “It’s a wonderful expression of confidence in my work and a great encouragement (for me) to go on doing it,” she said of the award, which comes with a $500,000 cash prize. A history professor at Hunter and The Graduate Center for more than three decades, Dr. Siraisi, 76, who retired from teaching in 2003, discusses her research and how CUNY shaped her academic career.
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A quotidian celebration of life in the city, the “City Life” calendar and companion website, www.cunyedu/citylife, is the newest calendar from a unique partnership between the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives at LaGuardia Community College and The New York Times Photo Archives. The calendar explores the distinctive housing, parks and neighborhoods of major American cities. “We’re trying to bring history to life,” said Steven Levine, who headed the research team at the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives. Under the auspices of the CUNY/New York Times Knowledge Network, the archive has also released “Nation of Immigrants,” a special curriculum for high school and college students.
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Richard Perez, research professor at the State University of New York at Albany on the financial benefits of solar energy, Sanjoy Banerjee, Director of the Energy Institute at the City College of New York, on storing solar and wind power with rechargeable batteries and Brian Dolan of Intellidyne, LLC on energy-saving applications for commercial and residential climate control systems. Featured Green Artists: Richard Thron, The Classic.
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Set in the middle of the Jazz Age, the infamous Leopold and Loeb murder case had all the elements of a true-crime thriller. In his acclaimed book, “For The Thrill Of It: Leopold, Loeb and the Murder that Shocked Chicago,” Simon Baatz sheds new light on the brutal murder of a 14-year-old boy by two privileged and brilliant young men. Baatz, an associate professor of history at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center, breathes life back into the personalities in the case, including legendary defense lawyer Clarence Darrow. “It was really my background in the history of science that persuaded me that this was a book that needed to be written,” says Baatz, who has a Ph.D. in history of medicine from the University of Pennsylvania. “I knew that it would be very complicated and intricate, as well as fascinating. It turned out to be both.”
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Standing committee meeting of the Board of Trustees, Committee on Student Affairs and Special Programs, Monday, November 3, 2008.
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Standing committee meeting of the Board of Trustees, Committee on Facilities, Planning and Management, Monday, November 3, 2008.
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Fred Moshary, professor of mechanical engineering at the City College of New York on tracking pollutants in the wind. Wood Turner, project director of ClimateCounts.org, on using consumerism to fight climate change and Stephen Ezell, owner of Market Kitchen, on the the benefits of purchasing locally-grown organic produce. Featured Green Artists: Flytrap, Kingfly.
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Dr. Rohit Aggarwala, Director of New York City’s Office of Long-term Planning and Sustainability on plans for a greener New York, Grammy Award-winning folk singer Pete Seeger on using music to promote environmental issues, and Bruce and Russell Barton of Bits Limited Manufacturers on reducing electricity consumption and costs. Featured Green Artists: Pete Seeger, Split The Bill.
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Matthew Bishop, chief business writer and US Business Editor of The Economist Magazine, addresses the global financial meltdown and how the media has failed to do its job covering it. Bishop spoke with Prof. Anthony Mancini, director of the journalism program at Brooklyn College, at the CUNY Journalism, Broadcast and New Media Conference and Career Fair at the Graduate Center. “We’ve been worried, as a magazine, about the American financial system for at least a decade,” said Bishop. “We’re at a very, very dangerous moment.”
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The Baruch Business Report offers a conversation between John Elliott, the Dean of Baruch’s Zicklin School of Business and Terrence Martell, Saxe Professor of Finance and International Business in Baruch’s Zicklin School of Business. The discussion starts with an exploration of the newly approved Troubled Asset Relief Program (T.A.R.P.) that will provide the Treasury Secretary $700 billion to buy troubled assets from failing financial institutions, and continues into a larger economic analysis including restoring depositor confidence in banks, the potential government gains from T.A.R.P., and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (F.D.I.C.) new protection plan for bank consumers, which raises basic insurance from $100,000 to $250,000 per account.
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