CUNY Newswire

For the third consecutive year, the Princeton Review has named Hunter College one of the top ten “Best Value” public colleges in the nation for 2011. Based on surveys of administrators and students at 650 public and private colleges and universities, the selection criteria covered more than 30 factors in three areas: academics, cost of attendance, and financial aid. Hunter was once again the only CUNY school on the list.

Janet Garcia, a senior in the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter, has won the 2010 Undergraduate Student Paper Award from the nation’s leading criminology organization. The paper, “Alternative-to-Incarceration Programs: Addressing the Shortcomings of Correctional Services,” deals with a question that is especially contentious in New York and other states now: Is maintaining a large, costly prison system the best way to deal with crime, or are less expensive, more effective alternatives available?

Distinguished Professor Elizabeth Nunez, who teaches creative writing at Hunter, has won a 2011 Barnes and Noble Writers for Writers Award, a prestigious award which was won by three prominent writers this year. The author of seven novels including Anna In-Between (Akashic Books, 2009), Prospero’s Daughter (Ballantine Books, 2006), and Bruised Hibiscus (Seal Press, 2000), which won the American Book Award, Nunez is a champion of American writers of color. She co-founded the National Black Writers Conference, served as its director for 18 years and chaired the PEN American Center’s Open Book Committee.

A new app – the first ever on parenting – is now available at the iTunes store, thanks to Hunter Professor Tom McIntyre. Called “Positive Parenting Practices,” the app contains two hours of narration accompanied by fast-moving, hand-drawn images “to help parents raise ethical, moral, well-adjusted and well-behaved children.”

Jane Jeffrie Seley, who received her master’s in gerontology from the Hunter College School of Nursing in 1998, won the New York Times Tribute to Nurses Award for Innovation. A diabetes nurse practitioner and educator at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center, Dr. Seley was recognized for creating an interdisciplinary diabetes care council and nurse committees, developing a more enjoyable menu for diabetes patients, and revamping the ordering system for insulin, meals, and blood glucose monitoring.

Hunter College has won a $975,000 grant to establish an innovative Chinese program designed to enable undergraduates to achieve a near-native command of the language

Author and journalist Alyssa Katz will serve as the Jack Newfield Professor at Hunter College in the spring semester, offering a course titled “Who Owns Public Housing?”

Two Hunter College seniors have won Murray Kempton Awards for Journalism honoring the contributions of outstanding undergraduate student journalists in a competition among students at all CUNY colleges.

The National League for Nursing has announced that Hunter College’s School of Nursing in New York City is one of six schools of nursing selected to receive the organization’s Center of Excellence designation. Hunter, a first-time designee, was selected for “creating environments that enhance student learning and professional development.”

A formal ribbon-cutting ceremony commemorated the official opening of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College last night. Joining Hunter President Jennifer J. Raab in cutting the ribbon was special guest and keynote speaker Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations. U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, New York City Councilmember Dan Garodnick, CUNY Vice [...]

Thanks to Hunter College freshman and nursing student Steven Gordon, Barack Obama will never have to worry about finding his way home. That’s because on October 12, Gordon presented the president with a tattoo reading, “My Name is B.O. If I’m lost, please call the White House.”

Hunter College has received a five-year grant for $4.25 million from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research to lead a Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) that will generate new knowledge about individual characteristics related to employment rates among people with disabilities. The evidence base built through the RRTC research activities will be used to improve strategies and interventions for attaining better employment outcomes for people with disabilities.

Hunter professor of psychology and animal behavior Mark Hauber is prominently featured in a current article in the leading international science journal Nature, delivering advice about how to get published in major trade magazines and journals.

A team in the Hunter chemistry department has achieved a scientific breakthrough that could have a far-reaching impact on the emerging field of nanotechnology.

It’s Kind of a Funny Story, the new movie based on the novel of the same name by Hunter graduate Ned Vizzini (BA ‘03), is “disarmingly gentle, sweet and whimsical,” in the view of New York Times film critic A.O. Scott, who adds that he unhesitatingly recommends the movie to “the legions of children and parents who are fans (or who should be) of Mr. Vizzini’s book.”

Peter Carey, executive director of Hunter’s MFA program in creative writing, is a finalist for the National Book Award in fiction for his widely praised new novel, Parrot and Olivier in America. It is the latest in a long list of honors for Carey, who is one of only two living authors to win the prestigious Man Booker Prize twice and who was on the short list for this year’s Booker.

Two Hunter psychology professors, Regina Miranda and Vanya Quinones-Jenab, have won a grant of nearly $3 million for a program to encourage minorities and members of other underrepresented groups to pursue doctorates in the neurosciences.

Hunter College’s Peter Carey might break a record and become the only person to win the Man Booker Prize three times. Parrot and Olivier in America, Carey’s latest novel, has just been short-listed for this year’s prize, along with five other books.

Veteran Hollywood writer Alan Trustman will teach aspiring screenwriters the tools of the trade in a hands-on course to be given this fall in Hunter’s Continuing Education program. The course, Intensive Screening Workshop, will be held Wednesdays, 4:30 pm-7:30 pm, from September 29-November 17.

In the most recent report documenting Hunter’s steadily rising rank among the nation’s top colleges, the 2011 College Rankings issued by U.S. News and World Report ranks Hunter 8th among the nation’s top 10 public regional universities. Hunter and Baruch College were the only two CUNY colleges to make the top public list.