CUNY Newswire

After a four-decade absence, the Army Senior Reserve Officers Training Corps is returning to City College, which will serve as The City University of New York headquarters for the new University-wide ROTC program, offering rigorous academics and training for leadership in the armed services to students from all CUNY campuses.

A national search has begun for a new academic leader for the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, which has emerged as one of the leading journalism schools in the country less than a decade after its founding, Chancellor Matthew Goldstein has announced.

Eight outstanding City University of New York students – recognized for research on subjects including cancer, immunology, cardiovascular disease, genetics, neuroscience, autism spectrum disorder, nuclear physics and the physical interactions of dye molecules – have been awarded Jonas E. Salk Scholarships to study in the medical field in 2013, Chancellor Matthew Goldstein has announced.

The Joseph S. Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies at the CUNY School of Professional Studies has recognized six leaders who have distinguished themselves in the areas of social and economic justice. The six honorees will receive the 2013 Joseph S. Murphy Emerging Leaders Award at a reception inaugurating the Joseph S. Murphy Institute Scholarship for Diversity in Labor on May 16th in New York City.

2013 CUNY Commencement Ceremonies: Chancellor Matthew Goldstein, former Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Nasser D. Khalili, New York State Court of Appeals Judge Jenny Rivera, CNN lead political anchor Wolf Blitzer, El Diario La Prensa Publisher and CEO Rossana Rosado, President of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Reynold Levy, award-winning author and historian David Nasaw, forensic DNA testing pioneers Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld, President and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., avant-garde director and playwright Robert Wilson, acclaimed CBS producer and editor Warren Lustig, African history scholar Toyin Falola, cystic fibrosis research pioneer William B. Guggino, education scholar Diane Ravitch, Natural Resources Defense Council President Frances Beinecke and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes are among the speakers and honorees.

The City University of New York has received a $25 million gift from the Stella and Charles Guttman Foundation to support The New Community College at CUNY and two other community college initiatives to boost student retention and graduation rates. In honor of the gift, the foundation’s largest and the largest ever given to a New York State community college, the CUNY Board of Trustees passed a resolution to rename The New Community College The Stella and Charles Guttman Community College.

The CUNY Board of Trustees today announced the appointment of Dr. Chase F. Robinson as Interim President of The Graduate School and University Center, upon the recommendation of Chancellor Matthew Goldstein, effective July 1, 2013.

The Board of Trustees today approved the appointment of Dr. Stuart Suss as Interim President of Kingsborough Community College, effective Sept. 1, 2013, pending completion of a search to replace Dr. Regina Peruggi, who will step down from the presidency at the end of the summer. Dr. Suss’ appointment was recommended to the Board by Chancellor Goldstein.

Researchers at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and City University of New York have invented a proprietary new formulation called VisikolTM that effectively clears organisms to be viewed under microscopes. Visikol can be used in place of chloral hydrate, which is one of the few high-quality clearing solutions currently available but which is tightly regulated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) due to its use as a narcotic.

Outstanding Teachers: BILL WILLIAMS jokes that what led him to collaborate with Sandra Clarkson was the constant refrain at cocktail parties: “Oh, you teach statistics? I hated statistics!”

Outstanding Teachers: KIMORA – SHE USES only one name – has taken on what may seem a quixotic mission: to encourage students who intend to become police, corrections or probation officers to be ethical – if not happy – in their work. She sets the same goal for the teenage prisoners with whom she works.

Outstanding Teachers: As a teenager on the brink of college, Jennifer Basil faced a big decision – theater or biology. At 17 she’d apprenticed at the New York State School of Performing Arts at the Circle Repertory Company in New York City. But at age 9 — “after watching everything on PBS about animals and fish” – she had written to the renowned Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory on Cape Cod, looking for work.

Outstanding Teachers: ANTHONY CARPI, professor of environmental toxicology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, hasn’t been teaching much since he was tapped to be the Interim Associate Provost for the Advancement of Research last year, but he finds other ways to work with students.

Outstanding Teachers: TOM OFFERS TO SELL HIS JACKET to Sally for $50. Simple, right? But what if Ellen offers Tom more after Sally says OK? What if Tom changes his mind? Does it matter that nothing is in writing? What if Tom lied about the jacket’s material?

MOST OF US gratefully remember a special teacher whose skill in the classroom transformed our learning experience, making complex or unfamiliar material accessible, relevant, and compelling, and igniting our curiosity. At The City University of New York, we are fortunate to have many faculty whose expertise and creativity have enriched student proficiency in demonstrable ways. I am delighted that this issue of Salute to Scholars recognizes some of the exceptional faculty whose teaching has garnered awards and acclaim. I commend all of our faculty for their efforts to improve student progress through innovative, dedicated instruction.

Outstanding Teachers: DARA BYRNE, an associate professor of communication and theatre arts at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, says her “favorite place is in a class with freshmen, because I enjoy helping them see what the higher education environment can do for them.” And she teaches just the course – the one they don’t want to take.

AFTER BEING ACCEPTED to Kingsborough Community College in 2011, Mushfica Masud was depressed to receive a class schedule filled with remedial courses.
But two years later, Masud boasted a 4.0 GPA, made the dean’s list, and was recently awarded a scholarship for academic excellence.

THE UNIVERSITY is now in the book business with the launch of the CUNY Journalism Press. The academic press housed at the
Graduate School of Journalism will use a new publishing model to produce books related to the craft.

Outstanding Teachers: When she was just 4 years old, Queens College associate professor Susan Croll announced that she would be a medical researcher. As a youngster, she was fascinated by her father’s psychology lectures at SUNY Broome Community College and helped him grade the bubble exams, “but not the essay questions.” Now The Princeton Review has recognized this neuropsychologist for her own teaching abilities.

ARTIST and York College professor of painting Nina Buxenbaum grew up in a multiracial, politically active family in Brooklyn. Early on, her work centered on black collectible imagery — Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben and Mammy — that Buxenbaum found “disturbing.” Later, it became more personal as she developed her own identity as a biracial African-American woman.