#39 December 2004 January 2005

College Community to Shape New Vision At February 4th Summit

By Staff

As the college prepares for its next vision summit on February 4, President Gail O. Mellow took faculty and staff members who attended the December 1st Professional Staff Meeting through the process that will help define the college's future direction. With the eight major themes that emerged from the 2001 summit firmly embedded in our strategic plan and in the work done at the college, the presi- dent explained that our new focus is to move the college to that “next bigger dream.” “We want to focus less on what we should do,” she said, “and more on who we are, what we value, how we do things, and what kind of place we want it to be in the future.” The answers to these questions, the Acting Director of the Family Institute Janice Kydd and President Gail O. Mellow share president said, can be found in the stories stories at the professional staff meeting. and histories of faculty, staff, students, alumni, and external community members. Stories that capture a time when they were the most innovative and creative, or $400,000 in Scholarships a “fun” experience that enhanced creativi- ty and productivity, or an incident where Awarded by NSF they were encouraged to take a risk. Through this approach, known as appreciative inquiry, President Mellow By Staff ics, assisting them in completing their said that the college will be able to identi- degrees and preparing for transfer and The college has received a National fy the college's “positive core,” and the the high technology workforce. Science Foundation grant that will provide strengths that we should then build upon. “All data show minorities and women $400,000 in student scholarships over A planning team of 30 members of the remain under-represented in these fields,” the next four years. The NSF Computer college community has already begun noted the grant's author, Dean Paul Science, Engineering and Mathematics conducting one-on-one interviews, group Arcario of the Division for Academic Scholarship (CSEMS) program will pro- sessions with departments, divisions, and Affairs. “Given the make-up of our stu- vide monetary support for academically classes, and telephone interviews, which dent body, our proposal successfully talented, financially needy students inter- will continue through January. An inter- made the case that we were in a position ested in entering the fields of computer view space will also be set up in the atri- to help redress this.” technologies, engineering and mathemat- Continued on page 21 Continued on page 12

www.laguardia.edu

LaGuardia, Three Employees LPAC Presents The Nutcracker Win CUNY Productivity Award On December 18

By Staff

By Staff ient way to order office supplies. The timeless holiday classic, The Customers simply click onto the site where Nutcracker, will be performed at the LaGuardia and three of its administrative they can choose from a wide range of LaGuardia Performing Arts Center on staff members have recently received the supplies from several approved vendors. December 18. first-ever CUNY Productivity Award for In his comments, Mr. Dobrin said as a Ballet for Young Audiences, a profes- achievement in process innovations. result of the new procurement system, the sional children's theater group that is Senior Vice Chancellor Alan Dobrin college is enjoying productivity savings, returning to the college after its successful presented the newly conceived award to reduced storage needs, better accounting run last year, presents a colorful and fast- Evelyn Lowmark, property manager for methods, and a keener understanding of paced production, featuring all the famil- the Administrative and Support Services purchasing patterns. iar characters–Herr Drosselmeyer, the mys- Department, for developing and supervis- “This best practice has been reviewed terious clockmaker; Clara, his favorite ing the college's virtual stockroom–a state- by other colleges,” he added, “and godchild; and the Nutcracker Prince. The of-the-art online procurement system--and serves as a role model for a successful production, which is performed by young Eileen Murray, director of Administrative productivity initiative.” dancers, is narrated to ensure that the and Support Services, and Diane Colon, Describing Mss. Murray and Colon as young theatergoers can follow the story. assistant director of Administrative and “heroes” of LaGuardia's state-of-the art After the performance, Santa and his Support Services, for operating the mail mail operation, the vice chancellor noted helpers will be making a special stop at center, which has been recognized as a that through their hard work and good the college to give out gifts to all the “best practices” in this area. judgment, they have contributed to pro- young theatergoers. Children will also be Receiving the award on behalf of the ductivity savings at the college. able to take photos with ol' Saint Nick. college and his staff members was Vice “With one of the lowest costs for bulk The performance will be held in the President Richard Elliott who accepted the rate mail, state of the art equipment, Mainstage Theatre. The event begins at wooden mantel clock at CUNY's Third which is leased at low prices, and a pro- 2 p.m. Annual Financial Management fessional and well-trained staff,” said Mr. Tickets are $12. Those who are inter- Conference on November 12. A special Dobrin, “Eileen and Diane have con- ested in purchasing tickets may call the recognition lunch is scheduled to be held tributed to major process innovations.” box office at ext. 5151. for the three award recipients. “I am completely thrilled that this first- ever CUNY award should go to the col- lege and three outstanding administrators who have developed programs that have led to increased productivity,” said a still beaming Mr. Elliott. “This is a testament to the college, which encourages such inno- vations, and its administrative staff who have the vision and talent to put such ini- tiatives in place.” James Buckley, associate dean of Administration, added to the accolades. “What I am truly proud of is Eileen, Diane, and Evelyn's dedication to every job they perform and their willingness to take on new projects for the betterment of the college and operation of their depart- ments. It is a further example of our divi- sion's philosophy on the success that teamwork brings to a project.” Ms. Lowmark's virtual stockroom is a one-stop shopping center that offers the Winners of the first-ever CUNY Productivity Award, left to right, Diane Colon, Eileen college community a quick and conven- Murray, and Evelyn Lowmark. 2 www.laguardia.edu

ated the city's Department of Street Archives Develops Curriculum Cleaning. After reading the narrative, the students on the History of Garbage refer to a 1850 map of Manhattan and Brooklyn to answer a set of questions on the population. Another exercise has the fourth graders extracting answers found in By Staff “It is no longer the history that empha- a New York City Department of Health sizes the memorization of dates and facts Garbage, the pervasive nuisance that has and Hygiene graph that charts the num- that are forgotten right after the exam is plagued New York City for centuries, is ber of people who died of cholera taken,” said Dr. Richard K. Lieberman, the the subject of a fourth grade local history between 1830 and 1870. director of the archives, which for the curriculum developed by the LaGuardia “Along with teaching history,” said Lisa past 15 years has been producing docu- and Wagner Archives. Sita, the associate project director, “each ment-driven history curriculums for the The 32-page curriculum traces the histo- lesson is designed to test a number of dif- city's public schools. “This curriculum ry of garbage removal, which began in ferent academic areas-–critical thinking, encourages students to think critically, to the mid-1880's when the city, faced with reading comprehension, math, and map examine documents, and to write their its second cholera epidemic, decided that and graph skills.” findings based on evidence. Rather than it had to take action to deal with its The archive has already sent out simply have the students memorize battles waste. It goes on to track the ways in 11,000 packets to over 50 public and dates, the curriculum encourages which the city attempted to alleviate its schools that have requested the packets them to begin thinking like historians.” problem, from the establishment of the and is planning to print 8,000 additional In each lesson, the young historians Department of Street Cleaning, to copies to satisfy demand. The printing of read a chapter taken out of garbage's garbage dumps, landfills, and ocean the curriculum was made possible, in 200-year-old history, examine vintage dumping, to present-day initiatives. part, by public funding from the New documents, and complete academic exer- To chronicle the history, each of the cur- York City Council, The New York City cises whose answers are found in the riculum's eight lessons draws upon a Department of Cultural Affairs, a grant array of letters, reports, and maps. In the panoply of authentic documents including from Consolidated Edison Company of introductory lesson, for example, they letters written by citizens lodging com- New York Inc., and a grant from the learn that the city's quest to deal with its plaints about the stench emanating from New York City Department of Records, garbage problem began in the mid- the Rikers Island's garbage dump, a Administration Unit. 1880's when its population was devastat- 1901 newspaper article describing life “Each year the archive develops a cur- ed by three cholera epidemics. on Barren Island-–a designated dumping riculum that serves as a valuable teaching Although, city officials did not understand ground–-and a letter from New York City tool for fourth grade teachers,” said how filth and dirt caused the disease, Councilman Michael E. McMahon, chair President Gail O. Mellow. “It helps them they realized there was a correlation. of the committee on Sanitation and Solid cover an interesting chapter in the city's With that, the city in 1850 passed a law Waste Management, asking the students history and exposes their students to the giving control over street cleaning and to live with the three R's: recycling, documents that help the history come garbage removal to the city inspector. reusing, and reducing your trash. alive.” And in 1881, a New York State law cre- Why did the archive decide to base a history curriculum on this rather unusual topic? “The kids wanted to know about it,” said Dr. Lieberman, referring to a group of fourth graders who were asked to suggest future topics. “The subject fas- cinates them. Everyday they see bags of garbage being taken away by sanitation trucks and wonder, 'where does it go from there?'” Dr. Lieberman admitted to knowing nothing about garbage. “But once we scratched the surface we found a fasci- nating history, particularly in New York City, on how we handled the garbage from the mid-1880's and how it has been a problem throughout the city's his- This photo of children rummaging through a trash pile in the Bronx is one of the docu- tory and the various ways in which the ments used in the curriculum. city decided to make the city cleaner.” 3 “A Panther in Africa” – And at LaGuardia

“A Panther in Africa” and at LaGuardia: United African Alliance Community College-LaGuardia Connections By Sandra Dickinson, Chairperson, Humanities with Charlotte Hill O'Neal, Co-director, UAACC

Ms. Dickinson’s reflections: When I stepped off the plane at Kilimanjaro International Airport in July 2003, on my way to the United African Alliance Community Center, I could never have imagined what experiences awaited me. I had read about UAACC in travel information provided by a company with whom I'd traveled to Tanzania the year before. By e-mail, I had offered Charlotte O'Neal my energy and abilities for three weeks. What I know now as her enor- mous spirit, unflappable enthusiasm, and, UAACC co-director, Charlotte Hill O'Neil, and catching balls, doing the hokey- clarity of vision, came through on her first visited LaGuardia along with, center, film pokey, and planning for the next year! response. There were students wanting to director, Aaron Matthews; and co-cine- My connection to the summer of 2004 learn English -- many of them. The local matographer, Wayne DeLa Roche. was tight! I would expand the NJIA to a “text” book for student use and try to English teachers were volunteers without Speaking and Listening in English for recruit more teachers for UAACC in special teacher training, and with varying Beginning and Intermediate Levels. It was 2004. In the meantime, my colleague, levels of English language proficiency...I not only the beginning of an exciting col- Carol Rivera-Kron, had connected to Ken could work with them! laboration in teaching, but also of a pre- Mugambi, head of the UAACC's English Somehow I had planned the first part of cious friendship. teachers. They had developed an e-pal my stay before the class term had begun; We knew the key to the success of our project that connected Carol's HUL 100 so I spent the first few days settling in -- NJIA would be the teachers' willingness to (Communication for Non-Native Speakers) into the center's kitchen, where I learned adopt this approach. What better reason students with Ken's English language stu- Kiswahili words and short sentences for could there be for two girls to go shop- dents. greeting people, for talking about food ping! Charlotte and I went into Arusha, a In July 2004, I headed back to UAACC preparation, cooking, and for washing big bustling town, nestled up against one with 250 copies of Mchana Mwema, the dishes and clothes. It was an amazing of the most beautiful mountains I have product of my ongoing collaboration with language immersion experience, and my ever seen, Mt. Meru. She took me to Charlotte and Ken. After a week's teach- first connection to UAACC. Jambo Makuti's where we gorged our- ing, I anticipated the arrival of my col- Then I began working with Charlotte. selves on chocolate cake and strawberry league, John Willliams and an additional That was my next and most powerful (the flavor of the day ) ice cream. Then connection between UAACC and UAACC connection. She knew exactly together we maneuvered through the LaGuardia. Charlotte had welcomed our what she wanted to happen while I was crowded stores, choosing written materi- working together. The result was the incor- there. But as the natural teacher that she als and practical supplies to help get the poration of songs in teaching English lan- is, she just guided me, and let me figure teachers started. After several meetings guage grammar and use, a really gratify- out what to do! “We need an njia (path)” with them, we were ready for the arrival ing team teaching experience, and an she told me. “Pete can't understand why of the students, during the third week of African experience so rich that as we left we have all these students learning my stay. UAACC we could only say, Tutuanna English, and they can't say anything when I was delighted and humbled by their baadaye! (See you later, Dada Charlotte) he greets them.” Those were magic reception. By the end of the week, the words to me. Over the next few days, in teachers and students and I were role her office, I worked with her on our NJIA: playing trips to the local market, throwing Continued on page 5 4 www.laguardia.edu

Panther... sitting in my high school's principal's Party and founder of both the United Continued from page 4 office as a teenager, waiting for punish- Alliance Community Center (UAACC ) and the international Heal the Community Ms. O’Neal’s reflections: ment, or at least a blessing out for some infraction or another ) simply disappeared Project, his history and our present day We were there to see “The Lion King”! with the relaxed, friendly manner in which work at UAACC. Professors Joyce I waited in excited anticipation as the they received me. I had a ball talking to Rheuban and Will Koolsbergen had lights dimmed in the theater and the twiga Lawrence Waldron's African art class, arranged participation, with the support of (that's “giraffes” in Kiswahili!) who had and I later stood with pride gazing at the the college's First Year Experience, for the danced nimbly down the aisles on their display (arranged by Professor Bruce filmmaker of A Panther in Africa, award- stilt legs, started their antics on the stage. Brooks and Gary Vollo and so beautifully winning director, Aaron Matthews and his I was overwhelmed by the brilliance and hung by Helmut Eppich) of work by mentor and co-cinematographer for the mobility of the costumes they wore and UAACC artists down the hall in the glass film, Wayne DeLaRoche (whom I hadn't thought how far I was from home; from display cases for all to see. The time just seen in nearly a year!) It was another the savannahs (where real, sharp toed went by too doggone fast though...I was family reunion in the making. The twiga sometimes kick the wind screens out just getting started! (When I'm talking response to the film, the questions, com- of Land Rovers that irritate them!); the about art and culture I can just go on and ments, and suggestions to the way for- forests and mountains that have been my on and on!) ward, was tremendous and inspiring. home in East Africa for more than three But now it was time to meet some of Upon my return to UAACC, we immedi- decades; I smiled with happiness and Sister Sandra's colleagues, some of the ately began to think of ways to implement gratitude at the lady sitting a few seats people who are as community minded in some of the ideas that were discussed at over from me, the dedicated teacher, who spirit as we ourselves are. It was like a LaGuardia. We have already made a couple hundred young folks at UAACC family reunion when I saw Professor John plans for two of our UAACC volunteers to know as Mwalimu Sandra, but who I Williams who had volunteered at accompany me during my follow-up trip to have come to know and love as my UAACC this summer with Sandra and the States in March, 2005. We plan for Pisces Sister. She had done it again; who had left such a mark on the people two youth, Sam Obae and Joan paved the way for another unbelievable there. Until today, I can't hear the Black Barinaba, to participate in youth sum- experience in the big city. Eyed Peas sing “Where is the Love?” on mits/seminars with their American counter- From the time I got off the plane at JFK the radio without thinking of John and his parts that will explore their commonalties, the adventure began and even though innovative ways of teaching English practical life skills possibilities, discussions things were strange to me, (all the honk- through music and rap. And I felt such a about HIV / AIDS/ STD awareness and ing cars and scurrying people) the blue good positive vibe from all the teachers prevention and self empowerment through sky was something I recognized immedi- who met with me that day, including creativity and the arts in general, in addi- ately and touring the city with Mzee Tom Professors John Chaffee, Scott Sternbach, tion to being on the ground floor of the (Sandra's friend) at the wheel explaining Iona Cooke-Thomas, Patricia Sokolski, establishment of the mentoring program about this street and that famous building and Dean Marcia Caton. I remember suggested by LaGuardia to involve initial- (and Sandra squeezed tightly among my Ms. Renee Butler and the computer teach- ly, DeLaSalle, LaGuardia, and UAACC in luggage; I never travel light!) I actually felt ers, Professors Gerry Meyer and James Arusha, Tanzania. right at home from day one. Frost, when we discussed the possibility I believe that some exciting times lay It was with tremendous pleasure that I of some of LaGuardia's top computer stu- ahead for connections between entered LaGuardia Community College. I dents coming to assist us in our UAACC LaGuardia and UAACC for 2005! And I loved the whimsical school banner with computer classes next year and we have my Pisces Sister to thank for initiating the big bite out of the apple, hanging out- explored ways that we might go about the networking possibilities that exist now, side. I relished the atmosphere in the setting up some kind of mentoring pro- that were established and nurtured during building made so welcoming by the paint- gram collaboration between DeSalle her first visit to volunteer at UAACC in the ings and sculptures on every floor and the Education Center, LaGuardia Community summer of 2003. I look back at my warmth and diversity of the students and College, and UAACC. (DeSalle is a brief time in New York with the fondest of teachers walking the halls. I had smiles nationally recognized school in Kansas memories and with anticipation of future and hellos for everybody (as is our custom City which we have worked with since visits. Whether eating in the neighbor- in Tanzania) and each smile was 1995 in the Heal the Community project hood restaurants in Manhattan, helping returned. Where was all this coldness which strives to provide at risk youth in me to conquer my apprehension of riding that New Yorkers are supposed to be America with positive life altering experi- the underground warrens that make up the known for? It sure wasn't at LaGuardia! ences in Tanzania). arteries of the unbelievably vast and effi- Heck, even the bit of apprehension that Next on the whirlwind agenda was the cient subway system in New York, or tack- touched me before my scheduled early screening in LaGuardia's Humanities ling the hurricane like winds and rain as morning appointments with first, Vice Studio and Black Box Theater of “A we made our way to the Apollo Theater, President Bihn and later on with President Panther in Africa,” a documentary about my Pisces Sister was always the ultimate, Mellow (which I think must have been my husband Pete O'Neal, founder of the most gracious host. Asante sana Dada caused by flashbacks or heretofore Kansas City Chapter of the Black Panther Sandra! repressed memories of sweaty moments 5 with fascination and excitement. Week UAACC: Reflections on two was when Sandra and I decided that we (I) felt strong enough for us to try sepa- Visiting Tanzania rate but complimentary approaches to the same end - hers was language and lin- guistics and mine was music and mayhem (well at least fun and some games!). like this, just be asked to put some money By John W. Williams, Neither of us could have imagined when on the line and buy a round trip ticket -- Professor, Humanities we began our lurching steps toward that will separate the chaff from the designing an approach, which would use If you had the opportunity to fulfill a life- wheat. Or maybe more accurately stat- the best of what we do, that it would long dream, would you take advantage ed, “separate the men from the spendthrift have succeeded so splendidly. The next of it? That was where I found myself dur- boys!” Be required to make this commit- installment will cover what actually devel- ing the 2003-2004 academic year at ment almost half a year in advance (com- oped as the “experiment” in volunteerism LaGuardia. Talking to the chairperson of mit or shut up?!?). That's where I found and education. the Humanities Department and my col- myself (gentle prodding…) and making league, Sandra Dickinson, I was first plans about what I could add to what intrigued with visiting Tanzania in East had already begun, while trying to figure College Holds Africa a year earlier in the summer of out how to use some of my own expertise 2003. As fate would have it, family obli- and experience in teaching and working Transfer Fair gations and financial considerations with students. Obviously, I committed my made it impractical for me to undertake a finances. It's a given, a trip of over By Laura McGowan, Director, Office for trip of this sort. I was determined after 8,000 miles one-way must be planned, Transfer Services that (with some friendly prodding from my tweaked, refined, and prayed over in colleague) to make the trip to the United On November 10, the Office for Transfer order for it to happen. Services sponsored the bi-annual College African Alliance Community Center To move this narrative to July 2004 - my (UAACC) in Arusha. I still remember how Transfer Fair. Approximately sixty college arrival in Arusha, Tanzania - one day later representatives from CUNY, SUNY and awed and excited I was to look at photo- than originally planned (I spent one unex- graphs taken by Sandra and to hear of private institutions filled the atrium, dispens- pected, glorious day and night in ing written materials, scholarship informa- this facility in Arusha that she visited a Amsterdam, but I digress)-- was at night year earlier while on her own adventure tion and advice to LaGuardia students. and I did not appreciate the UAACC Attendance was high and included partici- to the continent in 2002. When she facility upon my arrival. The next morn- returned to LaGuardia from her 2003 trip, pation by over 300 students from e-trans- ing, after I'd showered (yes, a warm fer Virtual Interest Groups. Students who during which she actually got involved in shower in the one-level, dormitory-type liv- working with teacher-volunteers and teach- did not find the school they were looking ing accommodations), I ate a breakfast of for were asked to fill out a “request for ing students struggling to master English, I fresh fruits, tea, and one of the best felt the pull to make the trek to UAACC information” form and will be notified peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I'd once their school-of-choice is scheduled for and eastern Africa a reality. ever eaten. Next on the agenda, I went One of my first thoughts was how a future information session or an “On-the- right to the circular, one room classroom Spot Admissions Day.” Many of the col- could I be of service - me, a musician, where Sandra Dickinson was preparing to steeped in the music of my own African lege representatives commented on continue the lesson that the students had encountering an excellent student body in American heritage (spirituals, work songs, been involved in the previous week. I gospel, and the popular genres) and the their visits to our campus and noted that observed the doings and felt comfortable reaching out to transfer students is increas- music which grew out of the European enough to participate with the classroom classical music tradition? How could I ingly important in their overall recruitment teachers as the day developed. planning. dare show up to commune with people The first week was exhilarating and kept whose linage I remotely share, but whose me perpetually intrigued with meeting the daily lives must be as different from mine teacher-volunteers, the students, and the as going to any part of the world would small cadre of people who reside within be where I don't know the language, the the walls of the UAACC compound. No mores and customs, the essential musical warmer, more open people have I met traditions - on and on and on? Daunting than those at UAACC. My awkwardness LaGuardia Live Wire is produced by the is an understatement and frightening is was not seen as a hindrance to making Office of Marketing and Communications. only half way there! Again, gentle and human-to-human contact and the idea that Submissions are welcomed by e-mail at persistent prodding from a colleague I I was a musician and would use music to “Livewire”, by phone at extension 5060 respect was the constant. If one wants to help with learning language was greeted or in person in room E-508. know if one is committed to something

6 www.laguardia.edu hours a day. If it were not for their Kenyan UN Ambassador efforts, Ambassador Bahemuka suggest- ed, their families would have difficulty sur- Speaks at the College viving. Similarly, Kenyan women have taken the initiative in community projects aimed at improving the lives of their com- munities. We have only to think of the recent Nobel Laureate, Wangari Maathi, a colleague and friend of the ambassa- By Florence Diallo, Lecturer, dor to understand the power of Kenyan Academic ESL women. The Kenyan ambassador to the United Ambassador Bahemuka spoke of her Nations, Her Excellency Judith years spent in the U.S., particularly as a Bahemuka, visited LaGuardia on student and how inspired she was by November 10 to give a lecture on African American women's outspoken- women and development. ness in claiming their rights. This was The day started with a private breakfast something she took back with her when hosted by the president's office. Among she returned to Kenya. the attendees were Vice Presidents John A lively question and answer session Bihn and Richard Elliott, student represen- followed the ambassador's lecture with tatives, chairs of the internationalizing LaGuardia students distinguishing them- task force and members of the women's selves with their interesting and percep- interest group that supports the Student tive questions. What is the government Center for Women. President Gail O. doing to promote education for girls? Mellow warmly welcomed the ambassa- How is the AIDS crisis being dealt with? Is terrorism an issue? The ambassador's dor, thanking her for taking time out from The Kenyan ambassador to the United answers were honest and forthright. She her busy schedule. Ambassador Nations, Her Excellency Judith Bahemuka Bahemuka expressed her delight to be at was not afraid to voice her opinions the school and offered many interesting a woman who lived in East Africa over when she felt her government needed to insights into her work and the world 150,000 years ago strongly suggested do more. She was equally plainspoken issues she is involved in. that we all come from what another col- when a student asked her about Kenya's Then it was time for the talk. In the Little league of mine called the same “African position in world trade, accusing institu- Theatre, Dean Mohammad Fakhari who mother.” Standing and holding hands tions like the International Monetary Fund had very kindly agreed to give opening (another of my requests) I felt a sense of of “conditionality.” When the conditions remarks despite the fact that he had to unity as the audience reflected for a of a loan are so burdensome that a coun- catch a plane a few hours later, wel- moment on what this meant and what try faces bankruptcy trying to honor and comed the ambassador putting her visit each one of us could do to promote our repay the debt, one has to question, and the work he does with the model UN connectedness. “who is subsidizing whom?” she suggest- into an international framework. When the ambassador finally spoke, ed. She asked the audience to help Looking out at the packed auditorium, the audience listened with rapt attention Kenya and countries in Kenya's position I was touched by the fact that so many of as she delivered a searing account of the by spreading the message that condition- my colleagues and students had turned travails and triumphs of women in her ality has to go. out to listen to someone speak about a country. As she made clear, Kenya is a Vanessa Bing, head of the Student corner of the world that on the face of it male dominated society in which women Center for Women, wrapped up the had nothing to do with them. I won- continue to struggle for equal rights in event by thanking the ambassador for her dered, how truly receptive are we to employment, property inheritance, and illuminating talk and her willingness to those we see as different from us? When access to education. She also talked share the dreams of her country, the aspi- it was my turn to introduce the ambassa- about how globalization has exacerbated rations of its women, and her hopes for dor, wanting to underscore our connec- current economic inequalities that doubly her country's future. tions, I decided on what a colleague jok- punish women. Yet despite these obsta- As we left, Ambassador Bahemuka told ingly called a trick. I asked all the cles, Kenyan women have made notewor- me that she would never forget Africans in the audience to stand up. thy contributions to their economy particu- LaGuardia and the warmth with which When a predictable handful rose, I larly in the areas of agriculture and small she was received. Somehow I don't think reminded those who remained seated businesses. Kenyan women may be the that LaGuardia will forget her either. that Africa was the cradle of humanity hardest workers in the world with women and that DNA analysis of the remains of in rural areas working more that 13 to 16

7 Mr. Bell made the audience acutely aware of the need fifty years later for a continued fight in the courts and in the communities for the best education possi- ble for every child in America. This was, therefore, more than “a history lesson” on the case, for these two lawyers and long- time friends were an impressive team who in speaking openly and honestly (some- times agreeing, sometimes disagreeing) enlightened the audience on American his- tory, American government and politics, the law, race relations, human relations, and more, thus stimulating thinking, con- versations, and classroom discussions after the event. The Task Force on Pluralism owes spe- cial thanks to the members who worked hard to bring this program to the college, most especially to Mr. James Pendergrast and Dr. Vanessa Bing (also faculty coordi- Esmeralda Simmons moderates a panel discussion on Brown v. Board of Education nator of the Student Center for Women), featuring, left to right, Judge Robert L. Carter and Mr. Derrick Bell. who worked with the task force chair for several months in advance, and to Ms. Reflections on Brown v. Board Irene Sosa and Dr. Bret Eynon, without whom the event would not have been pos- of Education: Fifty Years Later sible.

Making the Case for Volunteering Eleanor Q. Tignor, Chair, LaGuardia Task of Education, who since 1972 has served Force on Pluralism as U.S. district judge for the Southern By Francine White, Assistant Professor, District of New York; and Mr. Derrick Bell, Department of Cooperative Education The Task Force on Pluralism made the civil rights litigator of hundreds of school I recently presented at The First Annual decision that the year 2004 could not desegregation cases in the 1960's, Best Practices in Higher Education end without bringing to the campus a Harvard and New York University law Conference at The Community College of “history lesson” on the landmark May school professor, and author of several Philadelphia. At the conference I had 17, 1954, Supreme Court desegrega- books, including most recently Silent lunch with a lovely group of people. tion case Brown v. Board of Education. Covenants: Brown v. Board of Education Two of these people were women who With the support of the Office of Student and the Unfulfilled Hopes for Racial were part of the alumni panel that was Life and Development, the Student Center Reform. scheduled after lunch. The title of the for Women, and the Center for Teaching In answering questions that LaGuardia panel was “Assessing the Impact of and Learning, the October 19 panel dis- students and faculty requested be asked Service Learning on Student cussion in the Little Theatre was highly by the moderator Ms. Esmeralda Development.” The panel consisted of successful. The overflowing audience of Simmons, civil rights attorney and director four alumni who were pleading the cause students with their professors and others of the Center for Law and Social Justice at of service using their own experiences as from around the campus found this to be Medgar Evers College, and in responding examples. These were people who had a riveting program that could have been to student questions from the audience, come to a community college to get a extended much beyond the one hour. Judge Carter and Mr. Bell defined the degree, get a good job and change We all had the honor of learning from case, set it in its historical and legal their lives. What they were relating to two illustrious civil rights lawyers of the framework, pointed out its positive intent the audience was that volunteering was a twentieth century, namely, Judge Robert L. of “equal educational opportunities” for major factor in the changes they were Carter, one of the pillars of the Civil Negro children and its “unfulfilled hopes.” able to make. Rights Movement and a member of the While Judge Carter cited reasons to cele- legal team in the case of Brown v. Board brate the Brown decision, both he and Continued on page 9 8 www.laguardia.edu ple, the school day ran from 8 until 6 My Trip to Shanxi Province p.m. with three nutritious meals provided at school because, I was told, busy work- ing parents did not need the stress of having to provide this after a long work By Judy Coppock Gex, Lecturer, ESL Province and New York will be able to day. The high school day ran from 7 Academic discuss their classes on the site as well. a.m. to 8:40 p.m. with time for athletics The second project will be a study of On October 8, I flew to Taiyuan, China, and music in addition to school subjects Chinese English language learners in to visit six universities, two high schools, and homework time. In all cases, hous- China and the U.S. and the development one grammar school, and one kinder- ing was provided at the school for the of their speech patterns. The participating garten as part of the work the TESOL teachers. Single teachers were assigned teachers will have a discussion group on group of the Sino-American Conference to dorms. Married teachers could have our Blackboard site where they can dis- on Higher Education is doing. When the apartments. At the universities, there was cuss their findings and develop articles conference met here in June, our group separate housing for lecturers, assistant reporting on their work. agreed to work on two projects before professors and full professors. At each site I visited, there was an the 2006 conference. One of the pur- It was such fun to meet some of the opportunity to speak with teachers and stu- poses of my trip was to enlist participants teachers the TESOL group (Carol dents. I was provided with a laptop and in these two projects and help get them Montgomery, Carolyn Henner Stanchina, a screen so I could type my own closed off the ground. Rick Shur and me from LaGuardia and captions as I talked and answered ques- One project is to set up a Blackboard Susan Price from BMCC) had entertained tions. In many cases, that allowed us to site of stories, poems, grammar and cul- here in New York in spring 2003 and in cover a wide range of topics with maxi- tural exercises and discussion opportuni- June 2004. Taiyuan is off the beaten mum student participation. Approximately ties for three classes here and three class- tourist track so sometimes an American 2,000 students participated in the pro- es at Shanxi University and North China face is a real novelty. I was taken to a grams given in the six universities and two University of Science and Technology. local festival. When I was at the back of high schools. Two classes here have used the site so a crowd watching dancers, about a third I also had an opportunity to visit their far. The Chinese students are being of the crowd turned to watch me watch- classes and learn many things from their entered now. Teachers from Shanxi teachers. In the kindergarten, for exam- Continued on page 11

Volunteering... was that they were applauding their expe- activism across the curriculum, as well as Continued from page 8 riences as volunteers. They talked about ensuring that all of our students are as their experiences in terms of a currency engaged in their own personal growth One of these women was Hannah other than money - they talked about and development and their own social Brown. Ms. Brown had been director of learning, skill development, personal growth and development so that contribut- the college's Office of Community growth and development, building confi- ing to the “self” and contributing to at Involvement for a number of years. This dence, networking, and contributing to least your immediate environment become office doesn't exist anymore for funding their communities. Contributing to their part of the same game plan. On the ride reasons but Ms. Brown was making a communities was the major theme. home I found myself thinking that many of plea for its reinstatement. To support her Whether they volunteered on or off cam- the experiences that our students get argument she used words like “critical pus they were “plugged in” to what they through their work with us is their entrée experiential education,” “from welfare to were doing, were able to talk about it to active citizenship and community par- well being,” “being plugged in,” and told passionately years after the fact, and to ticipation and that I would love to see all stories about homeless students coming to relate that early volunteer experience to of our students contribute more to their school from shelters and volunteering to what they were doing today. No matter communities than just casting their votes in help others, students on welfare trying to how their individual stories were struc- the various elections. I would like them to navigate the bureaucracy of welfare tured, these were clearly stories about two be able to articulate what community is, reform legislation to stay in school, and things - activism and volunteering. These what communities they are members of, students like herself, single parents with students were talking about finding the and what their contributions are to each children, trying to access limited resources “self” in self-sufficiency. Ms. Brown said it group - sort of paying rent for the space to get an education and make a better life best when she said, “there is a lot of they take up on the planet. I think some for their families. work to be done in our communities and of this is easily done in our classrooms by Undoubtedly these were familiar stories we ain't gonna get paid for it all.” making social responsibility a factor in our and reminded me of many of our own stu- I came away from this conference think- discussions. Maybe another good way dents. However, the thing that I liked ing that maybe we should be teaching to teach this, however, is by example. most about what the panelists had to say

9

Family Hurricane Relief Effort

By Kazembe Batts, Campus Coordinator, Office of Student Life

Over a period of one month the LaGuardia Community College family came together in support of hurricane vic- tims in the Caribbean. Hurricane Ivan destroyed 95 percent of the infrastructure in Grenada. As the CUNY Grenada Relief Effort was launched in response, Tropical Storm Jeanne caused massive Attending the YMCA award presentation, were left to right, Professor Marcia Glick, floods in Haiti causing the death of over Communications Skills Chair Hannalyn Wilkens, President Gail O. Mellow, YMCA 2,000 people while leaving 200,000 Executive Director Michael Keller, Professor Arthur Lau, and YMCA Director of School- homeless. Students and staff brought Age Child Care Geri Sacino. clothing, shoes, school supplies, and canned goods as part of the relief drive, Professors Glick and Lau which was extended to cover Haiti. The Bachata and Merengue Club, Christian Receive Award from YMCA Club, Circle K Clubs, Dominican Students Association, and the Haitian Club played a significant role in mobilizing their mem- bers to respond to the emergency need. By Marcia Glick, Associate Professor, using the books they would be taking Student Life staff members Brandon Communication Skills home. Clarke, Mike Munoz and myself promoted I also received the award for my role as In October, the directors of the YMCA in the effort by sharing information with visi- the America Reads program director at Long Island City presented awards to Dr. tors to the Student Life Office. Plasma the college and the partnership I estab- Arthur Lau of the Communication Skills screen displays, posters, and flyers were lished with the YMCA. Over the past six Department, LaGuardia, and myself, for also utilized to get the word out. As years, I have placed many of the literacy services offered to its organization by donations came in they were stored in tutors (LaGuardia's Federal Work Study members of the college faculty. MB-06. Over 25 large plastic bags students) from the America Reads program Over the past four years, Dr. Lau and were collected, enough to totally fill the in the YMCA's center to work with chil- myself have volunteered to conduct work- college's van, twice. With the help of dren. I train the tutors in basic reading shops for parents, entitled, “Parents As Support Services staff member William methodologies, as well as procedures First Teachers” aimed at teaching parents Perera the relief items were taken to the and techniques for working with young how to read to their children and helping Flatbush/Caton Vendors Mall in Flatbush, children. I have also linked the America to foster literacy. The workshop also dis- one of the designated drop-off points. By Reads program with the college's cooper- cussed turning 'off the television' and start- now people in Grenada and Haiti are ative education program, placing and ing a home library for their children. As rebuilding their lives with the help of the training students who are teacher-educa- an incentive to have books available at generous outpouring from the LaGuardia tion majors to work with elementary home, we distribute age-appropriate family. This generosity was part of a uni- school children and to use their opportuni- books to those parents and children who versity-wide effort directed by Corey ty to complete this co-op internship. attended the workshop to begin their own Lowney, university coordinator of Student The awards were given to us in appre- at-home library. The books are donated Health Services. ciation of our time, effort, and energy; to from publishers of children and education- the chairperson of the Communication al books. Skills Department, Dr. Hannalyn Wilkens, We began these workshops at for the support the department offers me LaGuardia's Family College and at local and Dr. Lau in our endeavors, and to the public schools. The workshops at the college for recognizing this initiative. YMCA, given on a Saturday or Sunday morning, were very well attended (50 to 70 people). Participants brought their children with them, and at the end of the session, the parents practiced their skills 10 www.laguardia.edu Hospital, Queens Hospital Center, Mount Center for Corporate Education Sinai Hospital of Queens, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Hosts Industry Forums Maimonides Medical Center. Issues were raised regarding the shortage of qualified employees in the labor pool By Timothy J. Rucinski, Director, Center for new employees; current and new with particular emphasis on nurses and Corporate Education employee skill strengths and deficiencies; radiology technicians; the growing com- student internships; and ways in which petitive market; the need to increase rev- The Center for Corporate Education in partnering with LaGuardia could improve enues by expanding services; cultural the Division of Adult and Continuing business. diversity; job expectations of new employ- Education sponsored an industry sector Participants for the manufacturing and ees; and suggestions for implementing forum for manufacturing and processing processing forum included representatives new credit and non-credit educational on October 14, and a forum for the from Steinway & Sons, Kruysman, programs to fill vacancies. health care industry on November 10. Snapple Beverage, Magellan Industry sector reports were prepared The forums were designed to help Aerospace, Mana Products, Madelaine and disseminated to forum participants. LaGuardia facilitate the economic devel- Chocolates, Roxbury USA, and Standard In January, additional concept-oriented opment needs of Queens and the New Motor Products. Following a welcome sessions will be held to further discuss York City metropolitan area. by President Gail O. Mellow, discussion potential solutions by which LaGuardia Executives from leading companies focused on key concerns including may assist with industry training and serv- were invited to provide counsel and increased global competition, recruitment ice needs. advice to identify areas for strengthening challenges, employee work ethic and Three additional forums are scheduled current services offered by LaGuardia, commitment, training needs, and propos- during the school year. A forum for home and propose suggestions for additional als for courses and student services to health care and nursing home services services that the college could offer to address the specific needs of the manu- will be held on January 20. A forum for increase the growth and prosperity of the facturing industry. the media and communications industry industry. Sixteen executive administrators from will be held in March, and a forum for In each of the two-hour sessions, forum both public and private hospitals and the hospitality, tourism, and culture indus- participants addressed critical topics health service agencies were greeted by try is scheduled for May. including: challenges facing the industry; Vice President Linda Gilberto at the Copies of the manufacturing forum and organizational expansion; concerns with health care forum. Representatives health services forum reports are avail- the local employment climate; hiring of included decision-makers from Parkway able from the Center for Corporate Hospital, Coler Goldwater Specialty Education, ext. 5330.

China... Continued from page 9 Local Organization Supports ing the dancers. When we went to the next performance, the usher put my guide Students through Scholarship and me on the stage behind the singer - apparently so the crowd could see the performance and me without turning in By Josephine Corso, Associate Director, strated service to the community while their seats! Center for Teaching and Learning; and excelling academically. This year, three If you want to see some lovely objects Judith Gazzola, Acting Director, Adult students will be awarded $500 scholar- recently excavated from digs in Taiyuan Career Counseling and Resource Center ships. The recipients are Daniel LaMazza, and Datond - both in Shanxi province, go Christianna Rai Morea, and Joseph Italian Charities of America, a long-stand- visit the China exhibit at the Metropolitan Carlini. ing social club located in Elmhurst, Museum of Art. Also as Carol, Carolyn Daniel is a business administration Queens has offered scholarships to and I mentioned in our Opening Sessions major with a GPA of 3.5 and is a part- LaGuardia students of Italian American presentation this fall, there are opportuni- time employee in LaGuardia's Admissions descent for more than 10 years. This ties to teach in these wonderful institutions Office. His future educational goal is to organization demonstrates its commitment where you will be very well treated. attend Baruch College. Although Daniel to education by awarding scholarships to Please contact me if this interests you. In is still a fairly new student to LaGuardia, high school and college students. For addition to language and literature class- he has already proven to his teachers and more than ten years, it has allocated es, some of these universities offer sci- supervisor his commitment to hard work funds to support a scholarship to a deserv- ence and history classes in English. ing LaGuardia student who has demon- Continued on page 12 11

Local Organization... Continued from page 11

and excellence. He is described as someone who is always helpful to other students and “…pursues his interest with a perfect balance of passion and humani- ty.” Christianna is also a business adminis- tration major with a GPA of 3.5 who plans to pursue a baccalaureate degree at Baruch College. She has been placed on both the college's Dean's List and the International Dean's List. She has enjoyed an active student life through her participation in Alpha Beta Gamma, the Student Advisor Council, and Phi Theta Kappa. Her employer at the New York Health and Racquet Club describes Christianna as a “conscientious profes- sional and valued employee.” The same sentiment is expressed by her teachers The five students to receive the scholarships are left to right. Sidian Ma ‘05, Som who describe her as a “conscientious Nath ‘05, Joseph Blackwell ‘05, Tauqir Nasir ‘05, and Jolisa Robinson ‘05. The and active participant.” faculty members who attended the ceremony were: Professor James Frost, Computer Joseph has pursued his educational Information Systems; Hendrick Delcham, instructor in the Mathematics Department; endeavors with a major in liberal arts Dean Paul Arcario, Academic Affairs; and Professor Kamel Hajallie, chair of the and sciences and has earned a GPA of Mathematics Department. 3.9. He has already begun his bac- calaureate work at Hunter College where Scholarships... Department who will overseer the grant, is he majors in education. While a student Continued from page 1 confident that the scholarships will be of at LaGuardia, Joseph was placed on the great benefit in recruiting students for the Dean's List on three separate occasions The grant will enable the college to new engineering degree, which is a joint and received an Honor's Night Award award 30 to 45 scholarships to qualified program with City College. for achieving a GPA of 4.0 as well as students each year. The first five Scholarship recipients are designated as the Academic Peer Instruction (API) awardees were selected this fall: Joseph “LaGuardia CSEMS Scholars” and partici- Award. As a mentor for the API pro- Blackwell, Jr., Sidian Ma, Tauqir Nasir, pate in an online “Virtual Interest Group” - gram, he is described by the director as Som Nath, and Jolisa Robinson. based on the college's successful FIPSE- “an excellent tutor who exemplifies every- “The scholarships will ease the financial funded model - designed to familiarize stu- thing one would want in a tutor.” Joseph burdens that the majority of our students dents with their chosen disciplines, offer is also described by his history professor face,” said President Gail O. Mellow, transfer and career guidance, and pro- as being “open to exploring new ideas “and allow them to concentrate more fully vide faculty mentoring. Professors and is responsive to the needs and con- on their studies.” Hendrick Delcham, James Frost, Ahmad cerns of other people.” Depending on their unmet financial Khalil, and Gerald Meyer are working On behalf of LaGuardia, we extend need, eligible students can receive up to with Dr. Hajallie to select scholarship win- our congratulations to these scholarship $3,125 per year to be used for any ners and provide faculty guidance. Faculty winners and wish them continued suc- expenses they have. Students majoring in are urged to tell prospective candidates cess. We also extend our appreciation computer science or computer technology about the program and additional infor- to the Italian Charities of America for areas, the college's upcoming engineer- mation can be obtained from Dr. Hajallie. making this scholarship award possible ing degree, or the liberal arts mathemat- “There are not many grants that provide through the continued efforts of Mrs. Rose ics and science degree (concentrating in direct scholarships for students,” said Sproviero, president of the Italian math) can apply, though they must be eli- Dean Arcario, “so we want to ensure that Charities of America Board of Directors. gible for financial aid as well. The grant all eligible students hear about this pro- was written, in part, to coincide with the gram and take advantage of a wonderful development of the college's new engi- opportunity to gain additional support.” neering program. Dr. Kamal Hajallie, chairperson of the Mathematics

12 www.laguardia.edu someone who can get in front of a TV The Right 'Project' at the camera and say, 'God Hates Fags.'” Mr. Munoz was referring to the Right Time Reverend Fred Phelps, who–in the play as in history–stages a demonstration outside of a memorial service for Mr. Shepard and the trial for his murder. Other cast members, like Ms. Fowler, found it helpful By Justine Nicholas, Adjunct Lecturer, few technical aids. In this sense–and to draw upon their cultural or familial English another, which will be explained later in backgrounds, or simply personal experi- this article-- it is reminiscent of ancient ences, to portray members of the Laramie LaGuardia Community College students Greek plays. However, it diverges community. In her case, she “channeled” performed and presented The Laramie sharply from such classical roots-and her Southern relatives in portraying a Project at the college's Little Theatre from aligns itself more with Shakespearean Texas native who'd been living in Laramie November 17 through 23. drama-in its reliance on the characters' at the time of Matthew Shepard's killing. Humanities professor Will Koolsbergen speeches rather than plot intricacies to Each cast member's difficulties were directed. The cast included Bill Beyrer, carry it. Parallels have also been drawn compounded several times over because Giselle Blanco, Edward Cen, Joel between Kaufman's award-winning drama he or she had to play at least five–or as Esposito, Mack Exilus, Rashidah Fowler, and Edgar Lee Masters' The Spoon River many as eight–different people. Ancient Annette Gomez, Kaula Meyers, Michael Anthology. The latter work was not writ- Greek actors were also likely to portray Munoz, Koirichio Nakazato, Rhea ten as a play but is frequently performed several different characters in the same Neblett, Giselle Pescador, Alfonso as one because, as in The Laramie play, and transitions from one character to Soriano and Jared Winston. Project, the “characters” are actual people another were often made through on-stage Ms. Blanco also directed, produced, who lived in a small town and are strong- costume changes, as performers in The and narrated The Project, a documentary ly defined by their speeches. Laramie Project are required to do. film in which she interviews cast members “In some ways, playing real people is a Ms. Fowler pointed out yet another com- as well as other students, faculty, and staff lot more difficult than playing fictional plication–and reward–of representing real- members for their thoughts about the play characters,” said cast member Jared life people who were connected to a and its subject. It premiered on Winston. “With fictional characters, piece of news heard or read by people November 15 and kicked off what many there's only so much you can, or need to, all over the world: “Everyone already has in the college community called “Laramie know.” Professor Koolsbergen echoed his opinions about it, so they have expecta- Week.” sentiments in saying, “There's a level of tions from the play-and you.” Nobody The Laramie Project, written by Moises complexity that you don't have in directing knows for certain what a fictionalized Kaufman, deals with the murder of actors playing fictional characters.” He character is supposed to look or sound Matthew Shepard, a young gay man. explained that cast members often had like, she explained, but “everyone's seen Kaufman and members of his Tectonic much stronger and more visceral reactions a picture of Matthew Shepard and the Theatre project went to Laramie shortly to the people they were playing. “You can Wyoming mountains.” after Shepard's October 1998 death and compartmentalize a fictional character,” Not only were most audience members interviewed friends, family members, he elaborated, “but not a living human familiar with the events-–and sometimes acquaintances, and other residents of the being.” As if to underscore this point, Mr. people–portrayed, they had also read the town and its environs. Munoz offered a piece of his experience: play. In some cases, people in the audi- The play is composed entirely of the “I have close gay friends. But I had to be ence were in the midst of intensively read- townspeople's own words infrequently ing or researching the play, for it is this intercut with narrations that serve mainly year's Common Reading. Some had to introduce the people who were inter- assigned the play; others had it assigned viewed. The interviewees represent a to them. But all seemed to agree that the wide cross-section of a small town, from performances they'd seen at the college the president of the University of enriched their understanding and appreci- Wyoming to bartenders and a limo driv- ation of the play and its subject. Referring er. In all, more than fifty people appear to cast members, Krista Berry (of the col- in the play, which Professor Koolsbergen lege's Department of Sports and and cast members described as “chal- Recreation) said, “They really understood lenging” yet “rewarding” to perform. the people they played.” Other audience Like The Vagina Monologues, which members confirmed her impression and was staged at the college in February, In the student production of The Laramie echoed Dean Paul Arcario, who pro- The Laramie Project is designed to be pro- Project, Alfonso Soriano plays the dis- claimed, “This really is the right work at duced with minimal stage settings and traught father of Matthew Shephard. the right time.” 13 from yours–as a mob of young people did One Face of Hate, to Yusef Hawkins in the part of Brooklyn where I grew up. Another of Love So what is it, then, that causes a few of us to commit deeds the rest of us couldn't conceive? Those of us who grew up in the United States were inculcated with many of the By Justine Nicholas, Adjunct Lecturer, same values, whether we learned them in English our schools, places of worship or homes, or from movies, TV shows, popular music, From November 17 through 24, or other parts of our mass culture. We LaGuardia Community College students ate many of the same foods, wore the staged The Laramie Project. One of the same kinds of clothing, and heard and cast members, Giselle Blanco, has also spoke the same language. made a documentary film in which she Some of the values we learned, con- interviewed cast members, the director, sciously or not, are gender roles as well and other students and faculty and staff as other forms of stereotypes. We also members for their thoughts about the play, grew up with expectations for building Matthew Shepard's murder, gay rights, careers and families, and most of us have and other related subjects. I am one of some degree of pressure to fulfill those the faculty members she interviewed. expectations and to conform to our pro- Over the course of our conversation, I scribed roles. revealed–for the very first time–a gay- Justine Nicholas So how is it that most people–including bashing I committed as a teenager. At my own brothers, and probably most of the November 15 premiere of the film (in the country or world. our friends and co-workers–who grow up the college's Little Theatre), I was the guest The bad news is that none of us are as I did didn't become gay-bashers, or for speaker. What follows is the talk I gave: immune to the stereotypes that fill our air that matter rapists, lynchers or any other A few years ago, I had the privilege of and can infiltrate and fester inside us. sort of perpetrators of hate crimes? How meeting Stephen McDonald. Social philosopher Hannah Arendt amply is it that haters and helpers can come, lit- Some of you may have heard of him. demonstrated this in her book Eichmann in erally and figuratively, from the same He is a New York City police officer. Jerusalem. Doctors, lawyers, university pro- classrooms? We may ask, as poet One summer night nearly two decades fessors and filmmakers were as easily William Blake's narrator asks of a tiger, ago, someone among a group of young seduced by anti-Semitism–which the “Did he who made the lamb make thee?” people shot him in Central Park and left French writer and politician Jean Jaures If my mother had found out what I'd him paralyzed. called “the socialism of fools”–as the illiter- done, she would've kicked my ass. She Why do I mention him now? Well, he ate were. The good news is we can, if would've done the same to my brothers, if uses his misfortune to teach people–espe- we choose, learn from the examples of they had beaten up any stranger for no cially children–about accepting people as others'–or our own–lives. reason. I have no doubt my co-conspira- they are. Some people have used the fact That is why I told Giselle–and why I'm tors would have suffered a similar fate that his shooters were African-American telling you-–about the gay-bashing I com- had their parents learned of their actions. I teenagers to justify racial profiling, or sim- mitted when I was a teenager. I know that also have no doubt that the father of one ply to rationalize their own prejudices. we–even those of us who are members of of my co-conspirators–who taught junior However, he points out, his grandfather- the so-called queer community-–are no high school social studies by day and who was also a New York City police less vulnerable to the corrosive effects of martial arts by night–taught him that officer–was shot by a white man while homophobia, for we have internalized it attacking a defenseless person who's patrolling in the Bronx during the 1930's. just as surely as the killers of Matthew done nothing to you is wrong. “Evil does not have a color,” Officer Shepard have. So how did I, on a hot summer night, McDonald told me. Nor, he continued, Of course, most of you will never kick a end up drinking beer in a car with a cou- does it have a nationality, religion, gen- frail young man when he's writhing on the ple of guys who, like me, were athletes der, orientation or social or economic ground, as I did. Most of you will never and honor students? How did the three of class. leave someone tied to a fence on a cold us–who would have, collectively, five var- Bigotry is one of the more virulent types night, as the killers of Matthew Sheperd sity letters, four nominations to Armed of evil, and homophobia is one of the did. And, I suspect, most of you haven't Services academies, and two National many forms of bigotry. Bigotry does not attacked someone with a baseball bat just Honor Society memberships when we come in one type of skin, dress in any because he was walking down your particular way, or hail from one part of block and his skin was a different color Continued on page 15 14 www.laguardia.edu

response - all in real time. Chat technolo- Virtual Reference: gy also allows librarians to co-browse with users, sharing what they have Bringing Librarians to You accessed on their screens. It's like having a librarian right next to you. It's hard to argue with the convenience of e-mail. Just submit your question, then By Steven Ovadia, Web Services library is involved in a pilot program of you will receive a response in 72 hours Librarian, Library answering online reference questions. By or less. It's ideal to use when you're visitinghttp://www.lagcc.cuny.edu/ uncertain of a search strategy, or don't Students and faculty have long known library/forms/ask.htm, LaGuardia faculty, know which database to select. how to reach a librarian - simply go to staff, and students can submit e-mail ques- Finally - after all those years of coming the library and walk up to the reference tions at any time, or chat with a librarian to the reference desk - the library can desk. But what about those times when online weekday afternoons from 2 to 4 now bring the reference desk to you! you can't get to the library? Wouldn't it p.m. For additional information, please con- be great to be able to just e-mail the Ask A Librarian gives patrons several tact me at [[email protected]; library? Or maybe even chat with a ways to reach librarians when they're not x6022]. See you in cyberspace! librarian online? able to come to the library. Online chat As we say, the future is now. The is just like using AOL's Instant Messenger. Type in a question and we'll type a

One Face... remember. I knew that I was not like the In short, I can say that I was a product Continued from page 14 other boys: that I was, in fact, not a boy of my environment. But everyone is a graduated–decide, in a moment, to set at all. Yet I feared nothing more than any- product of his or her environment, and not upon someone we didn't know but whom one–particularly other boys and men I everyone is controlled by it. Perhaps the we somehow “knew” was gay because knew–knowing this about me. I was fact that I was in a place and time in of the way he looked and because he called “sissy,” “fag,” “queer” and worse; which “jocks” and manly boys were idol- was walking in a “cruising” area? every day entailed a struggle to shake off ized is a partial explanation of my behav- Even though I was an athlete, my sexu- these labels and the harassment that ior. But I do not offer it as an excuse. ality was still under suspicion: I didn't accompanied them. Instead, I would like to offer you the date; I had a quieter and more diffident I knew that my mind and spirit were benefit of my experience to show that, as personality than I do now. Besides, I did- female long before I kicked that young Stephen McDonald told me, hatred does n't play “real” football; I played the man whose name I never knew. I feared not have a particular shape or hue. Every imported version. And, people didn't think that my co-conspirators would suspect my one of us has the capacity for it–some of I drank too much; they thought I simply feminine nature and hoped that by hang- us to greater degrees by our natures, oth- couldn't hold my liquor. ing around with them–-two boys whose ers by our cultures. On the other hand, as Others have had to fear for their safety masculinity was never questioned–-I might Officer McDonald showed me, we because of the way people perceived be able to change that nature. I continued have–for the same reasons I've men- their sexuality or gender presentation. Yet this duplicity in various arenas, with differ- tioned–the ability to forgive and love each they didn't resort to what I did. Others ent partners (including my father and other, and ourselves. grew up with even more bigotry than I brothers, drinking buddies and co-workers) I sincerely believed Officer McDonald ever knew. But they didn't project their for many years. when he said that he was able to become anger onto those who looked or sounded Of course, as you can see, that worked the husband and father his family different from themselves, or the way they about as well for me as growing a beard, deserved and the teacher, mentor, and see themselves. which I also did. friend needed by the kids he works with I will not try to describe the motives of Perhaps my actions seem misguided. when he forgave his shooters–which he my co-conspirators, if indeed they had But, as we have seen in the cases of did, in person–and himself for his anger at any. I will only tell you, as best as I can, Matthew Shepard and others who were them. Likewise, I am learning to forgive a what screamed and flashed through me at killed or simply harassed for being who teenaged boy who kicked someone in the that moment and what muttered like thun- they are, people who deviate from other stomach thirty years ago so that he may der in the horizons of my dreams over the people's expectations risk the loss of fami- continue to grow into the writer, teacher, thirty years that passed between that night lies, friends, jobs, reputations and even friend–and woman–I was meant to and my interview with Giselle. their lives. This fear keeps people in clos- become. The person you see before you today ets and incites others–like me–to smash Thank you for your help. has resided within me ever since I could mirrors that show true reflections of them- selves. 15 The club members, seated in the front row (from left to right) are: Ling Hei Li (Treasurer); Tiffiany Gibbons (Student Advisory Council Representative); Yin Ching Tam (Secretary); Renshen Jiang (President); Huan Sherman (Vice President); and Wesley Haager (Student Advisory Council Representative--Alternate). Standing in the second row (from left to right) are: You Wei Lin; Jeffrey Hom; Professor Kenneth Yin (Faculty Mentor); Yunlei Zhou; Hae Min Choi; and Diana Cubillos.

Club at LaGuardia. But then, when I saw College Launches Chinese Club the flyer for the Chinese Club in the school, I was very happy!” As the clubs faculty mentor, I am extremely pleased by the comments I have By Kenneth Yin, Lecturer, Chinese checkers, and even tried their received not only from students, but also Academic ESL Program skill at the ancient art of origami. These from faculty and staff, with regards to the activities have all been enthusiastically introduction of the Chinese Club. The pres- On October 6, the newly formed Chinese received. ence of the Chinese Club at the college is Club held its first general meeting. The Tiffiany Gibbons, the club's representa- particularly important at this juncture in club aims to implement social, cultural, tive to the Student Advisory Council, said, time, as LaGuardia is enrolling growing educational, and creative ventures outside “I joined the Chinese Club because I numbers of students from Chinese-speak- the classroom for those students with a thought it would be an interesting experi- ing countries as well as others of Chinese common interest in China and the ence to meet people from the other side ethnicity. In addition, the Chinese Club Chinese. of the world. I wanted to learn about the serves to advance the college's general The club members recently organized a Chinese culture and language, and com- efforts to strengthen its relationship with trip to the Museum of Modern Art to see pare it to American culture.” China through collaborative educational the landmark exhibition entitled China: Diana Cubillos, a club member who is ventures. Dawn of a Golden Age, 200720 AD. currently enrolled in the elementary The club holds regular meetings during One of the largest ever to have come out Chinese-language course at the college, the college's designated club hour from of mainland China, this exhibition focused noted, “I joined because I want to learn 2:15 p.m. on Wednesdays in Room E- special attention on East West cross-cultur- about the Chinese culture. Once I started 340. Faculty and staff should encourage al interchange. Club members have also to learn Chinese, I knew I needed to any interested students to attend one of dined out at a Chinese restaurant in practice and meet the people in order to these general meetings. For more informa- Manhattan featuring southern Chinese cui- really understand the culture.” tion, you can call me at extension 6029, sine, viewed the popular Hong Kong film And, You Wei Lin, another club mem- or stop by Room E-200M in the Future Cops (a combination of comedy, ber, said, “I joined the club because this Academic ESL Program. fantasy, and martial arts titled Chaoji is my first year of college and I want to xuexiao bawang, in Chinese), played make new friends. Before the school year Chinese games such as mahjong and started, I noticed there was no Chinese

16 www.laguardia.edu

The prize drawings were a spirited Student Leadership Conference moment that occurred toward the end of the entire event. Over 150 students Involves Entire College stayed until 4 p.m. for their chance at win- ning the prizes. They sat on the edge of their seats waiting restlessly but in good humor, for the winners' names to be By Brian Goldstein, Director, Student Life The theme for this year was conceived called. Each name, read aloud by Irene and Recreation, and Renee Butler, Senior through focus groups, surveys, and work- Sosa, coordinator of Student Life for the Administrator, Enrollment Management shop feedback that requested suggestions past 10 years, was met with spirited and Student Development of our students during the previous year. applause or mock disappointment. The Leadership and Diversity Program “We're able to present a wonderful LaGuardia held its 19th Annual Student Committee, which compiled the topics event to as large a community as possible Leadership Conference on campus for the and issues, discussed the major concepts each year” said Ms. Sosa. third year running. This event offered an that emerged. The workshops, led pre- This is the third time we've held the con- excellent opportunity to connect with dominately by LaGuardia faculty, spoke to ference on campus. Before that, we had friends and faculty on campus, and reaf- diverse leadership and social justice issues traveled off-campus with our students, but firm our students' commitment to personal such as: “Diversity Issues in 2004: What the cost was prohibitive for more than a & professional transformation. The is Our Role in Stopping the Violence and select few. This is an opportunity to Reverend Dr. Calvin Butts, pastor of The Building Community?” - author Paul Kivel; engage 200 to 300 students and for less Abyssinian Baptist Church and president “Organizing Leadership: How to Affect than half the cost of an off-campus trip.” of SUNY Old Westbury, gave a motivat- Change in Today's Workforce” - Patricia The conference was a collaborative ing and inspiring speech on social justice, Garrett (LaG); “Break the Cycle: Advocate effort that included the Office of Student individual significance, strength of charac- for Change” - Monroe Francis and Todd Development, the Leadership and Diversity ter, and moral conviction to an attentive Smith (NYU); “Cultural Competence in Program, the Office of Student Life, and atrium-packed audience. Personal and Professional Relationships” - the Academic Programs and Services. Each year the question is, “is it possible Madeleine Dale (LaG); “Work Attitudes & But it took the involvement of the entire col- to engage students on a Saturday at the Habits for a Global Workplace” - lege community to bring this project to life, height of the Fall 2004 semester?” With Fredesvinda Dura (LaG); “The Black Male far more than can be mentioned here. over 250 energized students participat- Student Forum” - V.P. Peter Jordan and We are grateful for all the assistance that ing, which represented a 25 percent Lance P. Ogiste (assistant district attorney - we received in presenting the leadership increase from last year, the answer is Brooklyn); “Developing Strong Leadership conference. clear. The theme, “Creating a Socially for the 21st Century using Technology” - Just World Through Leadership: Students Josephine Corso and Maureen Doyle as Change Agents” resonated for stu- (LaG); “What You Think is Flirting May dents, especially following the recent Actuallly Be Sexual Harassment” - Harriet national election. Written evaluations of Mesulam (LaG); “There is No “I” in Team” the conference included answers to this - Ileana Rodriguez (LaG); “The V.I.P. question, “What was the most meaningful Treatment!” Harry Mars (BMCC); “Stress part of the conference?” Management” - Maria Riggs (LaG); "Being able to interact with a knowl- “Assertiveness and Decision Making for edgeable person in the field of leader- Women: Tools for Action and Change” - ship.” Vanessa Bing (LaG); and “Organizing for "To know the priorities of life and how Social Justice” - Karen Miller (LaG). to manage it." It also included multiple poster sessions; "How to work with people, treating a luncheon with keynote Reverend Dr. people equally." Butts; scenes performed by students from "Learning the goals and habits to be a The Laramie Project; a new-book signing productive worker." by anti-violence educator and author, Mr. "The ethics that are necessary to carry Kivel (including free books to all who with you into the workplace." attended); raffle-prize drawings that includ- "Discussing the ways in which women ed personal digital assistants and a digital Student Government Association can learn assertiveness. The difference camera (donated by the LaGuardia Ebelechukwu Okafor president and the between assertiveness and aggression." Foundation Board of Directors), and sport Reverend Dr. Calvin Butts, pastor of The "Learning to work in a group. Identifying shirts and sport drink bottles (donated by Abyssinian Baptist Church and president what makes a person work with or the Recreation Department and the Barnes of SUNY Old Westbury, at the recent against the group. " & Noble Bookstore). Student Leadership Conference. 17 2004 at the University of Lleida in Update on EDIT Grants Catalunya, Spain. From these presenta- tions, she gained insight as to the impor- tance of language awareness on the part Reported by Wenjuan Fan, Assistant ic year with the aim of publishing our of teachers in helping students develop Professor, English as a Second Language results. speaking competence, particularly in a Program Xiwu Feng, Communication Skills, pre- second language, and in accurately sented a paper titled, “The Role of the assessing students' speech performance. Educational Development Initiative Team Faculty in Institutional Decision-Making,” She also came away with a better under- (EDIT), co-chaired by Marcia Glick and at the Transformation of Higher Education standing of the complex relationship Nurper Gokhan, proudly sponsored the at the International Symposium: between the extent of students' metalin- following faculty in their professional Advancing Political Civilization from June guistic awareness and their actual lan- development activities: 11 to June 12, 2004 in Beijing, China guage behavior. Sarah E. Durand, Natural and Applied and published an article in the confer- Joyce Rheuban, Humanities, organized Science, conducted a pilot study titled, ence proceedings. This paper presented a special event where Tony Grazia, one “Collaborative Research in Neuroan- the role that faculty play in managing a of the producers of the successful 2002 atomy.” higher institution. Analyzing the current independent feature film “Narc” was the The ability to learn vocal signals by practice both in Chinese and American guest speaker. Students of several media social experience is not unique to higher institutions, Xiwu Feng discussed studies classes attended the event. Other humans. Many species of birds communi- organizational forms that guarantee facul- participants included film club members, cate through learned vocal patterns. As in ty role in the institutional decision-making other media studies students, faculty mem- the human acquisition of learned speech process. bers, and students. sounds, avian vocal learning is dependent Sean Galvin, Communication Skills, The studio, M122, was filled with more upon both hearing the vocal signals of a and Gregory Hansen organized a panel than 70 people. It was a well-attended companion and upon auditory feedback of four papers titled, “Taking Folklife in event. The responses from students from self-produced vocalizations. Thus, the Education into Post-Secondary showed that they learned a lot about how avian brain offers an excellent model for Schooling,” at the American Folklore independent films are made today. understanding the neural substrates that Society's annual meeting in Salt Lake City, Deborah Robinson, Cooperative mediate vocal learning in humans. Utah. As most of the Folklife in Education Education, attended the Cooperative However, neuroanatomists and neurophys- (FIE) curriculum materials target elementary Education Internship Association's (CEIA) iologists have for decades been unable to and secondary school students, Sean Annual Professional Development unequivocally determine the source of Galvin and Gregory Hansen decided to Conference, held in Arlington Virginia, auditory input to avian vocal control gather a group of scholars in the field to April 18-20 to support LaGuardia's nuclei (neural centers) of the forebrain. discuss ways to expand FIE to address Cooperative Education Department's The focus of their attempts has been the broader interests in education, especially model of experiential -oriented learning telencephalon. In contrast, she and Dr. as they concern pedagogical material and the National Cooperative Education Martin Wild have hypothesized that a and approaches to post-secondary class- Archives initiative. She attended the fol- direct source of auditory input to the avian rooms. lowing workshop sessions: “ An vocal control system arises not from the Sean Galvin presented the paper, Examination of Co-op Ed. Students' telencephalon but from the underlying thal- “Folklife in Education Goes to College” Learning Outcomes,” “Moving Your amus (diencephalon). Demonstrating this is which specifically addressed a course Research Agenda Forward,” “Co-op particularly difficult, given the arrangement (CSE105) in the Communication Skills Bench Marking Study,” and “Grant of thalamic nuclei. Department. This was first developed for Writing 102: Make Accountability Work The pilot study that they conducted at the Designed for Learning seminar and For You: Leveraging Successful Programs the University of Auckland this summer used as part of his ePortfolio project. into Increased or additional Funding.” (2004) explored the possibility of using Carlos Hiraldo, English: The English The purpose of her participation was to two techniques to overcome the technical Department's Black Literature Series learn about teaching, research, assess- challenges of testing the hypothesis: 1) Committee and Women's Studies ment, and outcomes data currently utilized recording and pathway tracing in brain Committee organized a reading and dis- and or researched by cooperative educa- slices and 2) in vivo microinjections of cussion of the book entitled, “Beyond the tion educators and institutions in order to neuroanatomical tracer under physiologic Limbo Silence” by Elizabeth Nunez on develop best practice strategies to further and/or stereotaxic guidance. Both tech- May 11, 2004 at LaGuardia. integrate experiential learning with disci- niques showed promise and the latter Carol Montgomery, Humanities, attend- pline - based activities and support indus- even provided us with preliminary - and ed about 20 presentations at the try relationships. supportive - data. Both researchers will Association for Language Awareness Kenneth Schlesinger, Library, presented attempt to repeat and expand upon our Conference from July 19 to July 21, initial success during the coming academ- Continued on page 19 18 www.laguardia.edu College Receives Award for Library Offers New Consultation Program Energy Conservation By Paul Abruzzo, Research Advisor/ Reference Consultant, Library electrical consumption historically falls dur- By Shahir Erfan, Director, Building Library faculty recognizes that some refer- ing weekdays between twelve noon and Operations ence questions require a depth of 6 p.m. LaGuardia, in its part, reduced research often impossible to achieve at The New York State Power Authority pre- consumption by raising temperature set- LaGuardia's extremely busy reference sented an award to the college's Building tings of the interior spaces by three desk. As the fall semester began, the Operations, along with a $31,000 check degrees Fahrenheit for the air conditioning library initiated a new reference service to to the college, for its successful participa- systems, and shut down non-essential elec- respond to this need. In addition to onsite tion in the Electrical Peak Load trical systems during the curtailment peri- desk reference, LaGuardia students now Management Program. ods. have the opportunity to schedule a one-on- Given the limited capacity of the power Such an endeavor could not have been one, half-hour consultation appointment grids in New York State and New York achieved without the support of the col- with a library faculty member. City, many public- and privately-held facili- lege community. Communication was crit- Scheduling an appointment is easy. At ties in the state signed up with electrical ical to the success of the program. E- the reference desk, students can choose suppliers to reduce electrical demand dur- mails were sent out to the college commu- an available date and time slot convenient ing hot and humid days. The Building nity to inform them of the power curtail- for them, briefly describe their research Operations Department entered into such ments. The response to these e-mails was question, and are given a confirmation an agreement with the New York State mostly favorable. slip, which has the reference consultant's Power Authority last summer. The successful implementation of the contact information in case of changes or Under the program, the New York Peak Load Management Program is a cancellation. Power Authority, through its computerized credit to the efforts of the Building The program has been an immediate modeling of electrical consumption, and Operations staff and especially to the success, with over 100 student visits since in conjunction with forecasted weather engineering crew. The award will be late September (averaging nearly three conditions, notified participants a day in used by the Building Operations daily). The scope and depth of questions advance of heavy electrical demand days Department to improve the college's heat- - as well as amount of research time for New York City and State. The peak ing and air-conditioning systems. required to answer them - demonstrates that a “silent” need has been identified and is now being addressed at the col- Grants... Doyle, Wenjuan Fan, James Giordano, lege. Continued from page 18 Kamal Hajallie, Clementine Lewis, Harriet Here are some examples of intriguing research questions: a paper, “Portable Laptop Wireless Mesulam, Stacy Perry, John Williams The committee would like to take this • What is the history, including demo- Classroom: Innovation, Flexibility and graphics, of Dominican immigration into Pedagogy,” at the 2004 Consortium of opportunity to give its special and sincere appreciation to President Gail O. Mellow Washington Heights? College and University Media Centers • What was the culture like in medieval (CCUMC) Annual Conference in and the Division of Academic Affairs for their continued support. Moscow? Cincinnati, Ohio. He submitted an article • What is the scientific history of based on this presentation to LaGuardia's Ibuprofen? new Center for Teaching and Learning • What conflicts existed in Crown Journal. As a result of input from profes- Heights between blacks and Jews prior to sional colleagues, he also fine tuned inter- August 19, 1991? nal policies and procedures of this new Faculty is encouraged to promote this service. new service when assigning research top- EDIT is a subcommittee of Committee on ics. Students are welcome to contact Paul Professional Development. If you are Abruzzo directly interested in applying for an EDIT grant, [[email protected]; x6019] if you may contact any of its members who they are unable to find a convenient are: appointment time. In this regard, the Marcia Glick (co-chair), Nurper library continues to work hard extending Gokhan (co-chair), Edna Boris, Hendrick our services to promote student research Delcham, Walter De La Torre, Maureen success. 19 Russian President Putin said that Arafat's World's Community College death was “a heavy loss for the Palestinian leadership, for the whole Palestinian people.” And the Death of Yasser Arafat Chinese President Hu Jintao called Arafat, “ a brilliant leader and a great friend of China.” South African President Thabo Mbeki expressed his deepest regret at the death of a By Terence Julien, Lecturer, Social Science “giant of the struggle of the poor and the struggle of the oppressed.” What will make the future LaGuardia distinct India hailed Arafat as “ an enduring symbol is that we take as our community not only of Palestinian nationhood” and the Japanese southwestern Queens but the whole world. It Prime Minister Koizumi called him “a pioneer is appropriate then that LaGuardia should of his cause.” respond to a major event that recently The Electronic Intifada's November 10th occurred in one area of its world community. obituary of Arafat said: “His rise to promi- I am referring to the recent death of Yasser nence in the PLO, particularly during his peri- Arafat, the Palestinian leader and universally od of greatest power in Lebanon(1971- acknowledged father of the sixty-year-old anti- 1982), his speech before the UN Assembly colonial, resistance movement to regain in 1974, as well as his important speech Palestinian national sovereignty. before the UN at Geneva in 1988 in which Someone has said that the law of the jun- he formally recognized as head of the PLO gle used to be: “kill or be killed,” but today it Israel's right to exist and the principle of is “define or be defined.” An illuminating illus- peace in exchange for territorial tration of this is the concerted effort by the Terence Julien withdrawal,(his reception of the Nobel Peace U.S. and Israeli press/media to define the introducing alternatives to the local Prize in 1994) stand out not only as high personality and significance of Yasser Arafat. U.S./Israeli definition by moving out to the points in one man's life but also as landmarks The Palestinian leader is generally portrayed wider global community. Agence France - in modern Middle Eastern history. by them as a terrorist who preferred the use Presse, the world -wide news agency, carried In his article entitled, “The death of Arafat of violent murder against innocent Israeli citi- on November 13 a story entitled: “World and the end of national liberation” Stephen zens instead of peaceful diplomacy, and who Leaders see Arafat as symbol, but divided Howe observed that “between the 1940's by failing to implement the terms of the 1993 over Legacy.” It quoted Presidents Bush and and the 1970's a great wave of anti-colonial Oslo Accords, threw away the best opportu- Clinton, the president and foreign minister of liberation movements swept the world. Over a nity for achieving a Palestinian state, leading Israel and Prime Minister Tony Blair of hundred new states were created. This was to the present stalemate and the decision of England and the President of Australia - all in one of the most profound transformations the Israel and the U.S. to reject him as a legiti- the same vain as above, of Arafat as “the world political system ever mate partner to further peace talks. founding father of terrorism” who had failed experienced…Yasser Arafat and the move- One Israeli biographical article ends as fol- his people by refusing the offer of statehood ment he created were part of that wave. He lows: “Yet beyond the terrorism, extortion, at Oslo. saw himself in that company, shared in that embezzlement, and intimidation lies Arafat's UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on the rhetoric and in those global aspirations. most unfortunate ongoing impact: The other hand, said: “Arafat symbolized the Indeed the Palestinian struggle became, per- inculcation of murderous values in an entire national aspirations of the Palestinian people haps second only to that against apartheid, generation of Palestinians who have been and that both Israelis and Palestinians must the most widely known and supported of all educated--under Arafat's direction --to continue make greater efforts to bring about the peace- national liberation movements across the glob- the jihad against Israel, rather than compro- ful realization of the Palestinian right of self- al South. The ghost of such solidarities can be mise to end the decades-long conflict. How realization.” heard in the wake of Arafat's death, as post- many generations will it take to undo Arafat's French President Chirac said: “With him colonial leaders from South Africa's Thabo dark legacy? (see HonestReporting.com, Nov disappears a man of courage who for 40 Mbeki to India's Manmohan Singh pay him 11 2004). years incarnated the Palestinians' fight for warm tributes, starkly contrasting to the chilli- The U.S. weekly, Newsweek, November recognition of their national rights” ness of most “northern” rulers' appreciations.” 22 carried on its cover, a picture of Arafat Jordanian King Abdullah declared a 40- Many of the faculty, staff, and students of peering out gloomily from the shadows with day mourning period at the court and said: LaGuardia come from the south and the expe- the inscription: “Arafat's Shadow: How His “The Palestinian people, despite their deep rience of anti-colonial liberation movements Legacy will Haunt the Middle East.” pain, will know how to overcome its sorrow and resonate with the Palestinian people and One of the responsibilities of a world com- and pursue its efforts to recover the rights of the loss of their leader and Mr. Howe's wider munity college is to expand the horizons of the Palestinian people and the establishment definition of Yasser Arafat's life and death. the college community and its environment by of an independent state.” 20 www.laguardia.edu

cited how one of its distributors donates Interview Process Will Identify kitty litter to the program, “which is a big thing when you have 12 kittens,” she Common Summit Themes said. Mr. Parker spoke about how the college's purchase of video equipment in the 1970's gave him the opportunity to explore and discover ways to incorporate this “new media” into the classroom. And Summit... three to five years.” Ms. Kydd related her “best” experience to Continued from page 1 To give the audience a sense of the the time she was trained in adventure-base um. Those who wish to be interviewed or type of stories that have already been col- counseling. serve as interviewers should e-mail Ms. lected, Professor Max Rodriguez of To give the audience a real taste of the Talmadge. Humanities, Professor Susan Kopp of interview process, team member Liz Clark, During the presentation, Raymond Natural and Applied Sciences, Mr. Terry associate professor of English, asked Carozza and Eileen Murray, both from Parker of the Library, and Ms. Janice Kydd everyone to break into pairs and Administration and two team members, acting director of the Family Institute, were exchange stories. In response to the listed the five specific questions that are called on stage to share their stories. “fun” questions, Professor Lenore Beaky of asked of each interviewee: In response to the question regarding English spoke of the annual 10K and 5K • describe a time you had fun at the his best experience at the college, Dr. runs the college used to sponsor. “People college and explain how it enhanced cre- Rodriguez said, “the best experience I were different and I understood them in a ativity and productivity have had at LaGuardia is the multiple new way,” she said. And her wish? “I • describe a moment at the college opportunities to hone my teaching prac- wish we did not have to give the ACT when your interaction with an individual tice over the years. I have also been priv- test,” she replied to some cheers from the or group allowed you to be creative and ileged to work with intelligent, dedicated, audience. innovative and amazingly hardworking junior and The presentation ended with a brief • describe a time when you took a risk senior faculty in and outside of my own video that captured highlights of the 2001 for something important to you and what discipline who have been and continue to summit. you learned from the experience and be role models.” Invitations will be going out to the entire what made it possible for you to take this Dr. Kopp spoke about how relationships college community next week. Everyone risk developed with the veterinary community is welcome to participate and attendance • tell us about a time when you worked have been vital to the program. She will be on a first-come-first served basis. with someone who was very different from you and how this experience changed the way you view that person, a group of people, or yourself • tell a story about providing an oppor- tunity for someone to be his or her best self and what made this possible The interviewee will also be asked three “values” questions: what do you value most about yourself?; what is it about LaGuardia that you value?; and what do you experience as the core value of the college? The last part allows the intervie- wee to make three wishes that would make the college the very best it could be. According to Rosemary Talmadge, another planning team member, the group plans to cull an estimated 250 interviews that will be examined by the participants at the all-day summit meeting. “Out of the stories that are collected, common themes will be identified that will be the basis of the work at the summit,” she said. “These Professors Max Rodriguez and Susan Kopp, who told their stories during the profession- stories will collectively create a vision of al staff meeting, are among 250 people who will share similar experiences in prepara- LaGuardia that will guide us for the next tion for the vision summit. 21

matically expands co-op throughout the Professional Staff Meeting: curriculum. She also applauded the college for its Hitting the Highlights success in raising money for students. The college's first faculty-staff campaign raised $23,000 that was divided among the divisions and departments, which, in their innovations in the college's mail cen- By Staff turn, used the money to set up scholar- ter and stockroom. (story on page 2). ships and other programs that benefited With just three months into the 2004-05 Shahir Erfan of Administration received students. academic year, the college already has an award from the New York State Power The LaGuardia Community College garnered an impressive list of achieve- Authority, along with a check for Foundation, which just inducted seven ments. $31,000 to the college, for his success in new members, for a total of 20 external That was the message President Gail moderating the college's electricity output. members, set it fundraising goal for this O. Mellow reported to faculty and staff (story on page 19). year at $250,000. Last year, the year- who attended the professional staff meet- The president noted that students had old fundraising body brought in ing on December 1st. their share of good news. $130,000. At the traditional, end-of-the-year event, Some 250 students attended a recent One of the ways the foundation plans to which culminated with the Faculty Council student leadership conference. (story on reach its goal is by hosting the college's scholarship auction, the president briefly page 17). In addition, a CUNY-wide sur- December 11th holiday concert featuring described 14 “highlights”-new grants, vey looking at technology usage among vocalist Yolanda Wyns, who is donating bold initiatives, and faculty, staff, and stu- students found that 40 percent of her performance to benefit LaGuardia stu- dent accomplishments. LaGuardia students use technology as part dents. General admission is $25; presi- “I could mention hundreds,” said the of the teaching and learning process com- dent circle tickets (includes after party with president who apologized for not being pared to only 20 percent of students at the artist) is $75. To purchase tickets call able to recognize them all, “but these are the other campuses. the box office at ext. 5151. just some of the wonderful things faculty Among the college's departments, the The meeting ended with the sound of and staff have done so far.” president singled out the Center for music as the featured concert singer gave In the new grants category, the presi- Corporate Education for earning over the audience a preview of her holiday dent mentioned that the college received $200,000 in contract training and the show with a soulful rendition of “Let There a $400,000 award from the National Cooperative Education Department for Be Peace On Earth.” Science Foundation that will provide launching a three-credit program that dra- scholarships to five students in computer science, engineering, and mathematics. (story on page 1). The president singled out several faculty Yolanda Wyns to Appear at and staff members for their notable accomplishments. December 11 Benefit Concert Under the leadership of English Professor Gail Green-Anderson and the Center for Teaching and Learning, a new By Staff campus teaching journal will be launched. Yolanda Wyns, a critically acclaimed Dr. Richard K. Lieberman and the recording singer who has performed with LaGuardia and Wagner Archives, where such renowned artists as Patti LaBelle, he serves as director, published an 18- Natalie Cole, and Mariah Carey, will month voting rights calendar that is being appear in concert December 11 at the distributed nationwide by The New York LaGuardia Performing Arts Center. Times. The event will be the first event benefit- Patricia Juza, a lecturer at the English ing the LaGuardia Foundation. Language Center, received the The event starts at 7:30 p.m. in the Outstanding Teacher Award in Higher Mainstage Theatre. Education from New York State Teaching Tickets for the fundraiser are $75 for English to Speakers of Other Languages. the Presidential Circle-which includes Eileen Murray, Diane Colon, and Evelyn admission to the “Meet the Artist” after Lowmark of Administration received the party and $25 for general seating. first-ever CUNY Productivity Award for LaGuardia and City University students should contact the box office, ext. 5151 22 www.laguardia.edu for special pricing. Yolanda Wyns

Live Wire Goes to the Holiday Party

At the plant sale Claudia Tapia (l) and Hiyuma Meepalage Checking out auction items are (l to r) Ken Peeples, Irma Lynch- make a selection. Patterson and John Garcia.

Others attending the holiday reception were Betania Acosta, and Caridad Zegarra, Sean Galvin, Yvette Bermudez and Alicia Colon and Krystyna Kopacki... Yvonne Flores...

and Lorraine Cohen, Michael Frank and Joan Heitner... and Bret Eynon, Diane Ducat, Richard Austin and Renee Butler. 23 Happy Holidays!