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l manhattan commons The Newsletter of Borough of Manhattan Community College I Spring/Summer 2010 BMCC students rise to the occasion during and after HaitianThe EARTH- QUAKE In This Issue: Music Man Jazz musician Emmanuel Mendoza returns to BMCC with a clearer sense of purpose. PAGE 6 (Stories on page 4) Success Goes Underground MTA Civil Engineer Mohamed Hoque looks back on Bangladesh and his start at BMCC. PAGE 7 Does Mauby Really Work? Kwame Amin tests a folk remedy from Haiti–and wins a science prize. PAGE 8 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Commons Why Innovation Matters Knowledge Items of interest to the BMCC Com munity Senator Charles Schumer Inspires lthough healthcare reform has been President Graduates at 45th Obama’s top priority, it was hardly surprising that he devoted a Commencement portion of his recent State of the Union address to education in Keynote Speaker America. “The idea is simple,” he said. “Instead of funding the Charles Schumer, U.S. Astatus quo, we only invest in reform—reform that raises student Senator from New York, achievement; inspires students to excel in math and science; and announced a “class gift” turns around failing schools.” to the graduates, ex- But meaningful reform, the President might have added, can plaining that in this only come through innovation—and that applies at every stage of economy, middle-class the educational process. “In this economy, a high school diploma students need financial no longer guarantees a good job,” he said. “That’s why I urge the aid, too. Senate to follow the House and pass a bill that will revitalize our “So two years ago I community colleges, which are a pathway to the children of so wrote a law,” he said, refer- many working families.” Senator Charles Schumer ring to a college tuition At BMCC, we’ve long viewed innovation as a precondition tax credit in the federal economic tion, through ‘giving back’, and of educational excellence. In my state of the college remarks this stimulus package, “so you or your ‘paying it forward’.” year, I noted that we are continually looking for ways to expand parents who pay for tuition can take Raymond O’Keefe, founder our curricular offerings—to make them more responsive to our $500 off your taxes for each year and former chairman of the students’ needs and aspirations and to prepare them for the chal- of college. But only if your family BMCC Foundation, and one who lenges they will face in a rapidly evolving marketplace. income is below $200,000 a year.” has set a profound example of Thus, each year brings new course offerings and imaginative BMCC President Antonio “giving back,” himself, was hon- new curricular programs. At the same time, we are determined Pérez, on a more philosophical ored with the Presidential Medal, to set the pace for the na- note, assured graduates that “the and over 2,700 graduates were tion’s community colleges in answers to life’s questions are awarded Associate degrees. developing and implement- within you. You’ll discover them http://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/news/ ing new models of teaching through education and explora- news.jsp?id=2560 and research and in our use of cutting-edge instructional technology. manhattan commons Innovation, said Apple computer visionary Steve BMCC Administration BMCC Commons Antonio Pérez Barry Rosen Jobs, “is what distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” In PRESIDENT EDITOR/SENIOR WRITER the education arena, innovation also distinguishes between prog- Sadie C. Bragg SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT Louis Chan, Lynn McGee MANAGING EDITORS FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS ress and stagnation—and between success and failure. Nowhere Lynn McGee, Rachel Sokol G. Scott Anderson CONTRIBUTING WRITERS VICE PRESIDENT is that more true than in our nation’s community colleges. It’s a FOR ADMINISTRATION AND PLANNING Nina Ovryn ART DIRECTION truth that BMCC lives every day, in and out of the classroom. Robert E. Diaz VICE PRESIDENT FOR HUMAN RESOURCES Tom Volpe ANTONIO PÉREZ, PRESIDENT DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATIONS Karen M. Wenderoff VICE PRESIDENT FOR COLLEGE DEVELOPMENT BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN Louis Chan PHOTOGRAPHER COMMUNITY COLLEGE Marva Craig THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK VICE PRESIDENT FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS Mariusz Kaczmarczyk VIDEOGRAPHER Sunil B. Gupta DEAN OF CONTINUING EDUCATION STAFF & WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT Peter Dinh, Robert Gizis www.bmcc.cuny.edu Please address any queries or information about the Commons to: [email protected] 8 manhattan 2commons manhattan commons eventually moved to New York to resources, or CPRs. live with his father, who was pur- “A key component suing a Masters degree in Math. to Ostrom’s work,” writes Commons Flying unaccompanied, the Thompson, “is an inter- 10-year-old landed in New York disciplinary approach; her in August 1997, and started sixth research and publications grade in Washington Heights the on CPRs draw from con- next day. “I spoke virtually no Eng- servation biology, ecology, Knowledge lish,” he says. “Even so, it was fun.” psychology, and economics, Items of interest to the BMCC Com munity Ambaye’s language skills among others.” soared, and so did his dancing Altogether, 12 CUNY Kimberly Thompson skills, leading to a scholarship at undergraduates—out of Swimming to America the Alvin Ailey American Dance BMCC Student Wins 101 applicants—received awards Until he was 12, Haftom School summer camp. Today, he’s Grand Prize in CUNY- for their essays based on 2009 Ambaye had never even seen a enrolled at BMCC, and establish- wide Nobel Science Nobel prize-winning work in swimming pool. Born in 1986 in ing records in the men’s back- Challenge chemistry, physiology and medi- a refugee camp in Sudan—where stroke and individual medley, on BMCC science major Kimberly cine, physics, and economics. his family had relocated while the BMCC swim team. Thompson won first place in First, second and third prizes in civil war ravaged their home prov- http://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/new the economics category of the each category included an Apple ince of Humera, Ethiopia—he news.jsp?id=2477 2009 CUNY Nobel Science Chal- iMac Computer, a Dell Mini 10 lenge—as well as $5,000 Netbook, and an Amazon Kindle. as an overall Grand Kimberly Thompson was Prizewinner. announced as the surprise Grand Thompson— Prizewinner at the end of the the contest’s only ceremony, elation alternating with awardee from a stunned disbelief as she posed CUNY community holding the giant, sweepstakes- college—wrote her style CUNY check made out for award-winning essay on $5,000. the Nobel-prizewinning work of “I plan to put it toward Elinor Ostrom, who proposed school,” she said. eight basic tenets relating to sus- http://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/news/ Haftom Ambaye tainable common-pool (shared) news.jsp?id=2337 Foundation News: BMCC Scholarship Fund Holds Spring Gala Gala on the Hudson BMCC’s 22nd Annual Scholarship Gala, held at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers on Manhattan’s West Side, raised over $435,000 in funds supporting the BMCC Scholarship program. u Honorees were Robert J. Mueller, Retired Senior Officer, The Bank of New York Mellon, and Jessica Schell, Senior Vice Presi- dent for Digital Strategy and Business Development at NBC Universal. Master of Ceremonies and CBS correspondent Jim Axelrod introduced the speakers, Robert J. Mueller including BMCC President Antonio Per´ez. “BMCC’s mission is to make higher education accessible to all with the ambition to attain it,” he said. “Most BMCC www.bmcc.cuny. students are the first in their families to attend college. Our mission to provide a step-up to these students is critical, because jobs requiring associate de- grees are growing twice as fast as those requiring no college experience.” u The event brought together over 330 attendees, and featured a reception, silent auction and dinner. http://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/news/news.jsp?id=2546 8 Jessica Schell Jim Axelrod manhattan commons manhattan 3commons COVER STORY I THE HAI TIAN EARTHQUAKE Stephen Faustin’s Haitian Odyssey orn in the U.S. but raised in Haiti, Stephen Faustin gradu- Faustin turned the car around, headed to his family’s home in the Bour- ated from BMCC with a degree in engineering science, and is now taking don section of Port-au-Prince, a few kilometers from the quake’s epicenter, additional courses at his alma mater. He returns to Haiti every year to visit and found the structure intact—but the building next door was gone. family and people he grew up with, and on a recent visit, the afternoon of “My two sisters who lived in Haiti, my cousins and goddaughters, had Tuesday, January 12, he drove to meet a friend—and headed right into the all gotten out and were safe,” he says. But two people were unaccounted earthquake’s destruction. for—his father, and Mamí, who had cared for him as a child. “She was like a “We could see streets swaying and buckling,” Faustin says. “Buildings mother to me,” he says. had collapsed and there was so much dust it was hard to see. People were Faustin formed a rescue party, frantically calling Mamí’s name into the walking in the streets, bleeding and dazed.” rubble. “We could hear people who were trapped crying for help,” he says. B And finally, they heard Mamí calling “Stephen, Stephen,” in a weak voice. Faustin and his friends continued Small Efforts Matter BMCC student does his part to rebuild Haiti. digging and extricated more people, including a woman who died the next he devastating January, 2010 earthquake in Haiti—which claimed over 230,000 lives and left a million people day. After nearly two weeks, he and Thomeless—drew a massive global response including rescue workers, humanitarian supplies, and monetary his aunt boarded a flight back to New support.