City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Publications and Research CUNY Dominican Studies Institute 2015 Dominican Blue Book CUNY Dominican Studies Institute, The City College of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/dsi_pubs/28 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] DOMINICAN Blue Book Founded in 1992 and housed at The City College of New York, the Dominican Studies Institute of the City University of New York (CUNY DSI) is the nation’s first, university-based research institute devoted to the study of people of Dominican descent in the United States and other parts of the world. CUNY DSI’s mission is to produce and disseminate research and scholarship about Dominicans, and about the Dominican Republic itself. The Institute houses the Dominican Archives and the Dominican Library, the first and only institutions in the United States collecting primary and secondary source material about Dominicans. CUNY DSI is the locus for a community of scholars, including doctoral fellows, in the field of Dominican Studies, and sponsors multidisciplinary research projects. The Institute organizes lectures, conferences, and exhibitions that are open to the public. Graphic Designer & Layout Artist: Javier Pichardo CUNY Dominican Studies Institute The City College of New York 160 Convent Avenue, NA 4/107 New York, NY 10031 T 212.650.7496 F 212.650.7489 E [email protected] www.ccny.cuny.edu/dsi Copyright © 2015 CUNY Dominican Studies Institute FOREWORD Queridas y queridos, You hold in your hands the Dominican Blue Book, the first publication of its kind. Developed by the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute staff over the course of 2014, but truly the product of many decades of aspiration, exertion, and persistence, the Dominican Blue Book tells the story of Dominicans in higher education. When the time came to decide how to best celebrate the 20th anniversary of the formal approval of the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute by the Board of Trustees, we felt that there could be no better way to celebrate such a milestone than by honoring the legacy of CUNY’s Dominican alumni. The Dominican Blue Book features twenty-two outstanding and accomplished professionals with degrees from CUNY, the largest public urban institution of higher education in the United States, from which over forty-thousand people of Dominican descent have graduated at the time of this writing. The present rendition of the Dominican Blue Book is an expression both of pride in the accomplishments of the Dominican people and of gratitude to the CUNY system, with hope and confidence that this mutually fulfilling relationship will continue. The motivation that guided the project was to bring to the forefront the stories of people who work hard, endure sacrifices, and struggle against all odds to achieve their goals. Thousands of Dominican graduates today have found professional success. Most Dominican college graduates, myself included, were the first in their families to graduate from high school and college and many have extended their studies, acquiring the most advanced educational degrees. These achievements should mean a lot in a society that places education at the top of its hierarchy of values. Each graduate highlighted in the Dominican Blue Book demonstrates that the trials of migration have been worthwhile, but most importantly, embodies the realization of the collective dream of the Dominican people. The concept of the “blue book” first appears in historical records around the sixteenth century, and generally refers to an almanac, anthology, or compilation. The nature of the format is to bring together different materials in a collection, and we found it fits our purpose, since the Dominican Blue Book brings together a diverse group of prominent citizens, each with a distinct story, but all united by CUNY degrees and a distinguished Dominican ancestry. Most importantly, they share a narrative that reflects the spirit of a people who came, and continue to come, as immigrants: a people who build homes with their bare hands, have slowly transformed and have put down strong roots with courage, passion, and vision, the same traits that characterize all those who leave their ancestral land searching for a better mañana. These factors were the criteria that shaped the list of people interviewed and profiled for the book. The range of different backgrounds and achievements represented here is a natural reflection of Dominicans’ multiple abilities, strengths, and passions. We are releasing the print version of the Dominican Blue Book at this time to coincide with El Mes de la Patria, a celebration that runs from January 26, the birthdate of Juan Pablo Duarte, to February 27, the date marking the establishment of the Dominican Republic. It is also timely to print the book in February, since the Board of Trustees DOMINICAN BLUE BOOK i formally approved CUNY DSI on February 22, 1994. One hundred luxury copies have been printed and bound: three for each alumnus/a, with the remainder to be given to close friends of the Institute. A single copy will remain in the Institute’s possession, signed by each graduate included in the book. Each hard copy will be a collector’s item, a keepsake to cherish. The print version of the Book features additional photographs accompanying each profile. We asked graduates to share images that depict important moments in their careers, personal lives, and intellectual growth. The Blue Book members selected pictures from their childhood, their weddings, award ceremonies, graduations, performances, memories from right after their arrival in the U.S., and more. More than evoking a sense of nostalgia, these images trace the intimate moments that have made these graduates who they are, each providing a unique window into the complex and extraordinary experience of the chosen ones, a group that in the end represents the best in all of us. In April 2015, an online version of the Dominican Blue Book will be released to the general public, to commemorate the opening of the Dominican Library in 1995. I am indebted to several people who were responsible for bringing this project to fruition. The Institute’s Development and Institutional Relations Coordinator, Alicia Alonzo, and Research & Editorial Assistant Isabelia Herrera spent many hours contacting the alumni and scheduling the interviews, which were conducted between April and November of 2014 by Timothy Williams, our Editor-in-Chief and Head of Communications. Tim also transcribed the recordings, which are now part of the Dominican Archives. We hope that the Blue Book will serve a didactic purpose, while also delighting and even moving you. Like other blue books, the Dominican Blue Book is specific to its time and place and is in a sense unrepeatable. Every Dominican whose journey has taken them through CUNY is forever represented in this book. The same applies to the rest of the Dominican people, who will succeed in a multiplicity of ways from generation to generation, as they fulfill the cherished dreams of the immigrant community. Illustrating the continued success and contributions of Dominicans is a key component of the Institute’s mission, and the Dominican Blue Book constitutes a major step toward achieving that goal. The Dominican story simultaneously complicates, contradicts, and most importantly, transcends stereotypes, and therefore needs to continue to be told. Abrazos, Ramona Hernández, Ph.D. Director, CUNY Dominican Studies Institute & Professor of Sociology The Colin L. Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership/Division of Social Science The City College of New York ii CUNY DOMINICAN STUDIES INSTITUTE TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword ................................................................................................................................................................ i Rafael Alvarez ..................................................................................................................................................... 1 Raysa Castillo ...................................................................................................................................................... 6 Daisy Cocco De Filippis ................................................................................................................................ 10 Julia Cornelio ..................................................................................................................................................... 18 Mariano Diaz .................................................................................................................................................... 22 Ángel Estevez ................................................................................................................................................... 25 Marilu Galván ................................................................................................................................................... 30 Scherezade Garcia .......................................................................................................................................... 34 Ana García Reyes ........................................................................................................................................... 40 Christina D. Guillén