Brooklyn College Magazine, Fall/Winter 2013, Volume 3 | Number 1
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Up Close Film Veteran Jonathan Wacks Leads New Barry R. Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema At the Forefront of Urban Sustainability The Power of Philanthropy to Change Lives B Brooklyn College Magazine Volume 3 | Number 1 | Fall/Winter 2013 11 Holding Destruction at Bay Brooklyn College scientists lead a new institute dedicated to revitalizing Jamaica Bay—one of New York’s greatest natural barriers against superstorms. Brooklyn College Editor-in-Chief Art Director Advisory Committee 2900 Bedford Avenue Keisha-Gaye Anderson Lisa Panazzolo Moraima Cunningham, Director, Student Engagement and Judicial Affairs Brooklyn, NY 11210-2889 Nicole Hosten-Haas, Managing Editor Production Assistant Chief of Staff to the President [email protected] Audrey Peterson Mammen P. Thomas Alex Lang, Assistant Director, Brooklyn College Athletics © 2013 Brooklyn College Steven Schechter, Executive Director of Government and External Affairs Staff Writers Staff Photographers Marla Schreibman ’87, ’89 M.F.A., Director, Alumni Affairs Robert Jones, Jr. ’06, ’08 M.F.A. David Rozenblyum President Jeffrey Sigler ’92, ’95 M.S.,President of the Brooklyn College Alumni Ernesto Mora Craig Stokle Karen L. Gould Association Jamilah Simmons Editorial Assistants Andrew Sillen ’74, Vice President for Institutional Advancement Provost Contributing Writers Taneish Hamilton ’10 Colette Wagner, Assistant Provost for Planning and Special Projects William A. Tramontano Dominique Carson ’12 Mark Zhuravsky ’10 Alex Lang Ikimulisa Livingston Anthony Ramos Jeffrey Sigler ’92, ’95 M.S. 18 Up Close Jonathan Wacks, founding director of the college’s new Barry R. Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema, looks toward cultivating the next generation of film industry leaders. 14 The Other Side of Loss Bernard Garil ’62 and his wife, Ethel, transformed grief into an opportunity for Brooklyn College students to take part in cancer research at some of the nation’s top medical institutions. 2 From the President’s Desk 3 Snapshots 6 Notables 11 Features 23 College News 27 Career Corner 28 Athletics 30 Alumni Profile 31 Class Notes 36 Out and About The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment 38 In Memoriam will provide a total of $6.7 million to the Barry R. Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema, 40 Photo Album $4.7 million of which will support construction of school’s Made in New York Center for Digital Arts. Karen L. Gould, President ast May, we a record number of entering congratulated a record 4,500 freshmen and transfer students. Lstudents on their degree We are enjoying one of the from completion. This was one of the largest undergraduate classes in largest graduating classes in the the past 20 years (13,700), with the college’s history, and the largest our total fall enrollment reaching graduating contingent among all over 17,000 students. colleges in Brooklyn. Retention rates continue PRESIDENT’S DESK The alumni honorees to rise as well. Over the past recognized at our commencement two years, Brooklyn College has ceremonies exemplified the outpaced public and private Brooklyn College students Science and Resilience Institute at wide-ranging achievements and institutions nationwide in first- have received an impressive Jamaica Bay. The 18,000-acre bay remarkable contributions of our time, full-time freshman retention number of prestigious external is vital to our region as it supports alumni to their professions, their due to our expanded first-year awards, many of which have diverse ecosystems and serves as communities, and to the broader experience program and increased helped them study all over the a natural barrier against the wind society. emphasis on student advising. world. Last spring, three students and tide wrought by hurricanes We awarded an honorary We are also increasing attention received highly competitive like Sandy, which devastated the Doctorate of Fine Arts to Kate on sophomore advising and Gilman awards, which enabled region last year. In collaboration Rothko Prizel, M.D. ’73, an creating curricular mapping to Saira Akhtar ’15 to study in with faculty from other CUNY accomplished physician who enhance student progress toward South Korea last summer and colleges, Columbia, Rutgers, also successfully won the return degree completion. An integral Don Guan ’14 and Raymond Stony Brook, and others, and of more than 650 paintings of part of student success is faculty Talovera ’15 to pursue summer with the support of the Mayor’s her father, Mark Rothko, from excellence. For decades, the faculty study in Japan. Brooklyn College office, the National Parks Service, a private art dealer, which has of Brooklyn College has provided graduates had the distinction of and private foundations, this allowed public access to some of an outstanding education in receiving the greatest number of new institute will focus on the the most important artwork of the classroom, in their research Fulbright awards among all CUNY restoration of Jamaica Bay, with the 20th century; we recognized laboratories and projects, and institutions. M.F.A. graduate Ellen the ultimate goal of expanding as a distinguished alumnus in their mentoring activities. Adams ’13 is now studying political outward to other regions. award-winning CBS producer and One of the important ways in messaging in contemporary art Finally, in an era when editor Warren Lustig ’99, whose which the scientific research of in Thailand; Russell Barlow ’13 is so much media attention has 30-year television career includes our faculty receives support at studying ancient Greek creation been focused on the excesses documenting such events as the the college is through external myths and their relationship to of college sports, we are proud discovery of the Titanic and the funding. Recently, Professor other Indo-European traditions of all our student athletes and protests in Tiananmen Square; Elizabeth Chua in the Department in Münster, Germany; Joanne their commitment to excel in the we applauded as a distinguished of Psychology received nearly Delgadillo ’13 is participating in classroom and on the athletic. alumnus William B. Guggino, half a million dollars in funding an English Teaching Assistantship This fall, we celebrate the recent M.D. ’69, for his outstanding from the National Institutes of in Brazil; and Quanda Johnson success of our women’s soccer teaching, mentoring acumen, Health to further her research on ’13 received a Fulbright award to team. In only its second year as and groundbreaking research on the cognitive and neural bases of pursue research in Nova Scotia, a recognized sport at Brooklyn cystic fibrosis; and we bestowed memory accuracy. The National Canada on the population of College, our team has enjoyed the Presidential Medal to Howard Science Foundation awarded former African-American slaves phenomenal success, winning Slusher ’59, a Nike consultant and Professor Ted Muth in Biology who migrated north on the its first City University of the legendary sports attorney who over $600,000 for research on Underground Railroad. New York Athletic Conference has represented more than 200 Urban Microbial Community Our faculty and students Championship and competing in high-profile athletes, and who has Dynamics. And Chemistry continue to engage in research the NCAA Division III tournament. been a cheering sponsor of our Professor Maria Contel has been projects and activities that have We applaud this young team and Brooklyn College Bulldogs. awarded $1.4 million from the an impact on our region, well their coach, Patrick Horne, for a We have had a very National Institutes of Health for beyond our Midwood campus. remarkable second season and for productive and rewarding fall her research on gold-titanium An exciting project involves inspiring us all to believe in our semester at Brooklyn College. complexes used to fight renal and faculty members who are helping dreams. Our enrollment is strong, with prostate cancer. to shepherd the new CUNY-led 2 Brooklyn COLLEGE Magazine | FALL/WINTER 2013 Gardener Murray Lantner, here with his one-year-old daughter, Meitar, finds the garden a valuable teaching tool. SNAPSHOTS CULTIVATING A COMMUNITY The Brooklyn College Garden Unites Campus and Local Residents While Fostering Sustainability Louise Hainline is not afraid to For a $30 annual fee, people Tafari Sherry, from the get her hands dirty. can grow food and flowers in college’s Office of Campus and A professor in the Brooklyn single or shared raised beds, Community Safety, thinks of College Department of Psychology, some of which were designed himself as the unofficial watchman HOW as well as the director of the to give access to gardeners who of the garden. He maintains a college’s Minority Access to are disabled or have limited small plot where he has grown DOES YOUR Research Careers (MARC) and mobility. Under the guidance of hot peppers, cucumbers, and Research Initiative for Scientific college-sponsored, professional tomatoes every year since 2011. GARDEN Enhancement (RISE) programs, gardener Sigrun Wolff Saphire, “It’s convenient that my station is Hainline is also the director of the volunteers help maintain the plot so close to it,” he says, smiling. GROW? Brooklyn College Garden, a role by collecting and distributing One of the most important that has kept her busy defining compost materials. All funds, benefits of the Brooklyn College how the plot can best be used. including those provided by Garden, many believe, is its ability “We are committed to the college and those raised to build community within the sustainability in all its aspects,” via crowdsourcing, are used college and with the surrounding she says. “I also believe that as an for improvements, such as the neighborhood. “It is a space on A few plants found in the educational institution, we have purchase of materials to construct campus,” Hainline says, “where all an ethical obligation to teach best the new three-bin composting gardeners from all groups are on Brooklyn College Community practices for healthy urban living system built by Brooklyn College equal footing.” Garden: Brussels sprouts • through the creation of green carpenters Tom Doherty and Tom Hainline and company have spaces.” Mollaghan.