INSIDE SHIFTING FOCUS An Alumna Reframes America with Her Camera CHANGING THE NARRATIVE Scholars Tackle Barriers to Success of Women Worldwide Brooklyn College President KAREN L. GOULD on Leadership B Brooklyn College Magazine Volume 4 | Number 1 | Fall/Winter 2015 Brooklyn College 2900 Bedford Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11210-2889 [email protected] www.brooklyn.cuny.edu © 2015 Brooklyn College President Karen L. Gould Provost William A. Tramontano Editor-in-Chief Keisha-Gaye Anderson From the President’s Desk Dear Alumni and Friends of Brooklyn College, Managing Editor Audrey Peterson Brooklyn College has a rich history of providing an outstanding education since opening in 1930. Over the past 85 years, the college has Staff Writers Robert Jones, Jr. ’06, ’08 M.F.A. graduated thousands of students who have achieved success in nearly Ernesto Mora every professional and personal endeavor. 10 Jamilah Simmons As one of the first coed public liberal arts colleges in New York City, 8 19 Contributing Writers Brooklyn College emerged as a pioneer in providing the same academic Madam President Why We Can’t Wait A Sociologist with a Joe Fodor rigor and first-rate educational opportunities for all of its students. We Camera Alex Lang remain faithful to this enduring legacy. Brooklyn College Faculty scholarship Anthony Ramos In this issue of B Magazine, we focus on the many women who have President Karen L. highlights challenges At Look magazine, Jeffrey Sigler ’92, ’95 M.S. shaped our academic tradition and made major contributions to their Gould shares her to academic photographer Art Director Lisa Panazzolo professions and communities: Marge Magner ’69, entrepreneur; Claire professional journey advancement that Charlotte Brooks ’40 Tow ’52, philanthropist; Keelie Sheridan ’13 M.F.A., national Mitchell Staff Photographers women and girls boldly reimagined award winner; Professor Tania León, Grammy-nominated composer; as a leader in higher David Rozenblyum Annie Baker ’09 M.F.A., Pulitzer Prize-winning author; and Shirley education and her still face worldwide, the “women’s” Craig Stokle Chisholm ’46, congresswoman and pioneer in the rights of African vision for preparing and helps to create assignments she was Editorial Assistants Americans and women. solutions. given to create social Taneish Hamilton ’10 the next generation of Mark Zhuravsky ’10 Like Brooklyn itself, the college continues to expand and global citizens. commentary. welcome students from increasingly diverse ethnic and socioeconomic Advisory Committee backgrounds. Our noted women faculty are dedicated scholars, artists, Jason Carey, Assistant Vice President, and researchers who share a commitment to excellence and student 2 Bright Lights Office of Communications and Marketing success. Their achievements and leadership make a significant impact Terrence Cheng, Associate Provost for 6 Timeline on all our students. Academic Programs 8 Brooklyn College continues to foster opportunities and recognition Features Moraima Cunningham, Director, Student for our women students. I am proud of our tradition of educating and 23 Newsmakers Engagement and Judicial Affairs empowering women to lead. 29 Our Neighborhood Nicole Haas, Chief of Staff to the President Sincerely, 30 Bulldogs News Alex Lang, Assistant Director, Brooklyn College Athletics 33 Alumni Profile Steven Schechter, Executive Director of 34 Out and About Government and External Affairs 36 Class Notes Marla Schreibman ’87, ’89 M.F.A., Director, 41 Remembrance Alumni Affairs 44 Photo Album Jeffrey Sigler ’92, ’95 M.S.,President of the Brooklyn College Alumni Association Andrew Sillen ’74, Vice President for Institutional Advancement Garil Memorial Internships provide invaluable experience for talented students at the nation’s leading medical A Noble Profession institutions. The Stacey Garil Womack Internship winner Pranitha Prabhu discusses her work at Johns Hopkins and reveals her reasons for choosing a career in medicine. Healing the Whole Person “When I was a child and I was terrified, I went to my parents. When my parents were rom the moment she saw her terrified, they went to the doctor,” explains pediatrician mother in a white The Right Medicine senior Pranitha Prabhu, a 2014 winner of F uniform with a stethoscope the Stacey Garil Womack Memorial Fund hanging from her neck, William E. Silverstein Scholarship winner Salma Abdou hopes to combine her medical education with her Bright Lights Internship. The award provided her with Macaulay Honors College senior on-the-ground experience with Human Rights Watch to make a difference. access to a prestigious internship program Natasha Masub knew that she would at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive work in the field of medicine. A Salma Abdou ’14 has received a Silverstein Scholarship, which provides her with full tuition, Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University Michael Garil Memorial Summer room, and board to attend the NYU School of Medicine, an award that is valued at more than in Baltimore in the summer of 2014. Prabhu Internship would lead to a prestigious $300,000 over four years. The former Brooklyn College Scholars Program student was also learned about the scholarship—funded by internship at the Dana-Farber Cancer accepted to the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons with ample funding, but the Brooklyn College Foundation through the Institute. There, she worked with had to turn down that offer just days before the academic year got under way when she learned generosity of Bernard ’62 and Ethel Garil— medical professionals on examining she was a recipient of the Silverstein award. through the Magner Career Center and the the biology of tumor cells from “I remember just being so incredibly shocked,” Abdou recalls of the moment when she Pre-health Professions program. esophageal and gastric cancers in got the call notifying her that she was among the five students selected for the prestigious Prabhu, a student in the William E. the hope of finding treatments, and scholarship. “I didn’t think I would get into any medical school, so I felt incredibly lucky.” Macaulay Honors College double majoring in eventually vaccines and cures. Abdou’s humility is remarkable. She graduated from Brooklyn College with a 3.90 GPA and biology and Spanish, assisted Johns Hopkins A sociology major, Masub believes scored in the 98th percentile on the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT). A political science scientists in their quest to create a vaccine that approaching the sciences from a and chemistry double major, she won several college awards. Her senior thesis, a comparison to help the human immune system recognize liberal arts background gives her a distinct advantage while conducting research. of reform movements in Turkey and Egypt, was accepted by the National Conference on and eliminate the cells that cause pancreatic “Brooklyn College helped me to understand all aspects of a person’s health—not just Undergraduate Research, the most competitive undergraduate research conference in the cancer. Prior to her internship at Hopkins, the biological functions but also the emotional and psychological well-being, all of which country. “Her intelligence is matched only by her generosity of spirit,” says Lisa Schwebel, Prabhu interned at Mount Sinai Hospital in can be linked to things like socioeconomic status, race, and gender,” says Masub. “I believe director of the Scholars Program, which offers honors-level Core courses, interdisciplinary New York, where her clinical research involved this holistic approach allows for a more complete evaluation and more beneficial outcomes seminars, and guided research on senior theses. identifying patients for studies based on their for patients.” Abdou also has a deep interest in health and human rights, and held an internship at medical conditions. She says that the diversity Masub plans to attend Downstate College of Medicine of the State University of Human Rights Watch during the summer before her junior year. This was after the Arab Spring, of New York City, where she interacted with New York, following in her mother’s footsteps to become the second doctor in the family. and Abdou was able to conduct interviews with activists and lawyers on the ground. “It was people of different races, gender identities, and —Robert Jones, Jr. probably one of the best experiences of my life,” says the Egyptian-born student, who grew up socioeconomic backgrounds, made for an ideal in a socially and politically conscious home and has had a lifelong desire to work in a field where sample for the research. she could be of help. She says her work with people at Human Rights Watch helped her solidify “Practicing medicine is one of the noblest The Garil family’s story was her decision to go into medicine. “Documenting their realities made me itchy to do something,” featured in the Fall/Winter professions,” says Prabhu. “You dedicate yourself 2013 issue of B Magazine. she says. “I realized the knowledge I will get from a medical education will give me the tools to to providing the best quality of life to people who Read it at www.brooklyn physically change something for someone. I want to use medicine to promote human rights.” .cuny.edu/web/news/ have often come to you while at their worst.” —Jamilah Simmons communications/magazine.php. It seems Prabhu’s parents will no longer have anything to fear with a doctor, their daughter, so close at hand. —Robert Jones, Jr. 2 BROOKLYN COLLEGE MAGAZINE | FALL/WINTER 2015 BROOKLYN COLLEGE MAGAZINE | FALL/WINTER 2015 3 Talent to Spare Elissa Matsueda’s M.F.A. Museum Quality Screenwriter Elissa Matsueda talks about how she helped bring led to her writing the Through a Mellon Foundation the film Spare Parts from script to screen and divulges just fellowship, Associate Professor screenplay for the film Spare what it takes to succeed in the film industry. Jennifer Ball is taking her research Parts. Students accepted ne of my producers told me I was the first writer he’d of medieval monasticism in worked with who didn’t have an actual meltdown on the Byzantine Empire to one of to the college’s M.F.A.