SPECIALLEGISLATIVE EDITION

“O pen the doors to all— let the children of the rich and the poor take their seats together and know of no distinction save that of cuny.edu/news THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK • FOUNDED 1847 AS THE FREE ACADEMY industry, good conduct, and intellect.” —Townsend Harris, founder

A Compact for Public Higher Education SPRING 2008

“New York State’s public higher ners and creating opportunities to leverage such measures have saved more than $40 education institutions face a chronic public and private aid, while assuring both million. Inside problem—they have too little revenue government leaders and donors that their • Provides for Small, Predictable Tuition and too little investment. A comprehen- support yields additional revenues for Increases. Instead of the large tuition spikes PAGE CUNY Alums sive financing platform is essential.” investment in academic quality,” said the of the past, the Compact envisions modest, 9 In Albany Commission, convened by Gov. Eliot predictable increases. Financial aid would Nearly a fifth of State Assembly Spitzer. continue to protect students against unaf- ITH THOSE WORDS, the and Senate members—most in fordable increases. New York State Commission The Compact: How it Works leadership positions—attended on Higher Education, in its W • Ensures State and City Funding. Leveraging CUNY colleges. preliminary report in December 2007, Government pays 100 percent of the Philanthropic Support urged adoption of the New York State University’s mandatory costs, such as energy Compact for Public Higher Education to and labor, and at least 20 percent of new aca- UNY pioneered the Compact in 2006, ensure consistent, predictable funding for demic programs and student service priorities Cobtaining funds which it leveraged to public higher education in New York in the consistent with the maximize philan- thropic contribu- 21st century. Based on CUNY’s successful University’s tions. Examples model, the Compact would finance both master plan. of the Compact's • Encourages The State University and The City many benefits to Philanthropy. Private University of New York through a partner- CUNY: ship among philanthropists, students, alum- contributions are BMCC’s ni, the State/City and the Universities. “It encouraged by the clear roles and molecular biology would offer a balanced financing approach accountability of lab does cutting- by delineating responsibility among part- Compact partners. At CUNY, Compact edge research into links between diet and funding has ranged from thousands to hire disease. But its professors and student tutors, to donations that have changed the researchers can’t compete with bigger course of the University such as business schools for research funds. Compact leader and City College alumnus support, including a $20,000 grant for William E. Macaulay’s $30 million gift student stipends from the James T. Lee to CUNY’s Honors College. Foundation, is invaluable.

• Creates Efficiencies. At peak regis- PAGE From energy savings tration times, Need Faster to retooled budg- Brooklyn 2 Global Data? ets, the University College’s College of Staten commits to cut- Enrollment Island’s Athena, ting internal costs, Services Center Zeus and freeing up funds for processes up to Neptune make education. At CUNY, 400 students and supercomputing tries to field at even speedier for least as many various research projects phone calls about throughout the University. financial aid and admissions. HUNTER PAGE It Isn’t Difficult Thanks to Compact funds, ESC will launch a new call 4 Being Green center to handle the deluge, and improve the The University takes the lead in flow of the registration process. efforts to save the environment via energy conservation, efficient new Man Gone Down, praised by The New building designs and research into York Times as one of the most notable fic- innovative answers to the global tion books of 2007, was written by Hunter crisis. College alumnus and longtime adjunct faculty member Michael Thomas. Compact funds made it possi- ble to hire him BMCC fulltime. PAGE Out of Africa, ENROLLMENT 6 GROWTH Into Queens Proposed CUNY COMPACT $8.2 million – 4.3% Imposing masks, feathered headdresses Revenue Sources: and other ceremonial EFFICIENCIES ENROLLMENT GROWTH – $8.2 million objects plus everyday $7.5 million – 4.0% items from pipes or 4.3% from anticipated new enrollment to to bowls illuminate support new initiatives in the Compact. PHILANTHROPY “A Cameroon EFFICIENCIES/RESTRUCTURING – $15.0 million – 7.9% World,” an art $7.5 million or 4.0% redirected to new exhibit at QCC initiatives in FY 2009 as a result of budget reshap- TUITION Gallery. ing and redeployment of resources. $42.4 million – 22.4%

PHILANTHROPY – $15.0 million or 7.9% PAGE Sí! Se Puede! raised through an unprecedented focus on PUBLIC/ MANDATORY 12 philanthropy. $115.9 million – 61.4% New Immigrants Told New York City’s fast-growing TUITION REVENUE POLICY – $42.4 million or Mexican community is discovering 22.4% from a 5% tuition increase—$100 per semester the University can help them for New York State resident undergraduates at senior col- CUNY’s Budget Request move into the American leges, $70 per semester community colleges—to help fund mainstream via education, job the CUNY Investment Plan which calls for 500 new, fulltime for 2008-2009 counseling and faculty and improved student counseling and financial aid services. more. PUBLIC/MANDATORY – $115.9 million or 61.4% in State/City tax-levy funding to cover 100% of CUNY’s mandatory costs, including labor contracts, fringe benefits and energy, and at least 30% of the Investment program’s costs. THECHANCELLOR’SDESK Statewide Plan Based on CUNY’s

N DEC. 17, 2007, the New York Professional Virtually State Commission on Higher Studies. Millions OEducation released its preliminary of dollars were recommendations to Governor Eliot Spitzer. invested to In The My colleagues on the commission and I expand technolo- worked diligently to propose bold ideas to gy in teaching, reinvigorate serious investment in the including science Fast Lane state’s public universities. New York’s citi- instrumentation zens, students, and faculty deserve public and electronic College of Staten Island’s universities whose stature is nationally rec- library acquisi- ognized, whose programs are highly val- tions, and to augment student services, Athena, Zeus and Neptune ued, and whose graduates are deeply including additional counseling staff, child make supercomputing even respected. This is increasingly essential in care, veterans’ support, and student fel- today’s competitive global environment. lowships. We upgraded information man- faster for research Quite simply, new and real investment agement systems and purchased new com- in CUNY and SUNY is a necessity for puter hardware and software. A statewide HE NEXT TIME you’re waiting at a New York State. compact based on the CUNY model is an toll plaza—frustrated by a line of A cornerstone of the commission’s important step in realizing public higher Tcars blocking the E-ZPass lanes— report is the call for a New York State education’s plans to build universities of take heart: Researchers Michael Kress and Compact for Public Higher Education. national renown. Jonathan Peters are trying to ease the con- Modeled after the CUNY Compact, the The commission also recognizes the key gestion with the help of a sophisticated statewide compact delineates shared role that faculty play in creating academic computer array that will be available to responsibility for public higher education distinction. Its recommendation to rebuild faculty across the University for high-end resources in order to reverse chronic the CUNY and SUNY faculty ranks research projects. underinvestment in CUNY and SUNY. As through the hiring of a minimum of 2,000 The research team based at the College the University has affirmed since introduc- additional full-time faculty over the next of Staten Island began developing computer ing its compact two years ago, a partner- five years is crucial to achieving genuine simulations three years ago to better under- ship among stakeholders is critical to gen- progress. In 1975, CUNY employed more stand so-called “queue blocking” of the E- erating the resources necessary for true than 11,000 full-time faculty. Today, 6,500 ZPass lanes at the Outerbridge Crossing investment. full-time faculty work at the University. tolls on Staten Island — tracking drivers’ Prior to the CUNY Compact, funding This is a decrease of more than 40%—even behavior when they find themselves for public higher education in New York though CUNY’s student enrollment has blocked. But to better understand the phe- was determined on a year-to-year basis. grown to its highest level in over three nomenon, Kress and Peters needed a high- This discouraged long-term investment decades. The commission’s recommenda- er level of computational power that can and made public universities vulnerable to tion would help to reverse this pronounced crunch massive amounts of data. approach employs some of the complex economic downturns. Students were hurt decline. Enter Athena, a high-speed computer equations used in traditional research when large, unexpected tuition increases Indeed, the top priority of the with 96 nodes (each node has four proces- methods, according to Kress, who also were used to cover operating expenses University’s FY 2008-09 budget request, sors) accompanied by Zeus and Neptune. chairs the advisory board for CUNY’s unmet by insufficient public funding. recently approved by the Board of Trustees, This cluster of computers based at the col- Scientific Computation and Visualization The New York State Compact for Public is the hiring of additional full-time faculty lege not only has given Kress and Peters a Center. “But now we have so much com- Higher Education would require government and providing support for research, formidable new tool, but also has helped putational power, we can mimic life.” to cover CUNY’s and SUNY’s mandatory academic enhancements and student servic- ratchet up the research of other faculty The advent of Athena is key to CUNY’s costs, such as energy and labor contracts, and es. The University seeks a major infusion of and students. High-performance comput- “Decade of Science,” the University’s at least 20 percent of the academic initiatives investment funds through a continuation of ers working in tandem, also known as sim- renewed commitment to strengthening sci- in the systems’ state-approved master plans. the CUNY Compact, funds that are essen- ulation centers, ence, math, technol- The remainder of the funding for invest- tial to our ability to foster national promi- enable researchers to ogy and engineering. ments comes from the universities, in the nence and ensure greater opportunities for complete projects Being able to run the “It’s essential to have form of increased philanthropic revenues, students and faculty. much faster—often in “ a state-of-the-art internal restructuring and efficiency meas- The commission’s recommendations— a couple of days model. . . on a certain processor computational facili- focused on serious investment, increased ures, managed enrollment growth and tuition instead of a couple of in a couple of days—that’s an ty to take CUNY to increases. Tuition increases during the life of faculty, student access and preparation, weeks—as well as to the next level in a master plan would not exceed an amount innovative research and economic develop- design problems and incredible resource. It’s the dif- terms of research,” informed by a basket of economic indicators ment—are an urgent call to enable CUNY create “virtual experi- said University Dean (such as the Consumer Price Index or the and SUNY and their students to remain ments” that previous- ference between being able to do for Research Gillian Higher Education Price Index), and full nationally competitive and to contribute to ly were impossible. Small. financial aid for needy students is a critical the state’s well-being. We owe the students The E-ZPass a project or not. University offi- part of the compact. Revenue from tuition and people of New York nothing less. “analysis helps under- cials located Athena I urge you to visit www.support- increases would go exclusively toward fund- stand how many cash --- Associate” Professor Robert Till at Staten Island, ing investment initiatives, determined in con- cuny.org to find out how to contact public lanes and how many John Jay College of Criminal Justice Small said, since sultation with students, faculty and elected officials and become involved in E-ZPass lanes you CSI had recently representatives. Universitywide advocacy efforts. This criti- need, especially during high-volume times made high-performance computing a As CUNY’s experience with the com- cal opportunity to invest in CUNY must like Thanksgiving and Christmas,” Kress strategic priority for the campus—and had pact model indicates, such a partnership not be missed. said. “We can show at what point the sys- the necessary space, adequate electrical stimulates renewed investment. In its first tem breaks down.” power and air-conditioning capabilities. year, CUNY Compact funding allowed the Across the university, researchers are “We still have clusters, but it makes sense University’s senior and community col- using high-performance computing to per- to have one major facility,” Small said. Less leges to hire additional faculty. It helped form simulations in subjects ranging from expansive computational clusters already the University to launch its Graduate molecular chemistry to studies of large- exist at the Graduate Center and at City School of Journalism and its School of scale weather and climate changes. This College. Eventually, the goal is to link the

BOARDOFTRUSTEES The City University of New York Prepared by The City University Benno C. Schmidt, Jr. Philip Berry Matthew Goldstein of New York Chairperson Vice Chairperson Chancellor Jay Hershenson Office of University Relations Valerie L. Beal Hugo M. Morales Secretary of the Board of Trustees and 535 East 80th Street John S. Bonnici Kathleen M. Pesile Senior Vice Chancellor for University Relations New York, NY 10021 Michael Arena Wellington Z. Chen Carol Robles-Román University Director for Communications and Marketing (212) 794-5317 Rita DiMartino Marc V. Shaw Rich Sheinaus Graphic Design Director Published by Freida Foster-Tolbert Solomon A. Sutton Ron Howell, Neill Rosenfeld, Ruth Landa Writers The Legislative Gazette Joseph J. Lhota Jeffrey Wiesenfeld Miriam Smith Issue Designer PO Box 7329 Randy M. Mastro André Beckles Photographer Albany, NY 12225 Robert Ramos, Jr. Manfred Philipp Articles in this and previous issues are available at cuny.edu/news. 518-473-9739 Chairperson, Chairperson, Letters or suggestions for future stories may be sent to the Editor University Student Senate University Faculty Senate by email to [email protected]. Changes of address www.legislativegazette.com should be made through your campus personnel office.

2 CUNY MATTERS — Spring 2008 Dr. Jonathan Peters, left, Dr. Cameron Gordon, CUNY School center, and Dr. Michael Kress discuss rapid-transit Of Law Attains route patterns in the high Three New Honors performance computing facility. HE VERDICT is unanimous: TCUNY School of Law keeps out- model...on a certain doing itself. Three recent achievements processor in a couple of brought new accolades to the 25-year- days—that’s an incredible old school, whose clinical programs resource,” he said. “It’s the are routinely cited in the country’s difference between being top 10. able to do a project or CUNY Law—led by Dean Michelle not.” J. Anderson—has posted the highest Other researchers, like New York State Bar Exam pass rate in Anatoly Kuklov, use super- its history (82.75 percent). On computing to explore the January 3, it attained membership in microscopic world. Kuklov, the prestigious Association of a theoretical physicist at American Law Schools (AALS). CSI, focuses on quantum CUNY Law also has been selected to mechanics, particularly join an elite group of law schools “superfluidity” and “super nationwide to analyze and shape solid” states. With HPC future legal education. simulations, he has shown The panel of representatives from 10 that if Helium-4 is cooled law schools—including prestigious to extremely low tempera- Georgetown, Harvard and NYU—is tures, these isotopes can being organized by the Carnegie Foun- demonstrate properties of dation for the Advancement of Teaching a solid, but appear to act and Stanford Law School. The invitation simultaneously like liquid to participate in the three-year study under certain conditions— follows the release of several glowing for example, if a defect is public reports from the Carnegie introduced into its crys- Foundation as well as U.S. News & World talline structure. Report’s annual law school rankings. These “virtual experi- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth ments” require large-scale Bader Ginsberg has called CUNY School University’s computer network to enable Poje acknowledges that the world’s calculations that of Law “an institution of incomparable campuses in all the boroughs to take oceans offer a vast arena for his researchers cannot perform on a simple value” and has praised the school’s lead- advantage of parallel computing facilities simulations, but he hopes that in the next desktop computer, Kuklov said. “It’s 100 ership for “innovations and tireless via desktop computers. five years he can complete a more modest times faster [with a high-performance advancement of public interest law.” In the meantime, dozens of faculty and goal: creation of a good model of ocean computer]. Calculations that used to take The request to join the Carnegie doctoral students use computational clus- dispersion for local coastal areas, such as a couple of years now take a couple of group came from Larry Kramer, dean of ters at Staten Island, the Graduate Center New York Bay or Raritan Bay. weeks.” the Stanford Law School, and Lee and City College, in departments including At John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Besides speed and processing power, Shulman, president of the Carnegie chemistry, structural biology, economics, Associate Professor Robert Till has been CUNY’s simulation center offers another Foundation for the Advancement of physics, engineering and applied math. working on computer simulations of fire important service: strong tech support. What links many of these projects is the dynamics, Much of that comes use of computation-based methods to imi- examining through Florian tate experimental conditions without hav- combustion . . . analysis helps Lengyel, assistant …an institution ing to recreate them in a lab. patterns and “ director for research “ At Staten Island, for example, Assistant smoke produc- understand how many cash lanes computing at the of incomparable value… Professor of Mathematics Andrew Poje is tion as fires and how many E-ZPass lanes you Graduate Center, developing complex ocean models to break out in who has three tech- innovations and tireless determine where masses of particles—for buildings or need, especially during high-volume nology fellows work- advancement of public example, oil spills—go when you drop large public ing with him to keep them in the ocean. spaces. “Smoke times. . . we can show at what point the network running interest law. “Ocean models are 15 to 20 years is usually what and help faculty con- behind weather prediction,” Poje said. kills people, so the system breaks down. figure their software. --- U.S. Supreme” Court Justice Conditions that may influence particle you want to “Florian is a huge Ruth Bader Ginsberg dispersion, such as rain, salinity, tempera- run a lot of --- Dr.” Michael Kress asset,” Till said. Teaching. Their creation of the group ture and current velocity, generate “so models to know College of Staten Island CUNY aims to much model data, it can take many days to where the expand utilization of flows out of an earlier report issued by figure out where many particles are going.” smoke is going,” Till said. Such modeling is the center throughout the university, while the Carnegie Foundation that cited Supercomputing speeds the research. being used in the design and ventilation increasing computing capacity and storage. CUNY School of Law for its ground- Instead of using one processor at a time to systems of new buildings and subway sta- Faculty can visit www.csi.cuny.edu/cuny- breaking approach to merging instruc- trace the dispersion of 100,000 particles tions in New York City, he says. 0hpc or http://research.gc.cuny.edu for tion in the clinical practice of law with over several days, Poje can use dozens of Because Till’s work requires tracking details on how to start up. Said Kress: “We the traditional law school curricula cov- Athena’s 384 processors simultaneously, dozens of variables and scenarios for each have a sweeping vision: to develop a sys- ering such subjects as torts, criminal with each performing one of his computa- case study, CUNY’s high-performance tem to solve world-class problems in mod- procedure, and constitutional law. tions. “The whole thing could be done in a computing facilities have made a critical eling and simulation and give the CUNY Students in all three years of study at day,” he said. difference. “Being able to run the community at large this resource.” CUNY School of Law study practical lawyering skills; by the third year, they are required to represent clients in court University researchers using in real cases under the supervision of high-performance computing faculty members. can quickly simulate long- Dean Anderson said CUNY Law is range global climate delighted to join the Carnegie group. changes as well as “It’s a nice coup for the school,” she predict tomorrow’s said. “The Carnegie Foundation recog- local weather. nized the innovative pedagogy that melds theory and practice instituted at CUNY School of Law’s founding, and now the school is being called upon for its expertise….” Regarding the membership in AALS, the society of learned legal scholars, Dean Anderson said that the honor “…is strong validation of our commitment to research and writing that advances social justice for commu- nities in need.”

CUNY MATTERS — Spring 2008 3 The University is slashing its energy use, planning efficient new campus buildings and finding innovative solutions to the environmental crisis worldwide

ITH CONCERNS deepen- pledged to meet last June. “Universities are really the right expansion over the next 20 years? We have to ensure that ing over climate change, group to lead the charge on climate change,” Mayor everything we do improves the environment.” shrinking natural resources Bloomberg said. “They are in the business of shaping the CUNY’s Center for Sustainable Energy conducted exten- and rising energy costs, leaders of tomorrow, which means they have a huge stake in sive research on local solar power and helped craft the city's CUNY is moving to slash its the future.” winning application to the U.S. Department of Energy to greenhouse gas emissions by a Buildings account for 80 percent of carbon become one of 13 federally designated third through conservation, emissions in New York City, including 18 per- Solar Cities. As such, the Center now Universities greenW construction and upgrading of heating and cooling cent from government and institutional build- offers hands-on help to businesses and plants. And in research laboratories, University scientists are ings, according to the city’s first carbon-emissions “ landlords public and private that want to are really the right group seeking ways to help rescue the environment, including build- inventory. CUNY is the city’s biggest collegiate go solar, from helping them determine ing better batteries for electric cars, purifying sewage sludge player with 23 campuses, 280 buildings and to lead the charge on what systems are best for their properties and turning algae into biofuel. some 27 million square feet of space. to analyzing installers’ bids. The Center Chancellor Matthew Goldstein has named a Task “The University is poised to become a climate change. also is helping to implement the city’s Force on Sustainability* to drive this initiative. It dovetails leader in sustainable operations for both the plan to generate 8.1 megawatts of solar with Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s call for municipal and city and the state,” said Executive Vice ” power by 2015. “There is no silver bullet --- Mayor Michael Bloomberg other institutions to cut their emissions by 30 percent in 10 Chancellor Allan Dobrin, the University’s chief technology to take us off the grid,” said years, a challenge which CUNY and eight other universities operating officer, who noted that CUNY’s Tria Case, executive director of both the * Sustainability: Dictionary.com defines “sustainability” as “Development energy costs per square foot have already decreased by 10 Center and the CUNY Task Force. “But there are opportuni- that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of percent in the last decade. But more than the savings, mov- ties for adopting renewable energy or energy that can future generations to meet their own needs. This definition was created in 1987 at the World Commission on Environment and Development…” ing toward a University that supports a sustainable environ- reduce our carbon footprint and our peak-load ment “is the right thing to requirements, and that’s where the city’s energy problem is.” GREEN DEGREE do.” The University has invested $110 million in the last CUNY has already decade in upgrading its physical plant, particularly energy- started slashing consump- related components such as new heating and cooling sys- tion of oil, gas and elec- tems at sites including Hunter, York and City Colleges. Vice tricity—goals key to the Chancellor for Facilities Planning, Construction and sustainability plan each Management Iris Weinshall, another Task Force co-chair, campus is developing. The expects green design, while more costly to build, to yield $6 University is buying elec- million to $8 million a year in recurring energy savings tricity greener, securing within seven to 10 years. The ambitious goal is to have as 41.4 million kilowatt much as a quarter of CUNY’s facilities portfolio, which hours—or 10 percent of includes many historic and landmark buildings, energy effi- its needs—from wind gen- cient by 2017. “We have quite a task eration. That makes ahead of us,” she said. CUNY the nation’s eighth She directed that all new build- Global greenest university pur- ings be certified under the U.S. Warming’s chaser of electricity, Green Building Council’s ‘Paul Revere’ according to the U.S. Leadership in Energy and Page 9 Environmental Protection Environmental Design (LEED) Agency’s Green Power Green Building Rating System™. Partnership. The LEED has four certification lev- University is gradually els—certified, silver, gold and platinum—based on the num- adding solar power. A sci- ber of points that the Building Council grants for sustain- ence lab at Bronx able sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials Community College and resources, indoor environmental quality, and innovation Clint Porter is the first CUNY already runs off a photo- in design. undergraduate to earn a diploma voltaic roof. Keyspan will The University seeks silver certification for its new build- in renewable energy. pay for a 100- ings. Although the new Hearst Tower and 7 World Trade kilowatt roof for a com- Center in Manhattan garnered gold certification, they differ 1st CUNY Renewable-Energy Grad Powers Up Solar Career puter lab at LaGuardia significantly from academic and particularly science build- Community College. And ings. “Office towers recirculate their air, but in a science LINT PORTER was studying photography when he stumbled across a book about the coming hydrogen a 51-kilowatt array is building you need to change air more frequently,” Weinshall economy that changed his life. “I wanted to build things and create, which is why I liked art and pho- planned for Kings-bor- said. Laboratory fumes must be quickly evacuated, so sci- tography. But then I thought about hydrogen, biofuels, solar and wind, and figured that since people C ough Community ence buildings need to heat or chill outside air, use it once will always be using electricity, I’d always have a job.” He found that no CUNY program offered a course to a College. and then expel it, thereby favoring health and safety over bachelor’s degree. That led him to the CUNY Graduate Center’s Baccalaureate Degree Program, which let him “CUNY’s commitment energy efficiency. stitch together courses in physics, calculus, environmental policy and environmental chemistry from Baruch, to sustainability is impor- CUNY’s first LEED-certified science building will be at City and Hunter Colleges. At the CUNY Institute for Urban Systems, he conducted an energy audit on the feder- tant,” said Robert “Buz” Lehman College, with additional silver-certified science al Million Solar Roofs program. He added three independent study courses and two internships, including one Paaswell, a distinguished buildings on the drawing board for City College and a at the Solar Electric Power Association in Washington, D.C. Porter finished his solar-related coursework two professor of civil replacement for Roosevelt Hall at Brooklyn College. The years ago, disposed of lingering English and American literature courses via CLEP (College-Level Examination engineering at City University has also negotiated 400,000 square feet for class- Program) exams after moving to San Francisco to work in the solar industry, and will receive his BA in Energy College’s Grove School of rooms, labs and faculty offices for New York City College of Technology, which a private developer will build in an ener- Resource Policy in Latin America in January—the first CUNY undergraduate to earn a diploma in renewable Engineering and one of the three Task Force co- gy-efficient, residential tower on the edge of the campus. energy. He now handles sales, government affairs and marketing for Kaco Solar Inc. USA, part of an interna- chairs. “The challenge is The complex is being designed by Pritzker Prize-winning tional company that manufactures photovoltaic inverters, which turn the direct current generated by solar cells how do we green our Italian architect Renzo Piano. into the alternating current needed for most power uses.“This was an awesome way to study—to have the buildings and CUNY includes green elements wherever possible in freedom to educate yourself when a program is not in place to give you what you need,” he said. “I’m 27 and operations—the energy, every retrofit, redesign or renovation. For example, have more experience and knowledge of the industry than people twice my age, most of it because of the CUNY air and light we use—as Weinshall added a landscaped plaza to the building now Baccalaureate Program.” we go through capital under construction at John Jay College. CUNY also is

4 CUNY MATTERS — Spring 2008 Plants at Heart of CUNY’s 1st Green Building he science building slated to rise at Lehman College starting this summer relies partly on plants for its anticipated Tsilver LEED™ certification. It’s a natural, considering that the Plant Sciences doctoral subprogram, along with undergraduate sciences, will have expanded facilities. Architect Tony Alfieri of Perkins+Will describes “a compre- hensive system of water management and study: (1) A rooftop system will collect rainwater. (2) A separate system will collect “greywater” from drinking fountains, lavatory sinks and eventually gym showers. (3) Water will be held in separate tanks, where solid materials will settle. (4) Plant scientists can nourish a 4,000-square-foot wetland in three planting beds with water from either source, or both. The plants and microbes in their roots will filter the water, which then… (5) …will return to the building for “blackwater” use in toilets and janitors’ sinks. 1 2 5

3

Overflow irrigates lawns Rainwater “Greywater” 4

Source: Perkins+Will, Architects

ILLUSTRATION BY MARK SWEENEY attacking problematic older buildings, starting with what she motors for fans, pumps, compressors and generators to ener- Performance Laboratory, which offers green operation and called “the poster child for energy inefficiency,” the Borough gy-efficient models. It also bought hybrid-electric and off- technology instruction to workers who run energy systems of Manhattan Community College complex on Chambers road electric vehicles for security patrols, maintenance and in commercial and residential buildings; building owners; Street. The New York Power Authority (NYPA) will pay to moving people around campus. And it works with NYPA to property managers; major tenants, energy regulators and convert its heating system from erratic and costly steam reduce energy consumption during peak summer hours. government representatives. Paaswell has studied ways to heat. Replacing its four-block-long roof with one that’s more “Perhaps through new courses, every student should improve transit operations; freight movement; bus travel; energy efficient and perhaps equipped with photovoltaic understand that the global environment will have some truck routes and their impact on asthma, and pedestrian panels could figure into the plan. impact on their lives,” safety. Examining how students Another renovation, of Baruch College’s 1929 Art Deco Paaswell said. That’s hap- and staff get to campus—and get- building at 17 Lexington Ave., could start as early as fall pening across the system. ting them out of cars—is also on 2009, said Assistant Vice President for Campus Operations New York City College of The challenge is how do we his agenda. Jim Lloyd. Baruch is shooting for silver certification while Technology developed a “ That’s also a keen interest of preserving classic architectural features and installing sky- course called green our buildings and operations—the Robert Bell, Economics lights and atria to bring in natural light, he said. “Sustainability Through energy, air and light we use—as we go Department chair at Brooklyn Sometimes savings can be achieved just by turning off Architecture,” which intro- College. He suggests CUNY con- the lights—and computers. Deputy Chief Operating Officer duces sustainability funda- through capital expansion over the next 20 sider partnering with a vendor to Ron Spalter, another Task Force co-chair, noted that CUNY mentals against the larger install a system on its campuses maintains 40,000 computers in classrooms, offices and labo- picture of climate change. years? We have to ensure that everything akin to the new Velib system in ratories. New software costing $600,000 automatically City Tech and Bronx and Paris and Lyon, which provides places idle computers into sleep mode, saving $18 per LaGuardia Community we do improves the environment. easy and cheap bicycle rentals. machine a year, or $720,000 in total, he said. “That’s real Colleges offer training for ” “Students traditionally have ridden money, that’s productivity and that’s sustainability.” solar equipment installers, --- Robert “Buz” Paaswell, Distinguished Professor of Civil bicycles, so it’s not a far-out idea, Another novel approach is demanding that suppliers and the classes are fully Engineering at City College’s Grove School of Engineering and it works spectacularly in Paris,” reduce packaging of goods. Needless packaging carries hid- subscribed. he said. den costs, besides posing disposal problems for the city. Paaswell added, “CUNY has a world-class faculty who are Bell, whose new book, “The Green Bubble: Waste into Dining halls will reduce reliance on plastic utensils, expanding the envelope of research on the environment and Wealth: The New Energy Revolution,” examines the coming Styrofoam cups and disposable trays, Spalter said. disseminating the products of their research.” Paaswell him- “after-oil” scenario, believes, “We can fight and win this war Energy-saving innovation is also bubbling up from the self oversees the federally funded Transportation Research [against climate change] with the weapons we have today. colleges. For example, Queens College is pushing recycling, Center and CUNY’s Institute for Urban Systems (CIUS), Insulation, double glazing, hybrid cars like the Prius, wind installed motion sensors on classroom and office lights, where engineering and social science illuminate urban infra- turbines and solar photovoltaics work now, but we better get swapped incandescent for fluorescent bulbs, and upgraded structure. CIUS also sponsors the state-funded Building on the stick. We can’t wait for another new invention.”

GREEN RESEARCH CREATING POWER FROM SLUDGE TURNING ALGAE INTO JET FUEL DESIGNING BETTER BATTERIES EWAGE AND INDUSTRIAL SLUDGE may seem toxic to you, but to City ALF THE NATION’S 2008 corn crop will be diverted to make ethanol, UNTER COLLEGE Physics Professor Steven Greenbaum believes his SCollege Chemistry Professor Teresa J. Bandosz it’s pure environmental Hthe U.S. Agriculture Department estimates. The resulting corn scarci- Hresearch into improving batteries for NASA projects and implantable gold. Using pyrolysis (heating at high ty will drive up the cost of eggs, milk and cardiac defibrillators will extend the temperatures in an inert atmosphere), steaks. Microscopic algae, like that found in range and life cycle of electric cars— she converts sludge into adsorbent ponds, could be better and cheaper, says when equally powerful but cheaper bat- materials that clean fuel gases of hydro- Juergen Polle, an associate professor of biology tery materials are identified. “When gen sulfide, a first step leading to pure at Brooklyn College. Per acre, microalgae “can you’re designing for aerospace and med- hydrogen, an environmentally friendly produce much higher levels of biofuels than ical uses, you don’t care about cost, power source. Along the way, hazardous other plants” and unlike corn, they can grow in because there’s no Radio Shack on Mars heavy metals get embedded in carbon, salty or brackish water, without pesticides. and when you have a heart attack your rendering them nontoxic. “Copper and “Harvesting is the real problem, because defibrillator has to work,” he said. “But Professor Teresa J. Bandosz Associate Professor Professor Steven dyes are adsorbed in significant quanti- you’re dealing with microscopic organisms, Juergen Polle you’ll never sell an electric car if the Greenbaum ties,” she said. “We haven’t started with mercury yet, but we expect a good rather than being able to send a tractor battery pack costs $25,000.” Greenbaum adsorption capacity.” CUNY holds a patent on some of her research. through a cornfield,” said Polle, who is working, under an Air Force con- received a U.S. Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics, Science tract, to isolate new microalgae strains for making jet fuel. and Engineering Mentoring in 2002.

CUNY MATTERS — Spring 2008 5 FACULTYHONORS Out of Africa, Into Queens Chemists’ Invention Featured THE ART OF“A CAMEROON WORLD” r. Michael Mirkin and his team Dof chemists at Queens College recently were featured in Chemistry N CAMEROON, as in much of also manages World for their development of an Africa, art is where you find it: in to incorporate electrochemical syringe that delivers Ithe engraved calabashes used for car- a clever bit of solutions via a tip so small it can easi- rying milk; in tiny snuff bottles; in the multitasking: the ly be inserted into living cells without pictorial game chips carved from the high threshold damaging the cell membrane. Their pits of a local tree. Players of the not only keeps findings also were recently published once-popular game, called Abbia, out flood in the prestigious Proceedings of the could lose a bag of salt, or win a waters and National Academy of Sciences. palm oil plantation, depending on small animals, how the chips fell that night. but also ensures Award to Lehman’s President Such everyday objects, along with that anyone ceremonial masks and other special entering must do “A Cameroon World,” an exhibit resident Ricardo R. Fernández of items, offer a window into “A so in the bent- celebrating the art of the west-central African Lehman received the President's P Cameroon World,” an exhibit cele- over position of nation at Queensborough Community College’s Award of Excellence from the brating the art of the west-central a supplicant. QCC Gallery, runs through February. Hispanic Association of Colleges African nation at Queensborough Although “Eternal Ancestors: The Art of the Central and Universities for expanding educa- Community College’s QCC many items in African Reliquary” will be at the Metropolitan tional opportunities for Hispanic Gallery. the show are Museum of Art through March 2. students and advancing HACU’s “A Cameroon World,” which linked to rank mission. Dr. Fernández, who is Chair runs through February 2008, fea- or religion, of the American Council on tures 240 pieces from the Marshall QCC Gallery Director Faustino Quintanilla explained that “A Cameroon World” makes a point of celebrating the art Education, was recently named one and Caroline Mount Collection. Marshall Mount first traveled to in everyday objects. of America’s “100 Most Influential Africa in 1961 and has returned “While there have been exhibits of Cameroon masks and Hispanics” by Hispanic Business often, visiting Cameroon five figures, things like that have never been put together with a magazine. times. He teaches African art at more global exhibit including practical things like beds and Linking Geography and Evolution New York University and at the Fashion hats,” he said. Institute of Technology. Cameroon was a German colony from 1884 until the CNY’s Professor Robert The fruit of his travels fills the sunny main room end of World War I, so there’s no surprise in finding refer- CAnderson received $135,000 of the gallery. Curator Leonard Kahan has organized ences to its colonial days. Still, one can’t help but wonder from the NSF to use computer map- the masks, figures, costumes, and other objects into about the curious seven-foot-long model canoe made by the ping and DNA sequencing to study discrete groups connected by a common origin and coastal Duala people. A crew of German sailors mans the the distribution and evolutionary aesthetic. oars, led by a flag man. A European-style heraldic crest flies up front. But what of the animals sharing the prow with the relationships among species of the There are pipes—lots of pipes. Made from brass or terra cotta, they fill two display cases in the back crest? What imaginary army or navy do they belong to, or spiny pocket mouse genus room of the show. The larger brass pipes are strictly are they just hitching a ride? Heteromys in northwestern South for ceremonies, the smaller ones for smoking tobac- “A Cameroon World” is one of three African art shows to America. He’ll travel to Venezuela co. Some are decorated with graceful animals; oth- open in New York City this past October. “Spirit and Power with graduate student Ali Raza ers geometric patterns, floral or seashell motifs. One in African Art,” which ran through Dec. 15, at the Godwin- and undergrad Mariya Shcheglovitova standout has a bowl shaped like two German colo- Ternbach Museum at Queens College (CUNY), also includ- to collect tissue samples for DNA nials, accurate from their caps to their buttoned ed pieces from the QCC permanent collection of African sequencing. Ph.D. student Eliecer shirts. At that point, things get a little sketchy: The art. “Eternal Ancestors: The Art of the Central African Gutierrez will conduct taxonomy two have only one pair of feet. Reliquary” will be at the Metropolitan Museum of Art research with Dr. Anderson that is Visitors entering the exhibit’s main room are through March 2. expected to identify at least two new greeted by a colorful collection of prestige headdresses species within the genus. constructed from materials including dyed feathers and raffia. Some are small and contained; others burst forth Fulbright for Nurse-Researcher like feathered fireworks. Further along, powerful face and helmet masks, rofessor Patricia Cholewka of worn on special occasions by Cameroon elite, show an PCityTech, a nurse-researcher of equally wide range of styles and Lithuanian ancestry, spent the fall materials. Wall texts semester at Vilnius University, explain their origins Lithuania, on a Fulbright Award. Dr. and use in secret Cholewka lectured and conducted societies; accom- research on the application of infor- panying photo- mation technology to nursing educa- graphs by the tion and clinical practice, and gath- Mounts show ered information about its impact on some of the items in use in dances nursing practice there. She also and festivals. exchanged ideas about nursing prac- One mask in tice standards and the effective use of particular, a five- IT in nursing education and patient foot-long cloth ele- care. phant mask from the Grassfields area, captures Management Scholar Honored the imagination. Its round Prakash Sethi, University elephant ears and long trunk S. Distinguished Professor of belie a curiously human face. Worn Management at Baruch, has been by Kuosi society members, elephant elected to the International Academy masks symbolize royalty. A close look of Management, the highest honor at the mask’s intricately-beaded surface reveals other symbols such as leopard for an international management spots (also royalty) and a spider (wis- scholar. Renowned for originating dom). corporate codes of conduct, Professor Much has been made of the influ- Sethi’s research and writing in busi- ence of African art on Modernism (before the 20th century, ness ethics and corporate social African cultural objects were considered less art, more arti- responsibility span more than three fact). A stunning buffalo mask, all angular forms and flattened decades. He is president of Baruch’s lines, illustrates the point perfectly. It looks like it could have Six of the International Center for Corporate leapt off of a Picasso painting. 240 pieces from Accountability, an independent The show’s largest display recreates the reed-covered the Marshall and Caroline non-profit think tank. façade of a Kwifoyn secret society house. Two large wooden Mount Collection, on exhibit totem poles stand guard on either side of a door frame carved at Queensborough Community with grinning heads, male and female figures, and lizards. It College’s QCC Gallery.

6 CUNY MATTERS — Spring 2008 STATE LEGISLATORSWHO ATTENDEDCUNY CUNY ALUMS IN ALBANY EPRESENTING EVERY BOROUGH, and Dutchess, Rockland and Westchester Counties, too, 35 members of the New York State Assembly and Senate have attended colleges of the City University of New York. They form almost a fifth of the membership in each chamber and about a third of New York City’s Assembly and Senate delegations. They serve on Rcommittees, commissions and task forces that touch the lives of all New Yorkers. Tackling the most important issues facing society—from those affecting children, families and the elderly to those concerning banking, business and the economy—they channel the knowledge and skills they learned at the University for the public good. These CUNY alumni have clout. Two-thirds hold party leadership positions or serve as committee chairs or ranking minority members. Their influence shapes legislation that is vital to state residents. These nine women and 26 men follow in a proud City University tradition. Throughout its 161-year history, CUNY has educated a steady stream of talented students who have served with distinction in the Legislature, as well as in all branches of city, state and federal government. Many of CUNY’s “legislative” alumni might not have been able to enroll in a college if it had not been for the City University. “The many legislators who have attended the City University of New York have long enriched public discourse and policy-making in our state,” said Kenneth LaValle, chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee. “CUNY is an essential component of our state’s system of public higher education, providing the opportunity for a quality education at an affordable price. The diversity of the University’s academic programs and the vision for CUNY’s future have helped to ensure that CUNY remains competitive with the best schools in the nation.” “Without City University, college would have been an impossible dream,” said Deborah Glick, chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee, BA Queens College, 1978. “It’s important to the entire city. There are many people in public life whose careers were directly attrib- utable to City University or to their parents having attended City University, which made it possible for them to have distinguished careers and, ultimately, for their children having the ability to go to private schools. So by extension, the University’s impact is quite significant.” From the beginning, it opened its doors to immigrants, the working class and the poor. The City University’s ancestor, the Free Academy, started in 1847 because Townsend Harris, a merchant who was president of the Board of Education, recognized an appalling fact: In a city of a half million residents, fewer than 300 were enrolled in the two private colleges then in existence—and most of them were the children of the wealthy and the privileged. With the Industrial Revolution and scientific advances transforming society, Harris saw that broad-based education was essential to the future not only of the city, but of the state and nation as well. As in his day, New York continues to attract immigrants—although their ethnicities, religions and national origins would likely surprise Harris. This, of course, isn’t news to CUNY’s legislative alumni. If today’s Senators and Assembly members are not immi- grants themselves, most likely their parents, grandparents and a good number of their constituents are. Similarly, newcomers constitute a sizable part of CUNY’s student body. Fully 38 percent of CUNY’s first-time freshmen were born outside the United States. Coming from 172 countries and speaking 131 languages in addition to English, CUNY students reflect the dynamism that has always flavored the city. “Strengthening CUNY is at the core of a strong economy,” said Toby Stavisky, Ranking Minority Member, Senate Higher Education Committee. “When I went to Hunter and Queens, I was already a high school teacher, so finances were not a problem. I was taking graduate courses to get the 30 credits above the mas- ter’s [needed for top pay in New York City’s public schools]. But my husband, Leonard, grew up during the Depression in a single-parent family. Money was tight. Fortunately, he had access to City College.” The City University of New York’s 23 institutions—11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E. Macaulay Honors College, the Graduate School and University Center, the Graduate School of Journalism, the School of Law, the School of Professional Studies and the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education—continue to meet the challenge. They serve more than 231,000 degree-seeking students and 230,000 students in adult-, continuing- and professional-education programs. All in all, 46 percent of all college students in New York City attend CUNY. Townsend Harris’ essential insight—that widespread higher education undergirds a strong economy and a resilient democracy—is perhaps even more timely today. Environmental, scientific, technical, eco- nomic and social changes now seem to occur at warp speed and on a global scale. As a result, the consequences of making the right legislative choices to guarantee quality, readily-avail- able higher education are greater now than ever. CUNY alumni are in critical positions in Albany and can make the difference.

CUNY MATTERS — Spring 2008 7 STATE LEGISLATORSWHO ATTENDEDCUNY

NEW YORK STATE SENATE

Eric Adams Ruben Diaz, Sr. Martin Malave Dilan Martin Golden NY City College of Technology Lehman College Brooklyn College John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 20th Senate District, Brooklyn 32nd Senate District, Bronx 17th Senate District, Brooklyn College of Staten Island 22nd Senate District, Brooklyn

Ruth Hassell-Thompson Jeffrey Klein Kevin S. Parker John Sampson Bronx Community College Queens College, CUNY School of Law CUNY Graduate School Brooklyn College 36th Senate District, Bronx and Westchester 34th Senate District, Bronx, Westchester 21st Senate District, Brooklyn 19th Senate District, Brooklyn

Toby A. Stavisky Hunter College, Queens College 16th Senate District, Queens

8 CUNY MATTERS — Spring 2008 STATE LEGISLATORSWHO ATTENDEDCUNY

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY

Carmen Arroyo Michael Benjamin William Colton Ruben Diaz, Jr. Hostos Community College Hunter College Brooklyn College LaGuardia Community College 84th Assembly District, Bronx 79th Assembly District, Brooklyn 47th Assembly District, Brooklyn Herbert H. Lehman College 85th Assembly District, Bronx

Jeffrey Dinowitz Adriano Espaillat Deborah Glick Diane Gordon Herbert H. Lehman College Queens College Queens College NYC College of Technology 81th Assembly District, Bronx 72nd Assembly District, Manhattan 66th Assembly District, Manhattan 40th Assembly District, Brooklyn

Carl Heastie Dov Hikind Janele Hyer-Spencer Rhoda Jacobs Baruch MBA Brooklyn College, Queens College CUNY School of Law, Queens College Brooklyn College 83th Assembly District, Bronx 48th Assembly District, Brooklyn 60th Assembly District, Staten Island, 42nd Assembly District, Brooklyn Brooklyn

Assembly ®continues

Ellen C. Jaffee Ivan Lafayette Rory Lancman Brooklyn College Brooklyn College Queens College 95th Assembly District, Rockland 34th Assembly District, Queens 25th Assembly District, Queens

CUNY MATTERS — Spring 2008 9 STATE LEGISLATORSWHO ATTENDEDCUNY

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY

Alan Maisel Nettie Mayersohn Joel Miller Joan Millman Brooklyn College Queens College College City College Brooklyn College 59th Assembly District, Brooklyn 27th Assembly District, Queens 102th Assembly District, Dutchess 52nd Assembly District, Brooklyn

Daniel J. O’Donnell José R. Peralta N. Nick Perry Audrey Pheffer CUNY School of Law Queens College Brooklyn College Queens College 69th Assembly District, Manhattan 39th Assembly District, Queens 58th Assembly District, Brooklyn 23rd Assembly District, Queens

J. Gary Pretlow William Scarborough Darryl Towns Queensborough Community College Queens College Medgar Evers College Baruch College 29th Assembly District, Queens 54th Assembly District, Brooklyn 87th Assembly District, Westchester

10 CUNY MATTERS — Spring 2008 NOTED"ED Top Filmmaker and Editors New Vice Chancellors Are Mentoring Students Appointed by Trustees OP EDITORS at leading publications WO NEW Vice Chancellors, with Tare guiding students this semester in Tresponsibilities in the areas of human the new CUNY Graduate Center Writers resources and labor relations, have been Institute, and an Emmy award-winning appointed by the CUNY Board of filmmaker is teach- Trustees. ing a documentary Vice Chancellor course via the Jack Gloriana B. Waters, Newfield Visiting who has been serving Professorship of as Interim Vice Journalism at Chancellor of Hunter College. CUNY’s Office of The spring facul- Faculty and Staff ty of the new Vice Chancellor Relations, will be Graduate Center Gloriana B. Waters responsible for devel- Filmmaker Charles program features oping, coordinating C. Stuart Jonathan Landman, and implementing Universitywide Human deputy managing Resources policies. Vice Chancellor Pamela editor of The New York Times, and Daniel S. Silverblatt, who has served as First Menaker, executive editor-in-chief of Deputy Commissioner at the Mayor’s Random House. Also on the 2008 faculty Office of Labor Relations for the last six of the Institute: Robert Messenger, deputy years, will have responsibility for CUNY managing editor of The Atlantic Monthly; instructional staff and classified staff labor Katherine Bouton, deputy editor of The relations, including negotiation of collec- New York Times Magazine; Rachel Donadio, tive bargaining agreements, labor hearings editor and writer for The New York Times and appeals. Book Review; Michael Miller, deputy editor Chancellor Matthew Goldstein, who at The Wall Street Journal. The program is recommended the appointments after a coordinated by noted author Andre nationwide search, said: “Vice Chancellors Aciman, who heads the Graduate Center’s Waters and Silverblatt each bring an AP PHOTO/HANS VON NOLDE Comparative Literature Ph.D. program. impressive array of talent, experience and Students are published writers who want Defying gravity in 1953 Lindy contest at Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom, from the AP exhibit. commitment to their respective positions. to hone their skills in nonfiction writing. “I As the integrated university continues to realized that over the years I have learned develop and grow, their leadership will be the most from editors . . .” said Mr. AP’s “Lost New York” Photo Exhibit essential to our progress.” Aciman. “So, I wanted to offer a faculty that features famous writers’ editors, rather Found a Home at the Graduate Center Hear Malcolm X, Former than famous writers.” At Hunter, filmmaker Charles C. Stuart Slaves Via New CUNY Site is teaching advanced documentary film- EW YORKERS OF PAST ERAS Lindy-hopped at the legendary Savoy ISTEN AS Civil Rights activist making for television and the Internet as NBallroom, packed the nosebleed seats for ball games at beloved Ebbets LMalcolm X delivers his impassioned the college’s third Jack Newfield Visiting Field and the Polo Grounds, rode the rattling Third Avenue El and thronged “Message to the Grass Roots” calling for Professor. Stuart co-produced documen- under the clock at the grand original Penn Station. Images of such long-gone black unity, barely a year before he was taries with Newfield, the crusading inves- city activities and landmarks—as well as the iconic World Trade Center towers, assassinated during a Manhattan speech on tigative reporter whose legacy is honored tragically felled not by progress but by terrorists—still survive in extraordinary the first day of National Brother-hood by the professorship at his alma mater. photographs recently displayed at the CUNY Graduate Center. Many were Week in 1965. Hear former American Newfield “gave voice to the disenfran- taken by photographers working for Manhattan-based Associated Press, and slaves describe lives of bondage and sur- chised, and it is in keeping with Jack’s spir- the city they saw was shown in “Lost New York”—part of the larger exhibit prising reactions at the end of the Civil it that all the stories produced by the stu- War. These rare opportunities to hear/read based on the AP’s recently published history, BREAKING NEWS: How the dents in this course will have an element of voices from American history are available Associated Press Has Covered War, Peace, and Everything Else. social justice at their core,” Stuart said. via “Let Freedom Ring,” the new 2008 “It’s a real, great pleasure for us to be associated with City University,” said CUNY/New York Times Knowledge Tom Curley, President and CEO of The Associated Press. “This is such an I realized that over the Network calendar and website—fourth in important center in New York, and we can think of no finer place to house our a groundbreaking educational series “ exhibit and show off our history.” The display included the “banquet” of New exploring the fundamental American prin- years I have learned the most from York City images of people and places to “customize” it for CUNY, said Chuck ciple of freedom. Other themes in the editors…. I wanted to offer a faculty Zoeller, director of The Associated Press Photo Library and exhibit curator. The series include “A Nation of Immigrants,” overall exhibit and book recount how AP’s newsmen and newswomen covered “Voting Rights and Citizenship” and that features famous writers’ editors, some of the biggest stories in the news service’s 161-year history—from “Women’s Leadership in American President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address during the Civil War and the History.” All are rich with rather than famous writers. 1906 San Francisco earthquake to World War II, the Iraq War and 9/11. facts, documents and rare photographs from --- Andre Aciman, Head” of the Graduate The LaGuardia and Center’s Comparative Literature Ph.D. program Wagner Archives at LaGuardia Community College and the photo giving them credit for it. In short, leadership is not all What Is Leadership? It’s “Not All About You” archives of The New about you,” said Ms. McCarthy, Distinguished OMEN WORLDWIDE are gaining more respect York Times. The Lecturer in Journalism at Queens College and host personally and professionally—notably exem- Visit calendars have been W of the weekly public affairs program “One on plified by their achievements at CUNY. Two recent www.cuny.edu/ prepared under the direction of One” on CUNY TV. events presented advice and role models to CUNY womensleadership CUNY Senior Vice Chancellor Jay At the second event—the 37th anniversary gala women students and honored administrators in top for details Hershenson and LaGuardia Community of The Feminist Press, the world’s oldest continuing women’s positions at the University. about the College History Professor Richard conference publisher—nine women Presidents and Deans of CUNY col- At “Women’s Leadership for Change: Building a Lieberman. Project co-sponsors are JP leges and professional schools received the Sue Rosenberg Zalk Better New York,” the Third CUNY Women’s Leadership Morgan Chase and TIAA-CREF. For more, Award, given for dedication and service to The City University of Conference held to inspire student interest in public service and go to www.cuny.edu/letfreedomring and New York. The Feminist Press also honored Philip Alfonso Berry, women’s issues everywhere, co-keynote speaker Sheryl McCarthy www.cuny.edu/freedom. Vice Chairperson of the CUNY Board of Trustees. set the stage for discussion. Although women are “making great strides,” she said, all over the world they still are brutalized, CUNY administrators honored by The Feminist Press, from left: Dean Michelle Anderson (Law School), barred from controlling their own President Dolores M. Fernandez (Hostos), money and prohibited from par- President Marcia V. Keizs (York), Dean Ann ticipating in public or political Kirschner (Macaulay Honors College), life. Leadership, she said, is “about President Gail O. Mellow (LaGuardia), listening to the ideas, and con- President Jennifer J. Raab (Hunter), President cerns and the knowledge of oth- Regina S. Peruggi (Kingsborough), President ers… delegating Kathleen M. Waldron (Baruch), President responsibility, encouraging other Carolyn G. Williams (Bronx). people to be creative and

CUNY MATTERS — Spring 2008 11 Si,! Se Puede! CUNY assures New York City’s newest immigrants — the Mexican community —that a college degree is within reach

IKE COUNTLESS immi- wanted to do, I had to get grants in New York City's an education. I found fast-growing Mexican com- work in a deli as a cashier, munity, Virginia Ramirez started in ESL at and Israel Garcia arrived as LaGuardia Community teenagers not knowing College and moved to a English.L But they quickly found work and GED. Then I enrolled at soon were building lives here, far from LaGuardia,” studying the- their rural homes. Their path to the future ater. She founded the col- ran through CUNY. It’s a path that the lege's first club for University—in an unprecedented partner- Mexicans, joined the stu- ship with Mexico’s dent govern- Court barred states from denying educa- the Aging. He said his CUNY degree Consulate ment and was the class repre- tion funding to undocumented children.) “allowed me to be a contributor to this General—intends to At age 14, about sentative at last spring’s com- He had lived here long enough to qualify country.” widen. CUNY’s goal mencement. Now at for in-state tuition, but, being illegal, was The difference between now and when is its historical one: “ Brooklyn College, she expects ineligible for financial aid. He kept work- Ms. Ramirez and Mr. Garcia came to New 95% of Mexican boys are in helping Mexicans to graduate with a television ing, eventually becoming a chef, waiter, York is the numbers. The 2005 census and Mexican- school, but by age 18 or 19, and radio degree in 2009. host and manager. After a year at Hostos, counted 264,000 city residents of Mexican Americans move Mr. Garcia, 37, came ille- Mr. Garcia transferred to City College, birth or heritage, nearly 44% more than in into the American only 26% are. gally at 19. He worked in took remedial English and graduated with 2000. Between 2005 and 2006, their com- mainstream, just as restaurants, starting as a $25- a B.A. in psychology 5½ years later, in munity grew by 16%. it has helped so --- Baruch” Associate Professor a-day cook trainee, studied 1999. “I think I was the only Mexican in Jay Hershenson, CUNY’s Senior Vice many previous Robert Smith English at a library and, at college; I never met another.” He legalized Chancellor for University Relations and waves of immigrants. church, heard that he could enroll at bilin- his status, earned a master's in social work Secretary to the Board of Trustees, said this Ms. Ramirez, 25, arrived when she was gual Hostos Community College. (Ruling from Columbia University in 2005, and is influx of often unskilled migrants, with 16. “I realized that in order to do what I in Plyler v. Doe in 1982, the U.S. Supreme now a planner at the city Department for their general lack of education, poses a short- and long-term “educational catastro- phe.” In response, Chancellor Goldstein You say “Yo amo” and I just say “Amo” asked him to chair a Task Force on N ENGLISH, the Big Apple slogan “I Love hours of oral interviews with 142 people and as New Yorkers—they were either born in the Strengthening New York” is simple. But in Spanish, there extracted 60,000 conjugated verbs, tallying the city or came here on or before age 3—use more Educational Iare two choices: “Yo amo a Nueva York” or subject personal pronouns, which are used far pronouns than those who are classified as new- Opportunities for “Amo a Nueva York.” more extensively in English than comers—they were either born in Latin Mexicans and Mexican- Researchers say the presence or Spanish and are heard more in America, came to the city at or before age 17 Americans. Its mission is absence of one little personal pro- some Spanish-speaking countries and have lived here for five or fewer years.” to devise and deliver noun—“yo,” or “I” —may say plenty than others. The Otheguy/Zentella study is one of several educational, leadership about the Spanish-speaking New The study, funded by the that analyze aspects of Spanish as it is spoken in and outreach services to Yorker declaring his or her admira- National Science Foundation, the city. The data also is being used to study that community. It met tion for the city. Those who have established that the New York words that Spanish speakers in New York City for the first time in been in New York a long time tend City speakers could be divided borrow from English. “Every language has these October after CUNY to use more personal pronouns than into Caribbeans and those from loanwords,” Otheguy says. “In English, for exam- negotiated a memoran- do more recent Latino arrivals, mainland countries, and that ple, fiancé is a loanword from French, patio is a dum of understanding researchers say. So do those coming while pronoun use increased for loanword from Spanish and frankfurter is a with then-Consul from the Caribbean, as compared both, Caribbeans—particularly loanword from German.” General Arturo with those from mainland countries Dominicans—used significantly In New York City Spanish, there are many Sarukhan, who is now such as Mexico, Colombia and Linguistics Professor more overt pronouns. loanwords from English, but they do not con- Mexico’s ambassador to Ecuador. Ricardo Otheguy ana- “In the course of one genera- form to the usual 50/50 masculine/feminine the United States. Ricardo Otheguy, a linguistics lyzes New York Spanish, tion,” Otheguy says, “the pronoun balance, he says. “What Over the long term, which gave us the street professor at The Graduate Center rate increased significantly. is interesting is that children born here will name Loisaida Avenue Those classified while the regular and director of the Research (Lower East Side), at likely enter the school Institute for the Study of Language right. Spanish words con- system and go on to col- in Urban Society, and Prof. Ana tinue to be about lege, like previous Celia Zentella of the University of half masculine and groups. But Hershenson California, San Diego, have studied half feminine as worries about today: the use of these subject personal they are in Spain The 2005 census found pronouns. and Latin that just 49% of New “We have discovered that Spanish America, the York City’s Mexicans usage is becoming more like English loanwords tend and Mexican-Americans usage,” says Otherguy, “and that in to enter the aged 25 or older had addition, Spanish in New York City is Spanish lan- earned a diploma or under clear dialect leveling pressures, guage as mas- degree: 28% had a high meaning that the different ways of culine,” he school diploma, 12% an speaking that immigrants from different says. “That’s associates’ degree or places bring to New York tend to why on the higher and 9% a BA or become more similar over time.” This streets of higher. may reflect “the growth of a new New New York it And, says Baruch York Latino identity,” he said. is el subway, el Associate Professor Otheguy and Zentella conducted 300 lunch, and, even if the person Robert Smith, the high referred to is a woman, el baby-sitter.” school dropout rate—

12 CUNY MATTERS — Spring 2008 Events such as this church fair, Q&A: BARRY COMMONER left and below, celebrating Mexican music, unite immi- Clean Energy = Solar Power, Ecology Pioneer Says grants in New York City. ECADES BEFORE AL GORE was honored with the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in spreading aware- Dness of man-made climate change, there was Barry Commoner. An early prophet in the green movement, Dr. Commoner was dubbed “the Paul Revere of the environmental movement” in a 1970 Time magazine cover story. His groundbreak- ing books, including The Closing Circle and The Politics of Energy, along with 30-plus years in the classroom, have influenced a genera- tion of scientists. The founding director of the Center for the Biology of Natural Systems at Queens College, Dr. Commoner officially stepped down in 2000, but, at age 90, continues to make daily visits to the center. He recently spoke with CUNY Radio’s Richard Yeh. Edited excerpts follow. Q: Your work in the field of ecology has influenced over a genera- tion of scientists. How did your interest in ecology come about? DR. COMMONER: When I first taught at Queens College in 1940 I gave a course in Ecology because that was required. I’m not an ecologist. I’m a biologist. But it was very clear to me after my serv- Los Mexicanos ice in the Navy that there were very serious problems that arose out of the development of modern technology, such as nuclear HE MEXICAN INFLUX into power and nuclear weapons. I decided that just as we have a the city is studied by scholars responsibility to teach and do research, we have a responsibility to throughout CUNY, but a help educate the general public about issues in science that affect T their lives. For example, immediately after the war the public was nerve center for such research is the clearly being mis- Center for Latin American, Caribbean, led by the govern- and Latino Studies at the Graduate ment about the and never-dropped-in rate seed money for a fund run by the Center. Its director, history professor biological effects of among school-aged Institute for Mexicans Abroad, an Laird Bergad, believes Mexicans will radiation. We migrants—are high. The agency linked to Mexico’s follow the “typical pattern among began to take on city’s public schools do Ministry of Foreign Affairs. migrant groups,” with many eventually the Atomic Energy not track students by • Citizenship/immigration out- entering educational programs and Commission and national origin, but Dr. reach. Allan Wernick, chair of their children flowing through public began to get stuff Smith estimates that CUNY’s Citizenship and schools and into CUNY. “Mexicans in declassified. That nearly half of the Immigration Project and a law was extremely Mexicans aged 16 to 19 New York City, 1990-2005,” one of professor at Baruch College, said important to give are neither in school nor Bergad's studies, helped spark creation the project’s six full-time and six people the knowl- high school graduates. At of CUNY's task force to improve edu- part-time centers assist anyone edge to make judg- age 14, about 95% of cational opportunities for New Yorkers seeking permanent residency or Barry Commoner, longtime Queens College ments about fallout Mexican boys are in of Mexican descent. In Mexicans in citizenship. The Consulate professor and early environmentalist shelters, atomic school, but by age 18 or General, which endorses dual citi- New York City, released last June, bomb tests that were polluting the environment, the whole ques- 19, only 26% are, the cen- zenship, is cooperating. Bergad sifted census data and found: tion of nuclear war. sus said. For girls, it falls • Communications. This • Only 9% of Mexicans over age 25 to 31% from 96%. His includes CUNY’s Mexican-target- Q: What in your opinion is the most pressing environmental issue research found that most had attained a B.A. degree or higher in ed 0Sí, Se Puede! (Yes,You Can!) we face today? Mexicans quit at the end 2005—the lowest rate among Latino radio, TV and print campaign DR. COMMONER: Global warming encompasses our entire system of the sophomore or the nationalities. (www1.cuny. edu/portal_ur/con- beginning of the junior of industrial, agricultural production, communication. You can’t do • Mexicans were the city’s fastest- tent/si_se_puede). year. Moreover, many anything without expending energy. And the second thing is that all growing Latino group and became the • Research. David Badillo, an believe that “college is not of these things that we have been doing on the earth have been third largest in 2005, after Puerto associate professor of Latin made possible only because of a single source of energy . . . the sun. for Mexicans” or is only American and Puerto Rican stud- Ricans and Dominicans. All of it including oil, coal and natural gas, which are remnants of for the rich, he said. ies at Lehman College, coordinat- The immediate result, • If current growth rates continue, fossil plants. In other words, global warming was ed CUNY’s first conference on inevitable the moment we began to burn the as Hershenson sees it: Mexicans will become the city’s largest Mexican migration in 2006. “One For “You’re going to have a organic material that the sun produces. Latino nationality by 2035. interesting thing is that many of full Barry significant number of There is no way that that can continue, no • The Mexican community is growing the undocumented immigrants way. And the fact that that heating up Commoner interview children growing up in and other podcasts, visit due to migration and extraordinarily have not learned Spanish and begins to trigger weather changes and the households where college CUNY Radio online at high birth rates, compared to other speak one of half-a-dozen indige- threat of flooding, which is inevitable, is a education isn’t present, nous languages,” he said. cuny.edu/podcasts Latino groups. trigger that finally can remind everybody if and an increasing number • Hospitality management. and click of children will need • Mexican households are highly they understand these connections, how “Newsmakers” Stephen Soiffer, assistant to the serious this is. future access to higher stratified: 21% earned more than president for institutional education. That’s what’s $75,000 in 2005, while 22% earned advancement at New York City Q: Is it possible to live a sustainable lifestyle in motivating CUNY to pro- less than $20,000. College of Technology, noted that today’s world? vide greater access to the For the complete report and many Mexicans work in restau- DR. COMMONER: I think so. What is needed is to understand what community.” rants, hotels, travel and tourism. we need to do politically. What has to happen is that we switch Gaspar Orozco, research on other Latino groups visit With training, they could become 100% from our non-renewable sources to solar energy in its vari- Mexico’s Consul of http://web.gc.cuny.edu/lastudies. managers or entrepreneurs, he ous forms. If we are given vehicles that burn inefficiently, but even Community Affairs, said. burn efficiently non-renewable oil, we’re doomed. The same is true agreed. “I think that the • Community leadership. of every single thing that is done by the industrial system, by the creation of the task force CUNY’s School of Professional Studies, Baruch agricultural system, by communication. What we don't have is a shows the true interest and commitment of CUNY. College’s School of Public Affairs and the American national policy, and no one is willing to talk about it. Eventually We want to reach the Mexican community and let Jewish Committee train new Mexican community the truth will prevail. them know the university option is open, notwith- leaders, helping them develop advocacy, public rela- Q: But is eventually going to come soon enough before the damage standing their immigration status.” tions and communications skills. becomes irreparable? CUNY believes that 2,880 Mexicans enrolled Task force coordinator Jesus Pérez, director of this fall, or about 1.4% of the more than 202,000 Brooklyn College’s Academic Advisement Center, DR. COMMONER: I don't know. Is having [Hurricane] Katrina soon undergraduates. That compares with 2,470 in fall traveled the CUNY path himself. Arriving at 10, he enough? 2006 and 2,050 in fall 2005. attended public school and Brooklyn College. “My Q: In 1980, when you ran for President on an environmentalist The task force is tackling areas including: parents worked very hard for me to continue study- platform, a reporter asked you the following question: “Dr. • Dropout prevention. CUNY foresees collabora- ing. They said it will help you get a better life. I Commoner, are you a serious candidate or are you just running on tions with public and private schools, as well as with don’t think there’s a parent out there who will tell the issues?” parents and organizations. you otherwise.” But, he added, “In the Mexican • Student recruitment. CUNY seeks Mexican and community, parents aren’t informed. You’d be sur- DR. COMMONER: When I ran, nothing happened with the television Mexican-American students with strong academic prised at the number who say that college is too people. Toward the end of the campaign, we visited all of the major backgrounds for undergraduate honors programs and expensive, or that their children can’t go, or they networks and only one, I think it was ABC, one of the vice presidents graduate schools like Law and Journalism. don’t know what college is. That’s where this initia- said Dr. Commoner is right. We really ought to have a program about • Scholarships. Mr. Orozco has raised $50,000 in tive comes in: We will inform them.” the issues right after the campaign. That was the low point.

CUNY MATTERS — Spring 2008 13 Research Helps Released Inmates Follow a Healthy Path—And Break

hen talk turns the support of family members. The research, which to crime and And there was the 18-year-old felon between 1992 and punishment, from Manhattan with the “I hate the 2002 was funded with it’s the head- world attitude” who had spent nearly more than $9 million line-grabbing eight months at Rikers for two robbery from the Robert Wood issues—the convictions. He didn’t have much incen- Johnson Foundation, deathW penalty, wrongful convictions, tive to live—his drug-addicted parents has led to changes in mandatory sentences and human-rights had recently died of AIDS and his city and state policy. abuses in prisons—that spark the most younger brother succumbed to severe When one of his recent lively public debate. asthma shortly afterward— much less studies showed that But for Nicholas Freudenberg, a make something of his life. The only thing women who had Distinguished Professor of Urban Public that eased the pain and anger was pot. Medicaid were more Health at Hunter College, it’s the He says REAL MEN showed him likely to stay out of jail, inmate-related topics that go virtually another path: He’s working on finishing the city began a pro- unnoticed his high gram to offer sentenced that have THE school inmates the opportuni- DECADE the biggest OF CUNY SERVES NEW YORK equivalency ty to sign up for cover- impact. SCIENCE AN OCCASIONAL SERIES degree and age that begins on their So for hoping to first day of freedom. two decades, Freudenberg has been going begin a career in music so as to provide And it was his data behind the bars at Rikers Island for his girlfriend and their baby. that helped lead to the Detention Center to try to find out Supported by the National Institute passage of a state law in what’s keeping jail inmates from of Drug Abuse, REAL MEN aims to July that restores making a fresh start on the help young men who immediate Medicaid outside. are released from jail coverage to jail and There was, for example, stay healthy and free prison inmates after the 19-year-old who grew by offering them a their release. up in Brooklyn coping We have the 30-hour jail and post- “Dr. Freudenberg’s with a mother who drank “ release program on research was an impor- opportunity to connect and a father who had a health issues. tant factor in our start- tendency toward violence. these people to services Freudenberg noted ing this,” said Kathleen He left school after 10th that half the people Coughlin, Deputy grade and had been arrest- while they are in jail as leaving jail are re- Commissioner for ed eight times for minor incarcerated within 12 Programs and offenses that ranged from opposed to making our months. Many Discharge Planning for possession of marijuana inmates have infec- the New York City and jumping a subway jails schools for tious diseases such as Department of turnstile to disorderly con- HIV, or suffer from Correction. “Some peo- duct and resisting arrest. criminals. asthma, or abuse ple might ask, ‘Why After completing drugs or have mental give incarcerated peo- Freudenberg’s REAL --- Nicholas” Freudenberg, health problems. ple extra services?’ Dr. MEN, or Returning Distinguished Professor of Urban “There are more men- Freudenberg’s research African-American Latino Public Health, Hunter College tally ill people in jails helped us to demon- and Low-income Males to than there are under strate that the answer is Enrich Neighborhoods program, this psychiatric care,” he said, adding that his at least partly young man started to turn his life research explores “what happens to jail economic—it costs while they are in jail as opposed to mak- around. He began working on his high inmates when they go home, how the more not to provide the services that ing our jails schools for criminals. school equivalency degree and took a job re-entry experience may contribute to help people to stay out of jail than to Changing these policies will benefit com- at Dunkin’ Donuts, where he has health inequities in low-income commu- pay for putting them in jail again.” munity health because the inmates are worked his way up to shift leader. What nities, and how our social policies may The benefits accrue to the released connected to the people and services that helped this young man break the cycle contribute to re-incarceration. It’s one inmate, and also to society at large, can help them stay on a healthy path. If of crime? He credited REAL MEN, along piece of the puzzle of improving health Freudenberg said. “We have the opportu- we’re going to see any improvement, with a host of other factors, including in poor communities.” nity to connect these people to services though, we’re going to have to deal with

Entrepreneurial Training Seen as Key to Productive Jobs for Former Prisoners MALL BUSINESSES that provide landscaping, The publication noted that self-employment may not be received a minority business contract from Kansas City, office cleaning and other personal services have a viable option for all former inmates, but there is value in MO, last April to provide multiple cleaning and sanitation Shelped entrepreneurial-minded welfare recipients the entrepreneurial training. “These individuals may never services to firms in the city’s metropolitan area. and immigrants find success. Now a new study suggests become entrepreneurs themselves, but will use their entre- In San Diego, CA, Robert Casas used knowledge he small business ownership may be the way to overcome the preneurship training to improve their performance as acquired on a prison work crew to develop Cut and Trim obstacles to work faced by another marginalized group: employees and to proactively engage with their families Landscaping, according to the monograph. Founded in returning prison inmates. and communities,” the report said. 2000, the company provides yard work to residences and According to Venturing Beyond the Gates: Facilitating Case studies of formerly incarcerated persons who have businesses in the area. Casas has three full-time workers Successful Reentry with Entrepreneurship, published this launched their own successful businesses are interspersed and three freelancers. Cut and Trim Landscaping grosses summer by John Jay College’s Prisoner throughout the publica- between $120,000 and $150,000 a year. Reentry Institute, self-employment may tion. Adrienne Smalls The report serves a dual purpose as a primer for those hold the key to helping formerly incarcer- saw a need while incar- unfamiliar with the issues surrounding reentry, and as a ated individuals secure jobs. cerated for a service guide for others who may be acquainted with its inherent “As more and more people return from that would help fami- problems, but not the cutting-edge solutions being applied. prison, many lacking educational and voca- lies purchase and send A study the monograph cites found that in 2003, as many tional skills necessary to compete in today’s “high quality, state- as 41 percent of inmates at federal, state and local correc- labor market,” the report noted, “entrepre- approved products to tional facilities lacked a high school education, as neurship may represent a means of capital- their loved-ones in compared to just 18 percent of those 18 and older in the izing on an underutilized pool of human New York State pris- general population. resources.” ons.” Smalls started in Mass incarceration, the phrase commonly used to “Microenterprises,” described as busi- 1999 with $500 and a describe the nation’s current state of criminal justice, has Former inmate Adrienne Smalls provides a service nesses with five or fewer employees and shopping cart to haul had a significant impact on state budgets. The report cited to help families send products to loved-ones in start-up costs of $35,000 or less, may be her inventory. Her a federal Bureau of Justice Statistics analysis of expendi- New York State prisons. the way to go. According to the report, a company, Small tures by state corrections departments which rose nearly combination of private and public sources Quality Packaging 800 percent from 1980 to 2004 or from $6.9 billion to funds an estimated 500 microenterprise development pro- Corp., now nets nearly $50,000 a year and reaches over $62 billion. grams in the United States. These programs provide essen- 4,000 inmates and their families. “Imprisonment itself prevents hundreds of thousands of tial elements to novices including training and technical Another former inmate, Theo Tiger, launched Ocean people from participating in the labor force and from con- assistance; credit and access to credit; economic literacy Touchless Cleaning Systems and Air Scents in 2007, using tributing to the economy, resulting in reduced tax revenue and asset development; and follow-up services. his first tax refund as start-up capital. The company and productivity,” according to the report.

14 CUNY MATTERS — Spring 2008 GRANTS&FUNDING Cycle of Repeated Incarcerations Science “Bug” Contagious When Contracted Early TEAM headed by two CCNY professors has been awarded $2.4 million over five years from the National Science Foundation to come up with Anew design/technology-based methodologies to teach physical science in urban elementary schools and disadvantaged settings. The program, entitled “Physical Science Comes Alive: Exploring Things That Go,” is headed by mechani- cal engineering professor Gary Benenson and profes- sor of science education James Neujahr. Research has shown that early exposure to scientific concepts, such as matter and energy, has long-term benefi- cial effects on students’ abili- ty to excel in science later on. But many American ele- mentary school children, Professors James Neujahr and Gary Benenson head especially in poorer districts, an award-winning team. receive little, if any, instruc- tion in science, especially physical science. “Design provides a rich context for learning science, but it is rarely done in American schools, especially in the elementary grades,” said Benenson. Technology education incorporates the kinds of analytical and critical thinking skills essential Distinguished Professor for careers dependent upon math and the sciences, such as engineering, architec- Nicholas Freudenberg ture and industrial design, he added. focuses on small things The program aims to produce four curriculum units on Force & Motion and that have a big impact. Energy Transformation for the K-2 and 3-5 grade bands. Each unit will focus on the design and testing of kinetic toys, or the development of strategies for playing games that invoke principles of mechanics and electricity to achieve successful outcomes.

Training Teachers for Under-served Communities LACK MEN make up less than 5 percent of the teachers serving in New York City’s schools. To increase those numbers and to better prepare new Bteachers for under-served communities, the University is partnering with the city school system in a $1 million initiative supported by Deutsche Bank. The Deutsche Bank funding is the first phase of a new "Teachers as Leaders" pro- gram announced recently at the Clinton Global Initiative by the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation and its partners, CUNY and the Schott Foundation for Public Education. The Teachers as Leaders program is designed to promote teaching as a preferred career path and improve the talent development model for teachers globally. The first phase will focus on New York City and incorporate structured CUNY/PHOTO-ILLUSTRATION apprenticeships, mentoring, skills development and scholarships for participating students. all the other issues, including employment ties. “Jails were collecting points for people Executive Vice Chancellor and University Provost Selma Botman said these and education, as well as health care.” with, or at risk of, HIV and other health efforts will run in conjunction with CUNY’s Black Male Initiative, which seeks to Since 2004, Freudenberg has been problems, so it seemed like a good place increase, encourage and support the inclusion and educational success of under- working more closely with the city as a for public health intervention,” he said. represented groups, in particular black males, in higher education. CUNY is member of the New York City Discharge His most recent study focuses on jailed expected to receive $730,000 over two years for teacher education programs. Planning Collaboration, which was set up Latino and African-American adolescent The New York City Department of Education will help create the program by the New York City Department of males and how their concept of masculini- design, a primary goal of which will be to address the lack of representation of Correction and Homeless Services to bring ty may put them and the people they care black men in the education system by helping them succeed academically and together city officials, service providers, for at risk. “Some of the so-called macho serve as role models for all students. Black male teachers represent just 4.4 per- researchers and advocates to identify new behaviors they need to protect themselves cent of the city’s teacher workforce, according to the Department of Education. approaches to improving outcomes for in jail, like violence, are dysfunctional and those discharged from jails and shelters. don’t work well for them or for society “RISE-ing” Stars “We’re trying to figure out how to best when they are released,” Freudenberg said. aGuardia Community College has received a five-year $2.7 million grant intervene to help break “There’s not any sin- from the U.S. Department of Education for a project that will build on the the cycle of re-entry into gle thing we can do,” he school’s award-winning, first-year programs in order to strengthen teaching jail,” Coughlin said. “We’re said. “Inmates have a L in key second-year and capstone courses. Project RISE (Re-Invigorating Second- hoping to come up with variety of intersecting year Education) will stress faculty professional development through acquisition new ideas.” … it costs more problems—substance and assessment of core competencies, creating capstones, and continuing develop- Freudenberg chose to abuse, being victims and “ ment of ePortfolios. The award will also enhance advisement and expand a new base his research on not to provide the perpetrators of student peer advising network. inmates at Rikers Island’s violence, chronic health 10 separate facilities services that help problems, low levels of In Brief because it is the city’s education—so it’s a Brooklyn College $304,894 from the National Institutes of Health for research largest jail and also one of people to stay out of jail challenge to find an concerning obesity; and $130,783 from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research the nation’s largest; he and effective way to address for biofuels research. his staff personally inter- than to pay for putting this constellation of CUNY Graduate School $330,000 from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation view inmates and follow up problems.” for its International Fellows Program. with them after they are them in jail again. The support of Hunter College $304,011 from the National Institute of Neurological released. “Jails, as opposed Mayor Michael --- Nicholas Freudenberg” Disorders and Stroke for research concerning spinal cord regeneration; and to prisons, are where we Bloomberg’s administra- $282,877 from the NYC Department of Education to develop graduate courses place people who are tion, as well as interest relating to the education of students with autism. awaiting sentencing or who from the state and fed- John Jay College of Criminal Justice $218,500 from the U.S. Air Force to are serving sentences of less eral government, has study small group dynamics in the evolution of global network terrorism. than a year,” he said. “Most public attention given Freudenberg hope that there will be LaGuardia Community College $150,389 from the NYC Mayor’s Office for has been focused on the 600,000 people more reforms. adult literacy programs. per year who are released from state and “I’m optimistic,” he said. “We’ve only Medgar Evers College $200,000 from the NY State Office of Temporary and federal prisons instead of the more than 7 begun a process of disenchantment with Disability Assistance for adult and family literacy programs. million who are discharged from jails. These incarceration as a response to every prob- Queens College $232,500 from the National Institutes of Health for research people have a profound impact on the lem. We send too many people to jail. on metastatic melanoma. health of low-income urban communities.” More people are beginning to see that it’s York College $297,100 from the National Science Foundation to promote Freudenberg became interested in the not possible—or desirable—to lock people chemical technology education and careers. jail populations in 1988 when he was up and throw away the key because working to develop HIV-prevention pro- almost everyone who is jailed does eventu- grams in poor New York City communi- ally come home.”

CUNY MATTERS — Spring 2008 15 THE TEACHER DEVELOPMENT TEAM

hen sophomore Christina Idava graduates from WCUNY’s new Teacher Academy, she’ll help solve New York City’s chronic shortage of math and science teachers. The Teacher Academy offers full scholarships, and Christina has committed to teach math in a high-need public middle school or high school. Dr. Coffee teaches her honors-level calculus, troubleshoots problems and keeps her moving toward her goal.

Take a closer look at some of the areas The College where CUNY harnesses of Staten Island the power of faculty Jane Coffee Professor of Mathematics Director, CUNY Teacher Academy at and student research The College of Staten Island to push the boundaries CSI Dolphin Award for Outstanding Teaching + of knowledge and Christina Idava B.S. in Mathematics, 2010 discovery. Enrolled in CUNY Teacher Academy

THE CHEMISTRY TEAM

ark Smiley vowed to become a physician when he saw a friend Mshot dead. He joined Dr. Charles Malerich’s research into blood protein components called metal porphyrins. That led to a two-year United Negro College Fund/ Merck Science Scholarship for drug research and a federal postgraduate grant to study musculoskeletal injuries. Future plans: devising new orthopedic surgical techniques.

Baruch College

Charles Malerich Professor of Physical Chemistry + Mark Smiley SEEK Program (Search for Education, Elevation & Knowledge) B.A. in Biology, Baruch College, 2006 University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 2011 Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Scholarship ($300,000 over six years)

THE NUMBER THEORY TEAM

ith Dr. Gouraige as her mentor, Erica Fells presented a novel approach to Euler’s Wphi function, which dates from the 1700s and helps safeguard online purchases, at an international conference— a rare feat for a community

college student. Now an Matthew Goldstein undergraduate teaching CHANCELLOR assistant at Lehman Outstanding faculty. College, she seeks a doctorate in math. Gifted students. Bronx Community College CUNY is their Dr. Rony Gouraige classroom. Ph.D., CUNY, 2006, after 12 years in banking Researches associative CUNY is your algebras, Lie algebras and quadratic forms University. + Erica Fells A.S., BCC, 2007 B.A. in Mathematics, Lehman College, 2009 NYC Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation grant Presented, Nebraska Conference www.cuny.edu for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics 1-800-CUNY-YES