Lightning Spring 04
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L EHMAN ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○ L I G H T N I N G ○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Spring 2004 New Entrance Celebrates Wisdom of the Ages inside… M BIOLOGY LAB GIVES STUDENTS A ‘DISTINCT ADVANTAGE’ ............... 2 ANTHROPOLOGY MAJOR LEARNS ‘EVERY STEP HAS A MEANING’ ....... 3 LEHMAN TO EXPAND FOCUS ON ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES ............ 4 HELPING LEHMAN STUDENTS Green Jason ‘LET IN THE LIGHT’ ......................... 5 The plaza and walkway provide the first east-west Lehman’s Seventh corridor for the campus and a place for students to enjoy A FAMILIAR FACE a quiet moment between classes. Distinguished Professor Named GREETS STRAPHANGERS ................... 6 Dr. Joseph W. Dauben, COURSE OFFERS A LENS INTO uhammad Ali never met French phi- a leading scholar of the THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE .......... 7 Mlosopher Rene Descartes, who lived history of mathematics three-and-a-half centuries ago. And Neil and a member of the LEHMAN FOUNDATION HONORS Armstrong only knows Galileo from his studies Lehman faculty since DISTINGUISHED FACULTY ............ 8-9 of science and history. But time is bridged in 1972, has been named Lehman College’s new main entrance at Gate Distinguished Pro- ALUMNI NEWS ........................ 10-11 Five on Goulden Avenue, which opened last fessor of History by the fall and features a new walkway and plaza with DEVELOPMENT NEWS .............. 12-15 Cozby J. CUNY Board of a striking work of public art. Trustees. He joins six Criss-crossing stones on the pavement of Joseph W. Dauben Making It on Broadway other current Lehman both the walkway and plaza invite students faculty in holding the prestigious title, which and visitors alike to linger and consider the is reserved for a select group of scholars and quotations, symbols, and other thoughts artists who have attained the highest levels of inscribed on the stones. Drawn from various achievement within their fields. eras, cultures, and disciplines, the inscriptions Last summer, Professor Dauben became an range from prehistoric cave drawings to a Honorary Professor of the Institute for the sermon delivered at Trinity Church in lower History of Natural Science, a part of the Manhattan in 1996. Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is only the New York artist Wopo Holup, who designed eighth scholar—and third Westerner—to earn the work, called “Intersections,” intended the this distinction in the Institute's 46-year criss-crossing to suggest a conversation among history. His studies in the history of Chinese ©Photo by RICHARD TERMINE ©Photo by RICHARD for The New York Times York The New for the speakers. To Descartes’ conclusion that “I mathematics demonstrate the extent to which think, therefore I am,” the famous boxer seems to Trisha Jeffrey ('99) doesn’t hold the structure of language and writing can back as she debuts on Broadway agree that “I am the greatest.” To Galileo’s asser- influence the methods of mathematical proof. as Crystal in the revival of “Little tion about the earth “But it does move!” comes Two of his books, biographies of influential Shop of Horrors.” See page 10. the astronaut’s affirmation “That’s one small step mathematicians Georg Cantor and Abraham for man, one giant leap for mankind.” The Robinson, are considered classics. inscriptions were contributed by Lehman faculty. N LEHMAN COLLEGE Lehman's President, Dr. Ricardo R. Fernández, The City University of New York See the back page for more photos of the new entrance praised the appointment, noting that Professor 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West and the dedication ceremony. For a complete description Dauben has "helped to build common roads Bronx, New York 10468 of the “Intersections” project, visit www.lehman.cuny.edu/ upon which scientists and scholars from both www.lehman.cuny.edu whatisnew/newsmaker/newgate/booklet.pdf East and West may travel." N • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •C •AMPUS • • • • N• •EWS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Student Video Magazine Biology Students Gain a ‘Distinct Advantage’ Captures Media Award With New Computer Lab time” interactive videoconferencing and distance learning. Lehman biology faculty can now exchange their research more easily with colleagues at distant locations and offer seminars to other colleges that may lack expertise in particular areas. Yeara Milton Yeara At the other end of the campus, near the Straight out of the box, Lehman’s new tennis courts, faculty and students also student-produced video magazine, “Inside successfully grew and harvested their first crop Lehman,” has earned its first professional Jason Green Jason of corn, which will be used for research accolade: the top award for special-interest underway at Lehman in molecular biology. programming from the Northeast Region of rofessor Edward Kennelly (seated) shows A few thousand plants were hand-planted at the Alliance for Community Media. Biology students (l-r) Jun Ma, Kevin Lehman was the only college among the 27 P the end of May Broadbelt, and Rena Quinlan some of the categories of award winners. and pollinated in advanced research software now being used in August. Leading Winning for a half-hour segment produced the department, thanks to a new computer lab the project was last spring, “Inside Lehman” is created as in Davis Hall that was dedicated last semester. Professor Eleanore part of an internship in mass communi- Funded by the U.S. Department of Agricul- Wurtzel (left) cations and focuses on events and pro- ture, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the and a team of grams at Lehman and in the surrounding State of New York, the lab is equipped with 25 undergraduate community. Students attend editorial workstations that allow an entire class to use and graduate meetings and research, write, and execute software-controlled HPLC equipment, which students, includ- the production of a full television segment. is used in labs around the world to separate ing (below, from The experience has proven so popular that mixtures of compounds. Marge Rice left) Faqiang Li, some students return again as volunteers. Normally, only one student at a time could One student, Maurice Mercado, says “You use the equipment, but 100 software li- can see who the future stars are” by censes—valued at over $200,000 and given to working on the program. “It’s more than a Lehman by the Waters Corporation—allow great news show. It’s a showcase of up-and- entire classes to learn how to operate the coming talent and an experience I’ll never equipment remotely through the computer forget.” network. “In terms of career potential,” says The program is broadcast on BronxNet, the Professor Thomas Jensen, Chair of Biology, municipal access station located on the Lehman students “will have a distinct advan- Lehman campus, as well as on CUNY-TV. tage over most other college graduates seeking Marge Rice Professor Tom O’Hanlon teaches the research positions in the sciences.” Ratnakar Vallabhaneni, and Christina Murillo, internship. Professor Lynne Van Voorhis is Next door to the lab, a new conference who later dissected the corn and prepared the the program’s executive producer, and center features high-speed facilities for “real- kernels for use in the lab. N Orlando Lorca is the director. J.E. Piper ‘75 Researches Edgar Allan Poe as ‘An Everyday Person’ J.E. Piper (‘75) has walked in having a home life with his wife, mother-in-law, the steps of Edgar Allan Poe– and cat.” literally. The History major He learned that for a time the famous author retraced Poe’s steps from would have had to travel through the notorious Nassau Street in lower neighborhood of Five Points, which may have Lehman College of The City University of New Milton Yeara Manhattan, which was the influenced his writing, and that one boarding York is located at 250 Bedford Park Boulevard center of American literature and publishing in house where he lived was located on the site, West, Bronx, NY 10468. Anne Johnson, Vice the 1840s, to each of the boarding houses where more than two centuries later, of the World Trade President for Institutional Advancement; Barbara Smith, Director of Alumni Relations. he lived and ultimately to the modest Bronx Center. At the University of Maryland, Piper Lehman Lightning is produced in the Office of cottage, where he moved with his wife and wrote his master’s thesis on Poe Cottage, just Media Relations and Publications. mother-in-law in 1846. north of Fordham Road, which has interested him Editor: Marge Rice Piper brought his research back to Lehman in since childhood. “Invariably,” he says, “landmarks Staff: Barbara Cardillo, Lisandra Merentis, an exhibit in the Library last fall, which focused that have survived to our times are mansions and Yeara Milton (editor, Alumni Notes), Florian Penev. on “what Poe might have been like as an homes of the wealthy. Poe Cottage is an extremely everyday person who had to go to work, and rare example of how financially disadvantaged worry about getting his writing published, while people lived in the nineteenth century.” N 2 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •C •AMPUS • • • • N• •EWS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Transformation: An Anthropology Major Learns that ‘Every Step Has a Meaning’ oxanne Rivera became interested in reasoning and then learning how to apply that to Ranthropology when she was a child in the the outside world. The lessons and struggles that Bronx, watching the Discovery Channel. Now we have experienced here are only the beginning. she’s entering her senior year as a cultural The tools that we have obtained here are only the Perryman D. Anne anthropology major. A Presidential Scholar, as foundations of the building blocks that we must Yvette Nicole Moreno Place well as a Lehman Scholar and McNair Scholar, later ascertain. There is a lesson that I have Honors Student Lost on 9/11 Roxanne landed a prestigious internship at the learned recently—that every step that we take in American life has a meaning.