IN THIS ISSUE College Now@Kingsborough
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○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○ Matters A Newsletter for The City University of New York • Winter 1999 PART OF THE LEON M. GOLDSTEIN LEGACY State Budget Announced College Now@Kingsborough he 1999-2000 New York State Executive Budget was released on Janu- Tary 27 and is under review by University officials. The proposed budget By Rachelle Goldsmith, standards, and structure into the class- recommends no tuition increases. Operating funds for senior colleges would Director, Office of Collaborative Programs, room. Lerman does this, he says, “by plac- be reduced by $5 million from the 1998-1999 budget, reflecting a transfer Kingsborough Community College ing more emphasis on thinking across the of the monies to the New York City Board of Education for collaborative various science disciplines, encouraging programs with CUNY. Community College support is virtually unchanged. independent research projects, giving col- enioritis, a pathology frequently ob- Substantial changes in the Tuition Assistance Plan (TAP) are proposed, lege-level reading and writing assignments, served among high school students, including an increase in the number of credits required for full-time study and following college testing, homework, hasn’t affected Kingsborough High (from 12 to 15 credits); a 15% reduction (from 90% to 75%) in the maximum S and grading guidelines.” TAP awards available to CUNY students, with reimbursement available for School students Maria Pak and Eric Radezky. Three mornings a week they ar- students who graduate after four years in baccalaureate programs and ollege Now is a program designed to rive at school 50 minutes earlier than re- two years in Associate Degree programs; and other restrictions on the num- facilitate the transition from high quired to participate in a three-credit, C ber of semesters students would be eligible for TAP assistance. Aid to part- school to college. It was conceived in 1983 freshman-level science course that incorpo- time student programs (APTS) is funded at last year's level. by Kingsborough Community College Presi- rates the latest aspects of physical sci- Interim Chancellor Christoph M. Kimmich indicated that "the University dent Leon M. Goldstein in response to pub- ences, health sciences, biology, chemistry, will work with both the Office of the Governor and the State legislature on lications like A Nation at Risk (1983), possible improvements during budget deliberations." and neuroscience. This A comprehensive analysis of the proposed budget is course is offered through available through the Office of University Relations (212- the auspices of College 794-5650) or on the CUNY website (www.CUNY.edu). Now, a partnership be- tween Kingsborough Community College and the New York City Board of Education. Leon M. Goldstein Explaining her reasons for participating in College t is fitting, following his death on Now, Pak says, “I wanted to January 8, to present Leon M. see what college is actually I Goldstein quite literally standing be- like. .I feel more assured hind Kingsborough Community College. now of my ability to suc- For throughout the 27 years of his presi- ceed there.” Mr. Radezky dency at the College, he was the animated says that he enrolled in the and animating force behind its growth into program to challenge him- a thoroughly modern campus serving self academically, to take College Now science teacher Matthew Lerman with students 15,000 students and offering degree pro- what he has learned in high Maria Pak and Eric Radezky. Photo, Randy Fader-Smith. grams in 29 areas. school “to a higher level.” which criticized the lack of collaboration With President Goldstein, who was 66 Both students praise the experience. “It between institutions of higher education at his death, is Vice President Al Gore, gives you an independence you don’t feel in and K-12 systems, and began operation in who visited Kingsborough on December 3 high school. It teaches you responsibility.” the fall of 1984. Its growth from its first to speak at a town hall meeting that fo- Radezky says he has “learned a lot in the cohort of about 450 students has been cused on a wide range of educational is- science class—about the ‘greenhouse’ effect, spectacular. College Now is currently of- sues. While on the Manhattan Beach cam- for example, and the formation of Brooklyn fered in 24 public high schools located in pus, the Vice President announced a fed- and Rockaway during the Ice Age, and the four boroughs, and it enrolls more than eral grant of $871,000 to the borough of plant life around the Kingsborough campus.” Brooklyn for one of Goldstein’s many inno- 5,000 annually. More than 40,000 stu- Photo, Jon Simon. He also likes being “treated (a) like an dents have participated in this highly suc- vative programs of outreach in the bor- adult and (b) like a college student.” Goldstein was deeply committed to access cessful consortial initiative. ough: after-school programs. Their College Now teacher, Matthew and excellence in higher education. Among In 1992, College Now was cited by the “Leon Goldstein was an outstanding Lerman, has taught the science course for the many initiatives he was instrumental in U.S. Department of Education as one of six nationally-renowned educator and admin- 13 years, first at Beach Channel High creating at Kingsborough are College Now, model high school/college partnerships in istrator,” said Chairwoman of the CUNY School in Queens, and now at Kingsborough Family College (the first of its kind in the the nation that deserved replication, and Board of Trustees Anne A. Paolucci, and High School. The challenge for him is cal- nation), the Kingsborough High School of many visiting educators have come to study Interim Chancellor Christoph M. Kimmich culating how to bring collegiate content, in a joint statement. the Sciences, the My Turn program for se- Continued on page 11 Goldstein also served as Acting Chan- niors, the New Start program to help in- cellor in 1982 and as Acting Deputy Chan- crease retention within CUNY, and the cellor from 1981 to 1983. A national Teacher’s Academy, which provides profes- leader in higher education, he was Vice sional development courses to public IN President of the Middle States Association school teachers on sabbatical. in 1994 and Chair of its Commission on Throughout his presidency, he took a per- THIS Higher Education from 1991 to 1993. sonal interest in the community near the beautifully-sited, 36-year-old campus on the champion of the state’s community eastern end of Coney Island, maintaining ISSUE Acollege movement, he was honored close dialogue with Brooklyn’s neighbor- for “outstanding academic leadership” in a hood social and civic groups. Among his 1981 joint resolution of the New York many awards was the Puerto Rican Brother- Youth will be served. Who is this child captured in pensive pose by one of the State Legislature—and by a similar State hood Award, the Academic Leadership 19th century's finest photographers of children? Hint: her name is Alice. See Senate resolution in 1988. Award of the New York Civic Council, and the story on page 9. The10-year-old Brooklynite on the right grew up to be A product of CUNY himself (a B.A. from his induction, in 1988, into the Brooklyn one of the major American literary critics of the 20th century. A former CUNY City College, M.A. from Brooklyn College), Hall of Fame. Distinguished Professor, he is fondly remembered on page 11. ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ 1 ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ 15,000 STUDENTS CAN’T BE WRONG LAGUARDIA’S BUSY TAXI DRIVERS INSTITUTE Summer Programs, an Overview Hail and Fare Well “The journey of a thousand miles begins area in which they took summer classes. By Steve Brauch, Director, During the first half of the course, the with a single step.” —Lao-tzu All programs are tuition-free, and many New York City Taxi Driver Institute, emphasis is on sensitizing drivers to their provide students with either book money or LaGuardia Community College wide variety of customers. Because taxi- books and supplies. Participants are intro- cab service is customized, we impress By Dolores Straker duced to collegiate ways in a supportive, ost traveling New Yorkers have upon our students that they really are not Interim Associate Dean creative environment, often interacting passed through LaGuardia Air- in a transportation business but in a cus- for Academic Affairs, CUNY with staff and faculty they will meet in the Mport at one time or another, and tomer service profession. Unlike fixed- fall. The summer faculty are focused on most of them have likely taken a cab to route transport alternatives such as sub- or almost 20 years, the City undergraduate teaching, and they use this catch their flights. But it is a certainty that ways, buses, and trains, whose stops are University’s Coordinated Freshman opportunity to create or refine their cur- every single cabby currently licensed by determined by the operator, taxicabs must FProgram (CFP) has offered the an- ricula while exposing students to the rig- New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Com- efficiently respond to the unique requests cient Chinese philosopher’s critical first ors of college work. mission will, when renewing his or her li- of their riders. step to students on their challenging jour- cense, pass through a very different Before a class of some 20 drivers, An- ney to earning baccalaureate and advanced ummer programs, in fact, have pro- LaGuardia—CUNY’s community college in drew Vollo, the instructor and Assistant degrees. The CFP—a unified initiative join- Sduced pedagogical and curricular inno- Long Island City. Director of the Institute, will rattle off a ing the Pre-freshman Summer Immersion vations. One successful program, for ex- They were all enroute to the College, not number of obvious ways his students can Program, the Intersession Basic Skills Im- ample, is a mid-level ESL course aimed at to catch a fare but to take a four-hour cus- better meet the needs of commuters who mersion Program, and the Freshman Year science students.