Spring 2013 HUNTER’s N e w Pa rtner Research Complex, Treatment Center S Nursing loan-Kettering Plan to Build Hunter and Memorial s S h chool, Page 3 i p

In This Issue: SCIENCE & THE HEALTH The President’s A Major Partnership with PROFESSIONS AT HUNTER Memorial Sloan-Kettering 3 Perspective Alumnus Wins Excellence in Nursing Award 5 unter College continues to reach new heights. Once again US News has placed us in the top tier of institutions – public or private – and for the fourth year in a row Princeton Review has named us Christopher Gilbert’s Serious Hunter and Memorial Ha “Best Value” public college. Joint Monkey Business 6 Our students get stronger every year as our selectivity has reached a new milestone: We now accept Educational Hiroshi Matsui’s Biotechnology only one in five applicants. Hunter’s Macaulay Honors Program remains the largest, most sought-after Sloan-Kettering Plan and most diverse in CUNY. To draw even more top-tier students, we’ve started new honors programs with Initiative Breakthrough 6 innovative offerings in the arts, sciences, government and public service. Wins Major Hunter Scientists Provide Yet nothing is more rewarding than witnessing the achievements of those students we send out into New Building Complex and Increased Leadership Pre- and the world with Hunter degrees. A record number of recent graduates have been accepted into the nation’s NSF Grant Post-Sandy 7 top law, medical and PhD programs. Two Hunter students recently won Goldwater Scholarships, four were awarded National Science Foundation graduate research fellowships, and six received Fulbrights – Collaboration in Education and Research Charlotte D’Hulst’s making us one of the top producers of Fulbrights among master’s institutions. The National Science Foundation Lifesaving Mouse 7 To provide students with the 21st-century facilities they deserve, Hunter has launched a major capital has awarded a multimillion- campaign to renovate our main library – a project greatly strengthened by Larry and Klara (’54, MA’56) Symposium on LBJ’s dollar grant to Hunter College Silverstein’s remarkable $5 million gift in June. If you would like to participate or learn more about the major, job-generating developments for a joint program with Domestic Agenda 8 campaign, visit www.hunter.cuny.edu/alumni/giving-to-hunter. that are planned for the city. “Never Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hunter faculty keep making news. As you will see in this issue, Professor of Anthropology Christopher before in New York's history,” he said, A Roosevelt Grandson and Cancer Center designed to Gilbert helped discover a new species of monkey – the first such discovery in 28 years, and Hiroshi “has there been so much university a Churchill Granddaughter Matsui, chair of the Chemistry Department, led a team that developed a new molecular motor that expansion and never before has there increase the number of young Reminisce 9 requires no energy input, a major breakthrough for green biotechnology. been so much scientific investment.” scientists pursuing careers in Andrew Polsky Answers Peter Carey, director of our MFA Program in Creative Writing, was appointed an Officer of the Order The new building, now undergoing radiochemistry. This Integrative Tough Political Questions 10 of Australia in Queen Elizabeth’s Birthday Honors. “Notations,” an exhibit at our Times Square Gallery curated the city’s land use approval process, Graduate Education and by Bershad Art History Professor Joachim Pissarro, was called the best art show of 2012 in Artforum. will mark the successful conclusion of Research Traineeship grant Hunter Presents Tisch Prize Geography Professor William Solecki was singled out in a post-Hurricane Sandy op-ed in the Times for his more than a decade of intensive efforts will support PhD candidates to Leaders in Public Health 11 prescient warnings about climate change’s threat to coastal cities, and climatologist Allan Frei is regularly to build a new nursing school and bring conducting innovative research consulted by the media and city government on preparing for future superstorms. Hunter scientists and their students Hunter Happenings 12 on cancer radiotherapy and on Our professional schools continue to excel. The School of Education shared in a $7.6 million National out of labs that were built in the 1930s. molecular imaging to detect Science Foundation grant to design an innovative math and science teaching program. The School of President Raab thanked CUNY Chan- Commencement cancer. The lead scientists Public Health is confronting New York’s health crisis with its new Food Policy Center. The Silberman  At Memorial/Hunter reception: Lynn Francesconi (r.), professor of chem- cellor Matthew Goldstein and Vice Chan- Highlights and Honors 14 named in the grant are School of Social Work leads our college-wide efforts to strengthen the East Harlem community. Our MFA istry at Hunter, and Jason Lewis, professor and vice chair for research cellor Iris Weinshall for their invaluable Lynn Francesconi, director of 2012 Retrospective of in Studio Art Program will soon move into a state-of-the-art space in Tribeca, a center of New York’s art in the Memorial Department of Radiology, join Hunter College Provost leadership and commitment in helping to the program and professor of Landmark Exhibition 16 world. And the floor we’ve purchased in a research building being constructed by Weill Cornell Medical Vita Rabinowitz and Dr. Ushma Neill (l.), director of the Memorial presi- make the new science building a reality. College will expand our remarkable partnership there and enhance faculty and student research. dent’s office. Drs. Francesconi and Lewis oversee an NSF-funded joint “This historic development, which will chemistry at Hunter, and Hall of Fame Inductees 18 As you’ll read in this issue, our School of Nursing and other health professions programs will move to program designed to interest students in radiotherapy. Read more in raise Hunter science to new levels, would Jason Lewis, assistant director Class Notes 20 a major new facility on East 74th Street, thanks to our recently announced partnership with Memorial sidebar, right. have been impossible without their of the program and professor Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. strong support,” Raab said. and vice chair for research in Remembering Judith Crist 23 We look forward to continued growth in the years ahead, thanks to the support of Hunter’s loyal alumni n one of the most important projects 74th Street and the FDR Drive on Chancellor Goldstein said: “Now the Memorial Department of In Memoriam 23 and friends who help make our success possible. in our college’s history, Hunter is prime riverfront property that Mayor Hunter College's premier nursing Radiology. Titled “Returning the Icollaborating with Memorial Sloan- Bloomberg described as “a beautiful lo- and physical therapy programs will Radio to Chemistry: Integrating Meet Foundation Board Kettering Cancer Center to develop a cation.” Speaking at a news conference move into a state-of-the-art space. Radiochemistry into a Chemistry Member Judy Zankel 24 spectacular new science and health with President Raab and Memorial Its top science researchers will have Follow me on Twitter @HunterPresident Ph.D. Program,” the program professions complex that will include President and CEO Craig Thompson to labs appropriate for the cutting-edge, is designed to attract talented a 336,000-square-foot home for Hunt- announce the plan, the mayor called groundbreaking work they are doing students, serve as a model for er’s School of Nursing and its science the project a “hugely significant agree- in their fields. Hunter's nurses and Don’t miss President Raab’s NY1 interview highlighting Hunter successes at research labs and physical therapy pro- ment, not just for the future of Hunter researchers will have the opportunity other educational institutions, www.hunter.cuny.edu/communications/NY1Raab gram. The adjoining 750,000-square- College and Memorial Sloan-Kettering, to develop new collaborations and and stimulate a resurgence foot Memorial building will be a center but also for all New Yorkers.” expand on existing ones with Memorial of interest in research that for innovations in the treatment of Underlining the importance of the Sloan-Kettering – an institution with advances the ability of radio- Cover: Dr. Craig B. Thompson, president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Hunter President Jennifer cancer outpatients. project, Mayor Bloomberg cited it in his an inspiring and crucial mission.” imaging to detect cancer and of www.hunter.cuny.edu J. Raab, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg at press conference with a rendering of the science and The science complex will rise at State of the City address as one of the The future science and nursing radiotherapy to cure cancer. continued health professions complex to be built by Ennead Architects for Hunter and Sloan-Kettering.

2 3 SCIENCE & THE HEALTH PROFESSIONS AT HUNTER

vancement of this unique partnership scientists that we sometimes don’t on both practical and symbolic levels. know which campus to find them on.” Furthermore, Hunter’s highly Likewise, administrators and competitive graduate program in faculty of the School of Nursing have physical therapy will also move to the been consulting with Memorial to build new building and have the exceptional on existing collaborations and discover benefit of expanding its collaborations new mutually beneficial research and with the Hospital for Special Surgery, training strategies. Best of all, Memo- which is constructing its own state- rial nursing leaders and Hunter faculty of-the-art facility right next door. will now work more closely together, Though the project’s completion is with the most up-to-the-minute several years away, Hunter has already curriculum, to train Hunter nursing begun strengthening ties, fostering students and send even more of them visions, and brainstorming about on to careers at Memorial. possibilities that will lead to an This synergy was represented at p (l-r) Memorial Sloan-Kettering President Craig Thompson and Board Chair Sandy Warner with President extraordinary range of academic the press conference by several Hunter Raab and CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein celebrating the new partnership. and research opportunities. “Though graduates, including Farial Bacchus (’10), no concrete has been poured,” said the daughter of Guyanese immigrants, from Trinidad, who recently received and is now pursuing her PhD tions that ultimately share a common President Raab, “the foundation has who interned at Memorial as an an Excellence in Nursing Award from in cancer biology at Memorial. goal – to improve the health and long been established – with count- undergraduate and now works in its his Memorial colleagues (see full story, Finally, President Raab said, well-being of New Yorkers.” less grants, pathbreaking scientific orthopedic neurosurgery department; below); and Cindy Puente (’09), who “We are breaking down the barriers discoveries, and many critical projects Wayne Quashie (’96), an immigrant conducted cancer research at Hunter separating disciplines and institu- p Farial Bacchus (’10), who completed both an internship and a preceptorship at Memorial while attending on the horizon.” the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing, now works full-time at Memorial with patients undergoing brain Already, she added, “many of our and spinal surgery. Her father, Alim, a Guyanese immigrant, took the day off from work to proudly watch most groundbreaking projects are Farial joining Mayor Bloomberg on the stage for the announcement of Hunter’s collaboration with Memorial. collaborations with Memorial.” By

complex is the result of an innovative rial agreed to construct a new Science Hunter Alum Wins three-way agreement involving Hunt- and Health Professions building for er, Memorial and New York City. After Hunter College as part of its new 74th Sloan-Kettering Award demolishing an aging NYC sanitation Street complex. garage on 74th Street, the city solicited That proved to be a win-win bids for development of the site by an arrangement. Memorial could now t first I planned to go for social workers, nutritionists Originally from Trinidad, educational or health-related institu- expand nearby, and Hunter could fulfill a business degree,” said and rehabilitation technicians. Quashie came to the United States tion interested in expanding, so long its own long-held dream of replacing “A Wayne Quashie (’96). And as a clinical nurse specialist, with his family in 1988. He fondly as the institution committed to also its outdated buildings and labs with a “But when I realized my skills were he supervises nurses in four remembers the friendships he build a new modern sanitation facility world-class facility, near its 68th Street more suited to health care, I applied to divisions — neuro-oncology, made at Hunter, and the classes onsite or on a suitable alternative site campus, able to meet the 21st-century the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing, neurosurgery, orthopedics, and with “marvelous professors.” somewhere in the East Side sanitation needs of its renowned science, nursing, where I learned who I am and what pain and palliative care. Despite the many demands district which stretches from 14th and health professions programs. The I wanted my life to be.” The work brings both sadness that are made on him each Street to 96th Street. plan will significantly advance student Quashie’s colleagues at Memorial and rewards, he notes. “You watch working day, he sees the technical Memorial had long hoped to add a training, faculty research, and the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, families coming together to support aspects of his job as the easy part. state-of-the-art cancer care facility College’s ability to compete for grants where he has worked since 1996, one another, you see people gain The true challenge, he says, is near its main campus on York Avenue, and other funding. agree that nursing is indeed the strength at a time of extreme stress. “never to lose sight of a nurse’s real but could not find a way to construct It also promises to strengthen p Cindy Puente (’09) (r.) worked with top Hunter biologist and mentor profession for him. The world- You also have the joy of welcoming job, which is to give patients the the building as well as a replacement Hunter’s already-strong partnership Dr. Jill Bargonetti and is now pursuing her PhD in cancer biology at Memorial. renowned hospital recently named patients who have had a good best possible quality of life, no matter sanitation garage on the newly avail- with Memorial by facilitating collabora- him winner of the Samuel and May outcome and come back to visit.” where they are on the journey that able site. Hunter provided the solution tive research and innovative initiatives buildings, one for Hunter and one for moving the two institutions so close Rudin Award for Excellence in And when the outcome is not a good is cancer.” by offering its Brookdale campus on like internship and joint degree Memorial, with a unifying wraparound together, at least one minor “issue” will Advanced Nursing Practice. one, “there’s also solace in knowing 25th Street near the East River as a site programs. Ennead Architects’ design of terrace that will fill the interior with be solved, said Raab. “So many Hunter Quashie’s work involves close that our caring has brought some for the new garage. In return, Memo- the complex – which will consist of two light and air – will contribute to the ad- professors collaborate with Memorial collaboration with physicians, comfort to patients and families.” Award winner Wayne Quashie u

4 5 SCIENCES AT HUNTER SCIENCES AT HUNTER Locating the Lesula: A New Monkey Is Found in an Old Forest Hunter Scientists Look Beyond Hurricane Sandy

unter’s Christopher Gilbert, assistant he devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy were no surprise to Hunter professor of anthropology, has played a scientists William Solecki and Allan Frei. An op-ed by James Atlas, published Hmajor role in the discovery of a new species Ton page one of The New York Times Sunday Review on November 25, quoted of African monkey. Cercopithecus lomamiensis, a much earlier warning by Solecki: “In the coming decades, our coastal city will an animal known locally as the “Lesula,” was found most likely face more rapidly rising sea levels and warmer temperatures, as well in remote lowland rain forests of the Democratic as potentially more droughts and floods, which will all have impacts on New York Republic of Congo. It is rare for modern scientists City’s critical infrastructure.” to find a new mammalian species; the Lesula is only Solecki is a professor of geography at Hunter and the director of the CUNY the second species of African monkey discovered Institute for Sustainable Cities. In 2008, he was appointed co-chair of the New York in the last 28 years. City Panel on Climate Change, launched by Mayor Michael Bloomberg with funding An expert in primate evolution, Professor from the Rockefeller Foundation. The panel’s 2009 report not only forecast natural Gilbert conducted the anatomical analysis of disasters like Sandy, but also proposed ways to protect mass transit, roads, utilities the new species. In a paper describing his team’s and other parts of the urban infrastructure. findings, Dr. Gilbert detailed the many features Frei, a climatologist and the chair of Hunter’s Department of Geography, is also that distinguish the Lesula from its closest relative, a leader at the CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities. He is collaborating with the the owl-faced monkey, including Lesula’s paler  Cercopithecus lomamiensis New York City Department of Environmental Protection in researching climate face, larger eyes, nose stripe and golden mane. change’s potential impact on the New York City water supply. “This discovery is significant because it highlights the fact that there are still remote places On December 3, only a month after Sandy hit, Hunter’s climate-change scientists left in this world that we don’t know much about,” Dr. Gilbert said. Citing the critical need welcomed other frontline scholars to a symposium at the Roosevelt House Public for policies promoting conservation, he added, “It would be nice to learn as much as we can Policy Institute. Titled “Hurricane Sandy and Beyond: Engineering, Ecology and  William Solecki addresses storm surge concerns at Roosevelt House. about the world’s biodiversity before it is gone.” Policy Pathways in an Era of Climate Change,” the symposium addressed the lessons Professor Gilbert recently received the Feliks Gross Endowment Award presented by the learned from Sandy about the region’s vulnerability to powerful storms. Panelists On December 6, Frei appeared as an expert panelist on TV station NY1’s Inside CUNY Academy for the Humanities and Sciences each year to assistant professors in considered issues of scientific uncertainty, economics and equity while weighing City Hall, commenting on Mayor Bloomberg’s speech that morning on the city’s recognition of outstanding research. the pros and cons of various strategies for adapting to the “new normal.” short- and long-term responses to Sandy.

A Hunter Professor at the Vanguard of Biotechnology A Nose for Trouble

n international team led by Hiroshi Matsui, chair of Hunter’s research scientist at Hunter has created Department of Chemistry and a leading expert in the field of a “supersniffer” mouse that may Abionanotechnology, has created a new chemical motor mimick- A eventually detect buried landmines ing a living organism and requiring absolutely no energy input to swim and save the lives of countless men, women and across a liquid surface. children around the world. At the October 2012 Professor Matsui’s work represents a major breakthrough in the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, development of ways to power the movement of tiny robots. “We can postdoctoral fellow Charlotte D’Hulst presented make a chemically synthesized material behave like a robot. We hope the successful results of her efforts to genetically that eventually we will be able to program this particle for a variety of engineer a mouse to be hypersensitive to 2, uses,” Dr. Matsui said. “It may be programmed to move through a toxic 4-Dinitrotoluene (DNT), a mimic for the heavy metal or radioactive material after a spill, consume and digest the explosive TNT. Called a “MouSensor,” this mouse would alert bomb-disposal experts contaminant, and clean up the area. Or it may be used in medicine to  Rendering of how metal- but would be too small to trigger an explosion, leaving both species safe and sound. swim through the bloodstream for gene therapy.” organic framework (MOF) Landmines are the treacherous legacy of war in scores of countries, continuing Now that Dr. Matsui’s team has proven that these materials can be swims like bacteria to pose dangers to local communities long after conflicts end. programmed to propel themselves, they are working on enabling the Dr. D’Hulst is part of the Hunter team working with Paul Feinstein, associate “robots” to sense and capture their targets. professor of biological sciences. She hopes that her findings will lead not only to easier landmine disposal, but also to the development of a MouSensor able  Research scientist Charlotte D’Hulst, a postdoctoral fellow at Hunter, to detect the markers of a disease like tuberculosis in a sick person’s saliva. and Professor Paul Feinstein

6 7 Presidential Leadership Symposium Revisits LBJ’s Great Society

ington today and the White House and one while grabbing hold of a legisla- p Joseph A. Califano, Jr. Grandchildren of 20th-Century Leaders Congress of the Johnson era. tor’s lapels, forcing the listener to look Roosevelt House has While Washington today has lost the up the president’s nose. Offer Riveting Personal Accounts of History ability to negotiate and make a deal, Johnson’s White House staff as- published “What the Hell’s said Califano, President Johnson was a sistant Ervin Duggan contrasted the a Presidency For?” Making politician determined “to touch every former president’s “zest for political Washington Work, by Joseph Curtis Roosevelt Shares Memories of His Grandmother Eleanor single lever to get something done.” combat” with current office holders Califano, distilling the Citing the example of the Fair who often choose to remain above the symposium’s lessons. These declaration’s drafting committee, after Offering other examples of his Housing Act, which had languished in fray. And famed LBJ biographer Robert lessons, wrote President Raab President Harry Truman asked her to grandmother’s courageous leadership, the absence of Congressional support, Caro, after looking back on Johnson’s and Jonathan Fanton in their join the United States senior delega- Roosevelt recalled her opposition Califano said that when Martin Luther earliest experiences and influences in preface, “will be valuable tion to the United Nations in 1946. to segregation and inequality many King, Jr. was assassinated and riots the desolate Texas hill country of his to future presidents and Curtis was 18 at the time, just out of years before the civil rights movement erupted across the country, Johnson political leadership.” military school and delighted when won its hard-fought victories in the made sure the bill passed within one she took him with her to Europe. 1960s. At the root of her activism was Email roosevelthouse@ month. LBJ also knew that “passing a The audience listened raptly as a deep humanity, he said: “She had hunter.cuny.edu for a copy. p Curtis Roosevelt p LBJ biographer Robert Caro delivers keynote address. law was just the beginning” and that it Roosevelt spoke at Roosevelt House, this enormous concern for people.” had to be enforced, Califano stressed. arly last summer, speaking at a townhouse that was his family’s Welcoming Curtis Roosevelt back ast March, at the height of the Roosevelt House some of the era’s most Throughout the event, it became Hunter about his grandmother Manhattan home when he was a very to Roosevelt House, President Raab election campaign season, the prominent political figures, advisers, clear that LBJ had been deeply inspired EEleanor, Curtis Roosevelt was young child and where he remembered thanked him for his long support LRoosevelt House Public Policy scholars and journalists. Among the by FDR. “Franklin Roosevelt was Lyndon proud and plainspoken when he cited once becoming lost. Living there with of the restoration efforts. “It is Institute launched a Presidential Lead- participants were LBJ press secretary Johnson’s mentor and hero,” said Hunter her greatest global accomplishment. his grandparents, Curtis saw Eleanor Roosevelt House’s goal to keep the ership series with a major symposium, Bill Moyers, CBS News correspondent President Jennifer Raab, adding that in “We would not have a Universal as a “surrogate mother,” he said. legacies of both FDR and Eleanor “Revisiting the Great Society: The Bob Schieffer, and former presidential 1935, the Roosevelt administration gave Declaration of Human Rights,” he “This was the kitchen,” he recalled alive in a new century,” Raab said. Role of Government from FDR to LBJ candidates Walter Mondale and George Johnson his first big federal job, as direc- said, “if she had not bullied it through as he looked around the auditorium, “We are proud that our students who to Today.” The event – the brainchild McGovern, who died in October. Also tor of a program to help young people the General Assembly.” Eleanor was a space created during the Roosevelt come to this public policy institute of LBJ’s chief domestic advisor and in attendance was Johnson’s younger stay in school and receive job training. serving in Europe as chair of the House restoration. are becoming part of that legacy.” Mark Updegrove, director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum, concurred, quot- Celia Sandys Remembers Her Grandfather Winston Churchill ing LBJ as declaring, “I really intend to p Luci Baines Johnson, LBJ’s finish FDR’s revolution.” journalist, and an internationally Palmolive, Grey Advertising and younger daughter, enjoys Speakers engaged in far-reaching known authority on her grandfather, the telecommunications giant GTE. the presidential symposium discussions of how FDR’s New Deal of was delivering the inaugural lecture Sandys reminded her audience at Roosevelt House with her the 1930s inspired Lyndon Johnson’s of the Tina Santi Flaherty-Winston that Churchill and Franklin Delano husband, Ian Turpin. War on Poverty of the 1960s and Churchill Literary Series at Hunter Roosevelt were close friends as well as addressed the immediate results and childhood, commented on how LBJ’s College. The talk took place at The political and military allies, and that enduring effects of the Johnson admin- domestic agenda might guide us today. Morgan Library & Museum to coin- Churchill, like Roosevelt, was a brilliant istration’s legislative priorities and do- Johnson’s gift, he said, was his ability cide with the opening of the exhibi- orator. “My grandfather did not use mestic programs, including Medicare, “to help people fight forces too big for tion “Churchill: The Power of Words.” speechwriters,” she emphasized. The Medicaid, Head Start, environmental them to fight alone.” The series, which continues at the selections she read from Churchill’s p Churchill’s granddaughter p (l-r) Vice President Walter Mondale, moderator Bob Schieffer and regulation and the Voting Rights Act. The program’s featured panel dis- Roosevelt House Public Policy Insti- historic addresses made it clear that Celia Sandys Senator George McGovern Those who knew and worked with cussion, “Making Washington Work” Watch the video of the tute at Hunter, is jointly sponsored by during the dark days of World War II, Johnson offered personal anecdotes – with McGovern, Mondale, Moyers, documentary Treasures y grandfather’s words Roosevelt House, the Writing Center as Americans drew strength and former Secretary of Health, Education, daughter, Luci Baines Johnson. and impressions. “We had to run just Duggan, and Califano, and moderated of New York: Roosevelt House during World War II at Hunter, and philanthropist and courage from President Roosevelt’s and Welfare Joseph Califano, and made The intent of the symposium, to keep up with him walking,” said by Schieffer – is available for viewing on the Hunter web site or at “Mwere more power- business leader Tina Flaherty. A trail- Fireside Chats, the British were mobi- possible with major support from the according to Califano, was to examine Moyers. McGovern recalled getting the on the Roosevelt House Web site. www.thirteen.org/programs/ ful than any weapon,” said Winston blazer in corporate America, Flaherty lized and inspired by the words of their Carnegie Corporation and the coopera- how FDR influenced Johnson and to famous “nostril treatment,” in which a http://roosevelthouse.hunter.cuny. treasures-of-new-york/ Churchill’s granddaughter Celia Sandys. was the first woman to assume the own leader, who eventually received tion of the LBJ Foundation – brought to paint a stark contrast between Wash- towering LBJ argued his case one-on- edu/lbjconference2012/. #roosevelt-house. Sandys, an acclaimed author and post of vice president at Colgate- the Nobel Prize in literature.

8 9 Q&A with Andrew J. Polsky Hunter Presents the Joan H. Tisch Professor of Political Science at Hunter Community Health Prize for 2012 and the CUNY Graduate Center health and her quiet, unassuming work in life-saving campaigns. member of Hunter’s faculty since 1984, Andrew Polsky has While Joan Tisch has avoided the won awards for outstanding teaching and mentoring. He spotlight, her children proudly pay A was the longtime editor of Polity, a major academic journal, tribute to her accomplishments in mirror her own humble and has spoken widely in the media about politics and elections. Westmoreland. Wasn’t that out agreement little different from the improving medical care, nutrition  Joan Tisch (l) and her daughter, of character for Johnson, known one that Johnson had on the table and related social services among Laurie Tisch Congratulations on the need for what they called “hard war.” for being a hands-on leader? just before the 1968 election, but at a the elderly and the impoverished positive reception to your new At that point, Lincoln stepped back Yes, it was out of character for LBJ to cost of countless thousands of lives, throughout the New York City area. devotion to the cause of public health. book, Elusive Victories: The and let them do most of the fighting turn over control of such a key policy American and Vietnamese. Together, Steven, Laurie, Lizzie and LegalHealth, the largest medical- American Presidency at War. In without intervention. to someone else. Even now it’s not Jonathan Tisch fund the Joan H. Tisch legal partnership in the nation, the afterword, you reveal that entirely clear why Johnson abdicated “The American Presidency Legacy Project at Hunter. provides free legal services to you intended to write about You also write that Lincoln his responsibility as commander-in- at War” is also the name of a Each year, this project sponsors low-income patients in medical the excesses of presidential maintained his clarity about chief. But his goals in Vietnam were course you’ve taught at Hunter. a public health fellowship, a public facilities, while educating health-care power but ended up focusing the war’s political objectives. In always amorphous, a complicated set Students praise you for being forum, and two monetary prizes. professionals about the legal issues on its limits. Why the change? this regard, how did he compare of objectives that would require artful a great lecturer. What are the The prizes are administered by affecting patients who are homebound, Two reasons: First, others have with other wartime presidents? diplomacy and careful oversight of secrets to mastering that skill? the College and presented to a elderly or chronically ill. Mark Hannay  Standing (l-r): Inaugural Tisch Fellow John McDonough, Julie Brandfield covered presidential overreaching. Lincoln began the war to restore the military operations. Johnson provided Mastering it takes time. I had many not-for-profit organization and is the executive director of the of prizewinner LegalHealth, Interim Director of Roosevelt House and Second, the more I studied wartime union, and as circumstances changed, neither. He wanted to manage the victims along the way. A successful an individual for distinguished Metro New York Health Care for All Tisch Prize committee chair Jonathan Fanton, and Jonathan Tisch. presidents, the less convinced I was widened the goal to include a full-scale Vietnam War in such a way that it would lecture needs to be user-friendly, achievement in the public-health Campaign, which unites community Seated: Randye Retkin of LegalHealth and prizewinner Mark Hannay. that their problems stemmed from attack on slavery. With that change, he not interfere with his bold domestic making it easy for students to take field. LegalHealth and Mark Hannay groups, labor unions, professional too much power. They actually had understood that the war would have to agenda. In that respect, he failed as well. away the information you want t the June 2012 ceremony LegalHealth and Mark Hannay, Joan’s were selected as the two prizewinners associations and faith communities too little to achieve their goals. be fought differently, and he adapted them to have. My lectures are well awarding the Joan H. Tisch son Jonathan described his mother’s in 2012 because their daily efforts in the fight for universal health care. his military methods accordingly. Why do you name Nixon as the organized, and I don’t make them ACommunity Health Prize to commitment to the cause of public exemplify Joan Tisch’s priorities and The book credits Lincoln for FDR, who I think ranks with Lincoln worst wartime president? available to students on Blackboard. being ahead of his generals in as the best wartime commander- When a president assumes Students have to be there. As Woody understanding the Civil War as in-chief, had clear objectives in the responsibility for an ongoing conflict, Allen says, 90 percent of life is just the first war of the industrial Second World War. Besides defeating as Nixon did, he gets a window showing up. era. How did this understanding Germany and Japan, Roosevelt wanted of opportunity to alter policy. His Veterans Thrive at Hunter affect military strategy? to make sure that the U.S. would goal was to extricate the U.S. from What do you like most about Lincoln appreciated that the remain actively engaged after the Vietnam while also preserving the working at Hunter? North’s resources, especially its war in the international system to South Vietnamese government. The I’ve gotten to do everything I n observance of Veterans Day 2012, the Student Veterans Club. A recipient Hunter’s unusually low tuition enables larger population, allowed it to secure peace. His timing for creating only realistic path would have been ever wanted to do professionally, Hunter held a luncheon for former of the Bronze Star for Valor, Gil was most veterans to pay for their entire absorb losses much more readily the United Nations and assuring a long-term security partnership including scholarship, teaching, and Iservice members now enrolled as wounded in Iraq while preventing a education with veterans’ benefits. And than the Confederacy could. Also, American participation was flawless. between Washington and Saigon. maintaining a public persona. My students. Taking a break from their vehicle-borne explosive device from because GI benefit checks often arrive slaves constituted a significant By contrast, Woodrow Wilson Nixon might have gotten that colleagues are incredibly stimulating. classes, the honored guests were reaching its intended target of 18 sol- late, Hunter offers tuition deferment, percentage of the South’s population, fought World War I with clear goals in partnership had he taken Congress I also like the combination of Hunter’s welcomed by President Jennifer J. Raab diers. Lang served in Iraq as a cavalry allowing veterans to pay at any time and they could not bear arms for the mind, but failed to put the framework into his confidence at the outset unpretentiousness and terrific and Vice President for Student Affairs scout and reconnaissance specialist. during the semester. They are also Confederacy. Lincoln soon came to of peace in place before the fighting and built domestic support. Instead reputation. And I love the diversity of Eija Ayravainen to Roosevelt House’s Among the veterans taking gradu- eligible for priority registration, which understand the need to destroy the stopped. In postwar negotiations, he he used force impulsively, trying the student body. Sometimes when I Four Freedoms Room, named for the ate courses are Sean Fielding, who gives them first pick of the classes economic foundation of the rebellion expected to be able to secure such terms to browbeat the Communists first look at a class roster, I know I’m Norman Rockwell paintings gracing its joined the Air Force in 1960 and they want at the times that are best for by waging war on a sustained basis as self-determination and American into accepting his terms. Thus his going to struggle to pronounce many walls. A fitting backdrop to the event, achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel them – an important factor for older  President Raab and Vice President across the entire boundary between participation in a League of Nations. But incursion into Cambodia in May 1970 of the names. We have many students the artwork was famously inspired over 34 years of service, and Shane students with families and jobs. Ayravainen toast veterans at the North and South, and then destroying by then he had lost the leverage that alienated Democrats in Congress and who are immigrants and children of by a landmark FDR speech on the Strassberg, a 31-year-old Army veteran “It’s a big help because I have a small annual Veterans Day luncheon. the capacity of the South to sustain military force had given him. rekindled the antiwar movement. immigrants, and they remind me of freedoms worth fighting for. who served two tours in Iraq. child, and taking care of her and going its military. Aside from Grant, his From that point on, Congress how newcomers view America and Almost 200 veterans are now earn- These students were drawn to to school is difficult,” said Ashley Costa, Raab if she wanted to recruit more generals didn’t appreciate the need You cite the failures of LBJ, who would never support a long-term American politics. They’re not jaded, ing their degrees at Hunter. Among Hunter not only for its educational an Iraq veteran and current member of veterans to Hunter. “Who wouldn't to coordinate their offensives. By late turned the management of the commitment to South Vietnam. although they are often puzzled. We them are Robert Gil and Jonathan excellence, but also for its affordability the 340th MP Company in Queens. want students with your intelligence 1863, his generals all understood the Vietnam War over to General In the end, he negotiated a peace sort it out together. Lang, president and vice president of and the special services it provides. One luncheon guest asked President and your experience!” she replied.

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Happenings At Hunter

 A global symposium on autism, held at Roosevelt House on October 27, was jointly hosted by Hunter, the United Nations General Assembly, and the organization Autism Speaks. Major figures at the conference included (l-r) Marta Linares de Martinelli, first lady of Panama; President Ricardo Martinelli of Panama;  Rita E. Hauser (HCHS ’50, HC ’54), leading international lawyer, Suzanne Wright, co-founder of Autism Speaks; Ban Soon-Taek, global policy expert and president of the Hauser Foundation, wife of UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon; and Bob Wright, visited Roosevelt House on October 2 for a conversation with  The Distinguished Writers series brought novelist Margaret Atwood co-founder of Autism Speaks. Jonathan Fanton, the public policy institute’s interim director (standing, center) to Hunter to teach classes on both the undergraduate  Former Hunter College Foundation Chair Klara Silverstein (’54, and FDR Visiting Fellow. For students studying world affairs, it (above) and graduate levels. MA’56) and her husband, Larry, attended a Roosevelt House was an opportunity to engage in discussion with a longtime

reception celebrating the historic excellence and ongoing policymaker who is also an alumna of Hunter College and enhancement of programs and facilities at Hunter. Hunter College High School.

 Czech President Vaclav Klaus (left), the speaker at a Roosevelt House luncheon co-sponsored by the Hudson Institute, was welcomed by Kenneth Weinstein, president of the institute, and Patty Baker (’82),  Invited backstage to meet Yo-Yo Ma were cellist a Hunter College Foundation trustee. Klaus spoke about his new Shaheen Malick (right) of the Hunter College Chamber book on Europe’s economic crisis. Music Workshop and his younger brother, Sonny.  Renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma took the stage at Hunter with Damian Woetzel, director of the Aspen Institute Arts Program  Hunter supporter Patricia Cisneros, sponsor of a faculty and a former principal dancer for the New York City Ballet. chair and lecture series in Latin American art, joined Dominican They engaged in a public discussion and demonstration of 3. artist Jorge Pineda beside “The Forest: Lies (Version III),” artistry at the Kaye Playhouse on October the installation he created for his first U.S. solo exhibition, at Hunter’s East Harlem Art Gallery from September 28 to December 28. 12 1313 Hunter’s Graduation

p Mariola Szenk, winner of the Rosalyn Yalow Achievement in Science Award, with her father, Christopher. A talented soprano who served as president of p 2012 grads John Oros and Ivan Saragusti present Commencement speaker Soledad O’Brien with a Hunter sweatshirt. Hunter’s choir, she was accepted by the PhD program in biomedi- cal engineering at Stony Brook Soledad O’Brien Urges Graduates University and looks forward to a career in cancer research. to Break Down Barriers p Valedictorians (l-r) Michelle Plastrik, Sameer Khan, Joseph Cammarata and Maria Americo

mong the many highlights she was the daughter of immigrants would catch up with them,” O’Brien said. great impact,” she advised the graduates, of an inspirational spring who met in graduate school. Because “I became a reporter because I wanted to also urging them to try to understand Four Share Valedictory Honors ACommencement ceremony was her Cuban mother was black and her tell stories about people like my mother communities other than their own, the speech to the graduates by Soledad Australian father was white, their and father.” She added that the best part and to work together for progress. O’Brien, the Emmy and Peabody marriage was illegal in Maryland, of her job is giving voice to those who “There is nothing worse than doing our students shared the spotlight academic conferences and work Scholars Program and the Biological with a double major in biochemistry Award-winning broadcast journalist where they lived at the time of their never make it into the history books but nothing and saying nothing when your as the valedictorians of the closely with a faculty mentor. Science Department’s Curriculum and political science, plus experience and the anchor of CNN’s “Starting wedding in 1958. have important stories to tell. voice is needed,” she said. “Break down Fspring 2012 graduating class. This experience, she said, “further Committee. He also won a 2011-2012 in embryological research at Weill Point with Soledad O’Brien.” “They knew that they were on the “Listen to others. Try to really hear them. that wall, push down those barriers. Along with their perfect 4.0 GPAs, motivated me to aspire to the Goldwater Scholarship, awarded to the Cornell Medical College and patient O’Brien told the graduates that right side of history, and that history When you seek to listen, you can make a Because we are all in this together.” what the four young scholars had in professoriate, where I may be a mentor country’s top science students. He is now care at Mount Sinai Hospital and New common was immense gratitude to to students as my mentor was to me.” at Cambridge University, earning his York-Presbyterian Hospital, Khan was Hunter for helping them discover and Joseph Cammarata majored in master’s in plant biology. accepted by seven medical schools excel in the areas of study that most biological sciences at the Macaulay Sameer Khan also admits that including NYU. Worth the Wait! engaged them. Honors College at Hunter. The son of until he started at Macaulay Honors Michelle Plastrik took an art history Maria Americo, who gave the parents who did not attend college, he College at Hunter, he “often thought of course in her first year at the Macaulay ary Cirillo, who rose to top at the Bronx High School of Science. She governing bodies of Thomson Reuters valedictory address, graduated with credited Hunter’s exciting academic course work as a burden to be removed Honors College at Hunter and quickly executive posts in banking, dreamed of going away to college, but and other financial institutions. a major in Latin, a minor in Arabic, environment, a first-semester biology as quickly as possible.” The son of knew she would major and work in Mfinally received the Hunter enrolled at Hunter because her parents Cirillo’s work on the board of the and plans for an academic career class and his acceptance as a lab assistant Pakistani immigrants, in sixth grade the field. “My idea of what constitutes diploma she earned 45 years ago. insisted that she stay close to home. Roundabout Theatre Company is just in classical studies. The first in her in his freshman year for his rapid at the time of the 9/11 attacks, he was art, and my passion for learning about When Hunter’s Bronx campus became It turned out that this initial one of the active commitments she immediate family to graduate from transformation from indifferent student the victim of taunting by middle- history, expanded,”she said. the Lehman College campus in 1968, disappointment was eclipsed by an has made to New York’s cultural and college, Americo has been admitted to passionate researcher. “The lab would and high-school classmates. Saying she has been “blessed to live Cirillo’s diploma was printed with a exceptional Hunter education – one that educational institutions. to the doctoral program at the become a second home, and its members “But Hunter was so different,” and study in a vibrant, multicultural glaring error: Lehman was named as prepared Cirillo to enter banking when While this extraordinary woman NYU Institute for the Study of a second family for me,” he said. Khan said. His new friends “did not metropolis where art, architecture her alma mater. This year the mistake the doors were tightly closed to women, must have experienced many the Ancient World. Cammarata participated in the distinguish between individuals on and history stimulate the senses was finally corrected, as President to break through formidable barriers, memorable moments over the last four During her second year at summer 2010 Undergraduate Research the basis of their ethnic or economic and continually inspire,” Plastrik Raab presented a beaming Cirillo and to rise triumphantly through the decades, she rated Commencement Hunter, Americo won The Andrew Program at Cold Spring Harbor background, but rather on the merit also expressed appreciation for her with her Hunter diploma. executive ranks. Her career has included 2012 as “one of the most significant W. Mellon Foundation’s Mellon Mays Laboratory, a leader in molecular biology of their ideas,” and classmates like the professors, internships at The Cloisters Cirillo grew up in the Bronx, a star leadership posts at Citicorp and Bankers days of my life.” Undergraduate Fellowship, which and genetics. During the next school working mother balancing work, kids and The Metropolitan Museum of Art student among the many high achievers Trust, and she currently serves on the enabled her to pursue independent year, he joined the Howard Hughes and school “helped me discover the and opportunities to study abroad in research, present her findings at Medical Institute’s Undergraduate importance of learning.” Graduating Paris and Florence. t Mary Cirillo (’68)

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Hunter Exhibition Revisits Alumni Who Defy the Longevity Charts

Groundbreaking Times Square Show pioneering career, beginning with ser- vice as a civilian meteorologist for the Air Force in World War II, continuing with climate research at NASA, and culminating with two distinguished decades at the New York Academy of  Climate scientist Bea Klier (’37) Sciences. In her “retirement,” Klier and TV weatherman Mr. G has invented an innovative telescope, celebrate fair skies at Hunter trained teachers in the use of comput- during the holiday party. ers for science education, studied at Oxford University, written books, Supremely proud of their 101-year- presented lectures to fellow members old mother, D’Esposito’s children, of the Alumni Association’s Queens Robert D’Esposito and Barbara Chapter, and traveled the world as Weisz, recently recalled that on her both an activist and a scientist – classroom door, she would often find  Miriam Shapiro Samson and Sylvia Weiss celebrate their 80th reunion supporting the struggles of people on thank-you notes from individuals  (l-r) Artists Tom Otterness , Charlie Ahearn and Scott B. with Student Ambassador Mark Rukhman and President Raab. the ground and visiting the sites of she’d taught decades earlier. were so heavily freighted by money.” foundation of the original show – eclipses in the sky. While some of the centenarians Times Square Show Revisited “a group of energetic, emerging t must be something in the Hunter and businessman Victor Joffe. Weiss The best known of Hunter’s hardy missed the luncheon, the youngsters included paintings, sculptures, and artists and budding young curators” — water. How else to explain the raised two sons – Jeffrey, a business- centenarians is undoubtedly Bel of the Class of 1942 were in especially films from the original show as well is “precisely the milieu being Inumber of alumni who are leading man, and Daniel, a literary agent. A Kaufman (’34), the New York City strong attendance. One of 23 reuniting as installations replicating works fostered at present by the Art healthy, active lives well into their 80s, retired teacher and guidance coun- teacher who wrote the bestselling there was Helen R. Hamlin, 89, whose lost since 1980. The original artists Department at Hunter College.” 90s and, yes, past 100? selor, she spent many years working novel Up the Down Staircase and continuing travels on behalf of the UN contributed most of the art on Times Square Show Revisited, he Miriam Shapiro Samson and Sylvia for the League of Women Voters. remarked at the celebration Hunter led The New York Daily News to hail display a second time and all of the said, also maintained “direct student Weiss, 100-year-old members of the Also at the luncheon were two threw for her landmark birthday, her as an exemplar of people working replicated art. More than 40 artists involvement as an integral component Class of 1932 and present-day friends members of the Class of ’37, Bea Klier “Now that I’m 100 years old, I feel into their 80s and 90s. The upbeat were represented in the Hunter of our programs at the Hunter and neighbors in Battery Park City, and Ellen Sharfstein Avins, reuniting very liberated.” headline read “80 is the New 50.” show, among them Charlie Ahearn, College Art Galleries.” celebrated their 80th reunion at last for their 75th reunion. Work in the classroom also led to Another alumna at the ’42 table was John Ahearn, Jean- Michel Basquiat, The 2012 exhibition was made May’s Alumni Luncheon. Samson Klier, a member of the Hunter Hall life past 100 for Olga D’Esposito (’32), Naomi Stern, class president, who  Collector Niva Grill with the Kiki Smith work she bought at the Bobby G, Mike Glier, Keith Haring, possible by the support of Diane taught social studies in New York and of Fame, faced severe discrimination a second-grade teacher in Plainview, plays a prominent role in the recent original Times Square Show and loaned to the Hunter exhibit. Jenny Holzer, Tom Otterness and Kiki and Arthur Abbey, Richard Anderman, Michigan and raised three highly suc- against women in the sciences after Long Island, and Libbie Bernstein WNET documentary about Roosevelt cessful children: federal judge Shira majoring in geology at the College. But Wishik (’31), who taught mentally House (see p. 9). imes Square Show Revisited, Galleries. Cooper said the 1980 show Scheindlin, opera singer Rena Panush she fought on, forged ahead and built a handicapped children in the Bronx. an in-depth look back at one of had drawn her interest because it T the most celebrated exhibitions “came about at a turning point in both of the 20th century, drew crowds of mainstream and artistic cultures in art lovers to Hunter last fall. New York City.” Curated by recent Hunter graduate Presenting work by approximately Make This Mother’s Day Even More Special Shawna Cooper (MA ’12) with Karli 100 artists, the earlier exhibition Wurzelbacher (MA ’11), the show at the filled four floors and the basement

Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Art Gallery ran of an abandoned massage parlor on f course your children lives by making a donation to Hunter’s future — and they tell the world from September to December and was the corner of 41st Street and Seventh know you’re special—but Mother’s Day Scholarship Fund. how you brought the love of learning, To make a gift or learn the first full-scale reassessment of the Avenue. That location was chosen, Osometimes it’s hard to find a Since its inception in 2005, the Fund achievement, and excellence into about donating to the landmark Times Square Show of 1980. noted Wurzelbacher, because the  Shawna Cooper (l) curated the 2012 exhibition with Karli Wurzelbacher. gift that says just how special you are. has raised more than $3.6 million, their lives. The 2012 exhibition grew out of artists aimed to “reach the diverse Mother’s Day Scholarship Both are recent graduates of Hunter’s MA program. Well, we’ve found the perfect gift for resulting in more than a thousand Isn’t that better than another scarf? Cooper’s master’s thesis, which was audience streaming through the Fund, please contact supervised by Katy Siegel, professor area, beyond the confines of the Smith. The exhibition also included the Bershad Exhibitions Fund, those who love women who went to scholarships for some of Hunter’s of art history at Hunter and the chief circumscribed art world.” text describing the impact of the Hester Diamond, Barbara Grodd, the Hunter College. Every May, daughters brightest students. Gifts of $2,500 and more received Katy McNabb curator of Hunter’s art galleries, The 1980 show, added Siegel, 1980 show, and a new publication and Keith Haring Foundation Inc., Nancy and sons, husbands and partners, When your loved ones contribute by Friday, May 3, 2013, will be 646.556.5814 and Joachim Pissarro, the Bershad “described a New York that has a website featured interviews and Kuhn and Bernard Nussbaum, Tony nieces and nephews and friends pay to the Fund, they help a student gain acknowledged in Hunter’s ad in The [email protected] Professor of Art History at Hunter vanished, a city that lived before scholarly essays. Shafrazi, the Solo Foundation and and director of the Hunter College Art real estate and contemporary art Pissarro observed that the Sunberry’s Café. tribute to the Hunter women in their an education and build a promising New York Times on Mother’s Day.

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the Council For Educational Change, which sponsors major reform initiatives Eleven Alumni Enter the in Florida’s schools. Formerly a teacher and administrator in the Miami-Dade system and an associate dean and professor at Barry University, she was 2012 Hunter Hall of Fame appointed by Florida’s governor to the Board of Directors of the Florida Fund for Minority Teachers, and by the State Nancy Wynkoop (’64) was director Thomas C. Felicetti (’67), executive Vera L. Junkers (’66, MA ’68) taught Commissioner of Education to other of special education for the Los director of Beechwood Rehabilitation in Hunter’s Department of Romance prominent posts. Angeles Unified School District, Services, is an expert in the treatment Languages for 25 years. Fluent in overseeing the services provided to of traumatic brain injury. He has conducted five languages, she has also taught in more than 86,000 students. Originally important research on disabilities the College’s Continuing Education a classroom teacher, she moved on to caused by neurological damage, and Program and, for almost three decades, various administrative positions and Visionaries in the Visual Arts has contributed significantly to the at the Dominican Academy. In 2008, earned a law degree before assuming development of clinical standards of care. she was named a Chevalier dans l’Ordre the district-wide directorship. She des Palmes Academiques by the French also served Hunter as president of Ministry of Education. She also holds a the Alumni Association’s Southern Estrellita Bograd Brodsky (MA ’94) – art historian, Certificate of Recognition from Hunter California Chapter, and has been an curator, collector and philanthropist – is a leader in the effort to for her many years of service to Phi Daria Myers (’77), vice president active hospice and church volunteer. expand the global presence and influence of Latin American art. Beta Kappa. of global innovation and sustainability She holds a doctorate in fine arts and has been a guiding force at at the Estée Lauder Companies, joined many great cultural institutions, including El Museo del Barrio, the Estée Lauder’s Aramis division in Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Tate 1977 and went on to play a leading

Times/Redux Modern in London, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. role in the Origins and Aveda brands. As a member of the New York City Art Commission, Brodsky reviewed York Ofelia Garcia (’70, MA ’75), a nationally In her current post, she spearheads new proposals for artistic, architectural and landscaping projects on New

esteemed scholar in bilingual education, efforts promoting environmental city-owned properties and was a caretaker of the city’s public art collection. has taught at universities in France, protection and social equity. A leader As a curator of groundbreaking exhibitions in New York, she has Uruguay and Cuba, and is currently a in philanthropy, Myers is on the introduced art lovers to the Venezuelan luminaries Carlos Cruz-Diez Stabile/The

professor in the PhD Program in Urban boards of Project Sunshine, which and Jesús Soto and other distinguished Latin American artists. Education at CUNY Graduate Center. A past Rudean Leinaeng (’59), a retired serves families facing serious medical In 2011, Brodsky received the Manhattan Borough President’s Barbara Janes Fulbright Scholar and now a Spencer Fellow professor of chemistry, twice won challenges, and the Weil Foundation, Gabriele Outstanding Achievement Award in recognition of all she has done Receives Distinguished of the U.S. National Academy of Education, Bronx Community College’s which supports the advancement of  Estrellita Brodsky organized Carlos Cruz-Diez’s acclaimed solo to support and promote Latin American art and enrich cultural life Service Award she has also received awards from the Distinguished Faculty Service Award, integrative medicine. exhibition “(In)formed by Color” at the Americas Society in New York. throughout the city and around the world. Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study and led innovative programs pointing in South Africa and the New York State minority students toward careers in Barbara Brotman Janes (’52), Association for Bilingual Education. science. While teaching in Tanzania a graduate of Hunter College in the 1970s, she joined the anti- High School as well as the apartheid movement, and since 2001, College, received the Award for Harriett Belag Lange (’59) is internationally recognized for she has been the treasurer of the Distinguished Service to the creating functional art. Her one-of-a-kind sculptures and paintings Friends of B. Pule Leinaeng Library Association and the College. take the form of tables, chairs, mirrors and other household pieces. in South Africa, an educational Janes has chaired a wide Lange’s most famous work, a painted chair called “The Juggler,” was organization named for her late variety of Alumni Association installed in the White House and is now in the Clinton Presidential husband, a leader of the African Helen Margaret Ondik (’52), committees. She held the offices Library. She calls it a representation of women’s daily efforts to

2012 who earned a PhD from Johns Hopkins National Congress. of vice president and secretary of juggle numerous responsibilities. and won a Fulbright award to study in the Association, and is currently

Press, In a recent interview with a local newspaper, The Riverdale Press, Dorothy Simon Hirsch (’45) has Amsterdam, had a long, distinguished on its Board of Directors. In 2003, Lange described the support and encouragement she received from been called the “heart and soul” career in chemistry, crystallography, and she was invited to join the College a life-drawing professor shortly after arriving at Hunter. Today Lange

Riverdale of the Committee of Concerned data analysis at the National Institute committee charged with creating is a devoted teacher herself, sought by aspiring artists of all ages. Scientists, one of the world’s leading of Standards and Technology. Through the Mentoring Program, and she During her long career, Lange has accepted a wide range of public human rights organizations. As its her membership in the P.E.O. Sisterhood, continues to guide students Díaz/The

and private commissions, has had her work exhibited widely, and has executive director for 26 years, she led which provides educational opportunities through academic challenges won many prizes. For four years, she chaired the Sculpture Jury for efforts to save the lives, and protect the for women, she has enabled generations and career planning. Marisol

the National Association of Women Artists.

© freedoms, of scholars around the globe. In of students to pursue undergraduate Janes was elected to Phi Beta  Harriett Belag Lange relaxes with her sculptures in her home studio. 1987, the New York Academy of Sciences Elaine Liftin (’64, MS ’67) is the and graduate degrees and exciting Kappa at Hunter, and was inducted honored her with its Human Rights Award. president and executive director of professional lives. into the Hall of Fame in 1982.

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Human Rights Class Notes Lawyer 1950s in Education 2012 plaque from the do even more in serving blind, Dr. Martha Adams Sullivan (MSW ’76, Western Connecti- University. She also maintains to Sex and Dating, is due out Martin Garbus publication Education Update. visually impaired and multiply DSW ’91), executive director of cut State University a physical therapy practice in in September. Wins Fulbright disabled people of all ages.” the Fordham-Tremont Community has named Mary Brooklyn. The Rev. Canon Charles G. Mental Health Center and a vice Alexander (’89, David Greven (’96) has been Ackerson (’67) has been named Denise C. Soares (’73) was named president at St. Barnabas Hospital MA ’91) dean of its Art historian appointed an associate profes- an honorary canon of the by The Network Journal as one of in the Bronx, has been elected School of Arts and Sciences. She Deborah L. Roldan sor of English at the University Cathedral of the Incarnation, 25 Influential Black Women in president of the National Associa- was formerly assistant dean of (MA’93) has been of South Carolina. His two new Photo Garden City, New York. Business. Winners are selected tion of Social Workers New York the School of Communications appointed assistant books are The Fragility of Man- Park from a pool of top-level execu- City Chapter. She is a former and the Arts at Marist College in director of exhibi- hood: Hawthorne, Freud, and Myra A. Broadway (’67) has been tives nationwide. deputy commissioner of the Poughkeepsie, New York, where tions at the Museum of Fine The Politics of Gender (Ohio State re-elected president of the National NYC Department of Health she was also director of the MA Arts, Houston. She previously University Press) and Psycho- Gramercy Council of State Boards of Nursing. Marcia Lyles (’74 ) is the newly and Mental Hygiene. program in communications. was a curator and exhibition Sexual: Male Desire in Hitchcock, from appointed superintendent of coordinator at the Fundación De Palma, Scorsese, and Friedkin Fox 1970s the Jersey City public schools. 1980s Erich Jarvis (’89), Juan March in Madrid. She has (University of Texas Press). Ira She came to Jersey City from associate professor also been a consultant to the The Thomas J. Walsh Art Gallery Playwright/director Sally Delaware, where she was the David M. Fawcett of neurobiology Picasso Museum in Malaga and Dr. Michael Perrone (MA ’98), Photo: at Fairfield University in Connecti- Ordway (MA ’70 ) is a member of superintendent of that state’s (MA ’84) received at Duke University the Prado in Madrid. director of adult education at artin Garbus (’55), a leading cut featured works by Marlene the legendary United Arts Club largest school district. Previously the 2012 Social Medical Center, Northern Manhattan Improve- Mtrial lawyer and expert on Siff (’57) in a solo exhibition, in Dublin. She divides her time Lyles was deputy chancellor in Worker of the Year is leading a team of researchers ment Corporation, has been the First Amendment, received titled “Elements of Peace,” which between Chattanooga, Tennessee , the New York City school system. award from the who study the neurobiology named an Outstanding Adult the prestigious 2012 Fulbright paid homage to people who have and Kilkenny, Ireland. Broward Unit of the Florida of vocal learning in songbirds, Literacy Practitioner – one of Award for Global Leadership. In been affected by war. Journalist and Chapter of the National parrots and hummingbirds. six awardees honored at the the words of One to World, the Evan R. Chesler environmental Association of Social Workers. These bird groups, like humans, 2012 Literary Assistance Center’s organization presenting the 1960s (MA ’73 ), who was activist Jenna have the ability to learn new Annual Literacy Recognition award, this honor goes to leaders presiding partner Orkin (’74) is the Deborah Flasko-Albaugh (MA ’86), sounds and pass on their vocal Awards ceremony. who “have furthered peace and Leon Cooperman (’64), the of the law firm author of The a certified audiologist with more repertoires from one generation international understanding chairman and CEO of Omega Cravath, Swaine & Moron’s Guide to than 25 years’ experience, is the to the next. Photographer Saul Robbins through their lives and work.” Advisors and benefactor of Moore, became chairman of the Global Collapse (CreateSpace owner of Hear Best with offices (MFA ’99) and art historian/ Recounting the Fulbright the Cooperman Pre-Business firm on January 1, 2013. Chesler 2012) – “an introduction to the in Pittsburgh and West Virginia. 1990s author Vanessa Rocco discussed ceremony, Garbus humbly Program at Hunter, was a guest has been recognized as one of the economic, political, and environ- Through the use of hearing aids Artist China Blue Wong (aka “The New Woman in Film” at shared the credit with his alma lecturer at the Roger Williams country’s leading trial lawyers mental mess the world is currently and other technologies, the Lori Loebelsohn (MSEd’90) Maureen Wong, MFA ’94) had a the Camera Club of New York. mater. “All of it is attributable University Leadership Institute and has tried numerous cases in in, with insights into how we got clinics help people realize their produces life-cycle portraits , solo exhibition, Firefly Projects, Robbins teaches photography to Hunter,” he wrote. (Rhode Island) in September. federal and state courts. here and how we might get out.” maximum hearing level. personalized works of art that at the Newport Art Museum in at Pratt Institute and the Interna- Garbus is recognized and re- In addition to discussing invest- commemorate a special day Rhode Island, which was nomi- tional Center of Photography vered worldwide as a champion ment outlooks, Cooperman Philip Rosenthal (’73) has joined Continuum Health Partners has Concert clarinetist Joseph while also reflecting upon an nated Best Monographic Museum in New York. for human rights. From Chile to stressed the importance of family Jewish Guild Healthcare (formerly promoted Mary Walsh (BSN ’74, Rutkowski (’87) performed at an individual’s life. She recently Show, Nationally, by the Interna- Czechoslovakia, South Africa and said that those who have The Jewish Guild for the Blind) as MSN ’79) to corporate senior vice pres- alumni recital at Mannes College completed illustrations for a tional Association of Art Critics. Kim Sobel (MFA ’99 ) participated to the Soviet Union, he has achieved financial success have chief operating officer. Rosenthal ident for nursing quality, standards the New School for Music in New Passover Haggadah created She also mounted Firefly Grove, in a “pop-up” gallery show titled represented political dissidents a “moral obligation to help was a leader at Lenox Hill Hospi- and practice. In addition, she will York City in September. He is by an 85-year-old man. a public artwork on view at the The Shape of Things last summer facing brutal persecution by others in need.” tal and its subsidiaries, where he continue her role as vice president director of instrumental music John Brown House Museum, at the Cobble Court in Litchfield, repressive regimes. In this started in 1980 and rose to the and chief nursing officer at Beth for the John L. Miller-Great Neck Janice Milusich Providence, Rhode Island through Connecticut. Her work was also country, Garbus has argued and Hunter College position of executive director. Israel Medical Center in New York City. North High School on Long Island. (MSEd ’92), a April. She is the recipient of the recently shown at the Trailside won landmark cases before the Foundation trustee The Guild’s announcement of his Rutkowski was twice named a teacher for the Rhode Island State Council for the Gallery in Massachusetts and U.S. Supreme Court, including a voting-rights case that struck Dr. Charlotte Frank appointment cited Rosenthal’s Rev. Dr. Sheila A. Small Gipson (’75) Presidential Scholar Teacher. blind and visually Arts Fellowship in New Genres. Art Crating in Brooklyn. down laws disenfranchising (MSEd ’66), senior “30 years of executive experience graduated from Drew University impaired, recently one million people in 14 states. vice president of in healthcare,” and predicted, with a doctor of ministry degree. Thomas Wilson (’87, MSEd ’96) has published a fantasy Carole Radziwill (’95 ) joined the 2000s In addition to many other ac- McGraw-Hill Education, received the “His success in helping to build Currently, she is an associate been appointed principal of the ebook for children. cast of the fifth season of Bravo’s colades during his distinguished Bank Street College of Education nationally recognized programs pastor and director of ministries Bronxville Middle School in West- reality show The Real Housewives Johanna David Tramantano (’00) career, Garbus was inducted into Founder’s Award for a lifetime of in cardiovascular care, orthope- at First Baptist Church of chester. He had served as Bronx- Joy Macefield (’93) is an adjunct of New York. Radziwill is a bestsell- recently earned an MS in educa- the Hunter Hall of Fame in 2005. achievement in education, and was dics, sports medicine and ophthal- Lincoln Gardens, Somerset, ville Elementary School principal professor at Hunter, the College ing author and journalist. Her tional leadership from the College a recipient of a Distinguished Leader mology will help position us to New Jersey. for the previous nine years. of Staten Island, and Long Island debut novel, The Widow’s Guide of Saint Rose in Albany. She is

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Leader in Science Receives Award and Class Notes continued Research Grant from Hunter Remembers Judith Crist, President Obama currently the assistant princi- Ned Vizzini (’03) has received first New York Press Club scholar- pal/supervisor of instruction widespread praise for The ships. He is attending the CUNY Leading Film Critic and Devoted Alumna at the Riverdale Kingsbridge Other Normals, his new novel Graduate School of Journalism. Academy in the Bronx. for young adult readers. A eventually received the President’s and doctors and lawyers” and other Crist earned a graduate review in The New York Times Arti Cameron (’11) Medal and the Alumni Professional highly successful women, her degree at the Columbia University Sheila Hageman (MFA ’02) is called Vizzini “a genuine talent” represented Achievement Award. And she remained reaction was, “What a class I had!” School of Journalism and became Cameron the author of Stripping Down: whose fiction “can be especially Guyana in the close to the College throughout her life. She also recalled that “from day an award-winning news reporter A Memoir (Pink Fish Press, meaningful to a savvy, screen- Miss World 2012 unter College lost one of its In a late-in-life interview, Crist said one” at Hunter, she was on her own at The Herald Tribune before Wilfred

Photo: Shelley Kusnetz February 2012). bleary teenage readership” © Competition. leading creative minds when that when she was a Hunter student, creative path. In a contest in her embarking on her career as and whose “sentences carry A biology major, she plans on HJudith Crist (’41) died on she and her classmates all shared freshman English class, her essay a film critic for that paper, for n July 31, President Barack Jason R. Levine (MA ’02 ) has enough charge that an eighth applying to medical school August 7, 2012. “Ms. Crist said she the same expectation: “You could do about her family’s street in the Bronx magazines, and for TV’s Today Obama presented cell O created an educational platform grader might truly discover in the United States. might have made Phi Beta Kappa at anything and everything. You had gotten won the first prize: a position onThe Show. She also taught at Columbia biologist Nihal Altan-Bonnet (’92) called “Collo Tunes” to teach how a novel is not a movie Hunter College in Manhattan had she there because you had brains; you could Echo, the College’s literary magazine. for more than half a century. with the Presidential Early English to children and adults. made extremely cheaply, Sarah Watson (MA ’11) has been not cut class so many times to go to the succeed because you had brains.” As she was writing pieces about Her brilliant critiques, passion Career Award for Scientists and Echo Engineers. The award is one Levine is academic director of but an art form that brings named interim curator of the movies.” So read the New York Times Those expectations were largely Broadway theater, Crist said, an for movies and memorable turns of the highest honors a young CAMPUS Education, a group of its own unique splendors.” Hunter College Art Galleries. obituary of the renowned film critic. realized, Crist told the interviewer. activist named Bella Savitsky (later of phrase remain an insightful, scientist can receive. privately owned English language She previously was assistant Crist may have regretted her failure At Hunter reunions, where she Abzug) was down the hall at the enlivening influence on Altan-Bonnet, a researcher schools based in New York City. Lynda Garcia (’08), who recently curator at MacAndrews & Forbes, to win the gold key at Hunter. But she encountered “nothing but judges College newspaper. American culture. and assistant professor at received a law degree from a holding company owned by Rutgers University, earned Summer Grid, an outdoor Fordham University, has been business magnate and philan- her PhD in cellular biophysics one-day installation event awarded an 18-month Soros thropist Ronald O. Perelman. from Rockefeller University. by multidisciplinary artist Advocacy Justice Fellowship Her work has identified the Quintin Rivera-Toro (’02), was to work for the American Civil Alison Fraser (MSEd ’12) In Memoriam molecules that help viruses presented at the Yellow Peril Liberties Union Criminal Law spent the summer studying replicate on the membranes Mildred Thaler perspective to the study of Estelle Ellis 2012. Wallerstein was famous Gallery in Providence, Rhode Reform Project. forced migration at Oxford of host cells. Because this Cohen (’42), a lead- painting and sculpture. A Rubinstein (’40), for her groundbreaking long- Island. Rivera-Toro is pursuing University’s Refugee Studies replication can cause people ing member of the member of the University of a pioneer in market- term study of the children of an MFA degree in sculpture at s Center. For the past three years to fall victim to multiple viral 2010 New York area Hunter Miami faculty for almost ing and magazine divorce. Provoking great con- the Rhode Island School Fraser has been a teacher in infections at the same time, College alumni com- 20 years, Harper died on June 3, publishing, died troversy, the study found that Altan-Bonnet’s discoveries are of Design. Sculptor Amy Brener (MFA ’10) New York City through Teach munity and the Queens Chapter died 2012, not long after retiring. on July 1, 2012. Only a few years many years after their parents’ critical to the development of was an Artist in Residence at the for America, a program that on September 15, 2012. Cohen was She first received acclaim in after graduating from Hunter, breakup, individuals continued panviral treatments for such Curtis B. Carman (’02, MFA ’06) Bemis Center for Contemporary matches recent college grads the chapter’s first president, and the early 1970s while teaching Rubinstein became the promotion to suffer negative psychological diseases as AIDS, SARS, Ebola, was one of several artists Arts in Omaha. Her sculptures with under-resourced urban also served Hunter as president in the newly established director for the newly created effects, including anxiety, lack polio, influenza, hepatitis and interviewed for an article in were featured in the September and rural public schools. the common cold. Now Altan- of the Scholarship and Welfare Feminist Art Program at the Seventeen, the first magazine of ambition and difficulty in A&U Magazine about making issue of Fast Co-Design. Bonnet herself is working Fund. She held an annual garden- California Institute of the written and designed for teenage forming intimate relationships. art in an age when the AIDS on the development of such party fundraiser at her home in Arts. Harper introduced her girls. Rubinstein’s genius for adver- The author of several popular pandemic has reached almost Fausto Giovanny Pinto ( ’10) therapeutic remedies. Forest Hills Gardens, and person- classes to forgotten women tising and promotion was largely books as well as scores of schol- every country in the world. is one of two winners of the ally endowed scholarships artists and urged students to responsible for Seventeen’s huge arly articles, Wallerstein had an covering tuition and student work on a project of their own success, and she later applied her MSW from Columbia University housing. A longtime librarian that would soon transform the concepts to the creation of Charm, and a PhD from Lund University in Sweden. She taught at the for the Queensborough Public art world. Students made their the first magazine for working Hunter Remembers... Library, Cohen had an illustrious women. In 1958 Rubinstein joined University of California, Berkeley, program’s rundown headquarters second career as proprietor of her husband in founding a creative for 25 years, held other faculty Zelda Sondack Ackerman ’31 Alice Lomax Shiel ’41 Barbara Harris ’50 Harriet Lindenbaum Kessler ’64 into an exhibition space where the Marbella Gallery. She was marketing firm, and in her 70s she posts at the Hebrew University Isabelle Auerbach ’36 Betty Machol ’42 Shirley Cunningham de Heras ’54 James Dragotta ’65 provocative installations and one of the earliest inductees wrote advice books about art col- in Jerusalem and Pahlavi Selma Kurtzburg Auerbach ’36 Julia M. Taibi ’42 Xanthippie “Sandy” Siskos ’54 Eileen B. Finkel ’67 performance pieces examined into the Hunter Hall of Fame. lection and personal libraries. She University Medical School in Mildred “Elsie” Kimble Lee ’38 Charlotte Joskow ’43 Peter Downey ’55 Anne Marie Gabrielle ’68 women’s roles in society. Harper was inducted into the Hunter Hall Iran, and was a popular speaker Ellen Schiff ’38 Laura Kessler Nadoolman ’43 Eileen Firsty ’56 Anthony Mello ’69 Paula Hays Harper had been a performer herself, Blanche Weiss ’38 Evelyn Cohen ’44 Jean Singleton Hill ’56; MSEd ’73 of Fame in 2004. on TV news and interview Agnes Serbaroli ’70 (’66, MA ’68), an singing and dancing profession- Vivian Carlin ’39 Evelyn Harris ’44 Teresa Constantino ’57 programs and at professional Beatrice Lamb Carson MSEd ’74 art historian and ally before earning her Hunter Judith S. Judith Kohn Endelman ’39 Mary Galvez Rodriguez ’46 Gail Pflaster ’58 conferences. Lena Sorensen MA ’88 the author of a degrees and her doctorate from Wallerstein (’43), May Newburger ’39 Josephine C. Rodstrom ’46 George Wright ’59 Siok Tin Tan ’89 major biography of Stanford. She was the director an internationally Eleanor Lazarus Piel ’39 Anita Gelber ’47 Melvyn C. Resnick ’62 Edward L. Roberts MSW ’92 Camille Pissarro, was one of the of the art gallery at Hunter from renowned psycholo- Gertrude Levenson Felder ’41 Rosalie Ladd ’48 Sheila Chadwick ’63 first scholars to bring a feminist 1977 to 1978. gist, died on June 18, Sylvia Kelman ’41 Mary Elizabeth Churchill ’49 Susan Gildenberg Jeffers ’64

22 23 NON-PROFIT U.S. POSTAGE PAID Hunter College of The City University of New York MADISON, WI and the Alumni Association of Hunter College PERMIT NO. 2223 695 Park Avenue New York, NY 10065

Foundation Board Member Judith Francis Zankel Perfecting the Art of Giving Back

hen Judy F. Zankel (’67) “You can’t get better than Hunter,” arriving in a cloud of plaster dust.” Zankel’s involvement in the was a talented young the guidance counselor said. After benefiting from the arts extends to music as well. She Wpainter and “A” student “Well, that was easy,” Zankel support and expertise of Hunter’s is an active Carnegie Hall board applying to college, she was steered later recalled. She had the required distinguished visual-arts faculty – member, and with her late husband, in the right direction by a guidance high grades, and Hunter charged including landscape painter Julius Arthur, funded the construction of counselor at the High School of no tuition. Goldstein and sculptor Tony Smith Judy and Arthur Zankel Hall, which Music and Art. Zankel’s parents Zankel has always been grateful – Zankel graduated with honors and opened in 2003 and is renowned were Bronx residents of modest for the counselor’s spot-on advice. went on to a highly successful career as the acoustically perfect third means, and she had expected the “I am so lucky not only to have as a fashion illustrator. She has won concert space at Carnegie Hall. counseling session to focus on had a first-class liberal arts major awards in her field and has At her alma mater, Zankel serves work-study and scholarship education, but also to have been occupied leading positions at the on the Music Advisory Committee programs at costly institutions. exposed to the teaching and direction Society of Illustrators, including as well as the Foundation Board But the conversation took an of so many brilliant artists,” Zankel the presidency. She is also a guiding and has been a generous supporter unexpected turn when she happened said in 2007 at her induction into the force at the Smithsonian’s Cooper- of the College. to mention that her sister had Hunter Hall of Fame. “I remember Hewitt National Design Museum, graduated from Hunter College sailing into a philosophy class serving on its Board of Trustees as with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. immediately after a sculpture class, secretary and in other top posts.