Ru Freeman wins grand prize at literary festival
March 21—Ru Freeman, visiting professor in the MFA Program in Creative Writing, is the winner of the non-fiction and grand prize for her essay entitled Memory, Loss at the DISQUIET International Literary Festival. For seven years the prestigious literary event aims to deepen mutual understanding among writers from North America and Portugal. Freeman will receive free tuition, airfare, accommodation for the 2017 DISQUIET Program and publication in NinthLetter.com.
Renata Kobetts Miller writes International Women’s Day essay
March 10—Renata Kobetts Miller, associate professor and chair of the Department of English, wrote a first-person essay in response to “A Day Without a Woman” on International Women’s Day. Her essay appears in the Academe Blog of the American Association of University Professors. Miller also wrote a chapter for the “Oxford Handbook of Adaptation Studies.”
Victoria Frye is board member for the NCIPC
Feb. 14—Victoria Frye, associate medical professor in the Department of Community Health and Social Medicine, is appointed to the Board of Scientific Counselors at the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) until 2020. This group is appointed by the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and provides advice to the center director on research and programmatic matters.
The Journal of Negro Education publishes Terri Watson’s works
Terri N. Watson, assistant professor in the Department of Leadership and Special Education, published two works in The Journal of Negro Education titled: Why we can’t wait: (Re)Examining the opportunities and challenges for Black women and girls in education, where she was one of the guest editors, and her latest manuscript Talking Back: The perceptions and experiences of Black girls who attend City High School.
Stanley Thangaraj, assistant professor at the Colin Powell School for Civic and Gloabal Leadership, is the new Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS) Board Member for the mid-Atlantic region from 2017-2020.
Fabian Llonch wins biennial awards in Argentina and Brazil
Fabian Llonch, associate professor at the Spitzer School of Architecture, is awarded the Buenos Aires International Biennal of Architecture and the "Nuevo Centro Cultural en Rafaela” award from The Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism for his 2014 Centro Cultural Viejo Mercado in Rafaela, Argentina. Lonch also received an award from his home state’s House of Representatives in Santa Fe.
Xi Chen is Blavatnik Regional Award finalist 
Xi Chen, assistant chemical engineering professor at the Grove School of Engineering, is named a finalist of the 2016 Blavatnik Regional Awards in the field of physical sciences and engineering. He will accept his award—consisting of $10,000 in unrestricted funds and a medal—at the New York Academy of Sciences Annual Gala on November 7.
Victoria Frye receives grant to increase access to anti-HIV drug
Fabian Llonch wins biennial awards in Argentina and BrazilFabian Llonch, associate professor at the Spitzer School of Architecture, is awarded the Buenos Aires International Biennal of Architecture and the "Nuevo Centro Cultural en Rafaela” award from The Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism for his 2014 Centro Cultural Viejo Mercado in Rafaela, Argentina. Lonch also received an award from his home state’s House of Representatives in Santa Fe.
Xi Chen is Blavatnik Regional Award finalist Xi Chen, assistant chemical engineering professor at the Grove School of Engineering, is named a finalist of the 2016 Blavatnik Regional Awards in the field of physical sciences and engineering. He will accept his award—consisting of $10,000 in unrestricted funds and a medal—at the New York Academy of Sciences Annual Gala on November 7.
Victoria Frye receives grant to increase access to anti-HIV drug
Victoria Frye receives grant to increase access to anti-HIV drug
Sept. 21 - Victoria Frye, associate medical professor at the CUNY School of Medicine, receives a R21 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH) for $466,000 over a two-year span. As part of the grant, Frye will develop increased access to and uptake of non-occupational post-exposure HIV prophylaxis (NPEP) among minority communities.
Jennifer Tuttle directs play about unplanned pregnancy
Sept. 20 - Jennifer Tuttle, assistant professor in the Department of Theatre and Speech, directs “The Seedling Project,” a play inspired by true stories of unplanned pregnancy. The play will open in November at The PIT Loft, and some proceeds will go to the Margaret Sanger Center of Planned Parenthood.
Chemistry professor Barbara Zajc receives $450K NSF award
Sept. 13 - Barbara Zajc, professor of chemistry and biochemistry in the Division of Science, is the recipient of a $450,000 renewal award from the National Science Foundation. She is continuing her research on the development of fluorination chemistry. Fluorine is highly important in medicine, as a biological probe, in agrochemicals, and in new materials.
Elizabeth Biddinger wins $50K ECS Toyota fellowship
July 21 -- Elizabeth Biddinger, assistant professor in the Grove School of Engineering, is one of three winners nationally of ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowships for projects in green energy technology. Each recipient will receive a minimum of $50,000.
Biddinger’s project with the Electrochemical Society examines, in part, the use of silylamine reversible ionic liquids that have the ability to have conductivity turned off or on reversibly using carbon dioxide as a trigger for application as a reversible safety switch in high energy density batteries.
SOE’s Sobha Kavanakudiyil chairs AATE national conference
July 20 -- Sobha Kavanakudiyil, a lecturer in the School of Education’s Graduate Program in Educational Theatre, is co-chair of the 2016 American Alliance of Theatre & Education national conference in Boston, July 27-31. She was elected to the AATE Board of Directors and began a three-year term this month.
Kavanakudiyil is the second School of Education faculty member on the AATE Board. Jennifer Katona, program director, educational theatre, also sits on the board.
Agricultural History Society meets at CCNY
June 22 -- The Division of Humanities and the Arts is co-sponsoring the annual meeting of the Agricultural History Society on Thursday, June 23. The society is an international association of scholars interested in agriculture and rural life, said Adrienne Petty, associate professor in the CCNY history department. “The first part of the meeting takes place on our campus, in the NAC ballroom and other breakout rooms,” she added.
Christine Sheffer seeks to help people make healthy choices
June 15 -- Associate Professor of Community Health and Social Medicine Christine Sheffer of the Sophie Davis Biomedical Education/CUNY School of Medicine is the lead author of “Initial examination of priming tasks to decrease delay discounting” published in the July issue of Behavioural Processes. This study used a psychological technique known as “priming” to decrease delay discounting, which is the inclination to choose smaller sooner versus larger later rewards. Decreases in discounting are associated with decreases in the frequency of many risky health behaviors such as tobacco use, drug and alcohol abuse, overeating, risky sexual behaviors, and even the non-use of sunscreen and automobile seatbelts. A licensed clinical psychologist, Dr. Sheffer is an internationally recognized expert in the field of tobacco dependence treatment research and training.
Marit Dewhurst explores the intersection of art education and social justice
June 15 -- Assistant Professor of Art and Museum Education Marit Dewhurst talks about her new book , Social Justice Art: A Framework for Activist Art Pedagogy (Harvard Education Press, 2014), in a Harvard EdCast. Dewhurst, who is also the director of art education at the School of Education, draws upon her upbringing as well as her professional career in discussing the issues she raises in her book.
Joshua Cohen gets Met fellowship
May 17 --Assistant Professor of African Art History Joshua Cohen will be a Jane and Morgan Whitney Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the 2016-17 academic year. Cohen, whose research will be hosted by the Met’s Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the America, will spend his fellowship year completing a book that tracks modernist appropriations of African art by European and African artists between 1905 and 1980.
Nickolas Pappas on “a subject people fall in love with”
April 7 -- Philosophy Professor Nikolas Pappas muses on Socrates, Cynics and Flat-Nailed, Featherless Bipeds in a New York Times “Opinionator” column. Pappas is also the author of the recently-published “The Philosopher’s New Clothes” (Routledge, 2016).
Gilda Barabino keynotes “Women in STEM” summit
April 5 -- Dr. Gilda Barabino, dean of the Grove School of Engineering, is the keynote speaker at the second annual Women in STEM Summit on April 13 at the University at Buffalo in upstate New York. Barabino’s speech in UB’s Student Union Theater is entitled, “Identity and Career Progression for Women in STEM.”
“Women inspiring women” is the theme of the summit which brings together women professionals in various STEM fields for workshops and panels. This year’s event also includes student poster presentations.
The summit looks to inspire girls who are studying or may be looking for a career in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.
Colin Powell School’s Thangaraj publishes new collection
Assistant Professor of Anthropology Stanley Thangaraj’s new co-edited book, Asian American Sporting Cultures, features some of the biggest names in gender studies, literary studies, sociology and anthropology in a close examination of these cultures.
Double honor for Adeyinka M. Akinsulure-Smith
On April 20, Akinsulure-Smith will receive the “Outstanding Achievement Award” from the Women’s International Leadership Program of International House in Manhattan to mark its 25th anniversary. The honor goes to alumnae that have applied the leadership skills acquired in the WIL program, made notable and publicly recognizable progress in their field, and showed potential to continue that progress.
Robert Alfano and students seek greater understanding of Alzheimer’s disease
Jan. 28 -- Professor of Physics Robert Alfano and three fellow researchers -- Lingyan Shi, Pavel Shumyatsky and Adrián Rodríguez-Contreras – published “Terahertz spectroscopy of brain tissue from a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease” in the Journal of Biomedical Optics. The paper is the first instance in which molecular information on Alzheimer’s disease is obtained from THz spectroscopy.
Jennifer Tuttle advocates for women in theatre
Jan. 8 – Assistant Professor of Theatre and Speech Jennifer Tuttle recently joined the Stratera Foundation, which serves women in the theatre. She now oversees its new Statera Mentorship Program as the mentorship coordinator.
Lance Brown helps UN-Habitat to create new urban agenda
Jan. 20 --Professor Lance Jay Brown, FAIA, of the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture is one of 200 experts participating in the creation of the United Nation’s Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)’s New Urban Agenda. The Agenda is a 20-year strategy that U.N. member states will negotiate at Habitat III, the conference on housing and sustainable urban development in Quito, Ecuador, in October. Brown serves on the expert unit advising on Urban Ecology and Resilience.
Timothy Ellmore seeks understanding of how new memories are made
Jan. 16 -- Associate Professor Timothy Ellmore of the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership is the lead author of “The Effects of Changing Attention and Context in an Awake Offline Processing Period on Visual Long-Term Memory,” published in Frontiers in Psychology. The paper is a further exploration of Ellmore’s ongoing research into how sleep, as well as awake offline processing, is important for the transformation of new experiences into long-term memory.
Harriet Senie urges reconsideration of memorials to victims of tragedies
Jan. 11 -- Professor of Art History Harriet F. Senie’s new book, Memorials to Shattered Myths: Vietnam to 9/11 (Oxford University Press, 2016) analyzes memorials to Vietnam, Oklahoma City, Columbine and 9/11 - all events that challenged myths of national identity. Senie, who directs the M.A. program in Art History and Art Museum Studies, and also teaches at the CUNY Graduate Center, argues that these memorials conflate heroes and victims and create a class of privileged participants in the permanent memorial process.
Molly Emma Aitken continues her fellowship
Dec. 23 -- Associate Professor of Art Molly Emma Aitken heads into the second year of her American Council of Learned Societies fellowship, which she shares with Alison Renee Busch of Columbia University. Aitken, an art historian, and Busch, a literary scholar, are collaborating on an upcoming monograph, Aesthetic Worlds of the Indian Heroine.
Richard Bernstein wants us to know the founding fathers
Dec. 15 -- The title of Colin Powell School of Civic and Global Leadership political science lecturer Richard Bernstein’s new book, “The Founding Fathers: A Very Short Introduction” (Oxford University Press, 2015), says it all.
"Though many venerate the founding fathers, lately some of us want to knock them down and kick them when they're down,” he says. "I hope to show that it’s best not to revere the founding fathers nor scorn them, but to see them eye to eye. I wrote my book to show who the founding fathers were, what they did and did not do, and why we care."
Jonathan Pieslak publishes timely book
Dec. 14 -- Associate Professor of Music Theory and Composition Jonathan Pieslak's new book, "Radicalism and Music: An Introduction to the Music Cultures of al-Qa’ida, Racist Skinheads, Christian-Affiliated Radicals, and Eco-Animal Rights Militants" (Wesleyan University Press, November 2015), explores music’s transformational impact on the radicalization, reinforcement, and motivational techniques of violent political activists.
Pieslak, whose research was supported by a 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship, is also the author of "Sound Targets: American Soldiers and Music in the Iraq War" (Indiana University Press, 2009). He is now working on a team project exploring the mobilizing influence of media in the jihadi-Salafi movement, funded by a Minerva Grant from the Department of Defense.
Jonathan Scelsa wins NYSCA grant
Nov. 25 -- Adjunct Assistant Professor Jonathan A. Scelsa of the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture receives a $10,000 New York State Council on the Arts League-sponsored Independent Projects grant for “The Gowanus Roof-scape,” which aims to raise knowledge of the existing building makeup in the canal’s watershed.
Scelsa shares the grant award with Jennifer Birkelan, his partner in their Brooklyn-based studio, OP – Architecture Landscape.
Carlos Meriles researches advances in thermal conductivity
Nov. 20 -- Physics Professor Carlos Meriles co-authored a paper, “Imaging thermal conductivity with nanoscale resolution using a scanning spin probe,” in Nature Communications. “We anticipate broad impact in the field of nanoscale thermal transport, a subject of fundamental and technological importance presently hindered due to the lack of adequate tools,” the authors write in a letter to the editor of the publication.
Elizabeth Mazzola discusses Elizabethan education at the Folger
Nov. 5 -- Elizabeth Mazzola of the Division of Humanities and the Arts, professor of English and the department’s director of undergraduate studies, was one of several invited speakers at the Folger Shakespeare Library's recent symposium on early modern education. She is cited in the penultimate paragraph of the recap of the symposium.
Marta Gutman collects another award for her book
Oct. 19 -- Professor of Architecture Marta Gutman, the coordinator of the History & Theory Concentration at the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture, is one of two
Previously, Gutman’s book won the University of Mary Washington’s Center for Historic Preservation’s 2015 Historic Preservation Book Prize and received honorable mention from the Langham Charitable Trust’s Gene E. & Adele R. Malott Prize for Recording Community Activism.
Richard Steinberg becomes APS Fellow
Mehdi Bozorgmehr nabs research fellowship to continue work on “Growing Up Muslim” 
Terri Watson asks parents of NYC's public school students: "What do you need?"
Terri Watson asks parents of NYC's public school students: "What do you need?"
Stanley Thangaraj picks up ASA prize 
“Stan's essay is ethnography-in-progress of Kurdish Americans in Nashville," said University of Washington Associate Professor of Communication Ralina Joseph, the chair of the judging committee. “He deftly parses out the complexities of race, language, phenotype and ethnicity of Kurds, Arabs, Persians, Muslims and South Asians.”
Marco Tedesco investigates Greenland’s ice sheet
Barbara Wilks writes about the confluence of ecology and the city
Sept. 1 -- Adjunct Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture Barbara Wilks's new book, "Structuring Confluence," was cited as a "Book of Interest" in Landscape ArchitectureMagazine's August 2015 issue. The book, noted the magazine, "highlights the components of (Wilks's) collaborative, multidisciplinary practice that have produced multiple awards."
Dominick Pilla recognized for work in South Dakota
Aug. 24 -- Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture Associate Professor Dominick Pilla and his firm DRPILLA received a certificate of recognition from the
Terri Watson considers new ways to get urban high school students
' parents involved
Aug. 12 -- In her recently published manuscript, "Reframing Parent Involvement: What Should Urban School Leaders Do Differently?", Assistant Professor of Education Terri Watson challenges traditional (school-centered) beliefs surrounding parent involvement and offers school leaders a literal framework to better involve and engage parents of color in their children's academic success. Her manuscript celebrates parents and the ways in which they help their children succeed in school.
Tatyana Kleyn named Public Scholar by New York Council for the Humanities
Tatyana Kleyn named Public Scholar by New York Council for the Humanities
William Helmreich keeps on walking
Mitchell Schaffler to be honored by ASBMR
July 9 --Mitchell B. Schaffler, CUNY Distinguished Professor and Wallace H. Coulter Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and chairman of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Grove School of Engineering, will be honored by the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research later this fall. The ASBMR, the preeminent research society in the bone field, will present Schaffler with its 2015 Gideon A. Rodan Excellence in Mentorship Award for his outstanding support of young investigators pursuing independent careers in bone and mineral metabolism.
Schaffller will be presented with his award at the ASBMR's Annual Meeting in Seattle in October.
Shira Epstein's book praised by peer
July 6 -- Assistant Professor of Education Shira Epstein’s book, "Teaching Civic Literacy Projects" (Teachers College Press, 2014), received a glowing review in the July 6 Teachers College Record. “The book feels as though it was written in our current time, in that it acknowledges the real world in which most teachers work,” wrote reviewer Andrea S. Libresco, professor of social studies education at Hofstra University.
Stanley Thangaraj's first monograph explores masculinity and sport among Asian Americans
Elise Engler draws all of Broadway
June 8 -- Elise Engler, adjunct lecturer in the School of Education, was the subject of a "Talk of the Town" item in The New Yorker, "On Broadway," that details the creation of her latest work, "A Year on Broadway."
Terri Watson discusses “No Child Left Behind”
Ethan Ham conceives social deduction games for autistic players 
Professor Ham’s concept has received a Research in the Classroom Idea Grant from the City University of New York. The workshop starts
Debra Auguste-led discovery may help breast cancer treatment
Triple negative breast cancers (TNBCs) have a high mortality rate owing to aggressive proliferation and metastasis and a lack of effective therapeutic options. However, Professor Auguste’s team, discovered the overexpression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) in human TNBC cell lines and tissues, and demonstrated that it is a potential molecular target and biomarker for TNBC therapy and diagnosis.
Maria Ghilardi receives $2M grant to study local sleep
Dr. Maria Felice Ghilardi, associate medical professor in the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, has received a $2.17 million National Institutes of Health grant to study “local sleep” in humans. Local sleep occurs when individual neurons in the brain of a waking person enter a state that closely resembles sleep.
Entitled “Do single neurons need to sleep and why? Investigating the functional significance of local sleep in humans,” her five-year project is the third component of a larger $8 million study also involving the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Professor Ghilardi’s research will seek to determine if sleep in humans occurs locally, in small circumscribed regions of the cerebral cortex, during normal waking hours and if it is related to intense learning in those areas of the brain. The study will also attempt to establish whether local sleep is associated with specific human errors and if napping could prevent local sleep and its consequences.
"Presidential Conversations" series debuts November 13
Architectural historian Dr. Marta Gutman will be the inaugural speaker in the new year-long series, "Presidential Conversations: Activism, Scholarship, and Engagement," debuting Thursday, November 13, at 4 p.m. in Shepard 95. The forum features a City College faculty member in conversation with President Coico. Dr. Gutman will talk about her book, "A City for Children: Women, Architecture, and the Charitable Landscapes of Oakland, 1850-1950," published last month.
Maria Tzortziou receives $2.3M NASA grants
Associate Professor Maria Tzortziou of the earth and atmospheric sciences (EAS) department and NOAA CREST has received two three-year research grants from NASA for research on Carbon Dynamics along Terrestrial-Aquatic Interfaces. Dr. Kyle McDonald, Terry Elkes Professor in EAS, is a co-PI.The projects will integrate advanced remote sensing observations of wetlands and coastal ocean color with novel mechanistic carbon cycling modeling to improve understanding of tidal wetlands as sources and sinks of carbon in a changing world. The projects involve collaborations with various academic and research institutions including Pennsylvania State University, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, University of Maryland, University Of South Florida, NASA, NOAA, USGS, EPA, DOE and the Smithsonian Institution.
Several CCNY undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral student will be involved in the project and will gain interdisciplinary hands-on training in fieldwork, satellite data analysis, and earth system modeling.
Gilda Barabino secures $1M in NSF funding
Gilda Barabino secures $1M in NSF funding
Dr. Gilda Barabino, dean of the Grove School of Engineering, is a career-long advocate for broadening the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM careers. She is currently principal investigator for three NSF awards in this area: a five-year $750,000 grant for the academic career enhancement of underrepresented faculty in engineering; a $188,000 ADVANCE grant that includes three other CCNY faculty (Christine Li, Maria Binz-Scharf and Charles Watkins), to develop a blueprint for increased representation and advancement of women in STEM; and a $50,000 grant to conduct a national workshop devoted to interdisciplinary research and innovation.
Her work in this area makes Dean Barabino a sought after speaker. She delivered a keynote address at the Association of Underrepresented Minority Fellows conference at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland on October 18.
“Flying into the Hurricane”
Over the past two semesters during his Sabbatical, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Associate Professor Z. Johnny Luo has spent hundreds of hours on scientific flights studying cloud dynamics. On October 30, photo images from his airborne missions go on display in the exhibit “Flying into the Hurricane: Science in Action” in the Marshak Café.
“The idea is to motivate students to study science. It's no longer nerdy stuff but full of action, adventure and excitement,” he explained the purpose of the exhibit.
“La Sagrada Família” book coming November 24
Dean George Ranalli has authored the book “Sagrada Família - Gaudí's Unfinished Masterpiece: Geometry, Construction and Site” (November, 2014, Oscar Riera Ojeda Publishers Limited). It is an accompaniment to the ongoing exhibit of the same title at the Spitzer School of Architecture that he heads.
Lou Marinoff publishes seventh book
Philosophy Professor Lou Marinoff launches his seventh book, "The Power of Tao: A timeless Guide to Happiness and Harmony," 4 p.m. Saturday, October 25, in NAC 5/101. The event is free and open to the public. In his review, Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda said the book offers perceptive insight into Asian thought.
New book by William Crain
"The Emotional Lives of Animals and Children: Insights from a Farm Sanctuary," is the latest book by City College psychologist William Crain. It was published October 17 by Turning Stone Press. The book is based on Professor Crain's observations of animal behavior in a sanctuary he and his wife established in 2008.Writing in "Psychology Today," Marc Bekoff says: "I was continually fascinated by how his observations of the wide array of emotions displayed by the rescued animals informed his view of the emotional lives of young children."
David Unger wins top literature award
David Unger, an award-winning writer and the director of the Publishing Certificate Program at City College, will receive the Miguel Ángel Asturias Literature Prize, October 31, in Guatemala’s National Theater. The award is given out in honor of the 1967 Nobel Laureate in Literature who was from Guatemala. Mr. Unger, who is Guatemalan-born, will be honored for his lifetime achievements.
Marta Bengoa named IIE Fellow
Professor Marta Bengoa, director of the Graduate Program in Economics in the Colin Powell School, was on October 14 appointed an External Research Fellow by the Institute of International Economics (IIE) at University Jaume I and University of Valencia. She is one of two fellows named this year at what ranks among the top 10 economics departments in Spain.
Professor Bengoa joins the institute, which includes external scholars from Austria, France, Germany and Hungary. She will develop various lines of work in the field of international economic relations linked to the analysis and study of the specialization on production, foreign direct investment and trade in different regions and countries. She will also be teaching seminars and mentoring some of the PhD students enrolled in the program.
CCNY researchers receive $5M in federal grants
More than $5 million in federal research grants has been awarded to four City College of New York researchers in the interdisciplinary CUNY Institute for Macromolecular Assemblies.
The funding is from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), and Department of Defense (DoD). The recipients, all principal investigators for their respective projects, are:
Professor Ranajeet Ghose, chemistry; $1,024,780 from the NSF for his five-year project, "Conformational Dynamics and Regulatory Interactions in a Bacteriophage RNA Polymerase Complex." Read more.
New summer titles by CCNY faculty authors
"Zone Morality," philosophy Professor David Weissman's seventh book since 2000, is one of several titles by City College of New York faculty this summer and fall. The 128 page hardcover published by Walter De Gruyter, Inc. describes systems - families and businesses - and moral codes created by the causal reciprocities of their members. Other faculty publications include:
"Forgiveness and Remembrance: Remembering Wrongdoing in Personal and Public Life" (Oxford University Press) by Jeffrey M. Blustein, Arthur Zitrin Professor of Bioethics and Professor of Philosophy;
"Inequality in the Promised Land: Race, Resources, and Suburban Schooling" (Stanford University Press), by R. L'Heureux Lewis-McCoy, associate professor, Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership. Read more.
Eric D. Weitz awarded distinguished professorship
Dean of Humanities and Arts Eric D. Weitz has recently been named a Distinguished Professor with his tenure beginning September 1.
Joining City College in 2012, Eric D. Weitz, Ph.D., is trained in modern European and German history; his work in recent years has extended to the history and politics of international human rights and crimes against humanity. As Dean of Humanities and Arts, Weitz has been building the faculty and identifying new resources for faculty research and creative activity. He has promoted interdisciplinary collaborations across the College, and has sponsored new programs for students that provide them with major educational experiences outside of New York City. Read More.
CCNY Alumni Associations presents Service Awards June 12
Christian Volkmann, associate professor in The Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture, will receive the Faculty Service Award from the Alumni Association of The City College of New York. The Association's Administrative Staff Service Award will go to Yana Joseph, administrative manager in City College's Division of Humanities and the Arts.
Professor Volkmann and Ms. Joseph top the list of honorees at the Alumni Association's 162nd annual meeting 7 p.m. Thursday, June 12, in The Great Hall, Shepard Hall, at City College. Read more.
Rajan Menon named Carnegie Council Global Ethics Scholar
Rajan Menon, who holds the Anne and Bernard Spitzer Chair in Political Science at The City College of New York's Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership, has been appointed a Global Ethics Fellow by the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.
One of six fellows named this year, he joins the Council's Global Ethics Network, which includes scholars from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Ghana, India, Israel, Japan, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey and the United States. Read more.
Latif Jiji Receives CCNY President's Award for Excellence
Dr. Latif M. Jiji, Herbert Kayser Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the Grove School of Engineering, received The City College of New York's President's Award for Excellence Tuesday, May 13, for his half century of work at CCNY. Professor Jiji was among the honorees at CCNY's 2014 faculty recognition ceremony in The Great Hall, Shepard Hall on the college campus."City College is a great institution because at its core is a strong, dedicated, and hardworking faculty," said President Lisa S. Coico, in honoring Professor Jiji and the other faculty award recipients. Read more.
Dan DiSalvo, Andrea Weiss Get Fulbrights
Professor Daniel DiSalvo of the political science department and Professor Andrea Weiss of the media and communication arts department are the latest City College faculty members to receive Fulbright Awards. Professor DiSalvo will teach a short-course on U.S. history and politics at Universidad de San Andres in Buenos Aires. Professor Weiss will go to Spain for research and production on a documentary about erasure and denial of LGBT history in post-Franco Spain. Read more.
Jazz Great Steve Wilson Enhances CCNY Music Program
Steve Wilson is acclaimed as one of the finest saxophonists in the business. Now he is back at The City College of New York helping enhance the music department's jazz curriculum. Simultaneously, his illustrious career continues full clip with one CD wrapped up and live recording of another scheduled May 19 at the Village Vanguard. Hired last fall as professor of jazz studies, he has been imparting his vast knowledge to the College's graduate jazz ensemble as well as teaching the graduate jazz theory class and undergraduate jazz repertory and performance practice. Although he has taught previously at the Manhattan School of Music and Juilliard, this is his first full-time tenure-track position in higher education. Read more.
CCNY Team Develops Cancer Drug Screening Technology
Supported by a NSF CAREER grant awarded in 2011, Dr. Sihong Wang, associate professor of biomedical engineering in City College's Grove School of Engineering has been working with students to develop three-dimensional microfluid cell array for screening anti-cancer drugs. Now, one of her former graduate students, Dr. Zeynep Dereli Korkut, who developed the technology while working on her PhD, has established a biotech company with Professor Wang and a collaborator at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to bring the technology to market. Read more.
Jerry Carlson's "Nueva York" Wins Two Emmys
"Nueva York," CUNY TV's Spanish-language cultural series created and produced by City College film Professor Jerry Carlson, won two New York Emmy Awards at the 57th Annual Awards Ceremony at the Marriot Marquis March 30. The members of the New York Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences recognized the show for the fifth time as the Best Magazine Program. Now in its 10th season, "Nueva York" was also honored for Craft Specialty: Musical Composition / Arrangement. The winning piece was Tyrik Washington's composition for the "Pamela Gonzales" episode, which aired in May 2013. Read more.
Adeyinka Akinsulure-Smith Awarded Fulbright to Sierra Leone
Dr. Adeyinka Akinsulure-Smith, associate professor of psychology in City College's Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership, will spend the 2014-15 academic year exploring women and wellness in post-conflict Sierra Leone, her native country, as a Fulbright Scholar. During Sierra Leone's lengthy civil war, which ended in 2002, women and girls experienced unprecedented levels of gender-based violence, and more than a decade later their sense of wellness remains challenged.
Professor Akinsulure-Smith aims to understand the factors in Sierra Leonean society that hinder or help create a sense of wellness among women there. She plans to examine these factors from the perspectives of service providers and Sierra Leonean women. In Sierra Leone, Professor Akinsulure-Smith will partner with Caritas Freetown, a branch of Caritas Sierra Leone, a non-profit faith-based organization with a long, successful history of working with disempowered populations there; however, she will work independently.
Professor Callahan's New Book Honors Her UC Berkeley Mentor
City College of New York Professor of Hispanic Linguistics Laura Callahan has edited a new book honoring the scholarship of her University of California – Berkeley mentor. "Spanish and Portuguese across Time, Place, and Borders: Studies in Honour of Milton M. Azevedo" contains papers by Professor Callahan and 13 other former students of Professor Azevedo that cover new ground in the study of language and literature. Palgrave Macmillan will release it Wednesday, March 26. The 262-page book covers a diverse range of topics that includes linguistics and literature, and translation, society and language. All share a common focus on the dynamic nature of languages and the social forces that shape them across time, place, and borders.Professor Azevedo has been a member of the Berkeley Department of Spanish and Portuguese since 1976. His former students who contributed to the volume now teach at institutions around the world. Besides City College they include: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Brazil), Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico), Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain), University of Jyväskylä (Finland) and University of Arizona.
Tatyana Kleyn Awarded Fulbright for Teaching and Research in Mexico
Dr. Tatyana Kleyn, an associate professor in CCNY's School of Education and The Graduate Center, CUNY, has been named a 2014 Fulbright Scholar. She was selected through a new Fulbright program that awards grants for teaching English as a foreign language (EFL). Professor Kleyn, a specialist in bilingual and bicultural education, will teach a course to EFL teachers and conduct a study about children and youth who have been deported themselves or whose parents were deported from the United States back to Mexico. She will spend the Fall 2014 semester at a host institution that has not yet been determined. The Fulbright Scholar Program, sponsored by the U.S. State Department, is the United States' flagship academic exchange effort.
Seamus Scanlon Elected to MacDowell Fellows Executive Committee
Seamus Scanlon Elected to MacDowell Fellows Executive Committee
Seamus Scanlon, associate professor and librarian at the Centre for Worker Education, had been elected to the MacDowell Colony Fellows Executive Committee, an advisory 
group to the Peterborough, Vt., artists colony. MacDowell, established in 1896, is the oldest and one of the most prestigious artists colonies in the United States. Prominent writers who have been in residence there include: James Baldwin, Willa Cather, E.L. Doctorow, Spalding Gray, Oscar Hijuelos, Studs Terkel, Wendy Wasserstein and Thornton Wilder. Mr. Scanlon was a MacDowell fellow in 2012, and he completed work on his short story collection, "As Close As You'll Ever Be," (Cairn Press, 2012) there. He is the only librarian and only CUNY faculty member on the committee.
Professor Lakshman Awarded Fellowship for Travel to Japan
Professor Lakshman Awarded Fellowship for Travel to Japan
City College Professor of Chemistry Mahesh Lakshman has been awarded a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) fellowship. He will travel to Japan May 8 – June 8 and meet with scientists working in related fields at Kyushu University, Gifu University, Osaka University and Tokyo University of Science. Tohoku University will host his visit and he will present a lecture there. "I hope the dialog will produce new research directions on both sides, potential new collaborations and possible exchanges of researchers," said Professor Lakshman, whose research focuses on organic chemical synthesis relating to questions of biological interest.
Keith Grant Wins Audelco 'VIV' Awards for 'Dreamgirls'
Professor of Theatre Keith Lee Grant received the AUDELCO (Audience Development Committee, Inc.) 2013 "VIV" Award for best director of a musical production for the Harlem Repertory Theatre's (HRT) production of "Dreamgirls." "The VIV" Awards, named for Audelco's founder, Vivian Robinson, are the only formally established awards presented to the professional black theatre community. The show, which was directed, produced and choreographed by Professor Grant, also won for musical production of the year. Cast member Dion Millington, who played Effie, won for outstanding performance in a musical/female. Professor Grant is the HRT's founder and artistic director. He received "VIV" Awards in 2009 for Best Choreographer of a Musical and Best Director of a Musical for his work on the HRT's production of the musical "The Wiz." HRT will open it's 2014-15 season with "West Side Story" and Langston Hughes' drama "Tambourines to Glory."
Dominican Studies Librarian Nelson Santana Awarded Scholarship
David Crouse to Speak at Meta'14 in Singapore
David Crouse to Speak at Meta'14 in Singapore
Professor Alfano Organizes Supercontinuum Session for SPIE Photonics West
Dr. Robert R. Alfano, City College distinguished professor of science and engineering, has organized a half-day special panel commemorating the 45th anniversary of the discovery of the supercontinuum to be held February 5 at the SPIE Photonics West conference in San Franciso. Professor Alfano, who discovered the supercontinuum, will present a paper titled "Ultimate ultrafast white light's first observations: early discovery circa 1970." Six other papers will be presented on innovative research into non-invasive spectroscopic methods to detect the onset and progression of disease.
Lawrence Bank to Deliver Landis Lecture in Pittsburgh, Feb. 2014
Dr. Lawrence C. Bank, PE, FASCE, professor of civil engineering in the Grove School of Engineering, will be honored as the 2014 Landis Lecturer, Thursday, February 13, at the University of Pittsburgh's Swanson School of Engineering. He will be recognized for his contributions to the field of structural engineering at the ceremony in the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium, Oakland. Professor Banks's lecture will explore the sustainability of structural engineering education.
Lance Jay Brown Begins Term as AIA-NY Chapter President
Lance Jay Brown, ACSA Distinguished Professor of Architecture in the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture, was inaugurated as president of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) New York chapter December 10. Founded in 1857, the New York chapter is the oldest and largest chapter of AIA with nearly 5,000 members.
Teresa Bandosz Named "Journal of Colloid and Interface Science" Editor
The "Journal of Colloid and Interface Science" has added Dr. Teresa J. Bandosz, professor of chemistry and chemical engineering, to its team of editors. Professor Bandosz, who investigates environmental applications of adsorption, modification of materials and new sorbents and catalysts, has authored or co-authored 300 publications in peer-reviewed journals. Her papers have been cited more than 7,000 times. The "Journal of Colloid and Interface Science" publishes original research findings and insights regarding the fundamental principles of colloid and interface science and conceptually novel applications of these principles.
Tony Ro's 'Blindsight' Research Featured on NSF Video
Dr. Tony Ro, a neuroscientist in the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership's Department of Psychology, was featured in a recent National Science Foundation "Science Nation" video, which also aired on PBS NewsHour. Professor Ro is artificially recreating a condition called "blindsight" in his lab. "Blindsight" is a condition that some patients experience after having damage to the primary visual cortex in the back of their brains. Person's affected by this condition can still discriminate visual information, albeit without any awareness. His research aims to develop a clearer picture of how other parts of the brain respond to visual stimuli.
MCA Professor is Finalist for Global Ad Award
Gerardo Blumenkrantz, assistant professor Ad/PR, Department of Media and Communication Arts, and BIC creative track director, was named a finalist in the non-profit category of the London International Awards (LIA) November 4. The judging was done at the Encore/Wynn Las Vegas and he was recognized for his branding campaign on behalf of UNICEF. Professor Blumenkrantz served as an art director and creative director for the project designed by Ogilvy Indonesia for UN agency. The LIA is a global ad awards program for advertising, digital, branded content, design, production, and music and sound.
New Distinguished Professor
Dr. Daniel M. Greenberger, Mark W. Zemansky Professor of Physics, has been appointed a CUNY Distinguished Professor. The CUNY Board of Trustees approved his appointment June 24. Professor Greenberger, who joined CCNY in 1963, is the fifth active physics faculty member to hold that title. CCNY Provost Maurizio Trevisan said the appointment recognizes Professor Greenberger's national and international stature in his field and the significance of his contributions.
Ghosn Paper Wins IABSE Award
"Codes for Safety Assessment of Existing Bridges—Current State and Further Development," co-authored by civil engineering professor Michel Ghosn,has won the 2012 Outstanding Paper Award from the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE). It took first place in the scientific paper category and was published in the IABSE journal "Structural Engineering International." Professor Ghosn and his co-authors, Dawid Wisniewski and Joan Ramon Casas, will receive the prestigious award at the opening ceremony of the 36th IABSE Symposium in Kolkata, India, on September 24 - 27.
Davidson Film Premier
"HANS RICHTER: Everything Turns – Everything Revolves," a documentary by award-winning CCNY film professor Dave Davidson makes its East Coast premier 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, June 26, at the Jacob Burns Film Center (364 Manville Rd., Pleasantville, NY 10570). The screening will be followed by a question and answer session with Professor Davidson. A major force in redefining art and film in the 20th century, Richter was also director of CCNY's Institute of Film Techniques – the first documentary film school in the United States – from 1941 to 1957. For ticket information, visit www.burnsfilmcenter.org or www.hudsonwest.org .
2013 Faculty Award Winners
Daniel DiSalvo, assistant professor of political science, and Barbara Naddeo, associate professor of history, are the co-recipients of this year's CCNY Outstanding Teaching Award. They top the list of 2013 Faculty Award Winners announced by the Office of the Provost. The other honorees are: Ian Howe, adjunct lecturer, economics (Mentoring Award in Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, Humanities and Arts, and Social Sciences); Ilona Kretzschmar, associate professor, chemical engineering (Mentoring Award in Architecture, Biomedical Education, Engineering and Science) and biology professor Sally Hoskins (Provost's Prize for Pedagogical and Curricular Innovation).
Denn Docu Premiers at Tribeca
"Out of Print," a documentary co-produced by Morton Denn, Albert Einstein Professor of Science and Engineering, and narrated by Meryl Streep, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival April 25.It's been hailed as a fascinating, in-depth look at publishing's milestones and what it means to adapt that history to the rapid expansions of the information age.
Dekel Named Mellon Fellow
Mikhal Dekel, associate professor of English and comparative literature, has received a Mellon Mid-Career Fellowship from the Graduate Center of CUNY and a City SEEDS Research Grant for her research project on the "Tehran Children." Professor Dekel recently published an introduction to this project in the collection "The Globaland the Intimate " (Columbia University Press, 2012) and has given invited talks on this topic at Columbia University and at Haifa University.
Valdés Presents Papers
Dr. Vanessa K. Valdés, assistant professor of Spanish and Portuguese, spoke at the 44th Annual Northeast Modern Languages Association Convention in Boston March 21 – 24. Her paper was titled "Yearning for Home in the Caribbean Diaspora." Earlier, she was a participant, March 7 – 9, in the first biennial conference on Latina/o Literature and Culture at John Jay College. Her paper there was titled "Is Diaspora Transnational? A Future Course of U.S. Latino/a Literary Criticism."
Baron Edits Journal
The latest edition of the "International Journal of Middle East Studies," edited since 2009 by CCNY history professor Beth Baron, is out. In her five years at the helm, Professor Baron has helped maintain the publication, the flagship journal of the Middle East Studies Association, as the most prominent in the field. It publishes original research on politics, society and culture in the Middle East from the seventh century to the present day.
Judge Saltz
This year's National Magazine Awards – the Academy Awards of the publishing industry – have a City College connection. Ina Saltz, chair of the electronic design and multimedia art department, was among the judges March 6 -7 that picked the winners who will be announced at next month's Awards Gala at the Rose Theater.
Psychology's Milstein at NJ Conference
Dr. Glen Milstein, associate professor of psychology, was a panelist March 2 at a New Jersey Psychiatric Association conference in Princeton on mental health and spirituality. A licensed clinical psychologist and researcher on collaboration between clergy and mental health clinicians, he discussed the role of spirituality and faith in coping with death and dying.
'Searching for Zion'
Creative Writing Professor Emily Raboteau's latest book, "Searching for Zion" was published January 8 by Atlantic Monthly Press. It has received rave reviews from several publications including "The Wall Street Journal," "The San Francisco Chronicle," and "The Chicago Tribune." An excerpt was published in "Salon." "I doubt there will be a more important book of nonfiction this year," says noted author Dave Eggers of The Huffington Post's #1 pick of Best Books of 2013.
More Lyn Magic
English Professor Lyn Di Iorio, whose debut novel "Outside the Bones" fused Afro-Caribbean mysticism and crime, has co-edited a new book that explores the supernatural in other writings. "Moments of Magical Realism in US Ethnic Literatures" (Palgrave Macmillan, December 2012) bolsters conceptions of magical realism by suggesting that it is alive and well in the works of Latino, African-American, Native American and other ethnic writers.
Spanish Translation
Professor Di Iorio's translation of the 19th century Spanish poem "To Puerto Rico (I Return) by Jose Gautier Benitez, appears in Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's bestselling memoir "My Beloved World" (Knopf, January 2013). The book's title is taken from a line in the poem. "This is a poem that informs the structure of nostalgia for many Puerto Rican-Americans," said Professor Di Iorio, who also compiled the book's glossary and consulted on cultural and translation issues for both the English and Spanish versions.
Last Updated: 03/21/2017 16:58