The announcements below are drawn from faculty submissions to the Office of Public Affairs and Publications (pubaff@gc.cuny.edu) and by no means reflect the sum total of the activities and awards of Graduate Center doctoral faculty. Readers are also invited to view faculty member entries on the Graduate Center doctoral program websites.

December 2008

Talal Asad (Anthropology, GC, Distinguished Professor) lectured on "Thinking About Religion, Belief, and Politics" at Princeton University on December 4, 2008. The talk was part of the Inaugural Danforth Lecture Series. Asad, a scholar of vast interdisciplinary reach and influence, has written critically important reflections on the shaping of religion and secularism in the modern West, especially as those constructs were formed through encounters with Islam. His books include On Suicide Bombing (Columbia University Press, 2007), Formations of the Secular (Stanford University Press, 2003), and Genealogies of Religion (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993).

Paul Attewell (Sociology and Urban Education, GC) and David Lavin (Educational Psychology and Sociology, GC) were named co-recipients of the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for 2008 in the category of Education. Professors Attewell and Lavin will share the $200,000 prize that comes with the award, which recognizes a landmark study they co-authored showing the long-term benefits of providing disadvantaged women with access to higher education.  Given by the University of Louisville, the Grawemeyer Award honors accomplishments that “help make the world a better place” in the fields of education, political science, music composition, religion, and psychology. It was established in 1984 by University of Louisville alumnus and philanthropist H. Charles Grawemeyer. The complete findings were reported as a book, Passing the Torch: Does Higher Education for the Disadvantaged Pay Off Across the Generations? published by the Russell Sage Foundation in April 2007. The authors were assisted in the research by recent doctoral graduates Thurston Domina and Tania Levy. Further information can be found at: http://www.gc.cuny.edu/press_information/current_releases/2007/june/Ed_access.htm.

Bernard E. Brown (Political Science, GC; Emeritus) presented his latest book, Tout ce que vous avez toujours voulu savoir sur les élections américaines (Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About American Elections) (Paris: Editions Autrement, 2008) to a symposium on the book at a leading French political research think tank (Centre d’Etudes de la Vie Politique Française—CEVIPOF) in September 2008. Attended by about thirty researchers and specialists, the symposium was chaired by the Director, Pascal Perrineau; the discussant was the distinguished political scientist and commentator, Olivier Duhamel. Professor Brown was also interviewed about the book, or talked about the American elections, on five radio networks (France Culture, France Inter, Radio Europe I, Radio Suisse Romande, and Radio France Catholique), and on three television programs (France 24); gave talks about the book in Reims (attended by four hundred people) and various French bookstores; and was interviewed for a blog posted on the site of Le Monde Affaires. The book was reviewed in Le Monde under the heading, “Le livre du jour” (the book of the day). He participated as well in a forum on the American elections at the Sorbonne. Amazon France listed his book upon publication as its number one best seller in the category of “enjeux politiques” (political issues) where it remained for several months; it continued to be listed in the top ten after the elections.

L. Poundie Burstein (Music, Hunter), a Graduate Center alumnus, was awarded the Society for Music Theory's Outstanding Publication Award for his recent article “The Off-Tonic Return in Beethoven's Op. 58 and Other Works,” in Music Analysis (2005).

Cynthia Fuchs Epstein (Sociology, GC, Distinguished Professor) gave the keynote address in October at the Espana En El Discurso de la Postmodernidad conference at the University of Seville in Spain. She also gave several papers in 2008: “Issue Entrepreneurs, Charisma: Charismatic Moments and the Shaping of Pro Bono Law in Large Firms” at the University of  Buffalo Law School; “The Intersection of History and Biography in a Woman’s Sociological Career” at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association; and “Culture and Stratification” at a Harvard mini-conference on cultural sociology.

Latif Jiji (Engineering/Mechanical, City College, Herbert M. Kayser Professor) received the national 2008 Ralph Coats Roe Award from the American Society for Engineering Division, which offers a $10,000 stipend annually to an exemplary teacher who brings distinction to the profession.

William Kornblum (Sociology, GC) was awarded the 2008–09 Robin L. Williams, Jr. Lectureship for the Eastern Sociological Society (ESS). Professor Kornblum has spent more than thirty years at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, traversing the line between academia and the world of public policy and applying his sociological insights to community and labor issues. He has spent years studying parts of New York, from its parks to its waterways, on behalf of the city’s planners. He has done the same for the U.S. Department of the Interior and the US Department of Education. Some of this research has focused on land use patterns, while other projects focus on the human/technology interface, particularly the Internet among kids. Since 1997, he has chaired the board of the Grand Central Neighborhood Agency, an agency serving the homeless in midtown Manhattan. Kornblum’s multi-faceted work uses sociology to tackle urban problems and has influenced hundreds of his students to become similarly engaged in their communities. For his work in these varied areas, he was recently awarded the 2005 Distinguished Career Award for the Practice of Sociology by the American Sociological Association.

Michael Meagher (Urban Education, Brooklyn) presented a paper, “Mathematics Instruction in High Needs NYC Middle Schools,” in July at the Thirtieth Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education and Thirty-Third Meeting of the International Group for Psychology of Mathematics Education in Morelia, Mexico. In September, he presented “A Trinomial Factoring Investigation with Pre-Service Teachers” at the Ninth International Technology and Its Integration in Mathematics Education Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Stephen Pekar (Earth and Environmental Sciences, Queens) was one of twenty-six scientists chosen by the Ocean Drilling Program to participate in an oceanic research expedition to Antarctica in 2009. In fall 2008, he led an Antarctica expedition, entitled “The Offshore New Harbor Seismic and Gravity Survey,” funded by the National Science Foundation and endorsed by the International Polar Year. Also, the ONH Project is part of ANDRILL, a multinational collaboration that aims to recover stratigraphic records from the Antarctic margin using drilling technology. The goal of this year’s expedition was to seismically image the Greenhouse to Icehouse World transition (45–25 million years ago) sediments that lie offshore of East Antarctica to determine the geological history of this region and to find the optimal site to drill these sediments. During this transition period Earth was significantly warmer than today and Antarctica contained an oscillating, advancing and retreating ice sheet and vegetation along the coastline. Additionally CO2 in the atmosphere was as high during this period as that predicted for this century, making it a great analogue for what may happen in our near future.

David S. Reynolds (English, GC, Distinguished Professor) received a very favorable review by Jay Wink for his new book, Waking Giant: America in the Age of Jackson (Harper/ HarperCollins, 2008), in the New York Times Book Review, Sunday, October 26, 2008; and another favorable review in the New York Times on November 3, 2008, by John Steel Gordon.

Bruce Saylor (Music, Queens) won a 2008–09 ASCAPLUS Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers. Awards are granted by an independent panel and are based upon the unique prestige value of each writer’s catalog of original compositions, as well as recent performances in areas not surveyed by the Society. Professor Saylor is also an alumnus of the doctoral program in music at the Graduate Center.

Anna Schwartz (Economics, GC, Emerita) was cited in an article, “Tearing into the Fed and Treasury Plans,” by Jack Willoughby in Barron’s on October 27 for her criticism of the U.S. government’s bailout plan. With Nobel laureate Milton Friedman she coauthored A Monetary History of the United States: 1867-1960 (Princeton, 1971). Since 1941 she has worked as an economist for the National Bureau of Economic Research at its Graduate Center office. She is a past president of the Western Economic Association.

Vidette Todaro-Franceschi (Nursing Science, Hunter) has been accepted as a Visiting Scholar at the Hastings Center for Bioethical Research in 2009, where she will be exploring health professional codes of ethics as they relate to professional education. She was also invited to participate in the 20th Anniversary Oxford Roundtable on Ethics: The Convolution of Contemporary Values, to be held March 2009 at Oxford University, United Kingdom.  Invitations are limited to thirty-five to forty scholars from around the world. Invitees are determined based on several criteria, among which are nominations by earlier attendees, their presentations and publications, the courses they teach, and their professional involvement in a relevant area of interest. Past presenters/participants include many noteworthy individuals, among them, Chancellor Goldstein and Chancellor King (SUNY). While a delegate there, she will be presenting a peer-reviewed paper entitled: "Healthy Aging, Unhealthy Dying: Talk about Convolution of Contemporary Values!" She will be bringing a guest to attend this renowned affair: Alsacia Pasci, doctoral student in nursing science

November 2008

Ervand Abrahamian (History, Baruch; Distinguished Professor) published A History of Modern Iran (Cambridge University Press, 2008); and “Who’s in Charge?” (in Iran), London Review of Books, November 6, 2008.

Mimi Abramovitz (Social Welfare, Hunter) was interviewed by KPFK radio ( Los Angeles) on October 3, 2008, for a program called "Dissecting the VP Debate” on Uprising Radio.

Zaghloul Ahmed (Physical Therapy, Staten Island) received $307,000 from the New York State Department of Health, Wadsworth Center Spinal Cord Injury Research Board (CART Research Grant) for his research looking at the combined effects of magnetic stimulation and acrobatic exercise in spinal cord injury using the mouse model.

Harriet Alonso (History, City) was invited to present on a seminar on “Building a Feminist-Pacifist Peace Movement: The early years” at the international seminar in “Mujeres y Paz. Teoría y Prácticas de una Cultura de Paz” at the University of Granada, Spain, in November. Professor Alonso is Chair, Department of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, The City College Center for Worker Education.

Christa Altenstetter (Political Science, GC and Queens) was a speaker at a meeting of the Northern Regional Health Authority in Porto, Portugal, on June 30, 2008. In her presentation she discussed how to implement a communication strategy designed to improve the effectiveness of healthcare reform on primary health care in the region. In addition, she presented initial findings on access to medical technologies—which are part of her current research project Bridging International and National Regulatory Policymaking on Medical Technologies: A Comparison of the European Union, Japan, and the United States of America—at the regional meeting of IPSA Research Committee 25 Comparative Health Policy within the International Political Science Association in The Hague, in early November, 2008.

Ronnie Ancona (Classics, Hunter) was quoted in the Washington Post concerning the College Board's plans to cancel or cut down Advanced Placement exams in Italian, French, Latin, and computer science after next year; and in the Staten Island Advance about Latin’s undergoing a resurgence among students in NYC. Her forthcoming publications include: "Horace and The Odes," an introduction to The Odes of Horace (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008); and (as coauthor), Horace: A Legamus Transitional Reader (Bolchazy-Carducci, 2008).

Talal Asad (Anthropology, GC; Distinguished Professor) gave the David Schneider Annual Lecture at the annual meeting of the Society for Cultural Anthropology, American Anthropological Association, in May 2008. He also gave the Joseph Astman Distinguished Scholar Lecture at Hofstra University in October 2007.

Simon Baatz (History, John Jay) gave the Lawrence J. Gutter Literary Lecture at North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe, Illinois in November 2008. His lecture was on the subject of his most recent book, For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb and the Murder that Shocked Chicago (Harper Collins, 2008).

David J. Bearison (Psychology and Educational Psychology, GC) has been named a fellow and visiting scholar at the Hastings Center, a prominent think tank that promotes discussion of ethical issues in medicine and the life sciences.

Randolph L. Braham (Sociology, GC; Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Director, Rosenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies) was awarded the Abraham Lincoln Award by the American Hungarian Foundation in September, 2008. This award recognizes outstanding and eminent contributions of persons of Hungarian background and ancestry who have contributed to American life through their scholarly work, artistic achievement, commerce, and the sciences, and who have enhanced human understanding.

Patricia Clough (Sociology, Queens) has been named President Elect of the Cultural Studies Association and Co-Chair of the Marxist Section of the American Sociological Association.

Mitchell Cohen (Political Science, Baruch), in June, presented papers at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Studies and at the University of Leipzig, Germany. Recent publications include "Gandhi's Burden and Ours," Dissent (Summer 2008), and "To the Dresden Barricades: The Genesis of Richard Wagner's Political Ideas" in Cambridge Companion to Wagner (Cambridge University Press, 2008).

Forrest D. Colburn (Political Science, Lehman), in July 2008, lectured on the application of game theory to the study of politics at the Adolfo Ibáñez University in Santiago, Chile, and presented his most recent book, Varieties of Liberalism in Central America, in El Salvador and Guatemala.

John Patrick Diggins (History, GC, Distinguished Professor) published “The Decline of Presidential Ethics” in The Chronicle Review (November 7, 2008).

Cynthia Fuchs Epstein (Sociology, GC, Distinguished Professor) gave the keynote address, “Gender Regimes and Knowledge Politics,” at a conference Espana En El Discurso de la Postmodernidad, University of Seville, Spain, in October 2008. She also presented several papers in 2008: in August, “The Intersection of History and Biography in a Woman’s Sociological Career” at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, and “Culture and Stratification” at a miniconference on Cultural Sociology at Harvard University; and in April: “Issues Entrepreneurs , Charisma: Charismatic Moments and the Shaping of Pro Bono Law in Large Firms,” at a conference on Private Lawyers and the Public Interest: The Evolving Role of Pro Bono in the Legal Profession, University of Buffalo Law School.

Beverly Falk (Urban Education, City) published Teaching the Way Children Learn  (Teachers College Press, 2009). As an invited speaker, she gave a talk entitled "Teaching the Way Children Learn:  Challenges for Urban Schools and Schooling,” in October 2008 at the Edward Zigler Center in Child Development and Social Policy, Yale University. She was also the graduation speaker for the Teacher Education Program, Brandeis University, in July, 2008. Her talk was entitled  "The Power of Questions: Teacher Learning through Research."

Michael Grossman (Business, Economics, GC), with co-authors Shin-Yi Chou and Inas Rashad, published “Fast-Food Restaurant Advertising on Television and Its Influence on Childhood Obesity,” Journal of Law and Economics 51:4 (November 2008): 599–618. Research for the paper was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDKD) awarded to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). The three authors are affiliated with NBER.

Frances Degen Horowitz (Psychology, GC), President Emerita of the Graduate Center, co-edited a book The Development of Giftedness and Talent Across the Life Span (forthcoming with APA Books, January 2009). It was noted in an article “'Gifted' Label Said to Miss Dynamic Nature of Talent” by Christina A. Samuels in Education Week (October 15, 2008). This prompted an hour-long on-line chat with Dr. Horowitz and fellow editors on November 19, 2008.

Matt Huenerfauth (Computer Science, Queens), whose research focuses on the design of computer technology for those challenged in their hearing or with low levels of written-language literacy, spoke at a Fall 2008 CUNY Psycholinguistics Supper on the topic of “A linguistically motivated model for speed and pausing in animations of American Sign Language.”

Latif Jiji (Engineering/Mechanical, City, Herbert M. Kayser Professor) received the national 2008 Ralph Coats Roe Award from the American Society for Engineering Division, which offers a $10,000 stipend annually to an exemplary teacher who brings distinction to the profession.

Maria Knikou (Biology, Physical Therapy, Staten Island) won a $1,500,000 grant from the New York State Department of Health, Wadsworth Center Spinal Cord Injury Research Board (CART Research Grant) for her research investigating the mechanisms underlying recovery after step training in spinal cord injury.

David Lavin (Educational Psychology and Sociology, GC) and Paul Attewell (Sociology and Urban Education, GC) were named co-recipients of the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for 2008 in the category of Education. Professors Attewell and Lavin will share the $200,000 prize that comes with the award, which recognizes a landmark study they co-authored showing the long-term benefits of providing disadvantaged women with access to higher education.  Given by the University of Louisville, the Grawemeyer Award honors accomplishments that “help make the world a better place” in the fields of education, political science, music composition, religion, and psychology. It was established in 1984 by University of Louisville alumnus and philanthropist H. Charles Grawemeyer. The complete findings were reported as a book, Passing the Torch: Does Higher Education for the Disadvantaged Pay Off Across the Generations? published by the Russell Sage Foundation in April 2007. The authors were assisted in the research by recent doctoral graduates Thurston Domina and Tania Levy. Further information can be found at: http://www.gc.cuny.edu/press_information/current_releases/2007/june/Ed_access.htm.

Margaret Lunney (Nursing Science, Staten Island) published three articles in 2008, one in the Online Journal of Issues in Nursing and two in the International Journal of Nursing Terminologies and Classifications. In October, she gave the Keynote Address at a International conference in Switzerland.At the end of November 2008 she presented four papers at the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association (NANDA) International conference in Maimi, Florida.

Michael Meagher (Urban Education, Brooklyn) made the following presentations: in July, 2008, with A. Brantlinger, “Mathematics instruction in high needs NYC middle schools,” at the Thirtieth Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education and Thirty-Third Meeting of the International Group for Psychology of Mathematics Education, Morelia, Mexico; and in September, 2008, with A. Koca and M.T. Edwards, the paper “A trinomial factoring investigation with pre-service teacher,” at the Ninth International Technology and its Integration in Mathematics Education Conference, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Cheryl Merzel (Public Health, Lehman) received a $6,000 PSC-CUNY 39 Research Award for a study on “Assessing Measures of Community Capacity for Health Promotion.” The study is a systematic review and synthesis of the multidisciplinary literature in order to identify existing methods for measuring community capacity, assess the scope and quality of these methods, and identify promising approaches for measuring community capacity that can be used in designing and evaluating public health programs.

June Nash (Anthropology, City; Distinguished Professor Emerita) gave a keynote address at the Conferencia Magisterial at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City in September, 2008, and gave a keynote speech at the University of Buenos Aires, in an event honoring the memory of Esther Hermitte, a social anthropologist who remained in Argentina during the years of military rule.

Donna M. Nickitas (Nursing Science, Hunter), in May, 2008, was promoted to Professor of Nursing Science and was named editor of Nursing Economics, Journal for Health Care Leaders. She co-authored ,with Mary Ann Hogan, Reviews and Rationales: Nursing Leadership, Management, and Delegation (Prentice Hall Health, 2008); and she was appointed as a member to the Service-Learning Task Force, Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society.

Loraine K. Obler (Linguistics, and Speech–Language–Hearing Sciences, GC, Distinguished Professor) was a visiting scholarat the European Masters in Clinical Linguistics programat Potsdam University from May through July, 2008.

Susan Opotow (Criminal Justice, Psychology/Social Personality, John Jay) was awarded the Morton Deutsch Conflict Resolution Award by the Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence (Division 48 of APA) at the 2008 American Psychological Association Convention.

Eugenia Paulicelli (Comparative Literature and Women's Studies, Queens) published "Mapping the world: The political geography of dress in Cesare Vecellio's costume books,” The Italianist 28 (2008) and "Poetica e Politica dello spazio nella scrittura di Clara Sereni,” Athanor 11 (2007–08). In Fall 2008 she presented papers at conferences on fashion held at New York University’s Galatin School and at University of Stockholm, Sweden.

Sophia Perdikaris (Anthropology, Booklyn), an alumna of the Graduate Center, was the keynote speaker at the September 2008 Graduate Center Student Orientation. Read more under Alumni Notes.

Antoni Pizà (Director of the Foundation for Iberian Music, Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation, GC), spoke in September at the world premiere of Anna Cazurra’s Hesperia, a work commissioned by the Foundation. The concert was held at the Instituto Cervantes of New York and was broadcast live on WQXR. He also spoke at the Barbican Centre, London, on the music of Manuel Falla and Maurice Ravel at the pre-concert lecture of the BBC Symphony Orchestra on October 24 2008.

Rishi S. Raj (Engineering/Mechanical, City), Chair of the Faculty Senate, was a guest of honor at the GND Engineering College, in Punjab, India. He spoke about increasing the efficiency of thermal power plants and was presented with a special plaque for his contributions to the field of energy and power generation. Professor Raj will help the college establish a center directed towards searching for alternative fuels, designing efficient power generation systems, and generating a pollution-free environment.

Stanley Renshon (Political Science, Lehman) published “The Political Mind: A dangerous world” online in politico.com on November 4, 2008: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15224.html.

David Reynolds (English, GC; Distinguished Professor) was interviewed on the radio and had a book signing for Waking Giant: American in the Age of Jackson in early fall, 2008. He also reviewed Phillip Dray's Capitol Men in the New York Times Book Review (Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008).

Diana Romero (Public Health, Hunter) received a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development (NIH) to conduct a mixed-methods research project entitled “Fertility and Disadvantage Among Low-Income Adults.” She also made several presentations at the annual American Public Health Association meeting in October featuring her research with the national Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing dataset, as well as the National Survey of Family Growth, on maternal and child health, and experience with social and economic hardship.

Margaret Rosario (Psychology/Social Personality, City) received the award for Distinguished Contribution to Ethnic Minority Issues from APA's Division 44 (Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Issues).

Anna Schwartz (GC, National Bureau of Economic Research–NBER, adjunct professor emerita) was cited in an article, “Tearing into the Fed and Treasury Plans,” by Jack Willoughby in Barron’s on October 27, 2008, for her criticism of the U.S. government’s bailout plan. With Nobel laureate Milton Friedman she coauthored A Monetary History of the United States: 1867–1960 (Princeton, 1971). Since 1941 she has worked as an economist for the National Bureau of Economic Research (which has had offices at the Graduate Center since 1999) and is a past president of the Western Economic Association.

Arthur K. Spears (Anthropology, Linguistics, City), in his capacity as president of the Society for Pidgin and Creole Linguistics (SPCL), presented a paper on "Haitian Creole and Education in Haiti" at SPCL’s joint meeting with the Society for Caribbean Linguistics in Cayenne, French Guiana, in August 2008; and “Journal d'informations," the public affairs TV program of Réseau France Outre-Mer, Groupe France Télévisions, interviewed him about Creole languages.

Vidette Todaro-Franceschi (Nursing Science, Hunter), presented four papers in October 2008, one on compassion fatigue, and another on end of life care at the 3rd European Federation of Critical Care Nurses/27th Aniarti Congress, in Florence, Italy; and two papers on innovative teaching-learning strategies at the inaugural conference for the Global Alliance on Nursing Education and Scholarship held in Toronto, Canada. An invited paper “Clarifying the Enigma of Energy, Philosophically Speaking,” based on previous seminal work, was published in Nursing Science Quarterly. Professor Todaro-Franceschi also won a Hunter Schools of the Health Professions Seed Money award to pursue research on end-of-life nursing education. During the summer, she presented a paper at the International Centre for Nursing Ethics conference, Yale University, and her work was highlighted by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing at the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium 50th Celebration in Chicago.

Gloria Waldman (Theatre, York, emerita), discussed her discussed her forthcoming book on dramatist Papo Marquez, which will be available Spring, 2009, and also organized the panel "Charting Cultural Spaces: Anarchists, dramatists, archivists—Luisa Capetillo, Papo Márquez, Carmen Rivera, and Doña Angélica Meléndez" for the 8th Conference of the Puerto Rican Studies Association, Center for Advanced Studies of the Caribbean, in Old San Juan in October.

John R. Wallach (Political Science, Hunter) edited and introduced a special issue of Journal of Human Rights, 7:2 (April–June, 2008) entitled "Human Rights in Conflict: Interdisciplinary Perspectives." The articles grew out a 2006 NEH Summer Institute for College and University Teachers held at the Graduate Center and directed by Professor Wallach.

Jock Young (Sociology, Criminal Justice, John Jay; Distinguished Professor) was plenary speaker at the Conference on Crime, Culture, and Conflict, University of the South Bank, London, in March 2008, and spoke about “The Distorting Lens of Criminology”; he also spoke at the annual meeting of the British Society of Criminology in July 2008. This year he published articles on moral panics, the political economy of punishment, cultural criminology, and the responses to 9/11.

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September 2008

Mimi Abramovitz (Social Welfare, Hunter College School of Social Work), in September, was interviewed on TV and radio about the Palin candidacy, was quoted in the Houston Chronicle about double standards being applied in response to the situations of unwed mothers, was quoted in the Jerusalem Post regarding the impact of the financial meltdown on human services in NYC, and wrote a commentary on Wall Street and women for Women's Enews.

Meena Alexander (English, Women’s Studies CP) has been named a 2008 Fellow of the Guggenheim Foundation. She will spend the fall at the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France, working on a new book of poems. On June 22, she read in Italy, at the Parma Poetry festival; and on June 23, at the Florence Poetry Festival. “Flesh Rose,” a cycle of her poems based on drawings by children from Darfur, is published in the International Literary Quarterly (www.interlitq.org ).

Jerry W. Carlson (French, Film Studies CP) produced twelve episodes of the nationally distributed television series Canapé, a monthly half-hour program covering French cultural events in New York and around the U.S. co-produced by CUNYTV and the French Cultural Services. (See www.cuny.tv.) Professor Carlson received a 2007 Emmy nomination for his work as producer.

Raquel Chang-Rodríguez (Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Literatures and Languages) published “Poetry and Prose Literature,“ a chapter in Vol. 1 of Guide to Documentary Sources for Andean Studies (National Gallery of Art/University of Oklahoma Press, 2008). She presided over a session at the II International Colloquium on Manuel González Prada: Challenging the Liberal Tradition, hosted by Johns Hopkins University and Loyola College; and in April, she taught a seminar on colonial poetry at the Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain. She recently was elected to the Executive Board of the Instituto Internacional de Literatura Iberoamericana, the leading professional organization promoting Latin American literature and culture.

Michelle Fine (Psychology, Urban Education) received a 2007 Distinguished Service Award from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI). The award honors individuals who have demonstrated enthusiasm, dedication, and an enduring commitment to SPSSI.

Ofelia García (Urban Education) co-wrote a report for Teachers College Campaign for Educational Equity (Columbia University), titled “From English Language Learners to Emergent Bilinguals,“ on how to deal with ELLs, create programming for them, and related issues. Her co-authors were colleague Jo Anne Kleifgen and doctoral student Lorraine Falchi. This report will be included in a toolkit that the New York City Department of Education will distribute to every school in the city.

Michael Grossman (Business, Economics) was awarded the 2008 Victor R. Fuchs Award for lifetime contributions to the field of health economics. The award was presented at Duke University during the second biennial conference of the American Society of Health Economists (ASHE), which took place June 22–25, 2008. ASHE is a newly formed professional organization dedicated to promoting excellence in health economics research in the United States.

William P. Kelly (English), President of The Graduate Center, published a review of two books related to Theodore Dreiser in the May 30, 2008, issue of the Times Literary Supplement of London: The Genius, edited by Clare Virginia Eby, is the 1911 draft of a novel that Dreiser subsequently revised, and A Picture and a Criticism of Life: New Letters: Volume One, edited by Donald Pizer, which is a collection of Dreiser’s correspondence.

Robert E. Lipsey (Economics; emeritus), in May 2008, took part in a workshop and gave a paper at the Center for International Comparisons of Prices, Production, and Income at the University of Pennsylvania; lectured on “Measuring the Location of Production in a World of Intangible Productive Assets, FDI, and Intrafirm Trade “at the 2008 World Congress on National Accounts and Economic Performance Measures for Nations, in Arlington, Virginia; and with co-author Fredrik Sjöholm, presented a paper on “Foreign Takeovers and Employment in Indonesian Manufacturing “at the conference on Comparative Analysis of Enterprise Data, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary.

Stephen Pekar (Earth and Environmental Sciences, Queens) gave four talks in summer 2008 at the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research in St. Petersburg, Russia; at the International Geological Congress in Oslo, Norway; and at Cambridge University in the U.K. He was one of twenty-six scientists chosen by the Ocean Drilling Program to participate in an oceanic research expedition to Antarctica in 2009.

Antoni Pizà (Music) spoke about Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos and Spanish musical thought during the Enlightenment at the cultural center Can Marquès in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on May 22, 2008.

Gregory Rabassa (Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Literatures and Languages, Comparative Literature) received the Lifetime Contribution Award of the Brazilian Studies Association of America at their March meeting in New Orleans. On May 2 he participated in the conference on the life and works of Padre António Vieira at the University of Massachusetts—Dartmouth, and was given the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters. On May 21 in New York, the Brazilian Government conferred upon him the rank of Comendador in the Order of Rio Branco.

Stanley Renshon (Political Science) published “The political mind: The c o n science of a candidate“ online in The Politico on July 31, 2008. See www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/12184.html.

Tracey A. Revenson (Social-Personality Psychology, GC) presented two papers at the 10th International Congress of Behavioral Medicine in Tokyo, Japan, in August 2008: “Fear of recurrence trajectories among breast cancer survivors” and “Benefit-finding, religious coping, and psychological distress among USA and UK breast cancer survivors.” Revenson is the deputy executive officer for psychology at the Graduate Center, CUNY.

Deborah J. Walder (Psychology), along with co-authors V. Mittal, H. Trotman, A.L. McMillan and E.F. Walker, published “Neurocognition and conversion to psychosis in adolescents at high-risk,“ (2008) Schizophrenia Research 101 (1–3). She has also received a 2008 Young Investigator Award ($60,000) from the National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) for the project "Diffusion tensor imaging and structural MRI abnormalities in adolescents at-risk for depression: The role of early life stress and 5-HTTLPR." She is P.I. of the project.

Margaret Wallace (Biochemistry, Criminal Justice) was invited to speak at the Fourth Annual Conference of the Korean Academy of Scientific Criminal Investigation, Chungnam National University, Deajeon, South Korea, on June 12. Her presentation, "Forensic Science: The Interface between Science and the Law," discussed the role of forensic biology in human identification and genotyping of botanical and entomological samples. She was appointed foreign editor of the Journal of the Korean Academy of Scientific Criminal Investigation by the President of the Academy.

Zahra Zakeri (Biochemistry, Biology) received an "Ambassador of Science" Award at the Seventh Annual Meeting of the International Cell Death Society, which addressed "Targeting Cell Death Pathways for Human Diseases." The meeting took place June 6–9 in Shanghai, China. Zakeri was recognized for her contributions in building international coalitions, connecting scientists of many nations, and building opportunities for women and junior scientists. (Dr. H. Robert Horvitz, recipient of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, was honored at the same meeting.)

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May 2008

Jerry W. Carlson (French, Film Studies) delivered a keynote address titled "The Role of Cultural Television in Promoting Reading" at the Santo Domingo International Book Fair in April in the Dominican Republic. At The City College, in February, he served as a moderator of the David Dortort Lecture in the Dramatic Arts delivered by filmmaker Arthur Penn (Bonnie and Clyde).

Marc Edelman (Anthropology) presented a paper on "Rooted Cosmopolitans in Transnational Agrarian Movements" at a workshop on "Agrarian Questions: Lineages and Prospects" held May 1-3, 2008, at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

David Gerstner (Theatre, Film Studies CP) has published the following: "Changement de bord: l'amitie cinematique de Marcel Duchamp et Charles Demuth." Marcel Duchamp et l'érotisme. Ed. and trans., Marc Décimo. France: les presses du réel, 2008, 115-26; "Queer Internationale: Pedagogy and Modes of Cultural Production in the Twenty-First Century." 21st-Century Gay Culture. Ed., David Powell. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008, 85-94; "De Profundis: A Love Letter from the Inside Man." The Spike Lee Reader. Ed., Paula J. Massood. Temple University Press, 243-53, 2008; "Queer Turns: The Cinematic Friendship of Marcel Duchamp and Charles Demuth." Marcel Duchamp and Eroticism. Ed., Marc Décimo. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007, 105-15; "Ricordi! Peter Wells, Memories of a Queer Land." New Zealand Filmmakers. Eds., Ian Conrich and Stuart Murray. Wayne State University Press, 2007, 121-33; "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You: Andy Warhol Records/Is New York." City That Never Sleeps. Ed., Murray Pomerance. Rutgers University Press, 2007, 90-101.

Marilyn Gittell (Political Science) led a discussion on Citizen Participation at MIT's Community Innovators Lab in February as part of CoLab's series of talks titled "Learning Circles." In March she gave a lecture at the Annenberg School at USC on "Communication, the Media, Advocacy Groups." In April she spoke at a conference held at the Ford Foundation and organized by the Howard Samuels Center titled "Expanding Inclusion in Higher Education." She gave testimony before the New York City Council about the continuing gender gap in earnings and employment, and presented a paper on the report of the Howard Samuels Center titled "The Economic Status of Working Women in New York State" at the Annual Urban Affairs Association meeting in Baltimore.

Patricia Mainardi (Art History) was appointed the 2008 Van Gogh Professor at the University of Amsterdam and the Van Gogh Museum, where she gave a series of lectures and seminars on "Word and Image" at both the museum and the university in April. Her keynote address at the Van Gogh Museum was titled "Illustration, Caricature, Comics." She gave a lecture titled "The Invention of Comics" at the Museum der Moderne in Salzburg, in connection with the exhibition "Kino and Comics." She also gave the keynote address, "Looking Forward to the Nineteenth Century," at the Morgan Library celebration of the inaugural publication of the journal Van Gogh Studies. She recently published book and exhibition reviews in the Journal of Modern History and 19th-Century Art Worldwide.

Pyong Gap Min (Sociology) was interviewed on CUNY-TV's City Talks in March. The subject was his new book Ethnic Solidarity for Economic Survival: Korean Greengrocers in New York City (Russell Sage Foundation, 2008).

Antoni Pizà (Music) spoke at Antoni Gaudí's La Pedrera (Fundació Caixa Catalunya) in Barcelona on Baltasar Samper and the musical exile after the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) on April 22. He also lectured on April 24 at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona on new directions on American musicology.

Peter Roman (Political Science) won a PSC-CUNY Research Award for $6,000 for the academic year 2008-09, to study the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution and the Federation of Cuban Women in Cuba.

Gloria Waldman (Theatre, Emerita) is completing the manuscript, Papo Márquez: Obrero de la cultura ( Terranova Editores, Puerto Rico, 2008), an anthology of the plays, poetry and fiction of the Puerto Rican popular theatre dramatist and actor, author of the controversial 1980s work, Esquizofrenia Puertorricensis. In October she will present the book at the 8th Conference of the Puerto Rican Studies Association at the Center for Advanced Studies of the Caribbean in Old San Juan. She will also organize the panel, "Charting Cultural Spaces: Anarchists, dramatists, archivists—Luisa Capetillo, Papo Marquez, Carmen Rivera, and Doña Angélica Meléndez." Ph.D. theatre student Jason Ramirez will participate in this panel discussing the playwright who is the subject of his dissertation, award-winning Carmen Rivera ("Carmen Rivera: Nuyorican Playwright Reclaims La Lupe and Celia Cruz").

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April 2008

Meena Alexander (English) has a new book of poetry Quickly Changing River (TriQuarterly Books/ Northwestern University Press, 2008). She gave a reading at the Associated Writing Programs conference in New York City as part of the CUNY Gala reading and participated in a panel of Asian American women poets entitled "Mother Tongue" in January. She read from her work at East Stroudsberg University and at New York University's Asian Pacific American Center in February. In March she read in Venice, at the triennial conference of the European Association for Commonwealth Literatures, "Try Freedom: Rewriting Rights Through Postcolonial Cultures." She will also take part in a plenary session entitled "Writing Through Cultures of Terror." In June she will read from her new book at the Poetry Festival in Parma, Italy. Alexander has been named a 2008 Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

Ronnie Ancona (Classics) lectured on Catullus at the Bryn Mawr College Classics Colloquium in February (see http://www.brynmawr.edu/classics/posters2008/ancona.html) and will also present this work at Temple University in April. Her comments on teaching Catullus from the beginning stages of Latin through the Ph.D. level appeared in the October 2007 edition of ELitterae, an eNewsletter for Latin teachers. A wiki has been established for her Catullus textbook at: http://writingpassion.pbwiki.com/. She currently edits the new advanced-level Latin textbook series, Bolchazy-Carducci Latin Readers, concise scholarly introductions to Latin authors, genres, and topics; the first volume will be appear later this year. She presented a paper for a panel on Catullus at an American Philological Association meeting in Chicago.

Howard Chernick (Economics) published an op-ed piece titled "Cleaning Up This Mess Won't Be Pretty." See the website www.theglobeandmail.com.

Mitchell Cohen (Political Science) has contributed to an international symposium on "1968" in the Spring issue of Dissent Magazine. He delivered the Gold Foundation Distinguished Lecture in Jewish Studies at the University of California at Santa Cruz on March 10; his topic was "Israel, Anti-Semitism, and the Left." He also lectured on this theme at the Taube Center of Stanford University on March 11. His essay titled "Auto-Emancipation et Anti-Semitism" appeared in the French journal "Controverses: Revue d'idees" in February 2008. It appeared earlier in English in Jewish Social Studies and in Italian in the monthly publication Reset. Professor Cohen was interviewed in February by Reset about the call to boycott Israel at the Turin and Paris bookfairs; see http://www.resetdoc.org/EN/Mitchell-cohen-interview.php.

Michelle Fine (Psychology, Urban Education) has received a number of honors and awards. The Adolescent Girls Taskforce of the National Institute of Drugs and Alcohol has named her its first Featured Scientist. She received the fifth annual Social Justice Action Award at the Winter Roundtable on Cross-Cultural Psychology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. And she was presented with the Willystine Goodsell Award from Research on Women and Education at the American Educational Research Association annual meetings in New York.

Joyce Gelb (Political Science) is co-editor of the electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies at http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk.

Hugo Kaufmann (Economics, European Union Studies Center) was invited to give a lecture at the Columbia University—SIPA seminar series on business and business cultures in the European Union. The title of his lecture, given in October 2007, was "Convergence! What Convergence? Vive la Différence!" He gave another invited lecture at the international law weekend of the American Foreign Law Association's October 2007 session on "The European Community at 50: Successes, Setbacks and New Challenges." The title of the presentation was "Euro, Euro Ueber Alles."

Marnia Lazreg (Sociology) published Torture and the Twilight of Empire: From Algiers to Baghdad with Princeton University Press in December 2007. She gave talks about it at Maison Française, Columbia University, and the Roberta Buffett Center for International and Comparative Society, Northwestern University, Evanston, in February; the Institute for Middle East Studies, Elliott Center for International Affairs, George Washington University, Washington DC; the International Human Rights Center at the Graduate Center, and the Left Forum Conference, in March. She has also been interviewed by nineteen radio stations across the nation, including the Maryknoll syndicated network.

Katherine Manthorne (Art History) published the essay "John Sloan, Moving Pictures, and Celtic Spirits" in Seeing the City: John Sloan's New York (Delaware Art Museum/Yale University Press, 2007), the catalogue for an exhibition that took place at the Delaware Art Museum from October 20, 2007, to January 20, 2008. The exhibition is in Pennsylvania until April 27, Chicago until September 14, and will end in North Carolina on January 4, 2009.

Peter Ranis (Political Science; Emeritus) reviewed The Politics of Labor Reform in Latin America: Between Flexibility and Rights by Maria Lorena Cook in Perspectives on Politics (APSA), Vol. 6, No. 1 (March, 2008); and The Politics of the Past in an Argentine Working-Class Neighborhood by Lindsay DuBois in American Ethnologist, Vol. 33, No. 3 (August, 2006). He was interviewed by Pacifica Radio Station KPFA (San Francisco) on the "Against the Grain" program concerning "U.S. Workers Under Siege," on December 4, 2007.

Stanley Renshon (Political Science) published "McCain's Dilemma: Rebel or Leader" in The Politico on March 3, 2008 (http://www.politico.com). His column is titled "The Political Mind."

Liat Seiger (Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences) published chapters in the following books: Language and Communication: Disorders in Children, 6th edition, edited by D.K. Bernstein and E. Tiegerman-Farber (Pearson Education, 2008), with Diana Almodovar; The Handbook of Child Language Disorders edited by R. Schwartz (Psychology Press, 2008); Early Childhood Special Education, 0 to 8 Years (Merrill, 2007), with Deena Bernstein.

Stephen Steinberg (Sociology) published Race Relations: A Critique (Stanford University Press, September 2007). The book was featured in the "Research & Books" column of the Chronicle of Higher Education in November 2007.

Deborah Walder (Psychology) published "Neurocognition and Conversion to Psychosis in Adolescents at High Risk", along with V. Mittal, H. Trotman, A.L. McMillan, and E.F. Walker, in Schizophrenia Research.

Henry Wasser (Sociology; Emeritus) and Solidelle Fortier published Higher Education in Europe and the United States of America: A Diverse Collection of Essays (University Press of America, 2007). Wasser is executive director of the CUNY Academy for Humanities and Sciences.

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February 2008

Mimi Abramovitz (Social Welfare) delivered a keynote address titled "Welfare Reform: Race, Class, and Gender Matter!" at the University of Bielefeld in Germany in November. She presented a paper titled "History of Low-Income Women's Activism Since 1900" at the Academics and Activism Conference organized by the Women's Studies Certificate Program at the Graduate Center in November. She was the keynote speaker at the 90th Anniversary Dinner of the University of Minnesota School of Social Work in October; her talk was titled "The Welfare State: A Battlefield for Human Rights."

Ammiel Alcalay (Comparative Literature, English) has been informed that his translation of Shimon Ballas' Outcast (City Lights) was selected as an Editor's Choice—Best of 2007 by ALA Booklist.

Jerry W. Carlson (French, Film Studies CP) delivered a lecture on "New Forms of Audiovisual Production in the Global City: Cable and Independent Film in New York" at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogota in October. He conducted at set of public Q&A sessions with French filmmakers after their works were screened at the French Institute Alliance Francaise as part of the Police Paris New York Film Festival. In November he visited the Houston Polish Film Festival to tape two interviews with director Krzysztof Zanussi for telecast on CUNY-TV.

Mitchell Cohen (Political Science) gave one of the keynote lectures at an international colloquium on "Compassion" at the Venice International University, co-sponsored by the Nexus Institute for European Culture of the University of Tilburg (The Netherlands) in October. He spoke on "Compassion and Politics in Wagner's Parsifal."

Forrest D. Colburn (Political Science) published "Rethinking the 'Third World': Talking with Lakhdar Brahimi," in the World Policy Journal (Summer 2007). In the past academic year, Professor Colburn gave invited lectures in Venezuela, Peru, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua.

Joyce Gelb (Political Science) was a participant in the European Consortium for Political Research in Pisa Italy in September, where she presented a paper on anti-feminist politics in Japan and the U.S. In November she was a participant in the Salzburg Global Seminar for Session 447, "Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Women in Politics and Business in Salzburg Austria," with representatives from over 21 nations. She was a visiting scholar in Taiwan, researching issues related to women and political representation. She also lectured at Tsinghua and National Taiwan Universities, on a trip was sponsored by the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office in New York.

John L. Hammond (Sociology) lectured on human rights education at the Catholic University of Angola in Luanda, and at the Lusiadas University in Lobito.

Barbara L. Hampton (Music) presented a paper, "Rappin' Ga: Hiplife and Some Myths of Globalization," and chaired a panel on "Urbanism and Music" at the annual conference of the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM), hosted by the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She presented the keynote address, "Engaged Ethnomusicology: Debates, Prospects and Positionings," at the joint conference of the Mid-Atlantic Folklore Association (American Folklore Society) and the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of SEM, hosted by the College of William and Mary and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Along with performers, she authored text and provided translations for the liner notes of the CD Congo Square. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology at its Silver Jubilee Conference; she is one of only four people who has ever been given this honor.

Hugo M. Kaufman (Economics) was invited to give a lecture at Baruch College titled "International Trends and Developments in the European Union" in a series titled Market, Cultures and Regimes in September. In October, he gave an invited lecture at the Institute for the Study of Europe (SIPA) on "Business Cultures in Europe: Convergence—What Convergence?—Viva la Difference."

President William P. Kelly (English, American Studies CP) wrote a review of the book James Fenimore Cooper: The Early Years by Wayne Franklin, which appeared in The Times Literary Supplement of London in December 2007.

Candace McCoy (Criminal Justice) co-authored a monograph titled "Unlocking America: Why and How to Reduce America's Prison Population," which was published by the JFA Institute, with the support of the Soros Foundation. She participated in a presentation of the report, which was broadcast nationwide on C-SPAN in December. One of her co-authors was Todd Clear, Distinguished Professor of Criminal Justice at John Jay College and the Graduate Center.

Gerardo Piña-Rosales (Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Literatures and Languages) recently gave the following lectures: "Escritores espanoles en Estados Unidos"at the Meeting of the Asociacion de Academias de la Lengua Espanola, Medellin, Colombia in October 2007; "La recepción de Miguel Delibes en Estados Unidos" at Congreso Internacional sobre Miguel Delibes, Valladolid in October 2007; and "Franz Kafka viendo llover en Macondo" at the Symposium on Cien años de soledad by García Marquez, Library of Congreso, Washington, in December 2007. He was also invited to participate in the Special Committee for the New Grammar of the Spanish Languages and the Committee for the Diccionario de Americanismos at the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language, Madrid.

Antoni Pizà (Music) spoke on "Translating Jacint Verdaguer into Words & Music" at a series of events titled Film, Poetry, Art & Memory at New York University in November.

Herbert Saltzstein (Psychology) traveled to Brazil to plan a number of research projects at the Federal University of Rio and the Federal University of Pernambuco (Recife). He also gave a lecture at both universities on research he conducted with his students.

Lía Schwartz (Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Literatures and Languages) has published the following articles: "Genealogías del sueño en la obra de Quevedo", Filología, XXIV–XXV, 2002–3 2007; "Fábula mitológica y sátira: Menipo litigante de Bartolomé Leonardo de Argensola", in Homenaje a Ana Maria Barrenechea, coord. by Melchora Romanos et alii, Buenos Aires, EUDEBA, 2007 and "Entre dos siglos y dos continentes: los antiqui auctores y las literaturas hispánicas" in a special issue on Hispanisms and the Humanities, eds. A. Egido and L. Schwartz, INSULA, 725, LXII, 2007. In November, as MacCall Lecturer for 2007, she spoke at the University of Cambridge, UK, on the topic "Wit and the Baroque Imaginary: Of Mazes, Metamorphoses and Oneiric Prophecies" and in December, at the University of Lille, France, on "El Buscón en el contexto de la obra de Quevedo." In July 2007 she participated at the XVI Congress of the AIH with a paper titled "Las Obras de Xenophonte traducidas por Diego Gracián (1552) en el Quijote, II, 34" and in September 2007, she was invited to speak at the colloquium Francisco de Quevedo, in Torre de Juan Abad (Spain) on "Desde La Torre: la invención de un "Theatro de la Historia"."

Arthur Spears (Anthropology, Linguistics) was interviewed by Gil Noble on the WABC program Like It Is in September. The subject was globalization and its impact on people of color.

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