@John Jay News and Events of Interest to the College Community

August 26, 2009

Worth NotingSeptember 1 6:45 PMPrimary Debate of the Democratic Candidates for Manhattan District AttorneyRichard Aborn, Leslie Crocker Snyder and Cyrus Vance Jr.Moderated by Dominic Carter

Admission by ticket only. Contact the Office of Student Activities for tickets.

Gerald W. Lynch Theater

September 10 2:00 PM – 4:00 PMBarack, Hip Hop and Beinga Black Male in AmericaDiscussion and book signing with Kevin Powell, author of The Black Male Handbook: A Blueprint for Life

Gerald W. Lynch Theater Lobby

September 16 6:00 PM – 8:15 PMFree Performance bythe Ailey II Dance CompanyContact the Office of Student Activities or the Provost’s Office for tickets.

Gerald W. Lynch Theater

The wealth of academic offerings at John Jay is gleaming even more brightly at the start of the fall 2009 semester, with the launch of two new majors: Bachelor of Arts degrees in Gender Studies and Global History.

John Jay will be the first City University institution to offer a BA in Gender Studies. The 36-credit interdisciplinary major will build on the minor in Gender Studies that the College has offered since 1997, including such courses as Sex and Culture, Women and Terrorism, Sex Offenders in the Criminal Justice System, History of Gender Images, Manhood in America and many others.

The major will be taught by a core group of nearly four dozen full-time faculty members representing 14 academic departments who have strong records of scholarship in Gender Studies. Their expertise covers a range of issues including antidiscrimination law, hate crimes, intimate-partner violence, sexuality and sexual identity in popular culture, stalking and sexual harassment.

The new major is already generating buzz in academic circles, with one prominent outside reviewer describing it as “an integrated, coherent and solid major — and one that is targeted to the already developed strengths in criminal justice at John Jay.”

“I’ve rarely seen [a major] as inclusive and well-thought-out as yours,” said the reviewer, Professor Michael Kimmel, a professor at SUNY’s Stony Brook campus and editor of the journal Men and Masculinities.

The Global History major is believed to be among the first of its kind in the United States, and with it John Jay becomes one of just a handful of institutions to provide students with a background in the new historiographic approach of global history, which emphasizes the connections between and among civilizations.

The new John Jay program differs from tradi-tional undergraduate world-history majors, which are organized according to region, by giving students the chance to master the history of the world during a particular chronological era.

As with the new Gender Studies major, the Global History major has already won the endorsement of independent reviewers. Professor

Joshua B. Freeman, Executive Officer of the PhD program in history at the CUNY Graduate Center, said the new major “represents the forefront in thinking among historians about how to understand and teach about the history

of the world…. In stressing global interactions, large historical processes and broad themes, the proposed major adopts a highly sophisticated approach to teaching world history, [one that is] ambitious yet manageable.”

With a New Dean on Board, John Jay Launches Two New Undergraduate Majors

In a bit of serendipitous timing, the newest baccalaureate majors in Gender Studies and Global History will be overseen by a new Dean of Undergraduate Studies whose scholarly track record covers both fields.

Dr. Anne Lopes, who assumed the deanship in late July, holds a PhD in political science from Freie Universität in Berlin, Germany, and is widely published on topics relating to gender, feminism and the women’s movement in late 19th-century Germany.

Lopes succeeds José Luis Morín, who had held the post on an interim basis for the past two years. Lopes most recently served as Associate Dean at Empire State College (SUNY), where her responsibilities included curriculum development, supervision of adjunct faculty members, and student academic and support services.

“As John Jay embarks on a period of strategic planning and self-study and prepares to launch a retention initiative, Dr. Lopes’ experience and abilities will serve us well,” said Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Jane Bowers, noting that Lopes led similar initiatives at Empire State and her previous institution, Metropolitan College of New York.

Lopes, who said she has been struck by the helpful and welcoming atmosphere that greeted her arrival, noted the campus-wide buzz surrounding “the innovative new programs showcasing the synergy of criminal justice and the liberal arts, the plans for hiring new faculty at the leading edges of their

fields, and the deepening conversation about sharpening our focus on student success.”

According to Lopes, “John Jay has developed incredible momentum in its global mission of Educating for Justice, from the energy and diversity of students in first-year learning communities to the productivity that comes from the sustained promotion of faculty and student research. There’s still much work to do, which makes it an extraordinary and exciting time to be the Undergraduate Dean. I very much look forward to my first academic year here and to contributing to the continued improvement of undergraduate education.”

Dean of Undergraduate Studies Seeksto Build on Campus-Wide Momentum

A coalition of more than 50 leading criminal justice officials and scholars representing 30 jurisdictions throughout the United States has banded together under the aegis of John Jay’s Center for Crime Prevention and Control to create the National Network for Safe Communities (NNSC).

The National Network was formally launched June 15 at a press conference held during the annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Providence, RI.

President Jeremy Travis, who serves as the NNSC’s co-chair, said the coalition’s members are “all committed to building a new standard of practice aimed at reducing violent crime, eliminating overt drug markets, promoting racial reconciliation between minority communities and law enforcement and reducing high levels of incarceration.”

The chief architect of these crime-reduction strategies is Professor David Kennedy, who is Director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control and co-chair of the NNSC. “These strategies work,” Kennedy said. “We’ve been

losing whole generations of young people to the streets, prison or murder, and we simply don’t have to live with that any longer.”

Kennedy’s crime-reduction strategies, pioneered in Boston, MA, in the mid-1990s, have since been adapted successfully in High Point, NC, Cincinnati, OH, and Hempstead, NY. At the press conference, officials from these localities and others spoke glowingly about the NNSC approach.

Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory said that city’s version of the Network’s strategy “has not only reduced group-related homicides, but it has helped many formerly violent individuals escape the cycle of violence and turn their lives around.” In Hempstead, which had the worst open-air drug market in Nassau County, the NNSC strategy led to a 74-percent decrease in crime and an 87-percent drop in drug arrests.

A Leadership Group has been created within the NNSC to help further develop the anti-crime strategies and share experiences and insights with the network. The group currently includes Boston,

MA, Police Commissioner Ed Davis, Cincinnati Police Chief Col. Tom Streicher, High Point Police Chief James Fealy, Los Angeles, CA, Police Chief William Bratton, Providence Police Chief Col. Dean Esserman, and Milwaukee, WI, Police Chief Ed Flynn, a John Jay alumnus (MA, 1976).

The National Network’s first annual conference will be held Dec. 2-3 in New York City. For more information on the NNSC, visit www.nnscommunities.org.

One current John Jay student, one former student, two glittering success stories.

Victoria Oyaniran, a student in the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Pro-gram, recently learned of her selection as one of the 2009 winners of a $10,000 fellowship presented by the Education Fund of the Women’s Forum Inc. of New York.

The Women’s Forum, an organization of prominent women in the professions, arts and business, presents annual grants to mature women who, after a break in their education, are pursuing under-graduate degrees.

Oyaniran, who has been active in the John Jay student government, the African Student Association and the Alpha Phi Sigma honor society, was “quite deserving” of the Women’s Forum award, said Marlon Daniels of the Office of Student Activities.

In April, Oyaniran was honored at the Service Learning and Civic Engagement Awards Lun-cheon with the Keith L.T. Wright Service Award.

Meanwhile, an ocean away, former Justice Scholar and Honors Program student Joseph Simone Jr. wrapped up the requirements for an MPhil degree from Cambridge University, with the help of a $15,000 scholarship provided by the John Jay College Foundation.

Simone said the Honors Program at John Jay had prepared him well for his studies at Cambridge. He cited his undergraduate mentor, criminal justice Professor Joshua Freilich, as having been an “engaging and thoughtful supervisor” when they worked together on a government-funded study of right-wing extremism in the United States.

Victoria Oyaniran

Joseph Simone Jr.

Onward & Upward for High Achievers

Crime Prevention Center SpearheadsNational Network for Safe Communities

Joined by local elected officials from around the country, and with President Jeremy Travis (left)

looking on, Professor David Kennedy fields reporters’ questions at the press conference held to

formally launch the National Network for Safe Communities.

Dean of Undergraduate Studies Anne Lopes

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educating for justice

Building on the rousing success of its inaugural effort in 2008, the second annual Bravo! Employee Summer Institute was held July 1-2, once again earning rave reviews from the hundreds of John Jay employees who took part in professional and personal development workshops, social networking opportunities and entertainment offerings.

Organized and presented by the Department of Human Resources, the Summer Institute this year included the presentation of the John Jay Employee of the Year Award to Kathy Killoran of the Office of Undergraduate Studies.

The presentation of the Employee of the Year honor was conducted by Provost and Senior Vice President Jane Bowers, who spoke glowingly of Killoran’s 19 years with John Jay, the last three of which have been as Academic Director of Undergraduate Studies.

In accepting the award, Killoran praised the energy, collegiality and friendliness of her John Jay co-workers. From the very start, she said, she has gotten “great satisfaction in improving the educational experience for our students.”

The Summer Institute, subtitled “Excellence in Customer Service: How Do We Get There?” featured dozens of small-group sessions led by in-house experts as well as outside specialists. Participants could learn how to manage their money and their time, deal with difficult co-workers or customers, improve their public-speaking technique, learn the art of forensic sketching, or run various computer programs or

electronic devices.Each day included a complimentary

continental breakfast and lunch. The first day’s luncheon featured the Soft Rock Café, with an acoustic musical performance by Peter Dodenhoff of the Office of Marketing and Development and Senior Vice President Robert Pignatello.

Making things happenTwo weeks prior to the Summer Institute,

18 John Jay employees who have gone the extra mile with creative problem-solving and superior customer service were honored as the latest divisional winners of the Bravo! Employee Recognition Awards.

“The College is in a stronger position than it was at the beginning of the year,” said Pignatello

at the breakfast ceremony on June 18. “You made it happen.”

The newest Bravo! honorees, who were intro-duced by their respective vice presidents, are: Meilisa Arlt (Facilities Management), Johanna Carlin (Theater), Sherry Gibson (Information Technology), Stacey Grant (Health Office), Jerylle Kemp (Alumni Relations), Leanne Mehno (Coun-seling), Alexander Pizarro (Registrar), Nicole Rios (One-Stop Center), Felice Shoot (Counseling), Marina Shturmina (Institutional Research), Jessica Usera (Health Office), Tomas Vallejo (Mailroom), Richard Van Patten (Media Services), Doreen Viñas (Public Relations), Cherryanne Ward (Spon-sored Programs), Nika Whitehead (Fire Science Institute), Fay Williams (Graduate Admissions) and Nakisha Williams (Institutional Research).

Three broadly experienced professionals took the reins of key positions in the College over the summer.

Christopher Trucillo, a former top official with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department (PAPD) was chosen to head the newly renamed Department of Public Safety at John Jay.Trucillo’s long career with the PAPD included overseeing security operations at Newark International Airport and the Port Authority Bus Terminal, as well as commanding the department’s internal affairs unit. He retired from the agency as its highest-ranking uniformed executive, Chief of Department.

One of the first official acts for Trucillo, who holds a master’s degree in criminal justice from Rutgers University, was to preside over a graduation ceremony for the first class of officers

PRESENTING…KIMORA (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) delivered a talk on “How Addicts Can Develop Character” to patients at the Addiction Institute of New York at Roosevelt Hospital on July 20. She addressed the importance of integrating aspects of critical thinking as a means of positive reintegration into society after drug treatment.

ANN A. HUSE (English) presented a talk on “Monmouth County Sites in Philip Freneau’s Poetry” to the Atlantic Highlands Historical Society in New Jersey on May 20.

HOWARD PFLANZER (Communication and Theatre Arts) presented a lecture with video clips, “Jerzy Grotowski, Judith Malina and The Living Theatre and Alternative Theatre in the U.S.”

under the auspices of The Theatre of the 8th Day as part of the Malta International Theatre Festival in Poznan, Poland, on June 25.

ELLEN SCRIVNER (John Jay Leadership Academy) moderated a panel on “Information Sharing Across Federal, State and Local Levels” at Attorney General Eric Holder’s Law Enforcement Summit in Washington, DC, on April 20. LORIE NICHOLAS (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) delivered a presentation on prisoner re-entry at the “Safe in Our Brothers’ Arms”: Black Male Mental Health and Wellness Symposium held at John Jay on May 1. The event was hosted by the New York Association of Black Psychologists.

BETWEEN THE COVERSMICHAEL PFEIFER (History) published an article, “The Origins of Postbellum Lynching: Collective Violence in Reconstruction Louisiana,” in the Spring 2009 issue of the journal Louisiana History.

ANDREW MAJESKE (English) had his new book Justice, Women, and Power in English Renaissance Drama published in June by Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. The edited collection includes Majeske’s essay “Striking a Deal: Portia’s

Trial Strategy in Shakespeare’s ‘Merchant of Venice.’” NIVEDITA MAJUMDAR (English) had her edited book The Other Side of Terror: Writings on Terrorism in South Asia published by Oxford University Press earlier this year.

PEER REVIEWDAVID GREEN (Sociology) attended the British Society of Criminology conference in Cardiff, Wales, in late June, where he received the society’s 2009 Book Prize for When Children Kill Children: Penal Populism and Political Culture.

JANE KATZ (Health and Physical Education) recently competed with the USA Masters Swim Team at the 18th World Maccabiah Games in Israel, where she won 10 first-place gold medals and three silver medals. Katz, who has participated in the Maccabiah Games since 1957, had the opportunity to meet Olympic gold medalist Jason Lezak (see photo, right), who lit the torch at Ramat Gan Stadium to open the Maccabiah Games.

DIANA FRIEDLAND (Sciences) was awarded a three-year, $415,665 National Science Foundation research grant for her proposal “Pokeweed Antiviral Protein selection of mRNA;

Effects of mRNA structure and initiation factors.” The research, funded by the NSF’s Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, Genes and Genome Systems, is aimed at increasing the understanding of viral infections and how they affect protein synthesis, potentially leading to new anti-viral approaches.

PAUL BRENNER (Media Services) has been elected a member of the Online Film Critics Society.

to be hired and trained under the renamed department. The 11 new public safety officers completed an 80-hour course of instruction prior to being deployed on campus.

Money mattersThe task of managing a broad array of

financial matters will now be in the hands of Gerald Garvey, who began work as John Jay’s new Bursar on July 20.

Garvey, a certified public accountant with 25 years of public accounting experience, recently assisted the College in a review of bursar operations. He brings to the bursar’s position a strong background in financial management, best practices in financial accounting, and establishing and maintaining strong internal controls.

“He is the ideal candidate to lead the Bursar’s Office through the implementation of the CUNY First system and will become an integral part of improved student services,” said Patricia Ketterer, the Executive Director of Finance and Business Services.

One sharp ’raiserJames Sheridan also joined the John Jay

community on July 20, as the new Director of Development.

Sheridan, who holds an MBA in marketing and accounting from Fordham University, comes to John Jay from the Institute of Student Achievement, a nonprofit organization that helps public high schools improve student performance. As director of development there, he increased fund-raised income by 50 percent in three years and secured a number of major gifts from corporate benefactors. Previously, he served as director of corporate and governmental relations at the International Longevity Center, an affiliate of the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine.

“In both development positions he has held, James has built the organization’s fund-raising program while mobilizing support for the organization among board members, donors and other external constituents. These are precisely the skills John Jay needs as we build our private fund-raising capability,” said Vice President for Marketing and Development Vivien Hoexter.

John Jay Says ‘Bravo!’ to Employees

Kathy Killoran of the Office of Undergraduate Studies (photo left) offers reflections and thanks after winning the 2009

Outstanding Employee of the Year Award. Divisional winners of the Bravo! Employee Recognition Awards were joined by

President Travis and the College’s vice presidents as they were honored at a June 18 breakfast ceremony (photo right).

Three Key Positions FilledNew Public Safety Director, Bursar,Development Director Join College Ranks

The newest members of the Department of Public Safety received their certificates

recently upon completing 80 hours of basic training.

Popular ScienceOne of New York’s Finest (above) does a double-take

after spotting a “blood-soaked body” dumped on his beat

in Washington Square Park June 14. The “body” was a

training mannequin that was part of The CSI Experience,

a popular feature of the World Science Festival Street

Fair that was run by forensic science faculty members

and students from John Jay, including Peter Diaczuk

(left), training director for the Center for Modern Forensic

Practice. Visitors to the hands-on exhibit could evaluate

a crime scene, identify trace evidence, compare ballistic

evidence, collect fingerprints and learn about DNA analysis.

Professor Linda Chiu Rourke served as team leader, working

with colleagues and student volunteers to assemble the

exhibit in just over a week.