B.A. June 2005, International Politics

• Magna Cum Laude
• Thomas W. Smith Academic Fellow
• Diego Hidalgo Scholar
• Ross Alexander Playwriting Award
• Golden Key Honor Society

Dana Agmon came to the CUNY Baccalaureate Program with diverse life experiences. The member of a distinguished Israeli family, her great-grandfather was the leading rabbi in Morocco. She served as a first lieutenant in the Israeli Defense Force and is the founder of The Conspiracy of Hope, an organization that seeks solutions for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. She was recently accepted to Yale University’s joint MA/JD program in foreign relations and to the University of Chicago. “I found my interest in international affairs and politics fairly quickly when I took a course in Global Perspectives with Professor Chudi Uwarurike at City College,” she said. She noted that the CUNY BA Program exposed her to a wide range of academic environments. “While CCNY is my home college, I was able to take courses at Hunter, the CUNY Graduate Center and the New School,” she said. Last summer she conducted research in the Middle East on the impact of generational differences on the relationship between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, as well as on the peace process. Her faculty mentor is Professor Jacqueline Braveboy-Wagner of CCNY’s Political Science Department. Agmon received her CUNY BA in June 2005 and is currently attending the University of Chicago.

B.A., June 2005, Naturalized Epistemology

• Thomas W. Smith Academic Fellowship
• City College Fellowship

In 1998 Juan Montaña started his study of Philosophy at the National University of Colombia. Upon coming to the U.S., he practically had to start his education over because of the different educational standards. Recognizing that the CUNY BA would be the best place for him to continue and prepare for graduate school, Prof. Nickolas Pappas, Philosophy, City College, wrote, “Juan knows much more philosophy - and knows it at a deeper level - than the typical American student.” Montaña also came highly recommended by professors from Colombia, two of whom rated him as one of the top students they have ever had. He designed an area of concentration with Prof. Claudine Verheggen, Philosophy, City College that explores his interest in philosopher W.V.O. Quine’s Naturalized Epistemology, which demands an interdisciplinary collaboration between sciences otherwise unrelated, such as cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, biology, computer science, linguistics and sociology. Montana has taken classes at The Graduate Center, Hunter, and City, including a research project on the “Language of Thought,” done with a grant from City College. He was a presenter at the Cognitive Science Symposium at The CUNY Graduate Center in 2004. He has maintained a 4.0 GPA in his area and overall, and is simultaneously working on a Master’s in Psychology while completing his B.A. in Philosophy. He has been accepted to Washington University in St Louis, with a full fellowship, for the Ph.D. program in philosophy and cognitive science.

B.A. June 2005, Cultural Studies and Revolutionary Discourse

• Cum Laude
• Dean’s List
• CUNY BA/BS Alumni Scholarship
• Thomas W. Smith Academic Fellowship
• Harriet Brows Scholarship
• St. Croix United Steelworkers Union Scholarship

In consultation with Prof. Bruce Habegger, Art and Steve Leberstein, History, City College, Charles McDonald crafted a concentration combining classes from Hunter, City and The Graduate Center that integrate his political, artistic, and intellectual life. His scholarship focuses on issues of migration, anti-colonial struggle, human rights, anti-war movements, and structures of international law and justice. An accomplished photographer, his degree also includes courses on the history, aesthetics and politics of photography. He traces the origins of his interest in photo-graphy and social movements to his unmasking of St. Croix history. Photography led him to folk stories and oral traditions, which led him to learn that “rather than having been ‘given’ freedom by a benevolent governor as I had been taught in school, the slaves of St. Croix led one of only two successful slave revolts in the Caribbean. Out of my research came the realization that the power to define oneself rather than be defined is crucial to challenging power dynamics which oppress communities. I wanted to further investigate the role photography played as a medium of the masses in shaping and documenting communal identity and history.” As a poet, his work has appeared in the Hunter College literary magazine; as a spoken word artist, he has performed around the city; as a photographer, his work was featured in a solo show at the Jack Doroshow Gallery and in the City College Spring 2004 Student Photo Exhibit. McDonald worked with advocacy groups such as ACORN, Safe Horizon, the Sept 11 Fund, and NYPIRG. McDonald is currently enrolled in the Master’s in Liberal Studies (American Studies) program at the CUNY Graduate Center.