Applications for the 2009 NYC Urban Fellows Program are available from the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS). The Urban Fellows Program is a highly competitite 9-month internship for students who wish to explore careers in government service, specificially in the City’s executive branch. Students serve full-time during the academic year and are trained for high-level policy forumation and analysis positions in the City’s administration. A significant proportion of Program graduates are hired upon completion of their internship service, and many have gone on to leadership positions in New York and other big cities. Students earn a $30,000 fellowship and participate in weekly weekshops and colloquia. The Urban Fellows Program welcomes applications from 2009, 2008 and 2007 graduates. The deadline for applications is January 9, 2009. For more visit http://www.nyc.gov/html/employment/urbanfellows.shtml
Read about CUNY BA graduate Bonnie Duen and her success as an NYC Urban Fellow here
117 graduating students attended the 36th commencement exercises of the CUNY Baccalaureate for Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies on Monday, June 9, 2008…as did hundreds of their friends and families, not just from the metropolitan region, but from all over the U.S. (including the Virgin Islands), and from countries around the world:Antigua, Australia, Barbuda/Dominica, Belize, Ecuador, England, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Israel, Jamaica, and Trinidad.
It was a joyous occasion in which each graduate was recognized by coming on stage to receive the degree.Several faculty mentors were on hand, as was the CUNY BA staff and many campus coordinators.At the ceremony, the following students received awards and scholarships:
The Abby Stein Scholarship was awarded to Susan Ryan (English / Legal Studies)
The Dan Daley Journalism Award was presented to Susan Hill (Urban Community Planning / Literary Journalism)
The Nan Bauer-Maglin Prize in Literary Studies was awarded to Kelly Gola (Psychology and Literature)
The Barbara Kneller Memorial Award was given to Patricia D’Agosta (Art History)
Alumni Awards were given to Saundra Ayala (Ancient Mediterranean Art History), Sharif Corinaldi (Physics), and Sara Ingram (Disability Studies)
EXCERPT:KEYNOTE COMMENCEMENT SPEECH, JOURNALIST JOHN HOCKENBERRY
“Wow, you design your own curriculum and you have the highest grade point average?!Who would ever have thought?!Shhh…don’t tell anyone.Let’s keep it a secret!â€
Surveying the 2008 graduating class of the CUNY Baccalaureate, four-time Emmy award-winning journalist John Hockenberry called the students a “paparazzi of hope, a press corps of promise†and urged them to think outside the box when choosing careers. Hockenberry said he had no idea what he wanted to be when he was in college but knew he “hungered and thirsted for putting knowledge together in ways that maybe weren’t the preconceived categories at the University of Chicagoâ€; he wanted to study both advanced mathematics and music, which, despite raising eyebrows at the time, he came to learn was established as its own unified science in the 5th Century BC by Pythagoras. He referred to interdisciplinary studies not as rebellion, but as a return to the way learning works. “Rebel is not a rejection of what is but an affirmation of what might be. You created your own curricula and you are part of an extraordinary tradition at an extraordinary moment in history.†Despite the students’ efforts at creating their own paths, he added, “Don’t for a moment think you know now where your impact will be…roll the dice.â€
EXCERPT:COMMENCEMENT GREETINGS, PROF. JOHN KRINSKY, POLITICAL SCIENCE, CCNY
“Graduates, if some significant percentage of you are anything like the couple of you I know well, you are a remarkable bunch. You have arrived through numerous paths, but all of you have decided, in one way or another, to stray from the prescribed paths that faculty committees, through the application of years of experience, wisdom, and scholarship, hours of hard work, bargaining, and occasional conflict, have designated as majors across the colleges of this university. You have decided not to follow these leads, and design your own majors. Now, that’s either very presumptuous or it suggests that you have your own intellectual projects: things that keep you up at night, talking to yourself on the sidewalk, or just eager to tackle in whatever class you may be in. If you’re anything like the few students here I’ve gotten to know well, this thing, this project, is something that will last well beyond your college career, and is, perhaps already your life’s work. If you’re anything like the few students here I’ve gotten to know well, this project has a lot to do with making the world a better place.With reducing or mediating conflict; making human relations less violent and less lethal. With promoting real understanding through listening to those to whom we’d often rather not listen. And with promoting justice, as well. Perhaps you’ve taken a different tack on a similar theme: for example, trying to find ways to reduce global poverty or disease, working toward environmentally and socially sustainable development.
These things should keep you up at night, and muttering to yourself on the street!They’re worth it, and it’s to your credit that you’ve recognized this, and recognized that understanding something more systematically about the way the world works takes pursuing these questions across a range of constituted academic disciplines and pursuing them as deeply as possible. But you also know that you can’t do everything on your own. That’s why the CUNY BA is so terrific. In many respects, I think I’ve gained as much or more from being a mentor as my mentees have gained from talking with me.I come out of meetings with my own batteries charged, a sense of possibility restored by the enthusiasm and seriousness of the students. I should emphasize, too, that in addition to being intellectually driven, you have had the help not only of your own mentors, but of the faculty of the CUNY colleges.And, as a mentor to several driven students, I’d like to thank the other mentors and the other faculty in the University—full-time and adjunct, junior and senior, who have helped you, graduates, pursue your own projects with as much seriousness as you apply to them yourself.â€
EXCERPT:COMMENCEMENT GREETINGS, EASTER WOOD, JUNE 2008 GRADUATE
Alaafia! Buenos dias! E k’aro! Bonjour! Nîmen zao! Boker tov! Salaam! Konnichi wa!Mudobo!Bom dia! Mema mo akye… good morning and blessed greetings to all the distinguished guests on and off the stage, friends, and family.
Our Director, Dr. Hartswick, mentioned some of the many locales that we hail from. I myself am a third generation native New Yorker. We could not have ended up in a better place than CUNY BA, sharing in a common destiny that includes a vast array of scholarship and a rich tapestry of life experience. I must say that I’m honored and delighted to have been chosen to speak on behalf of such a diverse and multi-talented group of individuals.
It is here that I pause to say adupe, obrigada - thank you - to the many wonderful people at CUNY BA who have helped us get to this day. Dr. Hartswick once joked that every CUNY BA graduate should get an honorary degree in public administration because, while creating an individualized degree seems like a neat little idea, there’s a sea of paperwork – not to mention e-permits – to navigate. We couldn’t have done it without the dedication of our directors, registrars, academic advisors and everyone at CUNY BA. I offer kudos to each and every graduate, as, although we had help, it was US who ultimately circumvented, surmounted – and in some cases bulldozed – any obstacles that stood in the way of us achieving our goals. I also offer special recognition to those who are graduating today after having been out of school for some time. The Yoruba people of Nigeria say that “The person who waits for a perfect opportunity will wait a life-time†– while there might not have ever been a perfect time to return to school we were, in fact, fortunate that it didn’t take lifetime to find the perfect opportunity in CUNY BA.
A CUNY education was once free but alas that is no longer the case. Thankfully, we at CUNY BA are surrounded by a host of wonderful benefactors, and so I’d also like to take this opportunity to personally thank Thomas W. Smith and the many others who have so generously contributed to helping me and many of my fellow students to achieve our dreams. Next, I must offer a collective meda ase, shukran – thank you – the more than 400 faculty mentors who have worked tirelessly with us to make sure that there was always some method to our madness. Special thanks to my mentor, Dr. Jo-Ann Hamilton for the dedication and maternal understanding she has shown me over the past 2 years. We are also thankful to all of the professors who have not officially served as mentors, but who have imparted the knowledge and guidance we needed to arrive here. Last, but certainly not least I offer merci beaucoup, sas efharisto poli – many thanks - to my parents and to all the family members and friends present who have stood by our sides offering encouragement, shoulders to cry on and urging us on when it felt like we couldn’t read another line, write another paper or talk to another professor about overtallying us in since the class we needed was full by the time the e-permit went through.
As I’ve studied history, particularly that of the African Diaspora, I’mkeenly aware of the ways in which ugly events of the past can reinvent themselves despite progress. For the first time in history, we have an African descended person who has won the nomination of a major party and who has real shot at becoming the president of the United States yet, in the midst of this monumental event, we see the continuation of a genocidal campaign in progress in the Darfur region of Sudan that has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of African people. For the first time in history, we had a woman candidate with the real potential to win the presidency yet, at the same time, in many places the world over – including right here in America – many women continue to endure oppressions like sexual violence and lack of access to education. These are but two examples of the intense juxtapositions we face in the 21st century. While, indeed, we recognize and celebrate the positive happenings in our world, we must also be aware of the negative, take an active stand, and not turn a blind eye when we are witness to so much needless suffering around us. As so eloquently put by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.â€
It is said that “to whom much is given much is expected†– we have been given a lot and have gained immeasurably from our experiences here at CUNY BA and now is the time to give back what is expected by being successful and productive members of society. May this be the beginning of many triumphs, successes and blissful moments to come! Ashe!
The Graduate Center is updating the phone and voicemail system in the building and phone and voicemail services will be impacted Thursday morning, July, 23rd. Please be patient if you are unable to get through to the office of it your call is not returned until later in the day. Thank you.
Our blog was hacked two weeks ago, and we’re still recovering from the attack. As a result, blog functions are limited for the moment; the gallery and calendar are not available, and category pages will not display. We are working with our server administrators to resolve this issue.
There are three new upper-level courses that are being offered this fall in the English Department at BMCC which CUNY BA students can register for.
Joyce Zonana, Associate Prof., is teaching Eng 340 (sec. 511), Middle Eastern Literature Mon Wed 5:30-6:45. (the schedule says Roger Sedarat, but he has moved on to a job in the Creative Writing Program at Queens College).
Cheryl Fish is teaching one of our new “topics in literature” courses, Eng 350.151, Environmental Topics in Film and Literature. Mon 2-3:30, Thur 3-3:50.
Page Delano is teaching a second Eng 350 — Sec. 091, Literature of the Vietnam War, Mon 9-10:40, Wed. 9- 9:50.
All three professors are strong and well-regarded, used to dealing with excellent and honors students. Briefly: Cheryl has taught women’s studies courses at the Graduate Center, and she was on a Fulbright last year in Finland where she worked on environmental issues. Joyce’s memoir Dream Homes: From Cairo to Katrina will appear in August with the Feminist Press, and Page’s scholarly work is in women and war.
Each of these courses has space, so that students might be able to register without much hassle at this point.
