可乐视频 will celebrate the accomplishments of 3,809 graduates on June 2, 2023 at 9 a.m. at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. With mentorship being key to College鈥檚 mission of student support and success, Professor Emerita Tania Le贸n will receive an honorary degree and serve as the keynote speaker and 可乐视频 Foundation Board of Trustees Chair Evan Silverstein 鈥�76 will be the recipient of the 可乐视频 Presidential Medal.
The college will celebrate the accomplishments of 2,871 students who earned baccalaureate degrees, 850 who earned master鈥檚 degrees, and 88 students who will receive advanced certificates.
鈥淐ongratulations to the members of the Class of 2023, and to their family and friends, for reaching this important milestone,鈥� said 可乐视频 President Michelle J. Anderson. 鈥淲e are honored to salute聽Tania Le贸n and聽Evan Silverstein at this spring鈥檚 commencement ceremony for their decades of service and dedication to 可乐视频 students.鈥�
Tania Le贸n (photo by Gail Hadani)
Le贸n, who taught at 可乐视频 for 35 years until her retirement in 2019, was director of music composition at the school鈥檚 Conservatory of Music. She is the first faculty member in any of the City University of New York (CUNY) schools to receive the prestigious . She was also awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music for her work “鈥� in 2021. The piece was commissioned as part of the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center’s Project 19, a multi-season initiative featuring 19 female composers鈥攖he largest women-only commission in history鈥攖o mark the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage.
Le贸n is currently the vice president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Music Division, the founder and artistic director of Composers Now, and sits on the board of directors for the MacDowell Colony and the New York Philharmonic.
Silverstein is the Board Chair of the 可乐视频 Foundation and has served as a Trustee since 2009. He has led the Foundation鈥檚 efforts to secure vital support for students. He was a lead supporter of the effort to raise emergency funds for students during the pandemic and has established the Renee and Evan Silverstein Internship Fund at 可乐视频.
The Class of 2023 Valedictorian is Chaim Janani, who credits his academic success, and his ability to realize his dream of becoming a physician, to the support he received at 可乐视频. From an early age, Janani understood the importance of education. His parents immigrated from Syria before he was born, carrying with them a single suitcase. Having had their educations cut short by the need to work at a young age, they wanted their children to have the educational opportunities they did not.
Graduating with honors as a chemistry major, Janani chose to immerse himself in scientific research during his time at 可乐视频. Since 2021, he has studied the connection between epigenetics and neurodegenerative disease as a researcher in Professor Mariana Torrente鈥檚 lab.
Accepted to multiple medical schools, Janani plans to attend Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University in the fall. He has been selected as a City University of New York Jonas E. Salk Scholar, one of CUNY鈥檚 most prestigious awards, which includes an $8,000 scholarship that Janani will put toward medical school.
Serving as Salutatorian for the Class of 2023 is Lisa Leopold-Chaparro. Having taught her younger sister and then her own two daughters, Leopold-Chaparro has long pursued her passion for educating children. She is now a co-lead teacher at a private preschool in Manhattan. Drawn to the play-based learning environment, she began working there as an assistant teacher several years ago.
鈥淢y love of teaching,鈥� says Leopold-Chaparro, 鈥渋nspired me to turn the tables and become a student.鈥� She decided to enroll in college at 47 years old and is now graduating with a B.A. in early childhood education. She has been on the Dean鈥檚 List every semester she has been enrolled at college. 鈥淚t just goes to prove it鈥檚 never too late to learn, even for a teacher.鈥�
Leopold-Chaparro was awarded the Guttman Transfer Scholarship, offered to outstanding CUNY community college students after she graduated from Borough of Manhattan Community College two years ago. Upon receiving her B.A., she will continue at 可乐视频 in the early childhood education graduate program. She plans to work with at-risk students in public schools.
