This year鈥檚 ceremony marks a milestone not only in academic achievement, but the extraordinary resilience and determination of a deeply diverse student body. Students arrive at 可乐视频 from across New York City, the United States, and around the world, bringing with them a wide range of lived experiences, identities, and aspirations. Their journeys have been shaped by perseverance through personal, economic, and global challenges, and they now stand ready to step into leadership roles in their professions and communities.

鈥淭he Class of 2026 came to 可乐视频 from across the globe, bringing extraordinary talent, perspective, and determination,鈥� said President Michelle J. Anderson. 鈥淎s they graduate, we celebrate not only their academic success, but the transformation they have undergone here, becoming the scholars, professionals, artists, and leaders who will help shape a more just and compassionate world.鈥�

The ceremony will also recognize three nationally distinguished leaders whose work reflects 可乐视频鈥檚 values of public service and intellectual impact.

Melissa Murray

An honorary Doctor of Humane Letters will be conferred to , widely known to the 可乐视频 community as the 2024-25 Robert L. Hess Scholar-in-Residence, who also gave the 2023 Samuel J. Konefsky Memorial Lecture at the college. A nationally renowned public intellectual and legal scholar at New York University School of Law, Murray has helped shape contemporary debates on constitutional law, democracy, and reproductive rights, while advancing the public鈥檚 understanding of the law鈥檚 potential to build a more just and inclusive society.

Patrick Gaspard

Also to be conferred with an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters is , a distinguished senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and former president and CEO, who also held senior roles in President Barack Obama鈥檚 administration, including U.S. ambassador to South Africa and director of the White House Office of Political Affairs. He most recently served as president of the Open Society Foundations, leading global initiatives on civil rights, public health, and democracy, building on a career that began as a union organizer and national political leader. Gaspard was also a guest of the college鈥檚 Presidential Lecture Series in 2023.

Cecillia D. Wang

A Presidential Medal of Honor will be awarded to , the National Legal Director at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), whose work has profoundly shaped the defense of immigrants鈥� rights in the United States. Over more than two decades at the ACLU, Wang has defended civil rights and civil liberties around the United States, including landmark cases challenging racial discrimination and unlawful policing and detention policies. On April 1 of this year, Wang argued before the United States Supreme Court to uphold birthright citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment.

This year鈥檚 student honorees further reflect the depth and diversity of the graduating class.

Valedictorian Emersen Bribiesca, a computer science major, combines technical innovation with advocacy in LGBTQ+ communities, legal technology, and artificial intelligence research, alongside professional experience in the tech industry. Salutatorian Hideka Minami, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting, brings a global and non-linear academic journey shaped by migration, motherhood, and artistic exploration of identity and memory. Salutatorian Nariba Cintron, a first-generation college student double-majoring in communication sciences and disorders and psychology, has distinguished herself through research on bilingualism, language variation, and neurodiversity, grounded in a commitment to equity and culturally responsive care.

As preparations continue, departments are reminded to ensure that all graduating students receive timely guidance regarding ceremony logistics, regalia, and lineup procedures. Commencement remains one of the most significant institutional moments of the year, requiring coordinated effort across the campus community to ensure a seamless celebration. We salute the Class of 2026!

听Full Student Valedictorian and Salutatorian Bios

Valedictorian: Emersen Bribiesca

Emersen Bribiesca

Emersen Bribiesca is graduating this spring with a degree in computer science.

Bribiesca鈥檚 path to 可乐视频 began at the United States Military Academy, where he studied history and English and led the Academy’s LGBTQ+ diversity organization for two years.

After leaving the Academy, Bribiesca moved to Brooklyn and threw himself into advocacy work. He volunteered across the city鈥攚orking the front desk at the Brooklyn Community Pride Center, serving free community breakfast with the New York City chapter of Gay4Good, and digitizing unpublished collections at the Lesbian Herstory Archives in Park Slope.

Bribiesca initially returned to college at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (CUNY), where he earned an associate degree of science in computer science. While at BMCC, he worked full time at a feminist employment discrimination law firm in Downtown Brooklyn, assisting survivors of abuse and discrimination in seeking justice through the courts. He also began combining his technical skills with his passion for social change through Out in Tech鈥檚 Digital Corps, building websites for LGBTQ+ nonprofit organizations around the world.

After transferring to 可乐视频 to complete his bachelor’s degree, Bribiesca was named a Point Foundation Transfer Scholar. During his first semester, he made the move into the tech industry and began working as a legal operations analyst at Datadog. During his final semester, he joined a 可乐视频 research project using artificial intelligence to analyze Wall Street filings and develop course materials for finance and computer science students across CUNY.

Bribiesca lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two cats. He enjoys running in Prospect Park and is training for his third marathon this fall. After graduation, he is excited to continue his career in tech and to keep supporting social justice efforts through digital work.

Salutatorian: Nariba Cintron

Nariba Cintron

Undergraduate Nariba Cintron maintains a 4.00 GPA. As a first-generation college student, her academic journey reflects both excellence and resilience. Born in Trinidad and Tobago, Cintron migrated to the United States at a young age and faced uncertainty and hardship during her early years. As a former DREAMer recipient, her experiences have shaped her commitment to multicultural inclusivity, and her advocacy for destigmatizing the assumption that ethnic and minority dialects and languages are inferior to their standardized counterparts. Her path to higher education was not traditional. After leaving high school, she later earned her GED, an experience that marked a turning point in her academic trajectory. Determined to continue her studies, she enrolled at LaGuardia Community College (CUNY), where she graduated with an associate degree in education with a 4.00 GPA before transferring to 可乐视频.

At 可乐视频, Cintron pursued dual degrees in communication sciences and disorders and psychology, along with a double minor in neuroscience and philosophy. She has been consistently recognized on the Dean鈥檚 List and is a member of the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association and Psi Chi Honor Society. Cintron鈥檚 academic interests include cross-cultural learning, bilingualism, style-shifting, code-switching, accent bias, pitch perception, language acquisition, and mental health awareness. She is also particularly interested in neurogenic speech disorders and the intersection of neuroscience and communication. Her professional and research experiences reflect these interests. As a former participant in the National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates program, she conducted research examining speech patterns and linguistic variation in Caribbean English, and English-lexified creoles, including Trinidadian Creole and Jamaican Patois. She has more than a decade of experience supporting young children in early childhood settings, with a focus on language development and social communication.

Her personal experiences have shaped her passion for culturally responsive care and her goal of becoming a speech-language pathologist serving underrepresented communities. Inspired in part by her mother鈥檚 diagnosis with multiple sclerosis, Cintron plans to pursue graduate study and contribute to research and clinical practice, with an interest in neurodegenerative conditions and a commitment to equity and access. Outside of her academic work, Cintron enjoys reading across a wide range of genres, particularly dystopian, science fiction, and philosophical texts. She also enjoys traveling and spending time at the beach. She credits God for her accomplishments and remains deeply grateful for the people who have supported her along the way. Cintron鈥檚 journey reflects perseverance, purpose, and a commitment to uplifting marginalized and underserved communities.

Salutatorian: Hideka Minami

Hideka Minami

Born to Japanese parents who emigrated to Hong Kong under British colonial rule, Hideka Minami grew up as a third-culture kid, navigating and integrating multiple cultural identities from an early age. She later moved to Japan to attend an international school for middle school, further shaping a perspective grounded in adaptability and an awareness of how environments and lived experiences intersect.

She first came to the United States to study special effects makeup, drawn to visual storytelling and transformation. She later continued her education in Los Angeles at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM), where she earned an associate degree. Although she began her academic journey early, she did not complete her bachelor鈥檚 degree at that time.

While navigating familial illness, financial challenges, immigration processes, and broader economic instability, Minami worked alongside her husband to build a family business.

Years later, as a mother, she returned to higher education with renewed intention. She is now graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, with a focus on painting. Her work explores how delayed recognition can distort and reshape experience, approaching identity and memory as fluid rather than fixed.

Her journey reflects a commitment to growth on her own terms and a belief that education is not defined by timing but by purpose.

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The Rosen Fellowship reflects Florence Cohen Rosen鈥檚 remarkable generosity and vision: a proud 可乐视频 alumna who chose to give back in a way that expands opportunity for future generations.

Since founding the fellowship in 2011, Rosen 鈥�59 has created more than just financial support for students; she has opened doors to bold, unconventional experiences that they might never otherwise pursue. Her delight in nurturing potential and her enduring faith in 可乐视频 students, whose work, she notes, renews her 鈥渇aith鈥n the future of America,鈥� shine through every fellowship awarded, embodying a legacy of curiosity, ambition, and imagination.

This year鈥檚 fellows represent a diverse range of academic interests鈥攆rom archaeology and environmental science to music technology, public health, visual arts, and documentary filmmaking鈥攄emonstrating the creativity, curiosity, and impact-driven work that define the 可乐视频 community.

2026 Rosen Fellows

• Ellery Canesper will attend the HARP Archaeology Field School in Scotland.
• Julia Lucinda Fernandez will participate in the Gabii Project, an archaeological excavation of the ancient city of Gabii near Rome focused on urban development and cultural interaction in early Italy.
• Noah Hopkins will create to-scale Pok茅mon figures and photograph them in natural environments to share knowledge about ecology and conservation through a collaborative art project.
• Leon Isaacs will take part in a weeklong tree-climbing expedition with Cornell University.
• Raymond Thomas Jones will create a digital instrument and synthesizer sample catalog using sounds from natural environments and electrical signals of plants in Iceland.
• Dima Muhieddine will study how diet, lifestyle, and access to preventive care shape oral health in Spain and Morocco through immersive observation.
• Chavely Reynoso will produce a chronology of Dominican art history from Indigenous Ta铆no works through contemporary art, resulting in a digital and print publication and database.
• Iggy Jerell Strickland will design and produce a drag costume, prosthetics, and character portfolio rooted in horror and performance.
• Brent Thomas Whiteside will begin a feature-length documentary on blues musician Bobby Rush.

The 2026 Rosen Fellows exemplify 可乐视频鈥檚 commitment to experiential learning, interdisciplinary exploration, and socially engaged scholarship. Their work reflects the breadth of inquiry and creative practice fostered across the college. We congratulate this year鈥檚 Rosen Fellowship recipients and look forward to following their projects in the months ahead.

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1930鈥�1939

Julian Dorsky ’36

Evelyn Cummins Lang ’36

Thelma Bearman Turetzky ’37

Margaret Hochhauser Weissbluth ’38

Matthew (Kupfer) Cooper ’39

Edith Goldenberg Gilitos ’39

Vivian Hochhauser Levy ’39

Dorothy Hutter Waldman ’39

1940鈥�1949

Sora Hinder Frankel ’40

Jean Wohl Zamore ’40

Rhoda Fisher Lemlein ’42

Cynthia Agrin Raabe ’42

Alice Glaser Huberman ’43

Samuel Kintzer ’43

Sylvia Leiffer Rein ’43

Marion Baron Ullman ’44

Anna Hankin Leder ’45

Adele Goldberg Schneider ’45

Evelyn Rome Tabas ’45

Nina Rubin Tamber ’45

Rosaine 鈥淩onnie鈥� Schwartz Gold ’46

Marion Sperling Blumberg ’47

Emanuel A. Friedman ’47

Gilda Scheyer Gittleman ’47

Thelma Hutt Goldstein ’47

Florence Unterberg Goold ’47

Joseph Kimmel ’47

Leah Siderowitz Koenig ’47

Milton Rein ’47

Saul (Sol) Sackel ’47

Seena Shevlowitz (Sheldon) Solomon ’47

Murray H. Warschauer ’47

Irma Lifshitz Beilinson ’48

Robert J. Glickman ’48

Bernard J. Lyttle ’48

Estelle Kalechstein Meislich ’48

Rhoda Abrahams Schoenbaum ’48

Sara Padwe Simon ’48

Adrienne Spiegelman Sonnenmark ’48

Beatrice Friedman Weinstein ’48

Gilbert Wortsmann ’48

Pearl (Cele) Kestenbaum Zucker ’48

Norman Adler ’49

Leah Woolwich Bernstein ’49

Marvin Burstein ’49

Ann Berg Colucio ’49

Norman Erdos ’49

Joseph H. Fishman ’49

Alice Rosenfeld Fass Korwan ’49

Kenneth (Kronenblatt) Kronen ’49

Henrietta Gersoni Mandel ’49

Bertram M. Metter ’49

Marvin Roth ’49

Sidney Rutberg ’49

Roselyn Greenberg Shiffman ’49

Sally Greenbaum Siegel ’49

1950鈥�1959

Shirley Eisner Abrams ’50

Gilda Kugler Aronovic ’50

Lois Herschkowitz Edwards ’50

Herbert M. Fried ’50

Aaron I. Galonsky ’50

Raymond Harary ’50

Inez Yondorf Lerner ’50

Leonard Matin ’50

Abe Shenitzer ’50

Myra Weiss Silver ’50

Mina Blumberg Sweet ’50

Arnold W. Webb ’50

Peggy Jacobson Wesley ’50

Elizabeth D’Agostino Barbano ’51

Bernice Halpern Bernstein ’51

Robert H. Bernstein ’51

Jack M. Deitch ’51

James P. Gaeta ’51

Roberta Firsty Harkavy ’51

Yale Hirsch ’51

Greta Buchwald Hogan ’51

Phyllis Gross Jaffe ’51

Eva Kollisch ’51

Henry Saltzman ’51

Constance Gerulackos Thomas ’51

Aldo C. Zocchi ’51

Carmella Villano Agugliaro ’52

Edward Alterman ’52

Gerald W. Deas ’52

Shirley Emmer Eckstein ’52

Martin A. Goetz ’52

Morton S. Greenberg ’52

Helene Schiff Landau ’52

Paula R. Levine ’52

Edwin J. Reis ’52

Ruth Beller Rosenbaum ’52

Herbert Slomowitz ’52

Nat Yalowitz ’52

Barbara Aronstein Black ’53

James G. Carrubba ’53

Reva Rosenberg Ehrlich ’53

Jean Solomon Eisner ’53

Liboria Gruppuso ’53

Reva Fishelman Karinsky ’53

Arlene Lichterman ’53

Leatrice Goldberg Baron ’54

Betty Tepper Gordon ’54

Eugene B. Griffel ’54

June Quint Koch ’54

Eva Kanner Rosenzweig Kugler ’54

Mollie Levy Leibowitz ’54

Helen Bogoff O’Connell ’54

Leonard R. Pellettiri ’54

Ruth Turkel Wolosoff ’54

Arthur Bernhardt ’55

Lila Friedman Levy Dino ’55

Martin Freundlich ’55

Jay Gold ’55

Norman Goodman ’55

Sheldon A. Grand ’55

Marjorie Balick Gruverman ’55

June Drumm Hillis ’55

Avraham (Albert) Holtz ’55

Marcia Moelis Kaskel ’55

Marcia Josephy Kastan ’55

Joseph Katz ’55

Elaine Sommers Kaufman ’55

Marcia Carlin Keisler ’55

Eileen Gubitz Kowal ’55

Allan M. Levine ’55

Robert Shlasko ’55

Richard N. Stadin ’55

Barry G. Baranoff ’56

Lillian Bancala Bond ’56

Robert H. Chanin ’56

Herbert A. Finkston ’56

Carl L. Ginsberg ’56

Ruth Bernstein Weissman Katz ’56

Elisa Testa Kennedy ’56

Julian M. Kien ’56

Louise Mendes Mason ’56

1. Jo (Deborah) Sharefkin Schaffer ’56

Jay M. Sommer ’56

Zoe Jane Schwager Spielman ’56

Diana Best Anderson ’57

Valentine Carlucci ’57

Paul Creditor ’57

Isobel Milligan Davis ’57

Barbara deWeever ’57

Patrick J. Gallagher ’57

Toby Shapiro Hart ’57

Mildred Ruhmer Jacoby ’57

Nina Marmorino Kuscsik ’57

Rita Cohen Linder ’57

Marion Axelrod Lipton ’57

Florence Juro Morgan ’57

Joel Ollander ’57

Aleza Goldstein Rosenberg ’57

Maria Conti Sprizzo ’57

Alan Bergstein ’58

Martin J. Blank ’58

Edythe Marks Stamer Kosakow Dranoff ’58

Stephen R. Goldenberg ’58

John K. Kelly ’58

Norman I. Klein ’58

David S. Kristol ’58

Sheldon Lobel ’58

Donald Pomerantz ’58

Joseph A. Sucamele ’58

Phyllis Boren Thurm ’58

Benjamin B. Bortnick ’59

Frances Feldman Harnick ’59

Yvonne D. Mahoney ’59

Barbara Goldberg Platt ’59

Cynthia Fink Racer ’59

Donald D. Singer ’59

Harvey Tabor ’59

Jay L. Turoff ’59

Barnett J. Yukolis ’59

1960鈥�1969

Lois Morris Cohen ’60

Jacqueline Marcus Foil ’60

Robert J. Goldstein ’60

William L. Higgins ’60

Lawrence D. Jurgensen ’60

Howard R. Knohl ’60

Barbara Alexander Leder ’60

Theodore 鈥淭ed鈥� Malek ’60

Jane Kaner Reifler ’60

Rita Neufeld Rubinstein ’60

Arlene Kipperman Wolk ’60

William M. Yellin ’60

Michael L. Alaimo ’61

Edmund T. Austin ’61

Bart (Bartholomew) Balsino ’61

Naomi Maizel Berne ’61

Deanne Wolferman Bernstein ’61

David E. Bishop ’61

Stephen B. Blackwell ’61

Steven J. Braunstein ’61

Brenda Cooperman Cohen ’61

Barbara Lubitz Finkelstein ’61

Carlos Isaac Goldberg ’61

Merle Ehrenrich Harris ’61

Theodora Kern ’61

Joseph C. Lentini ’61

Joseph A. Magri ’61

Elizabeth McCann McCarthy ’61

Roslyn Rosinsky Rosenblum ’61

Susan Menkes Sassower ’61

Marilyn Brown Adamo ’62

Joseph S. Brownman ’62

Edith Romantz Charet ’62

Frank L. Delman ’62

Jon M. Elkow ’62

Marvyn B. Garber ’62

Joel Katz ’62

Jane Rosenberg Malakoff ’62

Iris Abrams Fox Mitchell ’62

Sylvia Eisenstadt Pafenyk ’62

Bonnie Theodore Sontupe ’62

Albert I. Spielman ’62

Eleanor Rosen Broner ’63

Gerald (Jerry) DePace ’63

1. Bruce Donoff ’63

Theodore 鈥淭ed鈥� Edelson ’63

Eileen Signal Heckerling ’63

Diane Costello Lenahan ’63

William O. McCabe ’63

Neal J. Morse ’63

Martin Obler ’63

Sheila Kanowitz Rabinowitz ’63

Beverly Stein Sanders ’63

Kenneth S. Sherrill ’63

Barbara Drillings Tisch ’63

Eileen Wilk Wasserstein Walsh ’63

George I. Balch ’64

Cilia Lidzki Borenstein-Gamm ’64

John P. Devlin ’64

George S. Hamada ’64

Antoinette 鈥楾oni鈥� Parsons Lamb ’64

Bruce Ogin ’64

Jerold (Jerry) Oshinsky ’64

Natalie Resnick Sillen ’64

Maria Macca Rizzi ’64

Ronald M. Weiner ’64

William J. Buchbaum 鈥�65

Linda Silverstein Gordon ’65

Sherry Kaplan Gordon ’65

Judith D. Guttsman ’65

Lois (Libby) Hovitz Harris ’65

Sandra Cutler Sherry Pilatsky ’65

Helene C. Rohan ’65

Linda Vogel Segal ’65

Daniel S. Williams ’65

Laurence R. Aronson ’66

Marilyn Milstein Blier ’66

Diana Rogovin Davidow ’66

Margie Rudisel Harper ’66

Rochelle Rosenberg Lipton ’66

Elaine Perlman Paris ’66

Barbara A. Puzanskas ’66

Ellen Arkin Runde ’66

Rosalie Scaglione Alfieri ’67

Gary S. Basek ’67

Sydelle Beiner ’67

Carole J. Brand ’67

Gary I. Green ’67

Susan Hecker Kostick ’67

Leonard S. Lopate ’67

Kathryn Kiernan O’Malley ’67

Robert P. Rifkin ’67

Martin P. Slyman ’67

Steven R. Swerdlick ’67

Lloyd D. Watnik ’67

Menashe (Manasse) Winkler ’67

Herbert M. Cohen ’68

Ronald B. Goodman ’68

Gideon (Karlovsky) Kay ’68

Shalom Kornblum ’68

David I. Korngut ’68

Keith W. Mahoney ’68

Rita Monaghan Maloney ’68

Stanley J. Pinkwas ’68

Larry Rapaport ’68

William Shapiro ’68

Eric H. Shonz ’68

William (Bill) J. Sproule ’68

Sandra Butka Carle ’69

Edward J. Ellien ’69

Agnes Ford ’69

Ann Darragh Liscinsky ’69

Stewart B. Lyons ’69

Abraham J. Mensch ’69

David G. Ross ’69

Stuart M. Rothman ’69

Barbara J. Silver ’69

Sheldon Snyder ’69

Anne Kutner Teicher ’69

Ronald H. Weiner ’69

1970鈥�1979

Miriam K. Altman ’70

Bradley N. Bartel ’70

Mary Goyena Payne ’70

Norma Edelman (Penchansky) Penn ’70

David Y. Schonbrun ’70

Arlene Blavatnik Sevrinsky ’70

Rhoda A. Baker ’71

Seamus N. Black ’71

Susan Cohen Gaynor ’71

Arthur J. Goyena ’71

Howard S. Platzman ’71

Norman J. Axelrod ’72

Paul E. Bhaerman ’72

Mona Reich MacPhail ’72

Ruth Margules Orland ’72

Karen Silverman Thurston ’72

Anita Karkenny Bain ’73

Rhoda Bergman Reece Goldstein ’73

Adrian Poholsky Gottlieb Goodson ’73

Eileen G. Horn ’73

Eleanor Owen Lee ’73

Barton M. Nassberg ’73

Gerald I. Rothman ’73

Larry S. Wolfson ’73

Irving Adams ’74

Mary Angarano Brown ’74

Winifred I. Critchlow ’74

Sandra L. Curtis ’74

Jean Mantone Fochetta ’74

Ellen Gurzinsky ’74

Gwen Stevens Nelson ’74

Isaac Rothman ’74

Rose Goyena Van Tol ’74

Roberta E. Willard ’74

Joanne Aquilino Ziegelbaum ’74

Joan Zammit Gordon ’75

William E. Hall ’75

Henry P. Kelly ’75

Carol Standerwick ’75

Edmund G. Steinberger ’75

Ingeborg E. Utech ’75

Steven M. Adams ’76

Manfred A. Antoine ’76

Shari Zeeman Balasiano ’76

Marina Cajiao ’76

John S. Cartey ’76

Anna Chiofolo DeMay ’76

Thomas P. Devico ’76

Henry Dizenhaus ’76

Ellen Blau Eisman ’76

Virginia Cacciolo Ferrone ’76

Esther Reiter Balber Hoffman Goldberg ’76

Francine Winder Goldwasser ’76

Bruce N. Hadley ’76

Charles F. Ingulli ’76

Angela Wilson Lawton ’76

Bruce S. Mednick ’76

Clyde L. Meltzer ’76

Providence Antico Mitchell ’76

Lois V. Paulson ’76

Kenneth F. Peterson ’76

Charles J. Ragusa ’76

Ruben Rojas ’76

Sharon M. Rothstein ’76

Gerald A. Schneider ’76

Patricia Arcodia Sciranka ’76

Bradley E. Simmons ’76

Eleanor G. Sparaco ’76

Ira Stern ’76

Sally Tucker ’76

Debra A. Weiner ’76

Harriete Dorfman Birnbaum ’77

Reena Katz Fields ’77

John H. Johnston ’77

James A. McCue Jr. ’77

Julia M. Roache ’77

Shelley Stein ’77

James D. Werner ’77

Jeffrey E. Wolmetz ’77

Peter J. Alborano ’78

Linda Barash Beeber ’78

Jeffrey J. Blustein ’78

Mary E. Galenski ’78

Richard D. Grimolizzi ’78

Grace Hooper Akom-Ofori ’79

Daniel Feldman ’79

Phyllis Cummings James ’79

Anthony J. Ribaudo ’79

1980鈥�1989

David S. Cohen ’80

Anthony T. DoCampo ’80

Frances Naro Ficco ’80

Lydia Esson Sinclair ’80

Karen Weinstein Tenenbaum ’80

Marie R. Bayerle ’81

Margaret Jansen Guadagni ’81

Marvin R. Jacobson ’81

Joan Richens Morris ’81

Stephen J. Fox ’82

Rose Jacobson ’82

Maria Socorro Caquias ’83

Shelley Berman Freeman ’83

Felise S. Baruch ’84

Evelyn Filippi Bitz ’84

Ethel Fisch Goldberg ’84

Patricia Grimes Grant ’84

Mary Stillwell Kassebaum ’84

William J. Keane ’84

Thomas McCullough ’84

Joseph Poulin ’84

Howard E. Williams ’84

Lotess Priestley Cright ’85

Anthony A. Degenaro ’85

Lillian Campisi Mongiove ’85

Peter R. Naranjo ’85

Ada Hallem ’86

Robert J. Johnson ’86

Myra Rivadeneira Kirby ’86

Garret Kurtz ’86

Ruth Levin Cohen ’87

Sally Garrett ’87

Mary Garrett Simmen ’86

Reesha Smith Solot ’88

Matthew Cassidy ’89

Regina Hall Leonard ’89

Clifton A. McDonald ’89

Jonathan Nash ’89

After 1990

Edward Clarkson-Farrell ’91

Flora Iannarelli ’91

Katherine M. McKay ’91

Jeanne M. King ’92

Robert P. Napoli ’92

Fred L. Carnavon ’94

Ilya Golburt ’97

Omer Moussako ’97

Jay Joseph ’99

Karen Greenidge Ward ’99

Raphael J. Hall ’00

Gerard R. Vern ’00

Debbie Kemp ’04

Euphemia B. Lewis ’06

Nicholas R. Nelson ’10

Michael J. Balukas ’14

Previous Lists

If you know of alumni who have recently died, contact us at 718.951.5065 or submit this form.听 Their names will be included in the next digital edition of the alumni magazine.

In Memoriam: April 2025鈥揘ovember 2025
In Memoriam: October 2024鈥揂pril 2025

The post In Memoriam appeared first on 可乐视频.

Recent news

If you have news you wish to share in a future edition of the alumni magazine, submit this form.

1956

Franklin Stein, Ph.D., OTR/L, FAOTA, recently published two books, Research in Occupational Therapy 7th edition (2025) and Occupational Therapy and Stress (2026), both from Taylor and Francis.

1959

As one of the Peace Corps鈥� earliest acolytes, Judith Guskin is celebrating the 65th anniversary of the Corps by raising money for The Peace Corps Park in Washington, D.C.

1962

Carol Zimmerman Brody鈥檚 artwork is featured in the March 2026 issue of The Art of Watercolor, which also includes an interview with the artist.

1963

Bertram Gordon shares that war tourism remains one of the fastest鈥慻rowing areas of the tourism industry, a topic explored in his forthcoming Routledge book Tourism and War: Their Links through History, which traces connections from ancient visitors to Troy to today鈥檚 online spectators of what has been called the world鈥檚 first 鈥淭ikTok War.鈥� He also continues his work on the history of chocolate and delivered his talk 鈥淰alentines and Chocolate: Their Connections Through History鈥� at the Contra Costa County Library in Orinda, California, on February 14, 2026. His earlier research on chocolate appeared in Chocolate: History, Culture, and Heritage (Wiley, 2009).

Michael Lowenberg and his wife, Julie, recently celebrated their 60th anniversary and marked their 45th year as Texas Rangers season鈥憈icket holders. A retired attorney who still occasionally serves as an arbitrator, he and Julie鈥攚ho met in law school鈥攈ave lived in Dallas since 1966, remain active in community nonprofits, and continue their efforts to turn Texas 鈥渂lue.鈥� They enjoy visits with their three children, now in Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado, and seven grandchildren鈥攁nd keep several 可乐视频 T鈥憇hirts and a Brooklyn Dodgers cap close at hand.

Melvin H. Nutig has self鈥憄ublished a memoir, Code Blues: A Surgeon鈥檚 Journey With Depression, available on Amazon in hardback and paperback. The book recounts his childhood in Coney Island, his years at 可乐视频, medical school in Bologna, and his career as an orthopedic surgeon in Beverly Hills, alongside his long struggle with depression, which he ultimately overcame through talk therapy and medication. He hopes the story will inspire 可乐视频 students who face similar challenges.

1964

Stephen Lewis鈥檚 novel From Infamy to Hope has been selected as one of the Best Indie Books and will be featured in the April edition of Kirkus.

1965

Charles Randolph founded the largest mobile dental and health company in the country, serving poor and rural communities in New York and many other states at the request of Governor Pataki. The organization has provided this care for 21 years.

1966

Gregory Salamo retired on January 31, 2026, after 51 years as a Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of Arkansas. He notes that his research and teaching awards were made possible by the exceptional faculty he studied with at 可乐视频 and extends his heartfelt thanks to them.

1967

Alan Pearlmutter, DMA, teaches original music history courses at Bristol and Quinsigamond community colleges as well as world music for Fitchburg State University and jazz history for Quinsigamond. With his wife, clarinetist Linda Poland, he performs Nostalgia Songfests for senior communities in Massachusetts, and from 2011 to 2022 he conducted rarely known repertoire for Kammerwerke, a professional double wind quintet.

1969

Ernestine 鈥淭ina鈥� Volpe earned an M.A. in education after completing her B.A. from New Paltz in 1964 and taught at Glen Head Elementary School until 1969 before taking maternity leave. She later returned to the New York City school system, became assistant鈥憈o鈥憄rincipal at P.S. 172K, and eventually served as principal of P.S. 295. She is now retired in Florham Park, New Jersey.

Martin Eisenberg recently exhibited his watercolor paintings at his local Jewish community center.

1972

In 2025, Arnold Saltzman received second place in the American Prize for a professional composer of a major choral work for A Choral Symphony: Halevi and also earned the Thomas Putsche Prize for his opera Geniza: Hidden Fragments. His choral symphony had its European premiere at the Alba Music Festival and its North American premiere with the American University Orchestra and Chorus.

Gary Shulman, M.S.Ed., spent his career supporting vulnerable families and children, beginning in an inclusive Head Start program in Brooklyn and later serving as special needs and early childhood coordinator at the Brooklyn Children鈥檚 Museum. He spent 24 years as social services and training director for Resources for Children with Special Needs, then worked as a private special鈥憂eeds consultant conducting hundreds of trainings. Now retired in Arlington, Virginia, he continues to support families as an advisory commissioner and shares his poetry with the aim of making the world better 鈥渙ne word at a time.鈥�

1973

William Trimarco, performing as Bill Turner, has built a lifelong career as a full-time musician since founding his band Blue Smoke after graduation鈥攁 group that remains active today. In 2025 alone, he completed his 12th through 14th European tours, adding to more than 12,000 performances worldwide.

1974

Edith Berry, founder of The Berry Professional Services, was invited by Amazing Grace Etiquette to serve as an empowerment speaker for parents at the Marriott Raleigh Hotel. In 2025 she earned a doctorate in education from Fayetteville State University, was inducted into Phi Lambda Theta, and continues to advocate for educational empowerment.

1975

Beth Anna MoonRay Ferguson听published her first book,听Shhhhhhh, in 2024, reflecting on personal trauma and encouraging healing through forgiveness. An intercultural choreographer, she has worked in the mental health field for 19 years with Transitional Services for New York, using dance to support individuals in recovery. While at 可乐视频, she participated in Royal Shakespeare Company workshops and received private lessons from the late Cicely Berry. Now 74 and still dancing, she is launching a venture to bring dance back into city schools. Her next book will be titled Since I鈥檓 Shrinking, Why Can鈥檛 I Find My Toes!?

1976

Rosa Linda (Rosie) Guadarrama received her D.M. from Claremont School of Theology in 2016 with a 4.3 average and an award from By Faith Magazine.

Andrew Kass announces the release of his Civil War spy thriller A Woman of Agency, published by Holand Press.

1978

James Crescitelli has launched a small publishing company and released Around the Corner and Up the Block, an autobiographical fiction collection of 14 stories set in 1960s Bay Ridge, now available on Amazon. He continues to work full time at a historical society in Winter Garden, Florida, and lives in nearby Winter Park.

1979

Madlyn Epstein Steinhart, ’79, ’81 M.S., has published her fourth book, a memoir titled Found at Last, which explores discovering previously unknown family and a sense of belonging.

Allison B. Reiss, M.D., a board鈥慶ertified physician and molecular biologist, studies Alzheimer鈥檚 disease and other dementias and serves as head of the Inflammation Laboratory and associate professor of medicine at NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine. She has published widely, appears regularly in media as a field expert, and remains dedicated to improving health care for older adults.

1982

Paul J. Richman, Chief Government and Political Affairs Officer at the Insured Retirement Institute, was named to Washingtonian鈥檚 2026 鈥�500 Most Influential People Shaping Policy鈥� list for the fifth consecutive year. He was recognized for advocating for workers and retirees and for leading efforts behind the SECURE Act (2019) and SECURE 2.0 Act (2022), landmark retirement security laws.

Joshua A. Sky, M.A., SPHR, SHRM鈥慡CP, recently earned the IAC Masteries鈥慞ractitioner credential, adding to his HRCI and SHRM certifications. President of The Sky鈥檚 The Limit Consulting, Inc. since 1999, he provides training, facilitation, and coaching across sectors nationwide and globally, following an 11鈥憏ear teaching career in Brooklyn.

1991

Loraine Alderman recently published her fourth book, Breast Cancer: Guidance, Advice, & Personal Journeys.听After graduating from 可乐视频, she earned her doctorate in psychology from Pace University.

1995

Ellen Levitt鈥檚 seventh book, Former Synagogues of the United States, was published by Wipf & Stock in February 2026. In 2025 she contributed an essay to the anthology Manna Songs from ELJ Editions.

1998

Stephen Rutenberg has joined Duane Morris LLP as a partner in the Corporate Practice Group in the Miami office, where his work focuses on digital assets, blockchain technology, fintech, and special鈥憇ituations investing.

2000

Melissa Eleftherion Carr has two poetry collections forthcoming in 2026. Suture (Cooper Dillon) uses erasure and persona poems drawn from V.C. Andrews to explore trauma, women鈥檚 agency, and identity through fragmentation, while Malocchia (White Stag) is a narrative collection about lineage and the refusal to abandon the self.

2001

Christopher Grosso, M.F.A., serves as executive director of The Center for Loss and Bereavement, a nonprofit providing grief counseling, groups, and education to individuals and families in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, for more than 25 years.

2003

Rosario Cardenas credits 可乐视频 with preparing her to face life鈥檚 challenges as a single mother of four, earning both her bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 degrees before becoming a licensed New York City teacher. She retired during COVID and continues to advocate passionately for 鈥渢he beacon of light鈥� that is 可乐视频.

2004

Vincent Cobb recently earned a Ph.D. in economics at Howard University and serves as a full-time economics lecturer at Morgan State University.

Danielle Silverman uses her degree in accounting and her master’s degree in industrial and organizational psychology (2011) to support community mobilization initiatives in underrepresented New York neighborhoods.

2011

Malcolm Brewer will run the 2026 Boston Marathon as part of his quest to earn the Abbott World Marathon Majors Six Star Medal, having already completed the New York, London, and Chicago marathons. He has spent over a decade in business leadership and now serves as owner/operator of a Chick鈥慺il鈥慉, employing more than 60 New Yorkers.

2012

Jordan E. Franklin, ’12, ’20 M.S.Ed., is the Spring 2026 Philip Roth Creative Writer-in-Residence at Bucknell University. Her second poetry collection, make it to the end (of the movie), was chosen by Evie Shockley for the 2025 Blessing the Boats Selection and will be published by BOA Editions Ltd. in Fall 2027.

Maria Vera has been reflecting on the way a lifetime of daily walking can add up to roughly five trips around the Earth and challenges her fellow alumni to think about how life鈥檚 journeys accumulate and how our actions shape outcomes.

2014

After earning degrees in psychology and Africana studies at 可乐视频, Taleisia Edwards Babatunde completed an M.S. in business management and leadership at CUNY SPS and recently transitioned into health care. She earned her B.S.N. from the Phillips School of Nursing at Mount Sinai Beth Israel in December and became licensed in New York in February, fulfilling her goal of providing direct care to her community.

2017

Rachel Lima earned an M.A. in Community Health Education and now manages chronic disease prevention programs as a senior leader at NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, applying her training to improve community health outcomes citywide.

2018

Aron Kontorovich has been named a Yamaha 40 Under 40 honoree, recognizing outstanding music educators under age 40. The award highlights his leadership, creativity, and impact in building and strengthening music education programs in his school community.

Nicole Palmer鈥檚 consulting and marketing firm, the Nicole Williams Collective, received a 2025 Global Recognition Award for excellence in service and mentoring within the entrepreneurial and small鈥慴usiness community, earning perfect scores across all evaluation categories.

2019

Lovette Aneke, who earned her master鈥檚 in early childhood special education in 2019, continues to work with young children with developmental and learning needs, focusing particularly on supporting communication and social skills for children with autism. She is especially interested in incorporating musical activities to enhance engagement and participation.

2021

Jonathan Dalloo was recognized by the MSI Business Leadership Council for leadership, strategic excellence, and continuous鈥慽mprovement advocacy. A 可乐视频 graduate student from 2020 to 2021, he earned CCSP庐 and DCSP庐 certifications, completed FEMA鈥檚 Professional Development Series in 2023, and has been active with the Kingsbridge Historical Society since 2025, along with completing multiple professional programs during the COVID鈥�19 pandemic. As an undergraduate (2016鈥�18), he received several scholarships and academic honors.

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Aleah N. Ranjitsingh

At 可乐视频, Assistant Professor Aleah N. Ranjitsingh, Department of Africana Studies and the Caribbean Studies Program, is reshaping how we think about knowledge, identity, and the Caribbean itself.

A proud alumna of the college who earned a B.A. in political science and an M.A. in comparative politics, Ranjitsingh centers her scholarship on the Greater Caribbean as an epistemological space鈥攐ne where Caribbean and other diverse populations are not merely subjects of study, but knowledge producers whose lived realities, family histories, and cultural practices are legitimate sites of inquiry. Across her inter- and multidisciplinary work, she challenges monolithic narratives of the Caribbean and foregrounds the complexity of identity formation, gender, mixedness, and racialization both 鈥渁t home鈥� and across the diaspora.

Through projects such as 鈥淏ecoming Black: Afro-Caribbean and/in 鈥楤lack America,鈥欌�� 鈥淒ougla Lives: At the Intersections,鈥� and 鈥淐hinese Caribbean Narratives: Migration, Identity, and Belonging at Home and Diaspora,鈥� she documents how Caribbean peoples navigate race, belonging, and migration in shifting social contexts.

Just as vital to her work is mentorship. Through programs including the Tow Mentorship Initiative and Mellon Mays, as well as sustained independent study, Ranjitsingh positions students as knowledge producers in their own right, encouraging them to claim their intellectual lineage and recognize that what they think, know, and create truly matters.

How does working across disciplines allow you to tell fuller stories?

I am a political scientist and a gender scholar, but more importantly I am a Caribbean scholar. Caribbean studies is inherently interdisciplinary, and here at 可乐视频, the Caribbean Studies Program, directed by Associate Professor Dale Byam, reflects this breadth鈥攆rom classes on the steelpan, to climate justice, to Carnival, and much more. My own research is shaped by this interdisciplinarity, and it has deeply informed the oral history projects I undertake.

Oral history is about the stories of those whose voices are often marginalized; it is about memory, and how the same moment can be remembered differently depending on one鈥檚 lived experience.

In my first oral history project, 鈥淏ecoming Black: Afro-Caribbean and/in 鈥楤lack America,鈥欌�� which centers Afro-Caribbean immigrants in New York City, I was interested in how Afro-Caribbean immigrants re/construct identity as Black and/or African American. I was also deeply interested in how these immigrants understood the 2020 moment when Black Lives Matter protests erupted across the United States and globally. Understanding how people experience a shared historical moment鈥攚hile also situating that moment within broader political histories鈥攔equired me to move across disciplines, drawing from political science, Africana studies, and history.

Before my third project, on Caribbean people of Chinese and mixed-Chinese ancestry, I was reading Caribbean literature and history whenever I could鈥擪erry Young鈥檚 Pao and the work of historian Walton Look Lai. Literature and history both inform my oral history practice because I am interested in how Caribbean people write themselves into being, and how meaning is made through narrative.

I also draw heavily from institutional and intellectual communities. Professor Joseph Entin and colleagues who founded the 可乐视频 Listening Project have been central in shaping oral history work at the college. Likewise, Dean Philip Napoli, an oral historian and faculty member in the Department of History, met with me when I was first simply curious about doing oral histories. These mentors helped me understand that students鈥� stories matter鈥攁nd that those stories are themselves knowledge.

Was there a moment when you realized lived experience could function as scholarship?

I do not think there was a single moment. Rather, over the last decade鈥攅specially after completing my Ph.D.鈥攖here was a gradual but clear shift in my research toward the personal and toward lived experience, including my own as a Black, Dougla, Caribbean woman in the Caribbean and New York City.

Even in my doctoral work on gender and the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela, I conducted more than 70 interviews with women in Caracas and M茅rida. I knew then that to understand whether participatory democracy and 21^st听century socialism had expanded citizenship and political agency, I had to speak directly with women themselves. That commitment reflects feminist standpoint theory, which holds that knowledge is socially situated and produced from multiple social locations.

Later, in conversations with colleagues at the University of the West Indies鈥攑articularly within the Institute for Gender and Development Studies鈥攚e began reflecting on mixedness and Douglaness in Trinidad and the diaspora. These conversations affirmed that our stories were not just personal reflections; they were also scholarly interventions. The Dougla identity鈥擟aribbean people of African and Indian ancestry鈥攂ecame a central site of inquiry.

From those discussions, Sue Ann Barratt and I co-authored Dougla in the Twenty-First Century: Adding to the Mix (2021), based on interviews with more than 100 Douglas in Trinidad and Tobago and in New York. The project foregrounded lived experience as theory, showing how people narrate identity, race, and belonging in their own words.

From there, my work has continued to move in that direction: treating lived experience not as anecdote, but as method, archive, and scholarship.

How is mentorship part of your scholarship?

For students to believe that what they think, know, and create matters, I first had to believe that for myself. When I tell students to 鈥渉ave the audacity,鈥� I am also reminding myself.

Mentorship, for me, is a form of radical care. It is about telling and showing students that their intellectual lives are valid鈥攅ven when their projects do not fit neatly within disciplinary boundaries.

I think of students like Cynthia Leung, Katryna Alexis, Marisha Sampson, Maciel Rosario, and Brandon Abram, each of whom developed projects that emerged from their own lived realities: oral histories of church communities, Afro-Guyanese Kwe Kwe traditions, interrogating the displacement caused by foreign-owned mining companies in the Dominican Republic, explorations of mixedness and Black radical thought. In each case, my role was not to define the limits of their work, but to affirm that their questions were worth pursuing.

With Brandon Abram, for example, we developed a project that began with his desire to write about himself in relation to Blackness and identity. I introduced him to autoethnography as a method, and we read Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde together. What began as uncertainty became a conference presentation and is now developing into a published duoethnography.

This is what mentorship looks like in practice: shared intellectual risk, collaborative reading, and mutual learning. Students are not simply recipients of knowledge鈥攖hey are co-producers of it.

This philosophy is reflected institutionally as well. At 可乐视频, I serve as chair of Black Faculty and Staff (BFS), where we launched the Sankofa Excellence Program to support student mentorship, recognition, and retention. Alongside the members of the executive board, which is composed of Assistant Professor Lawrence Johnson, Crystal Schloss-Allen, Sherome Stone, Assistant Professor Donna-Lee Granville, and the BFS community, we also continue traditions like the Donning of the Kente pre-graduation ceremony, which celebrates students as they approach graduation. I am also grateful for incredible faculty mentors such as my chair, Associate Professor Prudence Cumberbatch of the Africana Studies Department.

Mentorship is not separate from scholarship. It is scholarship鈥攂ecause it produces knowledge, relationships, and intellectual communities.

What do you hope students carry with them?

Long after students leave my classroom, I want them to remember that their lives are connected to broader histories and communities.

I want them to see critical thinking not as an abstract skill, but as a daily practice: questioning assumptions, reading widely, and reflecting honestly on their own experiences.

I hope they continue to 鈥渉ave the audacity鈥� to take up space, to dream, and to speak鈥攅ven when they are the only ones in the room with their particular voice, accent, or perspective.

In a world that is often unjust and uneven, I hope they choose kindness without losing intellectual rigor. Most of all, I hope they trust that their stories matter.

And I hope they remember 可乐视频鈥攏ot only as an institution, but as a place where they were supported, challenged, and cared for; a place where they belonged.

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A signature component of the college鈥檚 mentoring ecosystem is The Tow Mentorship Initiative, through which students collaborate with faculty on groundbreaking research. This unique and powerful program enables faculty and students to conduct and present independent research across a wide variety of disciplines.

One such mentor-mentee pair, Professor Tony Wilson and biology major Dilfuza Kurbanova 鈥�25, focused their research on antibodies, key components of the immune system. A first-generation student who arrived at 可乐视频 from Turkey just a year before joining The Tow Mentorship Initiative, Kurbanova worked with Wilson to use recombinant DNA technologies, originally designed to produce human antibodies, to synthesize them in seahorses.

Beyond the lab, the program supports students in navigating applications for graduate school, internships, grants, and fellowships. As Kurbanova explains, 鈥淏efore starting the Tow program, I didn鈥檛 have much knowledge about academic research and graduate school, but the program explains our options after graduating and encourages us to think about our future goals,鈥� which for her include attending medical school.

Reflecting on his experience as a mentor, Wilson noted, 鈥淩egardless of where the students go after graduation, having the opportunity to participate in a program like this is life changing.鈥�

The Tow Mentorship Initiative is just one of the many holistic mentorship experiences from which students can benefit at 可乐视频. With the help of peer-to-peer mentors, alumni mentors, advisers, and others, we offer unparalleled access to support systems students value for life.

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The psychology major has taken full advantage of the academic and experiential opportunities available to him. Through The Tow Mentoring and Research Program, which pairs students with faculty mentors to conduct scholarship, Shaad worked in a biochemistry lab studying the link between bone health and diabetes.

Through Global Medical Brigades, he volunteered in rural clinics in Panama and Belize. He later interned in Morocco through a study-abroad internship, observing surgeries and shadowing physicians. He most recently spent a summer in Kenya through Columbia University鈥檚 ICAP Next Generation Internship, an initiative funded by The Tow Foundation that provides students with opportunities in global public health. In addition to the internship, he worked alongside a doctor building a new hospital鈥攕omething he dreams of doing in his native Bangladesh.

Shaad鈥檚 engagement extends far beyond the classroom. He has served as president of the Philosophy Society, competed internationally with the Speech and Debate Team, and played on the 可乐视频 tennis team, helping lead them to two City University of New York Athletic Conference finals. These experiences strengthened his leadership skills while reinforcing a sense of belonging and purpose.

鈥溈衫质悠� has so many opportunities,鈥� Shaad says. 鈥淚f you reach out, the people and resources here can truly change your life.鈥�

He is on track to graduate in spring 2026 and is applying to medical school, carrying forward the impact of an education designed to open doors and transform lives.

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Trina Yearwood 鈥�00

On a spring afternoon in the 可乐视频 Student Center, Trina Yearwood 鈥�00 stood at the back of a crowded room, watching middle schoolers, high schoolers, and college students lean forward in their seats at the first鈥慹ver Future Educators Summit鈥攁n event devoted to imagining lives, education, mentoring, and youth advocacy. As the room buzzed with questions, Yearwood felt a lump in her throat.

鈥淭hose were tears of joy,鈥� she said later. 鈥淚 think about our young people who are often counted out before they even have an opportunity. It makes me happy that I鈥檓 doing something meaningful.鈥�

That sense of meaning has always been her compass. Now, as the newly appointed president of the 可乐视频 Alumni Association (可乐视频AA), Yearwood is bringing that same purpose to an organization charged with sustaining the college community long after graduation.

Yearwood assumes the presidency following the passing of Arlene Lichterman 鈥�53, whose devotion helped shape the association for decades. Having served as first vice president, Yearwood steps into her new role with a deep understanding of the 可乐视频AA鈥檚 mission and a clear vision for its future.

Her platform is simple and resonant: Brooklyn, Always.

鈥淚t echoes the college鈥檚 watchwords: All In,鈥� Yearwood explains. 鈥淭he 可乐视频AA also embraces 可乐视频鈥檚 spirit鈥攈ow all alumni carry its values into their workplaces, their leadership, and how they show up for our communities and our students.鈥�

Where Purpose Took Root

That spirit shaped Yearwood long before she held any titles. Growing up in Brooklyn, she learned early what it meant to advocate. At five years old, she watched police officers pull over her mother鈥檚 car and wrongly accuse her of running a stop sign. With guns drawn.

鈥淚鈥檓 going to court to tell the judge you鈥檙e lying on my mom,鈥� Yearwood announced, before her grandmother silenced her. It became family lore that she might become a lawyer.

High school rewrote that plan. A young Black English teacher changed her life by teaching 鈥渢o our humanity,鈥� says Yearwood, introducing Black authors, demanding excellence, and making students feel deeply cared for. By the end of the year, Yearwood knew she wanted to teach.

可乐视频 was not her first choice; her teenage wish was to leave home for a far鈥憃ff campus. But teachers鈥攎any 可乐视频 alumni鈥攅ncouraged her to consider its education program. Her mother, also an alumna, added a practical note: staying local meant tuition would be covered.

Even so, the transition was not easy. Early in her college career, one professor dismissed her writing as 鈥済ibberish,鈥� shaking her confidence. Everything changed when she found her way to Africana studies.

鈥淎fricana studies resuscitated me,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t gave me back belief in myself.鈥�

In the Classroom, Full Circle

Yearwood graduated with bachelor鈥檚 degrees in English and Africana studies, then returned to Samuel J. Tilden High School鈥攈er alma mater鈥攁s an English teacher, working alongside the mentor who had inspired her.

鈥淭eaching is the most noble and sacred profession,鈥� Yearwood often says. 鈥淲hen students know you care, they rise.鈥�

Her students never forgot the care she showed them. Years later, many returned to tell her so. At one 可乐视频 event she organized, a former student opened the keynote by saying, 鈥淒r. Yearwood, my success is a return on your investment.鈥� Another went on to become a teacher, crediting Yearwood鈥檚 belief in her with altering the course of her life.

Answering a Need

Yearwood鈥檚 career eventually expanded beyond the classroom into higher education leadership. She earned an M.Ed. from Cambridge College in Boston, an Ed.D. in educational leadership and higher education administration from West Virginia University, and a certificate in diversity and inclusion from Cornell University. She directed the Teacher Opportunity Corps II at 可乐视频, served as associate dean at Long Island University and interim associate dean at Queens College (CUNY), and has been an adjunct assistant professor at 可乐视频 since 2011.

Along the way, Yearwood noticed a troubling pattern: talented educators leaving the profession. In response, she founded TREAT鈥擳eachers Ready to Educate, Advocate, and Transform鈥攊n 2018. What began as a small professional learning community grew to reach more than 12,000 teachers, counselors, administrators, and families. During the pandemic, TREAT became a lifeline, offering mental鈥慼ealth workshops and honest conversation. In 2024, Yearwood went on to lead TREAT full time.

鈥淪tepping away from academic leadership was scary,鈥� she admits. 鈥淏ut I knew it was time to fully step into the work that I had been building, work that is both meaningful and transformative.鈥�

Leading the Alumni Community Forward

She brings the same resolve to her leadership of the 可乐视频AA, with a vision to connect alumni to one another and to the college through mentorship and other strategic programming.

For Yearwood, becoming president of the 可乐视频AA is not a culmination鈥攊t is a continuation.

鈥淏rooklyn, Always,鈥� she says, 鈥渋s about who we are and who we commit to being鈥攖ogether.鈥�

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David Hochman

It began with a chance encounter.

The scene: on board one of the many passenger liners crossing the Atlantic in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Enter Eleanor 鈥淟ee鈥� Bell 鈥�49 and Stanley Hochman 鈥�49. They recognize each other…they think.

鈥淒on鈥檛 I know you from 可乐视频?鈥� each wonders.

It turns out they have more than an alma mater in common. Both are returning home from extended time in France: she teaching at a girls school in Brittany, he studying at the Sorbonne on the GI Bill. Both are smart, intellectual, and curious about the world.

In this way, their voyage home also becomes a beginning: Soon a couple, they marry two years later.

Photo Credit: L眉tfi 脰zk枚k. Lee and Stanley Hochman in their Manhattan apartment in the 1980s. The photographer, L眉tfi 脰zk枚k, was a friend whom Lee Hochman met in Paris in 1949; now internationally known for his portraits of writers and artists, he was a student at the time.

A Generous Choice

This story has long been cherished lore in the Hochman family鈥攚ith the Hochmans鈥� son, David, later coming to understand how deeply important a 可乐视频 education had been to his parents. It had provided a foundation for their life鈥檚 work as editors, translators, and writers.

And so, after his parents鈥� deaths, David Hochman and his wife, Dr. Eugenia (Genie) L. Siegler, professor emerita of clinical medicine in the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, made a generous choice: to create two funds in Lee and Stanley Hochman鈥檚 honor for 可乐视频 students in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Hochman and Siegler鈥檚 gift establishes The Stanley Hochman 鈥�49 and Eleanor Bell 鈥�49 Hochman Scholarship Fund, which will provide tuition assistance for undergraduates studying in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences who demonstrate financial need, and The Stanley Hochman 鈥�49 and Eleanor Bell 鈥�49 Hochman Research and Development Fund. The latter provides financial support for undergraduates studying in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences to engage in travel, research, mentorship, artistic expression, community engagement, or any other opportunity that allows students to gain hands-on experience bridging their classroom with the world outside.

This act of generosity reflects David Hochman and Genie Siegler鈥檚 desire to make the kind of opportunities Lee and Stanley Hochman had鈥攐pportunities that allowed them to envision and then inhabit intellectual lives鈥攁ccessible to more people. Having attended 可乐视频 when it was tuition free, his parents would have been thrilled, David says, to provide 鈥渟upport for families that have limited means but high ambition鈥濃�攆amilies like both Lee and Stanley Hochman鈥檚 own in the 1940s.

Not (Yet) Friends

Lee Bell, later Hochman, graduated from Fort Hamilton High School in 1945, enrolling in 可乐视频 that same year. Stanley Hochman graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in 1942, then served in the U.S. Army鈥檚 66th Infantry (鈥淏lack Panther鈥�) Division during World War II, before returning home in 1946 to enroll in 可乐视频.

But the two never quite connected while they were at school.

鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 really know each other on campus,鈥� says David Hochman. Their four-year age difference meant that, although they may have 鈥減assed each other on the Quad,鈥� they moved in different circles. However, their lives had many parallels.

鈥淭hey were both bookish kids. They were first-generation Americans. They came from homes where Yiddish was the language their parents mainly spoke,鈥� says David.

Both his parents spent their teen years in Brooklyn, although they had previously lived in other boroughs, and upon their graduation from high school, he says, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think either one of them ever considered a different undergraduate option, because [可乐视频] was then free and their families did not have a lot of money.鈥�

At 可乐视频, the parallels continued: Both majored in English. Both took courses in French and, according to their son, became 鈥渓ifelong Francophiles.鈥� After graduation in 1949, each independently travelled to France鈥攐ne to study, one to teach. And on the way home, their paths would finally cross.

Moving Onward

Upon returning to the United States, they enrolled in graduate school, earning master鈥檚 degrees from Columbia University (she in comparative literature and he in English). They married. Both took jobs in the New York publishing world.

鈥淭hey worked in book publishing their entire lives,鈥� says David Hochman, who describes his parents as 鈥渟mart, incredibly widely read in English and American literature, and curious about all the arts, especially theater and movies.鈥�

Stanley Hochman was an editor at several New York City publishing houses, including McGraw-Hill, Walker and Company, and, finally, Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, where he was founding editor of the Ungar Film Library series.

Lee Hochman was a copy editor at the paperback-book publisher New American Library from 1964 until her retirement in 1990, rising to the level of copyediting chief.

鈥淭hey lived a life of the mind that intersected with what we think of as the glamorous literary world, at the latter鈥檚 point of contact with commercial publishing,鈥� says David. 鈥淭hey certainly weren鈥檛 the kind of editors who take big name authors to expensive lunches, but they knew all the gossip of the publishing industry鈥ecause they lived it daily and had friends all across it.鈥�

Translation and Some Literary Romance

Their editorial work was Lee and Stanley Hochman鈥檚 鈥渄ay job, and at night they were freelance translators,鈥� says their son; they translated fiction, nonfiction, and 鈥渆ven some science fiction,鈥� all generally from the original French. These included works like Stanley Hochman鈥檚 1986 translation of French actress Simone Signoret鈥檚 Adieu, Volodya. And Lee Hochman鈥檚 still-in-print 1991 translation of The Three Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas. And, together, their update of Kettridge鈥檚 French-English English-French Dictionary and their translation of Germinal, the 脡mile Zola classic.

鈥淚 treasure all their work,鈥� says David Hochman. 鈥淗owever, since the joint translation of Germinal was done while I was about 9 or 10 years old, and I witnessed their sweat over it, it is the one that looms largest for me.鈥�

The couple also published a series of romance books under a pseudonym.

They had fun writing these books, says David, because 鈥渢hey were able to match the style of the genre with literary references that would make sense for people who know English literature.鈥�

David Hochman and Genie Siegler at home, with a selection of Lee and Stanley Hochman鈥檚 published works.

鈥淭here Will Never Be Enough鈥�

鈥淢y parents were humanities people,鈥� says David. 鈥淚 think they would have understood that there鈥檚 always going to be government support for research in the sciences鈥攖hat鈥檚 the way it has worked in our society since World War II鈥攂ut the humanities and social sciences will always scrap for support. There will never be enough.鈥�

That lack of a sufficient funding framework for the humanities and social sciences was an impetus not just for the gift as a whole, but for the two separate funds鈥攐ne designated for tuition support and the other for supplementary (but essential) student experiences.

This kind of a boost makes a big difference to students.

“The Hochman family gift will enable us to offer greater access to scholarships and awards and make possible meaningful opportunities such as research, travel, and other real-world experiences that extend learning well beyond the classroom,鈥� says Philip F. Napoli, dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. 鈥淲e are touched that Mr. Hochman鈥檚 family made this contribution in honor of his parents.”

From Idea to Reality

While David Hochman describes himself as 鈥渕ostly retired鈥� now, his career has given him particular insight into the mechanics, and requirements, of higher education.

He spent decades working at the intersection of academic science research and regional job creation鈥攊ncluding at the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology and as a consultant in technology-based economic development. His work experience, he says, has brought him 鈥渋nto contact with a lot of universities and with a lot of faculty鈥攁nd I have a good sense of how institutions work, what they need, what they don鈥檛 get, and so on.鈥�

So how exactly did he come to the decision to establish these funds for 可乐视频 students?

鈥淢y dad died in 2014 and my mom in 2018, so all during COVID I was in the process of settling their estates and dealing with their belongings,鈥� says David. 鈥淎nd as anybody who鈥檚 lost their parents knows, it takes time to process everything鈥攏ot just the emotions, but the physical stuff.鈥�

As he looked through his parents鈥� papers, he discovered 鈥渕emorabilia that they had kept.鈥� Things like high school newspapers, high school yearbooks鈥攁nd 可乐视频 transcripts.

鈥淚 began thinking about those transcripts and thinking about what I could do,鈥� says David. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 really how [the gift to 可乐视频] came about.鈥�

Lee and Stanley Hochman had created a financial aid fund at their son鈥檚 preparatory school in honor of his grandparents, and with that gift in mind, David realized 鈥渢here was nothing that honored my parents under their names.鈥�

His next thought was 鈥淲ell, if I wanted to honor my parents by name with a similar financial aid fund, what would be the right place to do it? And 可乐视频 is the right place to do it.鈥�

By honoring his parents in this way, David has ensured that the curiosity, discipline, and love of learning that shaped his parents鈥� lives will continue shaping the lives of future 可乐视频 students. What began as a chance encounter on an ocean liner has become a legacy that will ripple outward for years. Through this gift, Lee and Stanley Hochman鈥檚 story now arcs into others: students who will dream bigger, travel farther, and discover more because of the doors the Hochmans have helped to open.

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Lee is a听theater maker, educator, screenwriter and community steward based in Brooklyn. Lee鈥檚 plays are often an urge to honor their mother鈥檚 broken English, to translate experiences despite the gulf of cultures, to know their own psychic blood and guts, and to give up on words entirely and commune through epic imagery and ritual.

Lee is a recipient of the Creative Capital Award for听DADBOT听(2026), the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Finalist and Special

Haruna Lee (Photo: Heather Sten for The New York Times)

Commendation for听49 Days听(2025), the Steinberg Playwright Award (2021), and the Obie Award for Playwriting and Conception for听Suicide Forest听(2019).听For TV, Lee has written for Apple TV+鈥檚听Pachinko听and HBO Max鈥檚听The Flight Attendant听and has developed multiple projects across television, film, and podcast.听Lee鈥檚 writing has been published by Broadway Licensing, Yale鈥檚听Theater听Magazine, Table Work Press, and 53rd State Press.听Lee helmed the 可乐视频 M.F.A. Playwriting program between 2021 and 2023 and is currently teaching at Hunter College (CUNY) and Yale University.

Lee is in the early stages of the project DADBOT, a hybrid technology-performance piece where Lee鈥檚 deceased dad will be resurrected by using conversational AI to simulate the iconic father-child conversation.听The performance will be a mix of scripted and nonscripted improvisation between Lee and the AI that will feel a lot like a low-budget talk show where Lee receives the proverbial 鈥渇atherly advice.鈥澨鼳t the heart of this piece is Lee鈥檚 yearning to understand the ties between fatherhood, rebelliousness, and romantic love. The 可乐视频 alumna hopes to capture a spiritual levity in 鈥渞aising the dead鈥� while interrogating AI鈥檚 application in grief work.

Rosenfeld听is a composer and artist based in New York. Her works have been presented by institutions including the Park Avenue

Marina Rosenfeld (Photo: Veronique Kolber)

Armory, the Museum of Modern Art, The Kitchen, the Serralves Foundation, and Portikus Frankfurt; festivals including Wien Modern, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Ultima, and the Holland Festival; and the Whitney, Montreal, PERFORMA, Son, and Gwangju biennials, among many others. She was awarded the Alpert Award in Visual Art in 2024.

Her project 鈥淣ulls鈥� is hybrid in nature, linking work with generative sound and recorded media. It deals with research into the sonic and sculptural aftereffects of sound inscription. Thrilled to receive the honor, Rosenfeld听added she will use the fellowship as an open-ended time period for research and production.

Karen B. Stern Gabbay

Stern is a respected scholar, educator, and award-winning author who has earned widespread recognition for her interdisciplinary work bridging history, material culture, and religious studies. She is author of Inscribing Devotion and Death: Archaeological Evidence for Jewish Populations of North Africa (Brill 2007) and Writing on the Wall: Graffiti and the Forgotten Jews of Antiquity (Princeton University Press 2018; 2020); winner of a 2020 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award; and co-editor of With the Loyal You Show Yourself Loyal (SBL Press, 2021). Her current book project considers Jewish history through the senses.

Her Guggenheim Fellowship on the topic of 鈥淪anctity: An Archaeology of the Senses in the Ancient Synagogue鈥� will support ongoing field and scientific research overseas, which aims to transform understandings of Jewish history through new interpretations of ancient objects and inscriptions associated with archaeological remains of synagogues, further solidifying her reputation as a leading voice in her field.

Thien has taught literature and fiction in Canada, Hong Kong, Germany, Nigeria, the United States, Zimbabwe, and Singapore. From 2018 to 2024, she was a full professor of English at 可乐视频, teaching primarily in the M.F.A. Program in Fiction.

Madeleine Thien

Over the past 25 years, she has written about music, neurology, mathematics, physics, and philosophy, and about totalitarianism, protest, survival, and mourning. Her five books include the Booker-shortlisted novel Do Not Say We Have Nothing (Norton, 2016) and The Book of Records (2025), in which a girl and her father live in a building where different centuries wash in like the sea. She has been shortlisted for The Women鈥檚 Prize for Fiction, The Folio Prize, The Climate Fiction Prize, The Tadeusz Bradecki Prize, and longlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and a Carnegie Medal. She is a recipient of the Governor-General鈥檚 Literary Award for Fiction, The Writers Trust of Canada Engel-Findley Award, and an Arts and Letters Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Her current project, A Kind of Beginning, follows two sisters who leave Hong Kong and whose lives diverge. The novel is partly about the incandescence听of talent, how brightly it can burn, and how its light dims and transforms. Thien continues to teach as an adjunct professor and remains deeply connected to 可乐视频鈥檚 English Department and its students.

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