For Greenfield, giving back to the institution that helped launch his career is both an act of gratitude and a deeply personal tribute. The professorship honors his late daughter, Jennifer Beth Greenfield (1958–84), a gifted young scholar whose passion for cultural anthropology was cut short when after completing a master’s degree she was killed in an automobile accident before beginning her doctoral. By bearing her name, the professorship ensures that her intellectual curiosity and commitment to understanding cultures and communities will continue to inspire future scholars.

“Sidney Greenfield’s gift honors his daughter and strengthens study that will guide future scholars,” said President Michelle J. Anderson. “We thank him for a commitment that will shape learning for years to come.”

Greenfield is thankful to ������Ƶ for helping him discover anthropology and providing the intellectual foundation for a career that has taken him around the world.

“The education I received at ������Ƶ transformed my ambitions and set me on a path of lifelong scholarship,” said Greenfield. “Establishing this professorship in memory of my daughter, Jennifer, is deeply meaningful to me. She possessed a genuine love of anthropology and an enduring curiosity about the world. I hope the Jennifer B. Greenfield Professor of Cultural Anthropology will ensure that her spirit lives on through the work of faculty and students who seek to better understand cultures, communities, and the human condition.”

A Scholar Shaped by ������Ƶ

A 1950 graduate of Franklin K. Lane High School, Greenfield arrived at ������Ƶ intending to study to become an accountant. He graduated magna cum laude with honors in economics in 1954, was elected to Alpha Kappa Mu in 1953 and to Phi Beta Kappa in 1954. Having “discovered” anthropology in his senior year at ������Ƶ he went on the earn a Ph.D. at Columbia University where he studied under renowned economic historian Karl Polany and anthropologist Conrad Arensberg. His economics major at ������Ƶ drew the attention of Arensberg and Polanyi who invited him to join a seminar they offered that had a long-term influence on his research. Greenfield’s dissertation research, conducted in Barbados, examined family organization—an early sign of the interdisciplinary approach that would define his career.

Approved by the CUNY Board of Trustees in April 2025, the Jennifer B. Greenfield Professor of Cultural Anthropology will now help ������Ƶ attract and support outstanding faculty members while expanding opportunities for students to engage in innovative scholarship. Anthropology Professor Patricia Antoniello will serve as the inaugural holder of the chair, bringing her long record of teaching, mentorship, and community-engaged scholarship to this new role.

In creating this enduring legacy, Greenfield has made an investment not only in ������Ƶ, but also in the future of anthropology and in the generations of students who will carry that work forward.

A Career of Global Reach and Intellectual Range

Greenfield’s scholarly life has been marked by deep, sustained engagement with the cultures of the Atlantic world. His early academic appointment at Purdue University took him to Minas Gerais, Brazil, where he spent a summer studying and advising on USAID’s emerging agricultural extension program. Brazil became his lifelong intellectual home: He has returned 23 more times for extended research visits.

His work also took him to Portugal in 1972–73, where he investigated the origins of the Portuguese Atlantic slavery system and the patronage and clientage structures of 15^th-century Portuguese society.

In 1963, Greenfield joined the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Departments of Sociology and Anthropology, where he spent 34 years and served as department chair of the Anthropology Department from 1990 to 1993. His scholarship spans an extraordinary range: family and kinship, patronage and politics, plantation slavery, entrepreneurship, Spiritist (Kardecist) surgery, religion and healing, spirit mediumship, syncretic religions, and the rise of Evangelical Protestantism in Brazilian politics.

He is the author or editor of nine books, producer and director of five video documentaries, and the author of approximately 150 articles and reviews. Representative works include Spirits With Scalpels: The Cultural Biology of Religious Healing in Brazil (2008), Reinventing Religions: Syncretism and Transformation in Africa and the Americas (2001), and Entrepreneurship and Social Change (1986).

Greenfield continues to serve as co-chair of the Columbia University Seminars on Brazil, Studies in Religion and Contents and Methods in the Social Sciences. He is past president of the Association of Senior Anthropology and the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness, both sections of the American Anthropological Association.

In 1954, Greenfield married Eleanor “Ellie” Stolz (1936–2023), whom he met at summer camp when she was 16. Ellie, a Hunter College (CUNY) and University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee graduate, taught in the Milwaukee Public Schools and was known for her skill in evaluating children with learning disabilities. After Sidney’s retirement from UW–Milwaukee, the couple returned to New York in 1997.

Through this remarkable gift, Greenfield has ensured that both ������Ƶ and the memory of his daughter, Jennifer, will continue to inspire discovery, scholarship, and cross-cultural understanding for generations to come.

The post A Lasting Legacy for Learning appeared first on ������Ƶ.

“A quarter century later, we continue to remember those we lost and the many lives forever changed by September 11,” said ������Ƶ President Michelle J. Anderson. “We also remember how our ������Ƶ community came together with compassion, strength, and resilience, and we carry that spirit forward.”

Read a special message from President Anderson .

Pausing to Remember

Twenty-five years later, ������Ƶ continues its annual remembrance through the ringing of the��library tower bell.

Since 2002, the bell has tolled six times at 8:46, 9:03, 9:37, 9:59, 10:03, and 10:28 a.m., marking the pivotal moments of that morning and inviting the community to pause in memory of those whose lives were lost.

Honoring Alumni Lost That Day

Below is a list of the ������Ƶ alumni who were tragically lost on September 11, 2001.

Ernest Alikakos ’89
Auditor,��New��York��State��Department of Taxation and Finance

Ezra Aviles ’86
Senior��manager,��strategic��planning and��development,��Port Authority

Eustace Bacchus ’83
Independent��trader,��American Stock Exchange, attending��a��meeting at Windows��on��the World

Steven Berger ’79
Supervisor of corporate tax auditors,��New York State Department of Taxation and Finance

Andre Cox ’01
Cafeteria worker, 101st floor of World Trade Center

James R. Coyle (attended ������Ƶ in��the 1990s)
FDNY firefighter, Ladder 3

Peter Freund ’84
FDNY��lieutenant, Engine Co. 55

John Giordano ’80
FDNY firefighter‚ Hazardous Materials 1

Michael Gogliormella ’80
Technology Division eSpeed, Inc., a division of Cantor Fitzgerald

Joseph Grillo ’77
Risk finance analyst,��Port Authority

Jeffrey Hersch ’81
Accountant,��Cantor Fitzgerald

Lorraine Lisi ’80
Vice President, Fiduciary Trust International

Paul Lisson ’80
Records��clerk,��Aon Corp.

Robert Mayo (attended ������Ƶ 1973–76)
Deputy��fire��inspector,��World Trade Center

Robert Miller ’76
Conferee,��New York State Department of Taxation and Finance

Gregory Saucedo ’92
FDNY Firefighter, Ladder 5; Firefighter Gregory T. Saucedo Triangle on Avenue T is named in his honor

Ian Schneider ’78
Senior managing director,��Cantor Fitzgerald

Craig Silverstein ’88
Equity trader,��Sandler O’Neill and Partners

Arthur Simon ’69
Equities trader,��Fred Alger Management; died along with son Ken, Cantor Fitzgerald

Robert Twomey ’78
Trader,��Harvey Young Yurman; attending a breakfast meeting at Windows on the World

Abraham J.��Zelmanowitz (attended ������Ƶ 1965–1969)
Computer programmer,��Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield

Prokopios “Paul” Zois ’78
Consultant,��Marsh & McLennan;��travel specialist,��American Express; taught at Kingsborough��Community College Department of��Tourism and Hospitality

The post A Campus Community United by Loss, Resilience, and Remembrance�� appeared first on ������Ƶ.

A Brooklyn native, Murray served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War before returning home to pursue his education at ������Ƶ, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting, graduating cum laude. He credited ������Ƶ with opening doors that shaped the course of his life, and he devoted himself to ensuring that future generations of students would have access to those same opportunities.

“Murray Koppelman never forgot the opportunities ������Ƶ provided him,” said ������Ƶ President Michelle J. Anderson. “As a distinguished alumnus, dedicated trustee, and transformative philanthropist, he worked to make those opportunities possible for others. His generosity and commitment to our students will leave a lasting legacy for generations to come.”

Murray Koppelman ’57

Murray’s support of ������Ƶ included a landmark gift in 2015, one of the largest contributions in the college’s history. Combined with additional support inspired by his leadership, the gift led to the naming of the Murray Koppelman School of Business and strengthened the college’s ability to prepare students for success in business and beyond.

Anthony R. Castellanos ’85, chair of the ������Ƶ Foundation Board of Trustees, reflected on Murray’s impact:

“Murray understood the power of education to change lives,” Castellanos said. “He believed in ������Ƶ and in the potential of its students. As a valued member of the ������Ƶ Foundation Board of Trustees, he dedicated himself to advancing the mission of the college and supporting its students. We are honored to carry forward his legacy of service to the ������Ƶ community. His generosity helped shape the future of this institution, and his example will continue to inspire all of us.”

Shalei V.K. Simms, dean of the Murray Koppelman School of Business, noted that his values remain central to the school’s mission.

“Mr. Koppelman believed that talent, determination, and opportunity should go hand in hand,” Simms said. “His visionary generosity transformed opportunities for our students and strengthened the school in lasting ways. We are deeply grateful for his transformative generosity, which has left an indelible mark on our students, our school, and the future they will help shape.”

When the School of Business was named in his honor, Murray expressed what mattered most to him:

“If the Murray Koppelman School of Business means that young men and women whose prospects might have been unlikely, improbable, or even impossible have a shot at their dreams, then I can say that I have lived a worthwhile and fulfilling life. And a happy one.”

Throughout his career, Murray built a successful accounting practice, entered investment banking, and founded Eastlake Securities. While his professional accomplishments were significant, he remained committed to service. In addition to his leadership at ������Ƶ, he served as president of American ORT and ������Ƶ Hillel, as a board member of the Anti-Defamation League, and as a trustee and advocate for educational and charitable organizations.

Murray’s legacy is measured not only by his generosity, but by his belief in the transformative power of education. He understood how opportunity can change the trajectory of a life, and he made it his mission to extend that opportunity to others.

On behalf of the entire ������Ƶ community, we extend our deepest condolences to Murray’s family, friends, colleagues, and all who were touched by his life and generosity.

We honor Murray Koppelman’s life, his service, and his enduring commitment to educational opportunity.

The post ������Ƶ Mourns the Passing of Trustee, Alumnus, and Philanthropist Murray Koppelman ’57 appeared first on ������Ƶ.

Set in 2036, the novel explores the promise and peril of connected autonomous vehicles through a fast-paced story of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and the future of transportation. Blending suspense with timely questions about technology, public policy, and society, Autokill offers readers a thought-provoking look at a world where driverless cars become both indispensable and potentially deadly.��The New York Times published a feature on ���ܳٴǰ쾱������ on Aug. 10 and you can read that . The New Yorker called Schwartz’s previous book on autonomous vehicles, No One at the Wheel, “A clearheaded bible for the twenty-first-century road.”

Sam Schwartz helped ������Ƶ kick off its Tow Mentor-in-Residence program in 2022.

Before becoming president and CEO of Sam Schwartz Engineering, Schwartz served as the NYC traffic commissioner and the chief engineer of the NYC Department of Transportation. Widely known as “Gridlock Sam” because he popularized the term during the 1980 NYC transit strike, Schwartz specializes in creative problem-solving for seemingly intractable situations, finding ways to move traffic better, make pedestrians safer, and add sidewalks and green space to communities.

In 2022, Schwartz visited ������Ƶ for a keynote address titled, “Transportation and Public Health: Inextricably Linked,” as part of the college’s Tow Mentor-In-Residence program. In 2025, Hunter College of CUNY established the Sam Schwartz program for Transportation Research at its Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute, where he currently teaches transportation policy to both graduate and undergraduate students.

Playwright, novelist, and screenwriter Cary Pepper.

Pepper is a playwright, novelist, and screenwriter whose plays have been presented throughout the United States and internationally. Pepper earned his Bachelor of Arts in English Literature in 1970 from ������Ƶ and completed graduate coursework in the Department of Theater with a concentration in directing. Pepper was recently featured in San Francisco Senior Beat, and you can read that .

The post ������Ƶ Alumni Sam Schwartz and Cary Pepper Coauthor Tech Thriller, Autokill appeared first on ������Ƶ.

D’Orazio’s new memoir, A Shot in the Dark (Blackstone Publishing, 2025), traces his journey from growing up in Brooklyn to working at the top of his profession in the fashion field. Here, D’Orazio reflects on his early influences, his evolution as a photographer, and the experiences that have shaped his perspective and his art.

Photographer Sante D’Orazio’s memoir of life in high fashion and Hollywood.

You grew up in Brooklyn.

I was raised in Flatbush and went to Erasmus Hall High School. The area is now called Kensington, but back then it was just Flatbush to me. I still have family there, though most have moved away.

In your memoir, you say you got into photography early because of a man who lived around the corner.

I didn’t know much about him except his name—Mr. [Lou] Bernstein—and that he lived around the corner from me when I was about 10. He became my mentor in photography and life. He’d been part of the old New York Photo League, with photographers like Robert Frank, Walker Evans, Weegee, and Berenice Abbott. He never worked commercially; he shot on weekends and worked at Willoughby Peerless, the equivalent today of B&H Photo.

Six-year-old Sante D’Orazio playing stickball in his Brooklyn neighborhood.

You started at a junior college and then transferred to ������Ƶ.

After my father passed away, I went into survival mode. I studied commercial art at a New York Community College, thinking I might become an art director. I hated it. I was already painting nudes at the Brooklyn Museum and the Art Students League, so I transferred after researching the ������Ƶ faculty. was teaching there, he was a leading Realist painter concentrating on the nude. I also discovered how strong the faculty was in the fine arts and the humanities. I’m grateful I wasn’t at a full-time art school; the humanities helped round out my aesthetic education through literature, philosophy, history, and widened my scope of knowledge of the Arts. And I loved the campus.

Your cousin, who was a hairdresser, suggested you get into fashion photography.

I went into the city with my portfolio—no appointments, no experience. I tracked down Avedon, Penn, Scavullo. I didn’t get past the front desk at Avedon’s. Penn didn’t open the door. Scavullo told me to get out. I eventually got a job as a second assistant, doing gofer work and building a portfolio.

Model Helena Christensen in Leningrad for British Vogue, 1990

You eventually made your way to Milan.

Italian Vogue was down the street from my hotel. I brought my portfolio expecting rejection. Instead, they gave me a two page-spread assignment of “Beauty” nudes, which translates to skincare, makeup, and fragrance. I was 25.

What was it like photographing the supermodels and rock stars of the 1980s and 1990s?

There was a whole new zeitgeist in the 80s. I had my first assignment with Italian Vogue, soon after my first Vogue cover with German Vogue. In Rome, while shooting the collections, I met a 15-year-old Christy Turlington with her mom in the hallway of our hotel. I became friends with Cindy Crawford, Tatjana Patitz, and Stephanie Seymour before they became the new generation of superstars, they were the first to be termed supermodels. Our careers rose in parallel.

By the 1990s, Hollywood glamor had waned and needed revitalizing. Bruce Weber, Herb Ritts, and I brought glamour back to the movie industry through the magazine world. Once we put actresses like Michelle Pfeiffer and Kim Basinger on a Vogue cover, sales shot up, and fashion magazines shifted to celebrities.

Model Tatiana Patitiz on British Vogue

And famous people like Prince.

I took this assignment because it was Prince. I was early to the studio; Prince arrived early too, with fedora, makeup, and no entourage. Though the client hadn’t arrived, he asked if we could shoot. We finished in about 20 minutes. He left before the client showed up. They weren’t happy, but I was thrilled, we got some great shots.

You have an unnerving story about taking a photo of Mike Tyson with his tiger.

I went to shoot Mike at his home in Las Vegas for Esquire magazine. I was looking for a place to shoot; he directed me out to the backyard. What he didn’t tell me was that he had pet tigers!

Heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, 1996

When I walked out, I thought a dog was running at me from behind—it was a tiger. It jumped on me. Mike came out laughing and said, “She’s just a puppy.” So I took it in stride and acted like it was nothing, though it wasn’t the case! I asked him to take off his shirt, and he started wrestling with the 200 lb. puppy. That’s the shot.

So you’re also a painter. How do your photography and painting practices relate?

I paint images on film that become small abstractions, scan and print them large, collage them, and paint over them. The mixed media feeds itself.

What do you think about art and artificial intelligence?

AI can only remix what it’s fed. It can’t produce the true idiosyncrasies that only the human mind can create. Perfection is machine-made and meaningless, soulless. That energy from hand to paper—AI can’t replicate that.

There’s a growing interest among young people in film and analog processes. Have you seen that?

My son used to make fun of me for not understanding digital manuals. Now he asks me about film. I like that people are going back to handwriting and notebooks. I wrote my memoir by hand. I believe in that process, it extends your sensory perception.

What advice do you have for today’s young photographers and artists?

Know your history, or you’ll copy people without realizing it. Have chutzpah—knock on doors. Show up, even if you’re mopping floors. That’s how artists always learned and grew, from the past, and the bottom up! Most of all take criticism, if you can’t, you’re not ready.

Anything else you want students to know?

If you spend your time trying to satisfy the right and the left, you’re stuck in the middle—that’s the definition of mediocre. Reach inside yourself, fail and get up again. Don’t be afraid of who you are, as long as it’s real to you. And study, always study. ������Ƶ is exceptional when it comes to the quality of education, it’s the best kept secret in the N.Y.C. school system. But then I’m biased—I have a real soft spot for my alma mater

The post A Life in Focus appeared first on ������Ƶ.

This year’s ceremony marks a milestone not only in academic achievement, but the extraordinary resilience and determination of a deeply diverse student body. Students arrive at ������Ƶ 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.

“The Class of 2026 came to ������Ƶ from across the globe, bringing extraordinary talent, perspective, and determination,” said President Michelle J. Anderson. “As 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.”

The ceremony will also recognize three nationally distinguished leaders whose work reflects ������Ƶ’s values of public service and intellectual impact.

Melissa Murray

An honorary Doctor of Humane Letters will be conferred to , widely known to the ������Ƶ 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’s understanding of the law’s 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’s 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’s 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’ 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’s 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!

��Full Student Valedictorian and Salutatorian Bios

Valedictorian: Emersen Bribiesca

Emersen Bribiesca

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

Bribiesca’s path to ������Ƶ 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—working 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’s Digital Corps, building websites for LGBTQ+ nonprofit organizations around the world.

After transferring to ������Ƶ 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 ������Ƶ 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 ������Ƶ.

At ������Ƶ, 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’s List and is a member of the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association and Psi Chi Honor Society. Cintron’s 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’s 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’s 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’s 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.

The post ������Ƶ to Salute Class of 2026 appeared first on ������Ƶ.

The Rosen Fellowship reflects Florence Cohen Rosen’s remarkable generosity and vision: a proud ������Ƶ alumna who chose to give back in a way that expands opportunity for future generations.

Since founding the fellowship in 2011, Rosen ’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 ������Ƶ students, whose work, she notes, renews her “faith…in the future of America,” shine through every fellowship awarded, embodying a legacy of curiosity, ambition, and imagination.

This year’s fellows represent a diverse range of academic interests—from archaeology and environmental science to music technology, public health, visual arts, and documentary filmmaking—demonstrating the creativity, curiosity, and impact-driven work that define the ������Ƶ 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 Pokémon 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 Taíno 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 ������Ƶ’s 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’s Rosen Fellowship recipients and look forward to following their projects in the months ahead.

The post Announcing the 2026 Rosen Fellows appeared first on ������Ƶ.

1930–1939

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

1940–1949

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 “Ronnie” 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

1950–1959

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

1960–1969

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 “Ted” 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

R. Bruce Donoff ’63

Theodore “Ted” 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 ‘Toni’ 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 ’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

1970–1979

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

1980–1989

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.�� Their names will be included in the next digital edition of the alumni magazine.

In Memoriam: April 2025–November 2025
In Memoriam: October 2024–April 2025

The post In Memoriam appeared first on ������Ƶ.

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’ 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’s 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‑growing 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’s online spectators of what has been called the world’s first “TikTok War.” He also continues his work on the history of chocolate and delivered his talk “Valentines and Chocolate: Their Connections Through History” 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‑ticket holders. A retired attorney who still occasionally serves as an arbitrator, he and Julie—who met in law school—have lived in Dallas since 1966, remain active in community nonprofits, and continue their efforts to turn Texas “blue.” They enjoy visits with their three children, now in Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado, and seven grandchildren—and keep several ������Ƶ T‑shirts and a Brooklyn Dodgers cap close at hand.

Melvin H. Nutig has self‑published a memoir, Code Blues: A Surgeon’s Journey With Depression, available on Amazon in hardback and paperback. The book recounts his childhood in Coney Island, his years at ������Ƶ, 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 ������Ƶ students who face similar challenges.

1964

Stephen Lewis’s 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 ������Ƶ 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 “Tina” 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‑to‑principal 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’s Museum. He spent 24 years as social services and training director for Resources for Children with Special Needs, then worked as a private special‑needs 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 “one word at a time.”

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—a 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��published her first book,��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 ������Ƶ, 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’m Shrinking, Why Can’t 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‑certified physician and molecular biologist, studies Alzheimer’s 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’s 2026 “500 Most Influential People Shaping Policy” 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‑SCP, recently earned the IAC Masteries‑Practitioner credential, adding to his HRCI and SHRM certifications. President of The Sky’s The Limit Consulting, Inc. since 1999, he provides training, facilitation, and coaching across sectors nationwide and globally, following an 11‑year teaching career in Brooklyn.

1991

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

1995

Ellen Levitt’s 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‑situations 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’s 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 ������Ƶ with preparing her to face life’s challenges as a single mother of four, earning both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees before becoming a licensed New York City teacher. She retired during COVID and continues to advocate passionately for “the beacon of light” that is ������Ƶ.

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‑fil‑A, 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’s journeys accumulate and how our actions shape outcomes.

2014

After earning degrees in psychology and Africana studies at ������Ƶ, 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’s 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‑business community, earning perfect scores across all evaluation categories.

2019

Lovette Aneke, who earned her master’s 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‑improvement advocacy. A ������Ƶ graduate student from 2020 to 2021, he earned CCSP® and DCSP® certifications, completed FEMA’s 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‑19 pandemic. As an undergraduate (2016–18), he received several scholarships and academic honors.

Share Your News

Use the Class Notes form to share your news in our next issue.

The post Class Notes appeared first on ������Ƶ.

Aleah N. Ranjitsingh

At ������Ƶ, 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—one 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 “at home” and across the diaspora.

Through projects such as “Becoming Black: Afro-Caribbean and/in ‘Black America,’” “Dougla Lives: At the Intersections,” and “Chinese Caribbean Narratives: Migration, Identity, and Belonging at Home and Diaspora,” 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 ������Ƶ, the Caribbean Studies Program, directed by Associate Professor Dale Byam, reflects this breadth—from 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’s lived experience.

In my first oral history project, “Becoming Black: Afro-Caribbean and/in ‘Black America,’” 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—while also situating that moment within broader political histories—required 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—Kerry Young’s 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 ������Ƶ 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’ stories matter—and 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—especially after completing my Ph.D.—there 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 Mérida. I knew then that to understand whether participatory democracy and 21^st��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—particularly within the Institute for Gender and Development Studies—we 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—Caribbean people of African and Indian ancestry—became 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 “have the audacity,” 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—even 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—they are co-producers of it.

This philosophy is reflected institutionally as well. At ������Ƶ, 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—because 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 “have the audacity” to take up space, to dream, and to speak—even 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 ������Ƶ—not only as an institution, but as a place where they were supported, challenged, and cared for; a place where they belonged.

The post Stories as Scholarship appeared first on ������Ƶ.