Pérez y González was one of only three honorees, recognized for her lifelong dedication as a scholar, educator, and former chair of the Department of Puerto Rican and Latinx Studies. The award was presented by Deputy Mayor Ana J. Almanzar at the mayor’s Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration on October 9 during a ceremony led by the Community Affairs Unit. The event highlighted leaders whose work has shaped the cultural and intellectual landscape of Latino communities in New York and beyond.

For more than 33 years, Pérez y González has been a guiding force in higher education, mentoring students from all backgrounds, advancing the field of Puerto Rican and Latinx studies, and amplifying the voices and histories of Latino communities across the United States. Her most recent work is (Centro Press, 2021), which she co-edited with Professor Emerita and prominent U.S. historian Virginia Sánchez Korrol.

Deputy Mayor Ana J. Almanzar (left) presents María E. Pérez y González with the Citation of Honor on October 9 at the Mayor’s Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration.

As the co-director of the María E. Sánchez Center for Latinx Studies, Pérez y González has coordinated lecture series and workshops, implemented undergraduate research assistantships, and partnered with campus entities to bring forth academic and cultural campus-wide programming focused on Latino communities. The center is named in honor of María E. Sánchez, who served as the chair of the nascent Department of Puerto Rican Studies from 1974 to 1989 during the economic recession and its aftermath, in which she successfully led the four-year-long struggle for departmental self-determination, co-founded the widely acclaimed Bilingual Teacher Education Training Program, and ensured Puerto Rican studies would be part of what became the nationally recognized Core Curriculum.

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Can you tell us a bit about your background?

I am a former dancer who earned my first bachelor’s degree in dance performance studying classical ballet and modern. Once that journey came to its conclusion, I asked what was next for me. I enrolled in ������Ƶ, took some classes, and fell in love with the school. I started as a biology major because I thought I would be a medical doctor. I very quickly saw that it was not in the cards. I was in a chemistry class when we reached this chapter titled Quantum Chemistry, and in it was something called the Schrödinger equation. It describes how electrons behave, how atoms behave, and how they interact. It’s an equation that allows you to see what you can’t see with your eyes. And that just blew my mind. So I chose physics.

Some seeds were planted along the way earlier in my life, so it wasn’t that big a leap from the arts to science, but that landed me in physics.

What were those seeds?

The first seed is that my mom has always been interested in technology. She used to be in the military, and when she was there, she built circuits. I grew up watching her do everything from building ship models to building my computer when I went to college for the first time. Technology was just a regular thing in our household. Science was normalized. My grandmother was a nurse. My mom later became an occupational therapy assistant. I had always been fascinated with how things work, how different puzzle pieces fit together, why they work the way they do.

Why did you choose ������Ƶ for your second bachelor’s degree?

The college has an excellent reputation in terms of the schools and the professors and how they support their students. I also chose it because it’s affordable. It was close to where I live in Brooklyn. It ticked a lot of boxes. And because I was interested in becoming a doctor then, it also has great programs. Another reason why I chose ������Ƶ was its reputation for having an incredibly diverse community, even in physics. For my last two semesters in school, I was one of three physics majors of color instead of one. To give you a sense of how big that is, approximately one hundred Black women have Ph.D.’s in physics in the United States.

Having that sort of safe space to learn, mess up, try harder, and do all of those things made it much easier to go into more predominantly white spaces and show up as my whole self. Going to the American Physical Society Conference this past March showed me the importance of having a baseline community. I received that when I attended the conference for the National Society of Black Physicists. There are just certain things that are understood among us. Now you could talk physics, and after, you could talk about the latest Kendrick Lamar album. Support from ������Ƶ and the society of Black physicists allowed me to thrive in predominantly white spaces.

Being in a diverse environment was a big part of your undergraduate experience. Can you tell us more. Did you have a mentor who stands out to you?

One of the best-kept secret about CUNY is all of the resources that it has. And it’s a matter of going out and finding those resources, talking to professors and administrators. My first mentor was Prof. Jeffrey McLean. He was my biology lab professor, and he also had a non-traditional background going into the sciences. He started off as a tow truck driver and realized after about a year or so of working and talking to older folks in the field that it was not for him. He’d always been interested in biology and tried it out. Fast forward, he became a virologist and worked at the CDC. Seeing someone else who had a similar non-traditional background as I resonated. It helped me to feel connected to the science community at ������Ƶ. Before switching to physics, I reached out to the department and the undergraduate adviser, Professor [Ken] Miyano. He was my number one supporter. It took a long time to get my degree.

Did it?

Oh yes. Because I had to work. It was a combination of needing to support myself and the fact that because I already had my first bachelor’s degree, there was a lot of student aid that I could not access. I had already accessed it with my first degree. I had to get super creative with funding my education and living here. So Professor Miyano was pivotal in advising me on the right courses and when to take them and providing the space and the educational resources I needed to even transition into physics.

There were a lot of mental shifts I had to do to feel like I could succeed to let go of some of the narratives that I had been told growing up because the talent was actually there, but because of society and people in my life saying, “Oh, well, you’re better in English.” Meanwhile, I look back at my transcripts from middle school and high school; I’m getting As in my math classes. It takes a lot more than math to do physics. And that was the part that I needed to connect. It was rough getting there, but it clicked eventually. When I was younger, I thought, this [math] is so hard. I don’t like this, whatever. And then I realized as I got older that I was good at math and I liked math, that math is just another language to help you tell the story of the thing you’re studying.

And now we’ve got movies like Hidden Figures.

I cried the entire time. I was in tears. We Black women could always do this, and we’ve been doing it.

You were a top student presenter at the American Physics Society annual conference. Can you tell us about that experience?

I was there because of research I had been doing for about two years at an internship at the Simons Foundation. The short story is that it is a foundation started by Jim and Marilyn Simons. Jim Simons, in particular, was a mathematician. He was the department chair at Stony Brook University, and he had ultimately decided that he wanted to try something else. He started a hedge fund company that used the same mathematical models he had already used as a professor in school. The hedge fund was a success, so he started the foundation. It touches on scientific outreach support for math teachers, but there’s an arm called the Flatiron Institute, which I was a part of as an intern and then as an employee. The Flatiron Institute houses all of the basic research, including biology, neuroscience, astrophysics, math, and quantum physics, all doing what we call computational research. So research on computers, large scale computers. My work, in collaboration with Dr. Tim Berkelbach, now co-director of the Flatiron Institutes Initiative for Computational Catalysis and Associate Professor at Columbia University, was studying atoms and molecules and electrons at their very core: how they interact with one another using these computing systems. That eventually led up to presenting my research at the American Physical Society.

That must’ve been such a high for you.

The culmination of a lot of hard work and other synergistic things helped me get to that point because it wasn’t just about the research. Before working at the Simons Foundation some of my jobs involved science outreach and learning how to communicate science to different populations across New York City. So I took that skillset and married it with the research; the results speak for themselves.

Did you receive any assistance from ������Ƶ or any grants or scholarships?

I received two scholarships: the Lila Lustig Science Scholarship and a Harold M. and Carolyn R. Krouse Scholarship. They helped me to finish my degree because, like I shared before, I had to pay out of pocket. So having those additional resources and institutional support are what continued to help push me.

Switching from student to teacher and physics to environmental science—you’ve worked as a citizen science educator at the Stem Research Academy at ������Ƶ. Is there any crossover between the two disciplines for you?

The great thing about physics, and the thing that makes physics hard, is that physics is everywhere. One of the things that was incredibly helpful with having gone through my physics degree while working as an environmental educator was that I could take those problem-solving skills to the classroom for students. It was an opportunity to show that to my high school urban ecology class, all those concepts that you learn, volume gases, the chemicals that arise when you mix certain pollutants, and that’s what you’re smelling when you’re walking out in the street, that all stems from physics. But the fact that it’s also intermingled with chemistry and biology—that’s what makes it exciting for students, and it helps to rope them in. The goal is to rope them in and get them excited about the environment. Yes, you can take care of this concrete jungle of New York City. Yes, we have trees. Yes, we have forests. Yes, we have wetlands. They all play an important role in keeping our air clean, getting our waterways cleaner, and using science, and physics, in particular, as vehicles.

Today you work as a software engineer in high-performance computing research facilitator. Can you explain that in lay terms?

What I do as an HPC research facilitator is help scientific researchers take the programs or the code that they have written to study everything from molecules to other biological systems, and figure out how to take this small program that can be run on a personal computer and have it run on a much larger set of computers? For instance, I am running a program that studies how much energy a single molecule has. But now I want to multiply the number of molecules I’m studying because I have the prototype. How do I do that on a larger computer system? The goal is to run their system exponentially faster than they could on their own computer. It can take a long time to calculate how much energy something like a super atomic atom—a cluster of multiple atoms that behave like one, with its own chemical properties—contains. So if I were to run that calculation on my laptop, it could take a couple of days, versus if I were to send that same calculation and run it on the larger computer system, that would take maybe 15 to 20 minutes. The sooner you get those calculations, the sooner you can move on to the next step and the next step of the next step, which may eventually have real-world applications.

You’re a masters athlete in Olympic weightlifting.

Once I decided to switch to science and my dance career ended, I needed a physical outlet. Part of what brought me over to Olympic weightlifting was CrossFit. CrossFit is a lot of things, but it has been the biggest driver for women going into strength training. And that’s what brought me over because I did CrossFit and realized my favorite part of the class was the weightlifting section, particularly Olympic weightlifting. So I tried it, and I was hooked. It’s also very technique-driven, just like ballet and modern dance. I was able to compete in three local competitions in my weight class. And yeah, it was great. I loved it.

Do you have any advice for students who are interested in your field?

Students should not be afraid to chart their own paths. I think one of the things that, in my opinion, contributes to the lack of diversity in my field, in particular in physics, is that there’s this very narrow path that you’re supposed to take to get to, let’s say, a Ph.D. program. A path that students who don’t come from a background of academic support in their family can’t always take. So don’t be afraid to take things out of order. Ask your academic adviser and figure out what works best for you. I realized I had to do what worked for me—I couldn’t take off for three months in the summer to participate in a research program for undergraduates in Kentucky, Texas, or California. I didn’t have that amount of PTO from my job, but what I could do was find jobs that had some science background to gain that knowledge and the research experience that I might need for grad school. Don’t be afraid to go off that path if it still gets you where you need to go.

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Attendees were treated to a Chinese Lion Dance courtesy of the New York City Chinese Freemasons; a Bangladeshi Dance by the Bangladeshi Students Association; a performance by the Buryat Mongol Folk Music Ensemble; and a Dabke Dance by the Freedom Dabke Group, as well as traditional food and drink.

President Michelle J. Anderson; Christopher Y. Won, Program Director, ������Ƶ AANAPISI Project (������ƵAP); and Sau-fong Au, Director of the Women’s Center at ������Ƶ and the Principal Investigator for the ������ƵAP project.

This event was made possible through a grant obtained in 2023 that will help ������Ƶ better serve AAPI students and the community. Two of the co-founders of Brooklyn College’s Asian American Faculty and Staff Association—Associate Professor Yung-Yi Diana Pan ���Ի���Women’s Center Director Sau-fong Au—are serving as principals for the $1.97 million grant award from the U.S. Department of Education as part of its Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions Program.

The grant will allow ������Ƶ to invest in mentoring, mental health, curriculum development, and other initiatives that support students of Asian American, Native American, and Pacific Islander ancestry.

“This $1.97 million grant is the result of the hard work and dedication of faculty and staff who contributed their expertise and firsthand knowledge of curriculum development and the unique needs of our AAPI students,” said Sau-fong Au, director of the Women’s Center at ������Ƶ and the principal investigator for the project. “It will allow us to implement culturally responsive services that cater to the unique needs of our AAPI students, and we are confident that this grant will have a significant and immeasurable impact.”

Yung-Yi Diana Pan

“Being awarded this grant is a huge win for ������Ƶ. As the population of AANHPI students continues to grow, this grant allows ������Ƶ to better serve them and their academic, social, and emotional needs, ” said Yung-Yi Diana Pan, interim executive director of the Asian American/Asian Research Institute and associate professor of sociology.

The grant also led to the launching of the ������Ƶ AANAPISI Project (������ƵAP) which is being led by new director Christopher Y. Won.

“The Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Celebration was a historic event at ������Ƶ, with collaboration from over 10 student organizations, several campus offices, and local artists and performers. Through our ������ƵAP office, we hope to expand upon this tradition, sharing awareness and increasing the visibility of our communities’ unique and shared heritage,” Won said.

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At age 4, Suborno received recognition from then-President Barack Obama for his accomplishments in math and science. At age 6, he was recognized by Harvard University for his problem-solving abilities and was accepted into New York City’s gifted and talented program.

At just 10 years old, Suborno scored 1500 on his SAT and is the world’s youngest perfect scorer in AP Calculus ������Ƶ. He is a Laureate at the Da Vinci Institute, a Ph.D.-granting institution in South Africa, and is also affiliated with all 21 Indian Schools in Oman.

Suborno is the author of two books, The Love and Manish, both of which advocate for a world without terrorism. Suborno is currently a 12^th grader at Malverne High School, a visiting graduate student at Stony Brook University, and a CMT Scholar at NYU Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. He has applied to Columbia University for early decision. He also applied to all Ivy League schools as well as MIT, Stanford, and Caltech.

������Ƶ President Michelle J. Anderson sat down with Suborno to discuss his experiences on campus, his appreciation of the iconic Lily Pond, and what he would like to do in the future.

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Cronin’s work has stood the test of time as it examines issues of gender, sexuality, and social justice. She has enjoyed numerous solo exhibitions in the United States and internationally, and her work has been featured at the 56th Venice Biennale in Italy; the American Academy in Rome Gallery; Musei Capitolini and Centrale Montemartini, Rome; Tampa Museum of Art; Newcomb Art Museum, New Orleans; The FLAG Art Foundation, New York; the Brooklyn Museum; and the LAB Gallery, Dublin. Bronze versions of her acclaimed marble sculpture, Memorial to a Marriage (2002)—the world’s first marriage equality monument—are permanently on view at Woodlawn Cemetery, the Bronx, New York, and Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, Scotland.

During October’s National Arts and Humanities Month, we asked Cronin about the impact of her work and how she balances creating art and teaching.

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College President Michelle J. Anderson, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Anne Lopes, and Senior Vice President for Student Affairs Ron Jackson, helped lead the conferring of degrees in the college’s School of Natural and Behavioral Sciences, School of Visual, Media and Performing Arts, Murray Koppleman School of Business, School of Education, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, as well as the CUNY Baccalaureate for Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies.

Welcoming the special guests, as well as the families and friends of the graduates, President Anderson congratulated the Class of 2023, while thanking the strong faculty and classmates who helped get the graduates to the finish line.

“These students worked hard to get here,” President Anderson said. “They tackled rigorous academic work, research projects, internships, jobs, and numerous assignments. Today, they are not the same people who graduated from high school and came to our doors. As a result, they evolved. They explored new ideas about life and what is possible within it, about our history and what makes us human, and ideas that have shaped and changed them for the better, as a college education is designed to do.”

Professor Emerita and Pulitzer and Kennedy Center award-winner served as the keynote speaker and was given an honorary degree. León, who taught at ������Ƶ for 35 years until her retirement in 2019, was director of music composition at the school’s Conservatory of Music. She is the first faculty member in any of the City University of New York (CUNY) schools to receive the prestigious Kennedy Center award. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music for her work “” in 2021.

Having grown up in a lower-income family in Cuba, León told the Class of 2023 she always dreamed of earning a college degree and that what her family lacked in material wealth they made up in spirit, encouragement, and support. A twist of fate landed her in the United States in her early 20s, and what followed was an incredible career as one of the world’s preeminent composers, conductors, and educators.

“My life in ������Ƶ, where I taught for 33 years in the Music Department, eventually becoming a distinguished professor, has been the source of enriching experiences, personal growth, and many talented students and personal friends, which have become members of my extended family,” León said. “Many of these colleagues and students have been inspirational through their passion and their contributions to society. To see students graduate is a joyful moment for all the professors involved in their journey, including myself. … As you continue on your journey and give service to our societies with your unique talents, you, in turn, will offer your support, encouragement, and powerful spirit that will help others realize their dreams.”

Following León’s commencement speech, ������Ƶ Foundation Trustee Leonard Tow ’50, founder and chairman of The Tow Foundation, surprised the audience by announcing that the foundation would be providing support toward the establishment of the Tania León Chair of Music—the first-ever named chair in the Conservatory of Music at ������Ƶ.

“The Tania León Chair will forever recognize and honor your unmatched legacy at ������Ƶ and in the larger world,” Tow said.

������Ƶ President Michelle J. Anderson presents Leonard Tow ‘50, ������Ƶ Foundation Trustee and founder and chairman of The Tow Foundation, with a birthday cake as Evan Silverstein ‘76 (left) and Tania León look on.

President Anderson thanked Tow for his continued support, as the crowd helped him celebrate his recent 95th birthday by singing “Happy Birthday” led by Joe Damon Chappel ’23 M.M., singer from the ������Ƶ Brass Ensemble.

Silverstein, ’76, ������Ƶ Foundation Board of Trustees Chair was the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Honor. Silverstein has served as a Trustee since 2009. He has led the Foundation’s efforts to secure vital support for students. Silverstein was a lead supporter of the effort to raise emergency funds for students during the pandemic and established the Renee and Evan Silverstein Internship Fund at ������Ƶ.

������Ƶ President Michelle J. Anderson awards Evan Silverstein, ‘76, ������Ƶ Foundation Board of Trustees Chair, with the Presidential Medal of Honor.

Silverstein dedicated his award to ������Ƶ students past, present, and future.

“To me, my years at ������Ƶ were not just academic,” Silverstein said. “The growth, maturity, and awareness that I experienced made me aware of a much bigger world that I never knew. I grew up at ������Ƶ. I, my fellow board members, and many others do what we do because we feel we owe it to ������Ƶ to give back and enhance the opportunity for students any which way we can. The fact that you are committed to earning a college degree says a lot about you and bodes well for your future.”

The valedictorian of the Class of 2023 was Chaim Janani, who received his bachelor’s degree in honors for chemistry. Janani congratulated his fellow graduates and credited his academic success to the support and mentorship he received at ������Ƶ, which helped him to fulfill his dream of becoming a physician. Following commencement, he will pursue medical school in the fall at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University.

The salutatorian, Lisa Leopold- Chaparro, a , and co-teacher at a private preschool in Manhattan, received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Early Childhood. Leopold- Chaparro will continue her studies at ������Ƶ and attend the early childhood education graduate program. She plans to work with at-risk students in public schools.

(Left to right) Class of 2023 Salutatorian Lisa Leopold- Chaparro, ������Ƶ President Michelle J. Anderson, and the valedictorian Chaim Janani.

Other special guests who addressed the Class of 2023 and offered congratulations were U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams ’01, ’05 M.A., and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.

The CUNY family was also well-represented, including CUNY Trustee Kevin Kim, who addressed the Class of 2023.��������������������������������������������

Officially, ������Ƶ conferred 2,871 students who have received baccalaureate degrees, 850 who earned master’s degrees, and 88 students who will receive advanced certificates.

The Class of 2023 celebrates commencement at Barclays Center.

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Smith’s lecture, “What I Believe,” will be an intimate exploration into her life as a trailblazer who broke new ground as a Black feminist, lesbian, activist, author, publisher, and independent scholar who inspired generations. She was among the first to define an African American women’s literary tradition and to build Black women’s studies and Black feminism in the United States. She has been politically active in many movements for social justice since the 1960s.

“I am so honored to serve as the Hess Scholar-in-Residence during the 2022–23 academic year,” Smith said. “At a time when some in our nation wish to limit the information and ideas that students can access, I look forward to expansive dialogues with members of ������Ƶ’s wonderfully diverse community.”

“As a writer, publisher, teacher, and organizer, Barbara Smith is a transformative force for justice. Her work has reshaped the American academy and society. We are honored to host her for a week of events culminating in the Hess Memorial Lecture,” said Gaston Alonso, interim director for the Ethyle R. Wolfe Institute for the Humanities and associate professor of political science at ������Ƶ.

This lecture event is free and open to the public and serves as the main highlight of the college’s  for 2022–23.

The event will also feature President Michelle J. Anderson as well as , distinguished professor of political science, and Professor of English , interim dean, School of Humanities and Social Sciences.

On November 29, Smith was part of a conversation on campus with Theoharis when they discussed selected clips from the documentary , which features Smith and is based on Theoharis’ research ���Ի��� of the same name.

A prolific writer and publisher, Smith has edited three major collections about Black women: Conditions: Five, The Black Women’s Issue (with Lorraine Bethel, 1979); All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women’s Studies (with Gloria T. Hull and Patricia Bell-Scott, 1982); ���Ի���Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology (1983). She is also the co-author, with Elly Bulkin and Minnie Bruce Pratt, of Yours in Struggle: Three Feminist Perspectives on Anti-Semitism and Racism (1984). Smith is the general editor of The Reader’s Companion to U.S. Women’s History (with Wilma Mankiller, Gwendolyn Mink, Marysa Navarro, and Gloria Steinem, 1998). A collection of her essays, The Truth That Never Hurts: Writings on Race, Gender, and Freedom, was published by Rutgers University Press in 1998. Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around: Forty Years of Movement Building with Barbara Smith, edited by Alethia Jones and Virginia Eubanks with Barbara Smith, was published by SUNY Press in 2014.

The evening will also include mezzo-soprano Lucia Bradford and the Conservatory Singers, ������Ƶ’s select chamber ensemble, who will perform “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around.” The group will be conducted by Associate Professor/Director of Choral Studies , director of the New York Philharmonic Chorus.

This signature event will be held on Thursday, March 16, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in the Claire Tow Theater at ������Ƶ. It will also be livestreamed on the .

Highlights From the Hess Week Calendar, March 13–20

Full calendar and speakers

Barbara Smith—Hess Scholar-in-Residence Library Exhibit: An exhibit located in the main entrance of the ������Ƶ Library that will highlight the works and legacy of Barbara Smith. Archival material from the Robert L. Hess Collection will also be presented. Curated by Professor and Librarian Helen Georgas.

March 13, 11 a.m.–12:15 p.m.: President Anderson Welcomes 2022–23 Hess Scholar-in-Residence Barbara Smith Woody Tanger Auditorium, ������Ƶ Library, and on Zoom

March 13, 2:15–3:30 p.m.: “If Black women were free…”: The State of Black Feminism 2023 Woody Tanger Auditorium, ������Ƶ Library, and on Zoom

March 14, 2:15–3:45 p.m.: “Transforming the U.S. Academy” Woody Tanger Auditorium, ������Ƶ Library, and livestreamed on the .

March 15, 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m.: “Justice or Just Us?: Defining a Queer Agenda” Woody Tanger Auditorium, ������Ƶ Library, and livestreamed on the .

March 15, 3:40–4:55 p.m.: “Teaching as a Liberating Practice” Woody Tanger Auditorium, ������Ƶ Library, and livestreamed on the .

March 16, 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m.: “Working for Liberation and Having a Damn Good Time” Woody Tanger Auditorium, ������Ƶ Library, and livestreamed on the .

March 20, 6–7:15 p.m.: “Putting Class Back Into Intersectionality” Online via Zoom

About the Robert L. Hess Scholar-in-Residence Program

The Robert L. Hess Scholar-in-Residence Program, established by ������Ƶ, is supported by the Robert L. Hess Fund. The program serves as a permanent tribute to the scholarly commitment of Robert L. Hess, exemplified during his tenure as president of ������Ƶ. It represents the ideal of the educated individual—knowledgeable, thoughtful, inquiring, alive to the shared purposes and concerns linking all intellectual pursuits. More particularly, it evokes the scholarly and academic virtues embodied in the curriculum at ������Ƶ.

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Acclaimed composer, conductor, and educator and ������Ƶ Distinguished Professor Emerita Tania León was honored by the Kennedy Center for her lifetime achievements in the performing arts. The 45th annual awards took place on December 5 at the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, D.C.

Professor León taught at ������Ƶ for 35 years until her retirement in 2019, and was director of music composition in the school’s Conservatory of Music. She is the first faculty member in any of the City University of New York (CUNY) schools to receive the prestigious Kennedy Center award.

León, a native of Cuba who moved to New York in the late 1960s, has an illustrious career that spans more than 50 years. Among her many achievements she won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her orchestral work Stride, a piece commissioned by the New York Philharmonic to commemorate the centennial of women’s voting rights. In 2018 she was named a USA fellow and inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

“My first thoughts went to my ancestors: They believed in my dreams,” said Professor León in a statement about the award. “What we lacked in material wealth, they made up for in spirit, encouragement, and support. My heartfelt thanks go to the many people who have blessed my path by helping my talent to blossom and by giving me the chance to be heard.”

In addition to ������Ƶ, León taught for 30 years at the CUNY Graduate Center’s music doctoral program. She has been a visiting lecturer at Harvard University and visiting professor at Yale University, University of Michigan, and the Musikschule in Hamburg, Germany. In 2000 she was named the Tow Distinguished Professor at ������Ƶ. She was named Distinguished Professor of CUNY in 2006, and professor emerita in 2019.

León joined actor and filmmaker George Clooney, contemporary Christian and pop singer-songwriter Amy Grant, soul, gospel and R&B singer Gladys Knight, and the Irish rock band U2 in this year’s honors. Guests included President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. The event will be televised on December 28.

Watch the White House Reception from December 4, 2022.

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Fast forward some 40 years later and that same team enjoyed a night to remember as it was inducted into the ������Ƶ Athletics Hall of Fame on December 2.

The event was a long time coming for the history making squad, particularly for one of its leaders Danny Byrnes ’84. The former 6-foot-6-inch  forward was still standing tall throughout the reception as he and others beamed with pride in front of family and friends who were no doubt happy to be back on campus seeing their team honored.

Former “Kingsmen” Danny Byrnes shows off an old ������Ƶ basketball jersey as acting Athletic Director and women’s basketball coach Alex Lang looks on during the Hall of Fame Induction ceremony.

“The best part of this induction ceremony is getting this talented group back together again,” Byrnes said. “And while we have remained in contact all these years later, being together on campus together [was] incredible. We were truly a team, a very diverse group, that embraced our roles for the betterment of the team. What we accomplished on the court was incredible, but I feel we had more success off the court, leveraging our ������Ƶ education and our sports experience into successful careers, huge non-profit involvement, strong family men, and pillars of community. This is such a well-deserved honor.”

The event was fittingly held before a men’s and women’s basketball double-header and was attended by most of the Kingsmen from that incredible era. The squad also enjoys the distinction of being the first team inducted into the Brooklyn Athletics Hall of Fame, an honor that had been reserved for individual athletes.

It was a moment not lost on current ������Ƶ women’s basketball coach and acting Athletic Director Alex Lang who MC’d the ceremony.

“It is such an honor to hear all of these stories,” said Lang. “This team has had such an impact, and we are proud to pass their winning tradition, both on and off the court, to our current players.”

The spirit of their late coach, Mark Reiner, was also alive and well throughout the event, as his former players, as well as Reiner’s wife Tina and daughters Patti, Stacey, and Kelly plus nearly 30 more friends, were present to share in the special tribute. Reiner passed away in 1997 and always instilled the importance of giving back to his players, and nearly every Kingsmen cited his special mentorship throughout the evening.

Kingsmen Hall of Famer Kenny Vickers ’82, who currently runs Impact Youth League, launched in 1993 and inspired by the lessons of Coach Reiner, was just one of the players who talked about the mark Reiner left on him.

“I remember Coach Reiner telling me after we reached the Final Four that this experience is going to bond [us] together forever and he was right,” Vickers said. “This [induction] is an incredible tribute to us and for him.”

Former team manager Ray “Fly” Blake echoed the lessons learned from Reiner. “I was not a player, so I hung around the caches a lot,” Blake said. “Coach Reiner was such a special man who I learned a lot from. I know he would be absolutely happy to see what is happening here today with his team.”

Reiner’s impact might have been summed up best by former player Greg Sullivan ’82, who cited a Greek proverb during his induction speech.

“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in,” Sullivan said, adding that Reiner had an impact that was immeasurable on and off the court.

The event was covered by PIX 11 news—watch the segment here.

The Players

Danny Brown, Glen “Earl” James, Ed de la Guardia, Rick Davis, Kenny Vickers, Danny Byrnes, Ronnie Phillips, Earl Robinson, Rich Micallef, Alan Wheeler, Keith Williams, Bobby Edwards, Greg Sullivan, and the late Jimmy Sullivan.

The Coaching Staff

The late Mark Reiner (head coach); Larry Vitelli (assistant coach), the late Herb Grossman (assistant coach), Ted Gustus (assistant coach); Larry Klein (head trainer), Jay Itzkowitz (assistant trainer), Ray “Fly” Blake (manager), and Harold Robinson (manager).

More About the ������Ƶ’s 1981-82 Team

• Record: 22-9
• Placed 3rd in the Country
• Received an at-large Bid to Tournament
• Defeated No. 13 ranked Ithaca College in opening round
• Defeated No. 1 ranked College of Staten Island in second round
• Defeated No. 3 ranked Roanoke College in quarterfinals

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