May 2005 — Vol. 1, No. 4

Dear Faculty and Staff Members of the Baruch College Community:

It’s hard to believe that I am coming to the close of my first year as president of Baruch College. When I arrived on the campus last summer, I was impressed by the dedication of the faculty and staff and the general air of optimism. My excitement has quickened and deepened since then.

Over the course of this year, I have come to realize how much a Baruch education is a transforming experience for our students. No college does more to enhance the economic lives and life expectations of its graduates.

Commencement 2005

I invite you all to share the hopes and joys of thousands of graduates and their families as these “former” students begin the next phase of their lives at the College’s 40th Commencement Exercises.

This year, Commencement will be held at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, June 1, beginning at 11 am. There will be presentations from this year’s valedictorian, Derek Bronsky, an accountancy major with a 4.0 GPA, and the salutatorian, Priya Shah, a finance major also with a 4.0 GPA. Both are students in the CUNY Honors College. Additionally, Presidential Excellence Awards for Distinguished Faculty Scholarship will be conferred on Arthur Apter (Mathematics) and Richard Kopelman (Management), the Presidential Excellence Award for Distinguished Faculty Service on Ann Brandwein (Statistics and Computer Information Systems), and the Presidential Excellence Awards for Distinguished Teaching on Thomas W. Hayes (English), William T. McClellan (English), and Mark Spergel (Communication Studies). I will have the special honor of giving the keynote address.

Strategic Planning Process

We are in the beginning phases of creating a five-year strategic plan for the College. The plan will affect every member of our community, so I hope you have carefully read the memorandum distributed electronically in early April. To facilitate the sharing of information on planning and the work of the various groups, we have established a Blackboard community, which you can access through our Web site.

The 2005-2010 strategic plan will encompass our mission and our vision for the future and be a realistic document that will align our resources to our goals. It will be guided by several key College goals: (1) to become a nationally ranked urban public college, (2) to offer outstanding academic programs taught by a distinguished faculty with selected programs nationally recognized for excellence, (3) to enhance the quality of the college experience for all students, (4) to increase our visibility and recognition in New York City and beyond, and (5) to increase our endowment, resources, and alumni support. Supporting the planning process are seven task forces. Additionally, a task force on facilities will develop an ongoing Master Facilities Plan to ensure the long-term physical development of the campus, and a Strategic Planning Council will provide overall structure and guidance to the process.

I look forward to your feedback throughout the process.


Academic News

This spring we realized one of our most crucial objectives: the AACSB International re-affirmed the accreditation of Zicklin School of Business programs. The site-visit team’s informal report commended the faculty’s joint understanding of the school’s mission and the work of two centers: the Bert W. and Sandra Wasserman Trading Floor/Subotnick Financial Services Center and the Robert Zicklin Center for Corporate Integrity. AACSB accreditation is widely regarded as the highest level of accreditation for business schools. This accreditation offers external validation of the Zicklin School’s ongoing efforts to enhance its national recognition.

In the midst of this process, Zicklin faculty approved two significant new undergraduate programs. The first is a restructuring of the accounting degree to recognize New York’s new 150-hour requirement for qualification for the CPA examination. The second is a BBA in real estate, expected to welcome its first students in Fall 2005. The BBA in real estate will be offered under the auspices of the newly created Department of Real Estate, part of the Zicklin School.

In an effort to enrich the college undergraduate experience across the curriculum, Baruch is redefining and expanding its successful freshman learning communities program, now known as the Baruch Academy. This program has two intertwined components: the educational and the social. The program offers block scheduling of classes, coordinated teaching and assignments, co-curricular activities, and special colloquia. It also fulfills the important function of creating a social network for incoming students, who might otherwise find college intimidating. This fall the Academy will serve approximately 350 students and involve the participation of over 30 members of the faculty and staff. I have every expectation that the Academy will continue to grow and become a permanent part of the freshman experience at Baruch.


Student News

Once again, Baruch has the honor of counting among its students a UNCF-Merck Undergraduate Science Research Fellow. Junior natural sciences major Mark Smiley won a 2005 award, one of only 15 awards granted nationally. He will conduct research in organic chemistry at the Merck Research Laboratory in Pennsylvania and receive a scholarship award of up to $25,000 and two summer research internship stipends totaling $10,000. In addition, Baruch’s natural sciences department receives a $10,000 Department Grant.

The College’s two highest-profile student publications have garnered prestigious awards. The Ticker, Baruch’s long-running campus newspaper, netted two second-place awards in the New York Press Association’s 2004 Best College Newspaper Contest. The Ticker took second-place prizes in both the editorial and design categories. The press association described the editorial writing as “excellent” and the design as “thoughtfully organized.”

On May 1, journalism students Rosa Caballero and Karah Woodward collected their prize from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers at its annual conference in Seattle. The society conferred its second-place award for student writing on their article “First Down in Midtown,” which appeared in Dollars and $ense. The article won in the Best in Business category.

For the past 15 years, Baruch’s award-winning student chapter of the Golden Key International Honour Society has fielded a team of about 200 students to offer free tax assistance to New Yorkers. In 2005 students participating in this highly successful program, known as the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, or VITA, staffed 11 locations in four boroughs. Most who participated are accountancy majors; all were trained and certified by the IRS.

On April 8-9, Golden Key also organized the first-ever CUNY–American Cancer Society Relay For Life®, a 15-hour, overnight walkathon held in Baruch’s Athletics and Recreation Complex main gymnasium. Seventy teams and over 300 students raised almost $50,000 for the charity.

In 2004–2005, the Bearcats put together one of their best years ever, with two teams CUNY Athletic Conference winners: men’s soccer and the cheerleading and dance team. Women’s basketball also had a stellar year, with a won-loss record of 21-7, the best in the College’s history. Although the team lost in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Metro semifinal, their season included such spectacular victories as an upset of the #1-ranked NYU Violets.

Faculty and Staff News

An impressive number of our faculty have showcased their talents in print—several have published books in recent months that have attracted considerable attention—and in the art world.

David Reynolds, Distinguished Professor of English, has received widespread acclaim for his reexamination of famed 19th-century figure John Brown. John Brown, Abolitionist: The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights (Knopf) was lauded in the New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic Monthly.

Law Professor Allan Wernick’s immigration law column, Immigration Advice, appears every Thursday in the New York Daily News. Another weekly column, Immigration and Citizenship, is syndicated by King Features Syndicate. Wernick currently serves as chair of CUNY’s Citizenship and Naturalization Project. His book, U.S. Immigration and Citizenship: Your Complete Guide (rev. 3rd ed.), is the best-selling work on the subject.

The first novel of Adjunct Lecturer of English Dave King, The Ha-Ha, went to a second printing before its official publication in January and is already required reading at such universities as Bennington, Brown, and Columbia. The novel was inspired by King’s older brother, who was autistic.

In her latest book, Weaving a Family: Untangling Race and Adoption (Beacon Press), Sociology Professor Barbara Katz Rothman weaves together the sociological, historical, and personal to offer new insights into race, family, and interracial adoption in America.

Angela Anselmo, director of Baruch’s SEEK program and her sister Alma Rubal-Lopez, a professor at Brooklyn College, co-authored On Becoming Nuyoricans (Peter Lang), a history of their personal and intellectual odyssey from the projects of the South Bronx to academia.

Associate Professor of English Charles Riley has two recent books to his credit: The Jazz Age in France (Abrams) and Disability and the Media: Prescriptions for Change (University Press of New England).

Through May 25, the Sidney Mishkin Gallery is exhibiting From Sardinia to Berlin: Photographs by Leonard Sussman. Sussman, a longtime member of the Department of Fine and Performing Arts, worked almost exclusively in black-and-white, silver-based photography for nearly 40 years. This exhibition shows his earlier work in juxtaposition to recent digital color images of subway stations in Berlin.

Also noteworthy are these recent accomplishments, appointments, and honors:

Professor Sandra Stein, currently on leave from the School of Public Affairs, was named chief executive officer of the NYC Leadership Academy in April. The NYC Leadership Academy is the independent nonprofit organization charged with training the City’s principals. Stein served as its academic dean since the academy’s launch in January 2003.

Shoshanna Sofaer, the Robert P. Luciano Professor of Health Care Policy, is the principle investigator on the two-year study “Investigating Efforts to Improve the Reach and Impact of Local SHIPs,” funded by Atlantic Philanthropies. This project, which is evaluating a pilot effort in six states to provide technical and other support to local State Health Insurance and Information Programs for people with Medicare, will explore the feasibility, effectiveness, and generalizability of efforts to support SHIPs in three areas: volunteer recruitment, retention, training, and management; information technology and networking; and social marketing/outreach.

CUNY Distinguished Professor of English Grace Schulman won the award for Best Poem of 2004 from the prestigious journal The American Scholar for her poem “Headstones.”

Public Affairs Professor Doug Muzzio was nominated for an Emmy Award for his CUNY-TV public affairs forum, City Talk.

Stan Ross Department of Accountancy Professor Aloke Ghosh just completed two years’ work at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Economics and Finance Professor Ted Joyce was honored as the first recipient of the Sidney Lirtzman Prize, which recognizes outstanding contributions for faculty scholarship, teaching, and service. The prize was presented at the dedication of the new Sidney I. Lirtzman Financial Seminar Hall, located in the Subotnick Financial Services Center, on the occasion of the center’s five-year anniversary.

The Newman Library has been recognized by two nationwide associations that promote the use of information technology. The library’s Interactive Guide to Using Copyrighted Media in Your Courses was selected by EDUCAUSE for inclusion in its online Resource Center. The Business Review Panel of MERLOT awarded the library’s Guide to Financial Statements tutorial five out of five stars. MERLOT is a nationwide consortium of higher education institutions committed to making available quality online learning materials.

Bob Schwartz, Marvin M. Speiser Professor of Finance and University Distinguished Professor of Finance, organized the financial conference entitled “The New Nasdaq Marketplace” at the Vertical Campus on May 3. The conference brought together leading buy-side and sell-side participants and Nasdaq executives to put Nasdaq market changes into sharper focus, to assess the current market structure, and to reflect on the direction in which the Nasdaq marketplace is heading.

Congratulations go out to the 105 faculty members who won PSC-CUNY Research Awards. Seven awards were given to faculty members in the School of Public Affairs, 61 to Weissman faculty members, 35 to faculty in the Zicklin School, and two to Newman Library faculty. The awards were established to encourage and support faculty research and publication.

Upcoming Events

Summer a slow time? Not really. In the coming months, we will host many events. Here are some highlights:

On June 7, a special cocktail party will celebrate the School of Public Affairs’s 50/10 Celebration, which recognizes the 50-year anniversary of Baruch’s conferring the Master of Public Administration degree and the school’s 10-year anniversary.

June 22 marks the official Dedication of the William and Anita Newman Vertical Campus. Last September the Newmans gave the College $25 million, one of the largest gifts ever made to a public college. I look forward to this opportunity to show the Newmans and the alumni community how grateful we are for their affection and generosity.

In addition, BPAC has a series of events planned for the late spring and summer: plays by Chekhov and Shakespeare and music of the high Baroque. Special discounts to most BPAC events are extended to Baruch faculty and staff.

Alumni and Friends

This year, at the 16th Annual Bernard Baruch Dinner, held on May 4 at The Pierre, we had a chance to honor one of our most successful alums, Jonathan Bond (MBA ’80), with a Distinguished Alumnus Award. Bond is co-chairman and co-founder of kirshenbaum bond + partners, a network of marketing communications specialty companies. The Corporate Citizenship Award went to our friends at Merrill Lynch. We also conferred the Baruch Medal for Business and Civic Leadership on Alair A. Townsend, publisher of Crain’s New York Business.


And, finally, I wish you all a productive and enjoyable summer.

Sincerely,
Kathleen Waldron