“...The arts should not be treated as decoration, as some extra-curricular activity. They should be intrinsic and organic in the developing life of a creative business person. That is what our Writer- in-Residence program encourages.”
— Sidney Harman

For information about residency, contact Prof. Roz Bernstein:
phone (646) 312-3930;
email Roz_Bernstein@baruch.cuny.edu

Funded by alumnus Sidney Harman

Spring 2008: Charles Simic

Fall 2007: Sigrid Nunez

Spring 2007: Mark Kurlansky

Fall 2006: Susan Choi

Spring 2006: Carol Muske-Dukes

Fall 2005: Francisco Goldman

Spring 2005: Ben Katchor

Fall 2004: William Finnegan

Spring 2004: Colum McCann

Fall 2003: April Bernard

Spring 2003: Anita Desai

Fall 2002: Philip Gourevitch

Spring 2002: Paul Auster

Fall 2001: John Edgar Wideman

Spring 2001: Agha Shahid Ali

Fall 2000: Edward Albee

Spring 2000: Lorrie Moore

Fall 1999: Jane Kramer

Spring 1999: Tony Kushner

Fall 1998: Yehuda Amichai

“The terms of the national debate have subtly, insidiously shifted. What used to be called liberal is now called radical; what used to be called radical is now called insane. What used to be called reactionary is now called moderate, and what used to be called insane is now called solid conservative thinking.”
— American Things
    Tony Kushner
    Harman Writer-in-residence
    Spring 1999

The Sidney Harman Writer-In-Residence visiting Professorship, funded by alumnus Sidney Harman (‘39), is an exciting program that brings distinguished writers to the Baruch College campus every year. Whether they are poets, playwrights, novelists, journalists, essayists or critics, the Harman Writers-in-Residence enrich the Baruch environment, creating a lively literary salon for students and faculty. Dr. Harman’s decision to endow the Harman Writer-in-Residence Visiting Professorship was based on his belief that “good writing is revelatory. It is not merely transference of fully formed material from brain to paper. Writing is an act of magical creation; writing is discovery.”

A Decade of Distinction
Since the residency was inaugurated in the fall of 1998, Harman Writers-in-Residence at Baruch have included poets Agha Shahid Ali, Yehuda Amichai, April Bernard, Carol Muske-Dukes and Charles Simic; fiction writers Paul Auster, Susan Choi, Anita Desai, Colum McCann, Francisco Goldman, Lorrie Moore, Sigrid Nunez and John Edgar Wideman; playwrights Edward Albee and Tony Kushner; authors William Finnegan, Philip Gourevitch, Jane Kramer, and Mark Kurlansky; and graphic novelist Ben Katchor.

HARMAN ALUMNI REUNION ON APRIL 16, 2008
THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

• Master classes and workshops for gifted student writers in:
  
  • Poetry
  • Fiction
  • Non-fiction and memoir writing
  • Journalism
  • Playwriting
  • Criticism
  
  
• Special topics courses designed to explore the visiting writer’s interests and talents and the art and craft of great writing



• Guest lectures in classes throughout the college to heighten interest in writing across disciplines and to develop a meaningful collaboration among the Mildred and George Weissman School of Arts and Sciences, the Zicklin School of Business, and the School of Public Affairs



• Community events and readings to draw students, faculty, and New Yorkers to the Baruch College literary salon, a unique environment where business and the arts and sciences flourish side by side. If you would like to watch the full reading given by a Harman Writer, please go to www.baruch.cuny.edu/dml (enter the author’s last name as a “keyword”)



• Student creative writing prizes awarded each semester and a fall literary internship at Poets & Writers Magazine

Playwright Edward Albee, Fall 2000 Sidney Harman Writer-in-Residence at Baruch College, with several students from his Reviewing and Criticism Class in Mason Hall. From left, Shirley Velasquez, Gary Barnet, Bobbie Rose, Alethia Madden, Eva Olejarczyk, and Richard Spiropoulous. Full image of photo by Frank Moscati.

The Mildred and George Weissman School of Arts and Sciences combines the strengths of an outstanding arts and sciences school with the resources of a major public university. The school provides personalized, supportive attention for majors in 12 academic departments, as well as unique programs linking arts and sciences with business and with public affairs. Its distinguished and internationally known faculty teach courses in the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences, providing students with the essential elements of a well-rounded college education.

The Sidney Harman Writer-in Residence Visiting Professorship contributes significantly to the intellectual community of the Weissman School and the College as a whole. The Harman Visiting Professors participate in a wide variety of scholarly and creative activities at Baruch that benefit both students and faculty, as well as the general public.

The Harman Residency enhances a rich curriculum designed to provide a humanistic foundation for all Baruch College students. Based on Dr. Harman’s remarkable and productive vision, the program enables students in any Baruch department to develop their talents and hone their craft as writers.

Within the Weissman School, the Harman Program collaborates with the Department of English, which offers literature courses that include a multicultural Great Works sequence; and with the Journalism Program, which offers a major in business journalism as well as one in journalism and creative writing, and which hosts the prize-winning Dollars and $ense, Baruch’s student-edited business review.

The Harman Program also works with Encounters, Baruch’s student-edited literary magazine, by sponsoring creative writing competitions each semester that are judged by the Harman Writer-in-Residence. Winners of the competition receive prizes and their writings are published in Encounters.

The program is directed by Professor Roslyn Bernstein, with the help of an advisory committee consisting of three renowned faculty members: cultural theorist John Brenkman, literary historian David Reynolds, and poet/critic Grace Schulman.