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New Awards for Weissman Faculty:
Who's Eligible and How to Apply

The Weissman Dean’s Office has announced a new program to recognize faculty achievement: WSAS Faculty Excellence Awards. Five $1,000 awards will be given. The categories are: excellence for part-time teaching; excellence for full-time teaching; scholarly or artistic achievement; institutional leadership or service; and mentorship of students and/or peers.

To be eligible, applicants must have been employed continuously at WSAS for at least four complete semesters. Distinguished Lecturers and Lecturers, along with Assistant, Associate, and Full Professors, may apply for all awards. Laboratory Technicians may apply for the Institutional Advancement or Service Award. Presidential and Distinguished Professors are not eligible.

Nominations by colleagues and chairpersons, along with self-nominations, must be emailed by March 31 to Katheryn.Lypides@baruch.cuny.edu. Two supporting documents are due by April 7 (please note the revised date): a CV and a 500-word personal statement that describes the project, activity, or experience and its impact.

The Weissman Executive Committee will review nominations and recommend candidates to Dean Jessica Lang. Winners will be announced at the final faculty meeting of the academic year. More details here.
Fulbright Awarded to Alison Griffiths

Alison Griffiths, Distinguished Professor of Film and Media Studies, has received the Fulbright Distinguished Arctic Scholar Award to Norway.

As Fulbright Arctic Chair, she will be based at the National Library of Norway in Oslo, where she will examine amateur films of indigenous Sámi people made between 1907-1960 within a broader historical context of visual representations of the Arctic, including cartographic materials in the Ginsberg Map Collection at the National Library.

Griffiths will reconnect the films to the Sámi community, working with stakeholders at the Centre for Sámi Studies at UiT The Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø. In her work, Dr. Griffiths argues that “amateur film proves to be a remarkable repository of Indigenous memory and history, capable of telling new stories about resilience, self-determination, as well documenting environmental change.” Read more here.
Faculty Publications and Media Mentions
VIETNAMESE IDENTITY: Saigoneer interviewed Professor Martina Nguyen (History) about the Vietnamese áo dài garment and cited her book, On Our Own Strength: The Self-Reliant Literary Group and Cosmopolitan Nationalism in Late Colonial Vietnam, for an article called "The Wall, a Costume, and a Nation’s Identity: How the First Áo Dài Came to Be."

POLYNOMIALS: Cambridge University Press is publishing a book by Professor Adam Sheffer (Mathematics) in March called Polynomial Methods and Incidence Theory. The book provides a detailed yet accessible introduction to new polynomial methods and their applications. Sheffer presents the techniques gradually with examples, warm-up proofs, and exercises.

VACCINES: Professor David Jones (Political Science) co-authored a paper titled "The Evolution and Polarization of Public Opinion on Vaccines" in Political Science Now. The study looks at trends in public opinion data on vaccines from 2001-2021. Four findings emerge:
  • Americans have been getting more information about vaccines.
  • Positive views of vaccines’ utility, safety, and requirements have mostly declined.
  • Trends in vaccination behavior differ from trends in attitudes and vary across different vaccines. This suggests that public policies influence vaccine behavior.
  • Vaccine attitudes and behavior were mostly apolitical until 2008. Since then and prior to the politicization of the pandemic, opinions have diverged by party: Republicans became more skeptical and Democrats more vaccine-supportive.

ASIAN AMERICAN IDENTITY AND HISTORY: The Nation cited Professor Charlotte Brooks (History), author of American Exodus: Second-Generation Chinese Americans in China, 1901–1949, in an article titled "US-Born Children in China Will Have to Choose Between Rival Superpowers." The piece referenced Eileen Gu, the American-born skier who won a gold medal for China in the Winter Olympics.

The South China Morning Post quoted Brooks for a similarly themed and widely reprinted story titled "Winter Olympics: Why has Eileen Gu's 'Chineseness' sparked a raging debate on nationality and allegiance to China and US?"

Brooks was also interviewed by KQED Forum for a podcast called "How Japanese American Incarceration During WWII Reshaped San Francisco."
LITERATURE, AESTHETICS, AND WRITING: The Point interviewed Professor Timothy Aubry (English) for an article called "Risking Embarassment: A Conversation with Timothy Aubry." The piece is part of a series about public writing, academic scholarship, and literary criticism.

YOUNG LORDS: Teen Vogue quoted Professor Johanna Fernandez (History) and cited her book The Young Lords in "How the Young Lords Fought for Health Care Access and Won." CUNY publicized the story as well.

COVID TECH: Adjunct Assistant Professor Lawrence Meche (Natural Sciences) co-authored a paper titled "A Useful Guide to Lectin Binding: Machine-Learning Directed Annotation of 57 Unique Lectin Specificities" in ACS Chemical Biology. He says the paper resulted from 10 years of research in collaboration with NYU and the CDC, adding that "this work is directly relevant to combating COVID and could be easily turned into a hands-on research program for students."

HIGH SCHOOL NEWS: In her latest column for Bloomberg, Professor Andrea Gabor (Journalism) writes that there are more public high school news outlets than daily/weekly papers combined, and some play an important role in reporting on local news and countering misinformation.

BLACK UPPER WEST SIDERS: West Side Rag profiled retired Baruch Professor Juanita Howard for a story about declining numbers of Black Upper West Siders.
Student and Alumni News
PROUD RANKING IN A TOUGH MATH COMPETITION: The William Lowell Putnam mathematical competition, organized by the Mathematical Association of America, is one of the toughest and oldest mathematics competitions in the US and Canada, as well as the largest. 

Baruch's team did well, ranking 170th out of 427 institutions taking part in the 82nd Putnam competition in December 2021. Team members were Danyil Blyschak (pictured here), Devon Lall, and Jean Pulla.

Blyschak will be the first recipient of the Victor Istratov Prize to recognize his achievement as Baruch's top Putnam scorer. This prize will be given annually. Read more about the competition here.

Baruch students interested in future Putnam competitions should email Professor Pablo Soberón at Pablo.soberon-bravo@baruch.cuny.edu. Participation is free.
SCHOLAR, ATHLETE, PSYCHOLOGY MAJOR: Dayan Ordabayev has been named a CUNYAC Scholar-Athlete of the Month. Ordabayev is a native of Kazakhstan, a sophomore majoring in psychology, and one of CUNYAC's top academic performers with a 3.76 GPA.

His success in the classroom helped the Baruch men's swimming team earn College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association (CSCAA) Scholar-Athlete All-America Team honors for a fifth straight year.
MAKING DANCE ACCESSIBLE: Malaika Holder, who earned her MA in Arts Administration in 2020, is the community engagement program associate for Camille A. Brown and Dancers' Every Body Move.

“What I love most about my job is that I am in a position to help bridge the gap of accessibility," she said. "Growing up in low-income neighborhoods, you do not get the same access to enrichment programs. I am now helping bring our Dance Education program to low-income schools that are filled with students that look like me. I can help uplift these students and provide them with something I wished I had growing up.”

AT THE PUBLIC THEATER: Clara Isabel Diaz, who earned her master's in Arts Administration in 2020, has been hired as the public works community and national coordinator, with The Public Theater.
ARMY, MFE, MORGAN STANLEY: Roger Trimble, who earned his master's in Financial Engineering in 2009, was promoted to managing director and head of wealth management portfolio risk at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.

A US Army veteran, Trimble comes from a family with unbroken military lineage since the Revolutionary War. He graduated from West Point, was deployed in Mosul, and enrolled in the MFE program in Fall 2008 not long after the Great Recession began. He was part of Baruch's first Rotman International Trading Competition team. Read more here.
Announcing the 'What Is Home?' Essay Contest

For a second year, Baruch alumnus David Shulman '64 is funding a student essay contest through his family foundation. The theme of this year's contest is "What Is Home?"

“We have spent a lot of time at home these past two years and our relationship with our living spaces has changed,” wrote contest judges Professors Bridgett Davis and Gisele Regatao. “We now know there are many ways to transform or reimagine our homes. But home is not only a physical space; there are also many ways to think of home. We are inviting students to write personal essays related to how their concept of home has changed. Is your home a place where you feel trapped? Or liberated? Or crowded? Or protected? What is home for you?”

Deadline for entries is April 5. The contest is open to students taking a journalism class or who have taken one in the past. Details here.
Events
FILM SCREENING OF 'QUILOMBO': Audience discussion led by Professors Erica Richardson (English) and Tshombe Miles and Rojo Robles (Black and Latino Studies) focusing on racial capitalism, radical Black feminism, and "telling impossible stories" from archives of slavery as explored in Saidiya Hartman's essay "Venus in Two Acts." March 1, 6 pm. Register here. Co-sponsored by Mishkin Gallery, which is hosting the event in person for the Baruch community.

PR WOMEN: The Museum of Public Relations presents "PR Women Who Changed History," moderated by Professor Caryn Medved (Communication Studies). March 3, 6-8 pm. Register here.

ENSLAVED AT THE GEORGETOWN HOTEL: Yvette LaGonterie (MPA '90) will describe how the Georgetown Hotel enslaved three generations over 100 years, and how the family eventually moved into Washington DC's Black middle class after the 1862 District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act. LaGonterie is vice president of the DC-area Baruch College alumni chapter board. March 3, 6:30-8 pm. Register here.
ARTIST TALK: In honor of Women's History Month, artist Mia Enell will be in conversation with Mishkin Gallery Director/Curator Alaina Claire Feldman. March 10, 6:30 pm. Register here.

PREJUDICE REDUCTION: PROGRESS AND CHALLENGES: The Psychology Colloquium Series presents Princeton Professor Elizabeth Levy Paluck speaking on this topic March 10, 12:30 pm. Register here.

EMPOWERING STUDENT RESEARCHERS: CROSS-COLLEGE FACULTY WORKSHOPS: Full workshop schedule here. Survey for faculty who have research assignments here. First event: Projects using interviews, archival materials, fieldwork, and datasets, from rubrics to peer critiques. Presenters include Professors Sarah Bishop (Communication Studies) and Charlotte Brooks (History). March 11, 11 am-noon. Register here.

BARUCH TOWN HALL: “Stabilizing Our Position in a Turbulent Time, Setting Sights for Our Long-Term Future.” March 14, 11 am. Use your CUNYfirst credentials to register here.

CONVERSATION WITH ACTIVIST PEDRO LEBRON ORTIZ: Hosted by the Black Studies Colloquium. March 16, 6 pm. Register here. 

LAMIN FOFANA: BLUES EXHIBITION: On view at the Mishkin Gallery, March 21-May 6.

BLACK FUTURES IN THE CLASSROOM: FACULTY AND STUDENT TEACH-IN. Hosted by the Black Studies Colloquium. March 22, 12:30-2:30 pm. Register here.
CRIME FICTION: "Perspectives in Crime Fiction: Navigating the Past." The renowned Belfast crime fiction writer Sharon Dempsey will be interviewed by Elizabeth Mannion, who teaches English at Baruch, in conjunction with the US release of Dempsey’s latest book, Who Took Eden Mulligan? Co-hosted by Baruch's English Department and the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen's University Belfast, March 25, 1-2:15 pm ET. Register here.
NONPROFIT NEWS: "The Role and Vision of Nonprofit News." Speakers: Susan Chira, editor-in-chief, The Marshall Project; Akoto Ofori-Atta, co-founder and chief audience officer, Capital B, written by and for Black people; Mazin Sidahmed; co-founder and co-executive director of Documented, covering NYC's immigrant community. Moderator: Professor Gisele Regatão (Journalism). March 31, 5:30-7 pm. Register here.

FACULTY WORKS IN PROGRESS: Hosted by the Black Studies Colloquium with Professor Rojo Robles (BLS). April 8, 11 am. Register here. 

DANCE: BPAC's Rose Nagelberg Theatre hosts Joshua Beamish/MOVETHECOMPANY 2022 New York Season World & New York premieres, April 20-23, 7:30 pm. Proof of vaccinations/mask required. Tickets go on sale March 5.
LIVE MUSIC BY STUDENTS: A concert featuring student performances is planned for the Clivner=Field Plaza for May 12 at 1 pm. Help spread the word: Let students know they can submit an audition video or MP3 to abby.anderton@baruch.cuny.edu by March 31. All musical styles, acts, and genres are welcome.

NYC LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY WORKSHOP: To register, email Mark.Rice@baruch.cuny.edu.
  • March 4, 11 am-1 pm: Isabella Cosse (CONICET; Columbia), “Revolutionary Love and Political Struggles in Cold War Argentina."
  • April 29, 11 am-1 pm: Daniela Traldi (Lehman), “'Real' Feminisms: Gender, Race, and the Far Right in 20th Century Brazil (1920 to 1985)."
Who Speaks for the Oceans: Seminar and Exhibition

An interdisciplinary course at Baruch Weissman called “Who Speaks for the Oceans? Art, Science, and Inter-Species Discourse” draws on research for a Mishkin Gallery exhibition on the topic planned for Fall 2022. The image shown here, by artist Ursula Biemann, will be included in the show.

The seminar, which is being offered this spring for the first time, is a collaboration between David Gruber, Presidential Professor of Environmental Science & Professor of Biology, and Mishkin Gallery Director/Curator Alaina Claire Feldman. Students are using art, materials and concepts from the exhibition for a research paper or environmental campaign proposal. Read more about the course here.

Feldman and Gruber are also co-curators for the exhibition planned for Fall 2022, also called "Who Speaks for the Oceans?"
Did You Hear? In-Person Commencement, May 26!
Baruch will hold its 2022 Commencement Exercise on Thursday, May 26, at Barclays Center, 620 Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn. There will be one commencement ceremony at 9:30 a.m. for both undergraduate and graduate students.
Past newsletters here. Next newsletter: March 14. Weissman blog here.
Got news, feedback, or questions? Email baruchwsas@baruch.cuny.edu