John Jay Newsletter (Archive 2008)

@John Jay News and Events of Interest to the College Community

December 10, 2008

Worth NotingDecember 18 3:30 PM28th Annual Jack Brennan Children’s Holiday PartyVolunteers and sponsors needed(see article at right)

Gymnasium

January 16 8:30 AMPrisoner Reentry InstituteOccasional Series onReentry ResearchThe Impact of Reentry Services onJuvenile Offenders’ RecidivismJeffrey BouffardWashington State University

Room 630 Haaren Hall

January 22 10:30 AM & 3:30 PMFreshman & TransferStudent OrientationLocations vary, Haaren Hall

February 2-3 8:30 AM4th AnnualGuggenheim Conferenceon Crime in AmericaA New Beginning: Exploring the Criminal Justice Challenges for the Next Four YearsPresented by the Center onMedia, Crime and Justice. Includes presentation of the annual John Jay Excellence in Journalism Awards.


Long before Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, became synonymous with the internment of suspected terrorists, it was best known as an outpost in the Cold War, where a detachment of U.S. Marines kept a wary eye on Communist Cuba on the other side of a security fence.

Guantanamo in the mid-1980s is the setting for the play A Few Good Men, a court-martial thriller by Aaron Sorkin that — retitled A Few Good woMen — recently concluded an eight-performance run at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater.

Directed by Professor Lorraine Moller of the Department of Communication and Theatre Arts, A Few Good woMen featured an ensemble of students, faculty and alumni in a production that successfully took a few creative liberties with the casting.

“Most of the roles in this play were written for men,” Moller pointed out in a production note. “However, when auditions took place, several of the strongest actors were women, two of whom were currently in either the armed forces or the ROTC. These women were the most suitable actors for the roles in the play, resulting in gender-blind casting. As the rehearsals

progressed, the dynamics between characters changed, creating love triangles and female characters who were as driven and honor-bound as any male, resulting in a gripping depiction of women in the military.”

One of those gender-blind roles was that of Lance Corporal Dawson, one of two defendants charged with the murder of a fellow Marine. The role, originally written for a man, was shared by alumna and John Jay theater veteran Amarylis Rivera and sophomore forensic psychology major Bianca Morisset.

As part of their preparation for the show, cast members endured rounds of basic training, rifle-team exercises and drill sessions led by actual U.S. Marines and David Ruth, assistant coach of the John Jay Rifle Team.

Moller’s other directing credits for the John Jay stage include Dracula, The Crucible and Metamorphoses. She is also the Program Director for Theater Arts Connection at the Bayview Correctional Facility in Manhattan, where she recently directed a production of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf.

It’s December, and the calendar is down to a single page. That means the John Jay community is abuzz with preparations for the Children’s Holiday Party.

This annual affair, which brings Christmas to hundreds of less fortunate children and their families, was created by friends and colleagues of the late Jack Brennan, the beloved former John Jay security director. Brennan was a devoted family man with a soft spot for children, and the holiday party seemed a fitting way to remember him.

On the afternoon of December 18, the John Jay gymnasium will be transformed into a giant party space, as a host of faculty, staff and student volunteers swing into action to serve as guides for wide-eyed youngsters, provide face painting, snacks and beverages, and act as Santa’s helpers when the big moment arrives at party’s end.

The 27th annual holiday party will also include a magic act and “live” cartoon characters, along with DJ services donated by George Marchelos of Fine Time Entertainment.

Overseeing the well-organized frenzy are Johnny Taveras and Rosalie Macaluso of the Department of Institutional Advancement.

“I couldn’t do it without Rosalie’s help, and the help of all our volunteers, including the baseball team,” said Taveras, the College’s soft-spoken web manager. “Yet all the effort — and it takes plenty — is so well worth it when you think of the thousands of kids we’ve helped bring some cheer to over the years.”

This year, Taveras said, the College will host an estimated 600 children at the holiday party, many of them from shelters run by the New York City Department of Homeless Services.

Organizing the children’s party is a months-long labor of love for Taveras and Macaluso.

There are guest lists to formulate, contributions of funds and goods to be obtained, security needs to be covered, transportation to be provided and entertainment to be hired. In

A delegation of some 90 John Jay faculty members, graduate students and doctoral candidates made their presence felt at the recent annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology (ASC) in St. Louis, MO.

The John Jay contingent was led by President Jeremy Travis, who called on the ASC to support his proposal for the creation of a new Office of Justice Research within the U.S. Department of Justice. Travis, who served as Director of the National Institute of Justice

from 1994-2000, said in an open letter to the ASC, “The nation urgently needs a top-notch research and development program to improve our understanding of, and responses to, the challenges of violent crime and the administration of justice.”

The existing structure of the Department of Justice, Travis pointed out, places the responsibility for criminal justice research and statistics within the Office of Justice Programs, an entity that is primarily responsible for the

In a scene from A Few Good woMen, the snarling, no-non-

sense Marine commander Col. Nathan Jessup (right), played

by Professor Greg Donaldson, confronts Lt. Cmdr. Joanne

Galloway of the Naval Investigative Service (played by

Brittney Chavez), as his aide, Lt. Jonathan Kendrick (played

by Army veteran Timothy Skeen), stands by.

Please Join Us in Helping Make This Year’s Party The Best YET!!!

Give Generously and Volunteer!

Please make checks payable to the John Jay College Foundation,c/o Children’s Holiday Party, and send to Johnny Taveras,

Department of Institutional Advancement, Room 532T.(To volunteer, e-mail [email protected].)

addition, party organizers have to arrange for a special pre-Christmas visit to John Jay by Santa Claus himself, who usually brings a retinue that includes Mrs. Claus, elves and other helpers.

John Jay “Elves” Continue Traditionof Holiday Cheer for Families in Need

Santa Claus, joined by several helpers and a happy party guest, waves goodbye at the close of the 2007 children’s party.

Truth, Honor and Murder Take the Stage

ASC Asked to Back Justice Department Research Upgradeadministration of federal assistance programs. That organizational reality, he said, leaves the research function at the Justice Department vulnerable to compromise and deprives justice research of the priority treatment it deserves.

“The current systems in place to support research, statistics and technology are outmoded, under-resourced and insufficiently responsive to the needs of practitioners and policy-makers,” Travis wrote.

Travis said the election of a new President

and the advent of the 111th Congress presents “an unprecedented opportunity for the nation to rethink the federal role in promoting research on crime, society’s responses to crime, and the administration of justice.”

The proposed Office of Justice Research would be headed by an Assistant Attorney General for Justice Research, nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The person holding that office should be a scientist of national reputation, with significant experience conducting and overseeing research in this field. The Office of Justice Research would comprise the existing Bureau of Justice Statistics and National Institute of Justice, along with a new National Institute of Justice Technology.

Through the open letter to the ASC and similar letters that were sent to members of other associations of criminal justice professionals, Travis said he hoped to generate a “a lively debate” within the justice policy and the academic communities. “We need to move beyond the status quo,” he concluded.

The John Jay delegation at the ASC meeting included faculty from the following departments: Sociology, Psychology, Anthropology, Public Management, Government, Mathematics and Computer Science, SEEK, and Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration. In addition, representatives from the Library, the Prisoner Reentry Institute, the Catholic Bishops’ Study, Freshman Services and the journal Criminal Justice Ethics were on hand as panel presenters and discussants.

[For the complete text of President Travis’s open letter to the ASC, as well as a list of members of the John Jay community at the ASC meeting, visit the College’s Web site at www.jjay.cuny.edu.]

FACULTY / STAFF NOTES

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Submissions should be faxed or e-mailed to:Office of Communications

fax: (212) 237-8642e-mail: [email protected]

ON BOARDMICHELLE RAHMEH (Physical Education and Athletics) was named as the College’s new head athletic trainer. Rahmeh, a New Jersey native who holds a bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Akron, brings to the position a diverse résumé in the fields of health, health education and physical therapy.

PRESENTING…ELIZABETH HEGEMAN (Anthropology) spoke at the American Red Cross on November 13 on “Post-Traumatic Growth: Organizational and Individual Perspectives.” She addressed the issues of compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction for mental health workers facing disaster.

SIMON BAATZ (History) gave the annual Lawrence J. Gutter Literary Lecture at North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe, IL, in November.

ANISSA HÉLIE (History) was recently invited

by the University of the Philippines, in Manila, to lecture on issues of religious fundamentalism and present research undertaken by the group Women Living Under Muslim Laws. The lecture, “The Great Ancestors: Women Asserting Rights in Muslim Contexts,” highlighted the lives and deeds of women throughout history who have promoted gender equality in diverse Muslim countries and communities, including the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, Muslim Spain, India, Pakistan, Algeria, Iran, Turkey, Central Asia, Nigeria and Indonesia.

STEPHEN HANDELMAN (Center on Media, Crime and Justice) appeared on the CUNY TV “Independent Sources” program on December 3, where he discussed the New York City Police Department’s press accreditation policies. In October, Handelman delivered a talk on U.S. media and criminal justice issues to a group of more than 100 army, police and security officials from Latin America and the Caribbean — this year’s class of the Inter-American Defense College — at the Americas Society/Council of the Americas in New York.

BETWEEN THE COVERSKIMORA (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) authored an article titled “The Bard Prison Initiative: Excellent Example of Empowering Education behind the Walls that Needs to Be Replicated,” which will appear in the January/February 2009 issue of Offender Programs Report, a publication from the Civic Research Institute. Kimora’s book Prison: Getting

Out by Going In (Instructor’s Manual) will be published in December 2008. She wrote the book to provide a teaching tool for correctional educators who work with offenders at the Century Detention Center in Lynwood, CA.

MONICA VARSANYI (Government) published a paper in the December 2008 issue of the Annals of the Association of American Geographers, the flagship journal in the academic field of geography. Her paper, “Rescaling the ‘Alien,’ Rescaling Personhood: Neoliberalism, Immigration and the State,” was the lead article in the journal’s human geography subsection.

EUGENE O’DONNELL (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) published a commentary, “Shot in the Dark: Why Was Crime Overlooked in This Campaign,” in the November 3 issue of Newsweek magazine. The article, which appear just before the recent presidential election, said “it would be a crime” for the next President not to make criminal justice matters a priority.

PEER REVIEWISABELLE CURRO (Security) was named winner of the 2009 Commitment to Justice Award for Outstanding Solo Practitioner by inMotion, an organization that provides low-income women with free legal services in matrimonial, family and immigration law. Curro, an attorney, was cited for her “commitment to pro bono legal services.” The award will be formally presented at a gala in early February.

Forensic science major Nadia Bruce recently was named Federal Student Ambassador for the 2008-2009 academic year. Annually, only 15 students nationwide are selected for this prestigious program.

The student ambassador program was created to promote interest in federal service on college campuses through a corps of student advocates who will actively promote public service. It has been estimated that over the next five years, nearly one-third of the federal workforce will reach retirement age. In the next two years alone, according to projections, the federal government will need to hire more than 173,000 people in critical areas.

Bruce grew up in Trinidad and came back to New York when she was 16. Her interest in forensic toxicology prompted her to enroll at John Jay. “I came here on a hope and a dream,” she said. “John Jay was my No. 1 choice.”

She applied for the student ambassador program while she was in Washington, DC, completing a toxicology internship with the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Food Additive Safety. “It was wonderful,” said Bruce. “I had such a good experience with the FDA that I felt I could easily talk to other students about federal service.”

Bruce has her sights set on a career with the FDA’s Office of Regulatory Affairs after she graduates from John Jay in May 2009.

On campus, Bruce has recruited other students to advocate for careers in public service, recently addressing more than 175 students at an Internship Day program. She has also created a Facebook group to communicate with interested fellow students.

“The area of federal public service is so personally rewarding, so varied, so flexible, with so much opportunity and mobility, that students should certainly consider the federal government for jobs when they graduate,” she said.

President Jeremy Travis, himself a former high-ranking official with the Department of Justice, said of Bruce’s selection: “This is a real coup for our College and a tribute to the energy and dedication of Nadia Bruce. We will find many ways to celebrate this honor and to let our students know more about the value of federal service.”

Psyched UpJared Kean McIntyre, a doctoral student in

the John Jay/CUNY Graduate Center program in clinical forensic psychology, was honored at the 7th annual Latino Trendsetter Awards and Scholarship Gala, held in November at the United Nations.

McIntyre was presented with a Recognition of Scholarship Award, which was accompanied by a check for $3,000. He currently works at Bronx TASC (Treatment Alternatives to Street Crime), performing evaluations for the Alternatives to Incarceration program. His research interest focuses on understanding the developmental pathways to criminal behavior.

With disturbing frequency, the news media are awash in stories of women killed by their spouses or partners. On November 7, hot on the heels of yet another such incident, John Jay College, in concert with the Urban Resource Institute, explored this subject in an all-day conference, “Femicide: Understanding and Preventing the Murder of Women in Intimate Relationships.”

The Femicide Conference brought together faculty members from the psychology and sociol-ogy departments, the Center on Media, Crime and Justice, and the John Jay Women’s Center, along with outside experts from such fields as medicine, victim advoca-cy, law enforcement, prosecution and legal services.

“I know people think that homicide cannot be prevented, but I believe that through research it can be,” said the conference’s keynote speaker, Rebecca Block, a senior research analyst with the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority.

“In order to prevent femicide,” Block said, “it helps to examine the causes.” Among female vic-tims ages 10-14, 21 percent of the homicides involved a rape or attempted rape. Among 15- to 19-year-old girls, 20 percent of

the victims were killed by an intimate partner, and another 15 percent died in gang-related violence. Among elderly women, home invasion was a common underlying cause.

Risk factors for fatal domestic violence against women include the partner’s use of drugs and any propensity to violence outside the home.

During a panel discussion on “Threats to Life,” Wanda Lucibello, head of the Special Victims Di-vision for the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office,

pointed out that her jurisdiction has the highest number of domestic violence cases in New York City, with some 8,000 prosecutions annually. Although there is a mandatory arrest statute in New York City for domestic violence cases, pros-ecutors do not have to prosecute.

Domestic violence cases are sharply different from other crimes, Lucibello observed. They are slow and resource-intensive, with “two parallel tracks in motion,” namely the work of victim’s

advocates and that of the prosecu-tor’s office.

Professor Chitra Raghavan of the psychology department noted that 30 percent of victims were not abused prior to the lethal act. Signs that may point to a fatal do-mestic assault include coercive or fear-inducing control on the part of the spouse or partner, the avail-ability of weapons, and rape or previous threats to a woman’s life.

“When women say they are in danger, they are in danger,” Raghavan said.

The conference also featured discussions on race, class and gender; domestic violence in immigrant communities; manda-tory arrest; how the press covers violence against women, and women who kill their abusers.

Student Ambassador Sings the Praises of Federal Service

Keynote speaker Rebecca Block of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority gets animated as

she drives home a point about the causes and prevention of domestic violence homicides.

When Domestic Violence Turns Lethal

Forever Hold Your Banners High!

Crisp new championship banners hang from the rafters of The Doghouse, John Jay’s main gymnasium, bearing witness to the fact that John Jay is the home of winners. Still draped in black is the 2008 championship banner for the men’s basketball team,

which was to be formally unveiled at the homecoming game on December 2. (Photographs of the event were not available at press time.) To see the new banners, visit The Doghouse for one of this season’s home basketball games. The full schedule for

men’s and women’s basketball is available online at www.johnjayathletics.com.


November 19, 2008

Worth NotingNovember 19-25A Few Good (wo)MenPresented by the Department of Communication and Theatre Arts

Gerald W. Lynch Theater(Times vary. Call 212-279-4200 or visit www.ticketcentral.com for tickets.)

December 2 4:30 PMHomecomingBasketball GamesIncludes men’s and women’s games,alumni reception and indoortailgate party

Gymnasium

December 4 12:40 PM - 2:00 PM“And Justice for All? Assessing the Changing Climate for Criminal Justice Reform”Dr. Marc MauerExecutive Director,The Sentencing ProjectPresented by the Center onRace, Crime and Justice


December 4 7:30 PMThe Universal Declarationof Human Rights60th Anniversary ConcertFeaturing the International Orchestrafor Human Rights plus guest speakers, guest soloists and internationalchildren’s choir

Gerald W. Lynch Theater

December 18 3:15 PM27th Annual Jack Brennan Children’s Holiday PartyVolunteers neededGymnasium

Where some leaders see crises, William Bratton sees only opportunities.

Bratton, Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, brought his views on cutting-edge police leadership to the annual Patrick V. Murphy Lecture on October 22. Hosted by the John Jay Leadership Academy, his talk on “transformative leadership” drew a standing-room-only audience.

“No conversation about police leadership in this country would be complete without Bill Bratton,” President Jeremy Travis said

in introducing Bratton, who served as New York City Police Commissioner from 1994 to 1996 under Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. “Bill has brought accountability and transparency to the police function. He believes in — and practices — external accountability along with internal communication.”

Bratton, who described his presentation as “a discussion rather than a lecture,” mused that the talk could well have taken its title from an old Broadway hit, “gray skies are gonna clear up, put on a happy face.” Those who put their trust in him as a leader, Bratton said, “have an expectation that things are going to change for the better.”

Leaders, he noted, are in a position to transform organizations. “I think of myself as a transformative leader,” Bratton said. “I see crises as opportunities.” People expect that leaders will create change and be risk takers, he said.

As a police executive, Bratton has focused on decentralizing leadership down through the organization. “My leadership style is that you can’t do it alone,” he said. “You have to get the right people in place as quickly as possible. You inspire them and they inspire you. You allow them to take risks, to make mistakes, and then you reward their successes.”

Recalling some of his predecessors in the New York City Police Department, including Murphy, Robert McGuire, Benjamin Ward and Lee P. Brown, Bratton noted that they had very different personalities and each faced different challenges, from corruption and reform to the crack epidemic to the implementation of community policing. “What I shared with my predecessors was a belief that we could make change,” he said.

Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Bratton observed that policing abruptly moved into uncharted waters, noting, “It took leadership to refocus an organization that had been focused on controlling crime and disorder.” In the post-9/11 era, he added, “leadership is going to have to ensure that we get it right. We

On November 5, one day after the United States began to write “an exciting and historic new chapter,” President Jeremy Travis delivered his first State of the College Address in which he declared John Jay’s present to be strong and its future bright.

Before an audience that included faculty, staff, students, administrators and board members of both the John Jay College Foundation and the John Jay Alumni Association, Travis spoke with pride of the hundreds of thousands of students — “full of ambition, eager to leave their mark” — who have been touched by the John Jay experience over the years. Travis reaffirmed the College’s core mission of educating for justice, and said John Jay’s “priceless assets” of its storied history, elevating public mission, dedicated faculty, highly motivated students and loyal alumni now serve as the building blocks on which a sweeping transformation is taking place.

“The past four years have been a time of enormous change at John Jay,” Travis said. “We have all been working hard, in so many ways, to improve this institution that we love. We can take pride in the significant progress we have made toward becoming a preeminent academic institution. We should also be honest about the substantial distance we have yet to travel.”

Travis said the ongoing transformation of John Jay consists of three interlocking initiatives — a fundamental change in the student profile, a historic faculty hiring initiative and the

revitalization of academic programs.• Changing the Student Profile. Admissions

standards have been raised, partnerships have been created with community colleges to educate associate degree students, and new initiatives are being launched to improve student success, including retention and graduation rates. Recent incoming baccalaureate classes have increased, Travis noted. “Our experience is validating a powerful lesson learned at other universities,” he said. “Raising admissions standards attracts more students.”

• Faculty Hiring. The growth of the faculty is more than just numerical. New faculty members joining the College’s ranks are “committed to scholarship that crosses disciplinary boundaries and energized by the opportunity to teach our students,” said Travis. Senior faculty members are editing prestigious scholarly journals,

holding leadership positions in leading academic associations, producing critically acclaimed books and generating millions of dollars in research funding.

• Revitalizing Academic Programs. The revitalization of John Jay’s academic programs has unleashed “a remarkable burst of creative energy” on the part of faculty members and others who are rising to the challenge of creating “exciting new majors and minors” in a broad array of liberal arts disciplines. In addition, Travis said, existing majors are being revamped, the design of a new Honors Program is being finalized, an overhaul of the College’s general education curriculum is in progress, and a First-Year Experience is being created.

In looking to the future, Travis noted that the next important challenge is to increase the retention and graduation rates of graduate and undergraduate students. To do this, the College will need to continue to invest in its faculty and academic programs.

In closing, President Travis called for the College community to meet this challenge and set a goal of celebrating John Jay’s 50th Anniversary in 2014 by raising “our six-year graduation rate for baccalaureate students above 50 percent, and the four-year rate for graduate students above 66 percent.”

[For the complete text of the President’s State of the College Address, visit the John Jay Web site at www.jjay.cuny.edu.]

“The Present Is Strong, The Future Bright”President Travis Assesses State of the College

“We are better prepared than ever to navigate the uncertain waters that lie ahead. Wewill maintain our forward momentum. Now is not the time for us to trim our sails.”

John Jay’s reputation for global leadership made its science labs a must-visit for several dozen forensic science students from the University of Lincoln in England on their recent trip to New York.

The visitors, all second- and third-year honors students, were treated to a thorough immersion in forensic science American-style. The John Jay team included Professor Lawrence Kobilinsky, Chair of the Department of Sciences, Science Professor Nicholas Petraco Jr, who arranged the visit, Professor Glenn Corbett, Chair of the Department of Protection Management, and Peter Diaczuk, Director of Training for the Center for Modern Forensic Practice.

Dr. D. Ross Williams, a senior lecturer in forensic and biomedical sciences at the English institution, led the students on their whirlwind six-day visit, which also included stops at the American Museum of Natural History, the New York City police and fire museums and the

laboratories of Pfizer, the pharmaceutical giant.The visitors were treated to presentations and

demonstrations on DNA analysis, explosives and the post-incident analysis of the collapse of the World Trade Center. During a lively question-and-answer session, the students delved into such topics as the differences between forensic science in the United States and England and the prospects and process for a forensic science graduate from England who might be seeking work in the U.S.

With Peter Diaczuk (left) awaiting his turn, Professor Lawrence Kobilinsky addresses

a group of visiting English forensic science students.

Forensic Science John Jay-Style Isa Hit with Visiting British Students

have to take some risks, and we need to have leadership that understands the importance of working together to make change.”

As policing has evolved through several different eras, from the professional model through problem-oriented community policing models to intelligence-led policing, the next era, Bratton suggested, will be characterized as predictive policing. This model will be based on a strong capacity to predict crimes through the development of timely, accurate and robust intelligence.

Reflecting on a 38-year law enforcement career that shows no sign of ending soon, Bratton said he loves, lives and breathes policing. “There’s nothing that has such an immediate impact on people’s lives as policing,” he said. “I believe in my profession. I believe that police matter.”

Bratton, Ex-New York Top Cop, DrawsSRO Audience for Talk on Police Leadership

Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton sees himself as a

change agent and risk taker.








educating for justice

ON BOARDDIANE RAMIREZ (Physical Education and Athletics) was named head coach of women’s basketball and equipment manager. Ramirez is a 2007 graduate of Baruch College, where she served as assistant women’s basketball coach for the past two seasons, and played for three seasons prior to that.

BETWEEN THE COVERSWANDA FERNANDOPULLE (Career Development) had her biography of Richard Allen, one of the founders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, published in a first-time, eight-volume print edition of the African American National Biography (AANB). The AANB, published by the Du Bois Institute at Harvard University and the Oxford University Press, is the largest collective biography of African Americans ever produced and is already recognized as the standard in the field.

HOWARD PFLANZER (Communication and Theatre Arts) had a review/commentary, “Existential Affairs,” a look at Edward and Kate Fullbrook’s book Sex and Philosophy: Rethinking De Beauvoir and Sartre, published in the October 2008 CUNY Graduate Center Advocate. His review of Robert Roth’s book Health Proxy was published in the volume Cultural Logic 2007. In addition, two of his poems recently appeared in the literary magazine And Then.

PRESENTING…GEORGE ANDREOPOULOS (Government) presented a paper on “The Regulation of Corporate Activities Under Human Rights Treaties” at the annual conference of the International Academy of Business and Economics in Las Vegas, Nevada, October 19-22. The paper was co-authored with Giuliana Campanelli and Alexandros Panayides of William Paterson University.

Former U.S. Solicitor General Drew S. Days 3d, who served as the Clinton Administration’s chief advocate before the Supreme Court, visited John Jay on October 30 to deliver a thoughtfully worded admonition that United States courts give serious consideration to taking cues from courts and case law in other countries.

A team of forensic science majors mentored by Professor Diana Friedland of the Department of Sciences recently wrapped up a busy year for research with a strong showing at several regional academic conferences, including the Northeastern Association of Forensic Scientists (NEAFS) Collegiate Competition in White Plains, NY, and the Peach State LSAMP (Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation) Student Research Conference in Savannah, GA.

The science department was a significant presence at the NEAFS conference, with faculty members and students presenting research and

The Friedland research team. Seated: Artem Domashevskiy, Kana Noro, Jeannine DeGrazia, Amy Baldwin, Eugenia Pontacq.

Standing: Jacqueline Chaparro, Ana Sanchez, Professor Diana Friedland, Nicole DeLuca, Alexia Tussay, Alexandra Toney.

Thanks to participating in the Vera Seminar program, nine select John Jay students are currently reaping the benefits of internships with local criminal justice and social service agencies.

The Vera Seminar, a collaborative effort between the College and the Vera Institute of Justice, is administered through the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies (ISP). The program places students in one-year paid internships in which they receive one-on-one mentoring from experienced professionals in such areas as domestic violence, homelessness, prisoner reentry, disability advocacy and juvenile justice. Participants must be juniors or seniors with at least a 3.3 grade point average.

“Interning with a Vera agency has — after only one month — completely changed my perspective on what my future could be,” said Ridhi Berry about her experiences at the New York Criminal Justice Agency. Greta Luback, an intern with Job Path, was quick to agree. “All the things we do push me out of my comfort zone, and prepare me that much more for things I will do in the future,” she said.

Students in the Vera program attend a weekly seminar with Professors Abby Stein (ISP), Caroline Reitz (English) and Alisse Waterston (Anthropology). The academic component includes scholarly reading and discussion, guest lectures, site visits to the agencies and to courtrooms, an active blog and participation in the Total Leadership Program, created by Stewart D. Friedman, a management professor at the Wharton School of Business.

At an October 16 gathering, agency mentors sang the praises of the students’ passion and intelligence, saying their presence had reinvigorated seasoned staffers. Students were equally enthusiastic about their participation. “We really should fight to make sure this internship program will be around to serve other students for future semesters,” said Kerry-Ann Hewitt. “It is a tremendous opportunity for those who have the privilege to be a part of it.”

A new cohort of students will join the Vera Seminar program for the fall 2009 semester. To apply, or to obtain more information, contact Professor Stein at [email protected].

participating in workshops on subjects that included toolmark and fingerprint identification, DNA analysis, forensic science education, arson investigation and toxicology. The delegation included faculty members Margaret Wallace, Gloria Proni, Linda Rourke, Elise Champeil, Donald Hoffman, Nicholas Petraco Sr., Nicholas Petraco Jr., Peter Diaczuk and Friedland, and students Jason Beckert, Cassandra Gershaw, Marta Szpilowska and Jeannine DeGrazia. Kristen Tregar, who received her master’s degree in forensic science in May, was also part of the John Jay contingent.

The 2008-2009 Vera Fellows and their faculty advisors: (seated, left to right) Elizabeth Antoia, Renee Petrocelli, Professor

Alisse Waterston, Ridhi Berry; (standing) Kerry-Ann Hewitt, Maureen Gerardi, Darakshan Raja, Greta Luback, Professor

Caroline Reitz, Octavia Otetea-Uddin, Professor Abby Stein, Amanda Ingle.

The Future Starts Now forJohn Jay’s Vera Fellows

Drew S. Days 3d fields a question from the audience

following his October 30 lecture.

A Message from Former Top Federal Lawyer

ADINA SCHWARTZ (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) presented “ ‘I Know It When I See It’ and Criminalistics” at the annual meeting of the Northeastern Association of Forensic Scientists on October 3, during a general session on “Debating the Forensic Science in Forensic Science.” On October 23, Schwartz made a Continuing Legal Education presentation on “Firearms & Tool Marks” at the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association’s annual forensics seminar in Dallas, TX.

ROY PERHAM (Psychology) presented a workshop, “A Two-Stage Assessment Center that Brought ALL Employees to a Higher Level of Performance,” at the 34th International Congress on Assessment Center Methods in Washington, DC, on September 24.

KIMORA (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) addressed a group

In a presentation sponsored by the Center for International Human Rights, Days pointed out that the subject of United States and international law has spawned a “road show” in which Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer are traveling around the country debating the issue.

“The question of what role foreign law should play in U.S. court rulings has very serious consequences,” said Days, who is now the Alfred M. Rankin Professor of Law at Yale Law School, where his areas of specialization include comparative constitutional law.

“When will courts in the United States join the international constitutional conversation?” Days asked. “The U.S. is bringing up the rear in terms of the role of constitutional courts.”

Canada might provide a constructive model,

of students from the High School for Arts, Imagination and Inquiry at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Educational Campus about self-esteem enhancement and choosing an academic career over criminal activity on October 15. PEER REVIEWMIRIAM EHRENBERG (Psychology), in her role as executive director of the Institute for Human Identity (a nonprofit psychotherapy center in Manhattan), was awarded a grant from the New York State Department of Health for Family Q, a five-year innovative program that offers free workshops to gay and lesbian parents and prospective parents on the emotional issues involved in alternate family building. The grant also provides counseling training for selected interns on the special issues such parents face in raising families. (Students who might be interested in applying for the program should visit www.ihi-therapycenter.org/familyq and contact Professor Ehrenberg.)

Forensic Science Majorsand Faculty Make Their Mark

Days noted, with the courts there having shown particular skill in balancing foreign precedents and their own national laws. “Canadian courts seem to have felt quite comfortable looking to other jurisdictions for guidance,” he said.

Days conceded that looking at foreign precedents and case law does have its challenges, as American courts have to understand the political, social and cultural contexts from which such decisions emerged.

According to Days, there is some basis for hope that the status quo may change. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, for one, has suggested that it is proper and helpful for U.S. courts to consider foreign rulings, and two recent Supreme Court rulings — dealing with the death penalty for juveniles and criminalizing private consensual sodomy — looked to foreign courts for guidance.


October 29, 2008

Worth NotingNovember 3 7:30 PM - 8:30 PMFirst Vote ’08:Are You Prepared?Presented by the Gerald W. Lynch Theater and the Epic Theatre Ensemble


November 5 3:30 PMState of the College AddressPresident Jeremy Travis


November 6 3:00 PM - 7:00 PMGraduate Open HouseGerald W. Lynch Theater Lobby

November 7 8:00 AM - 5:00 PMFemicide: Understanding and Preventing the Murder of Women in Intimate RelationshipsCo-sponsored by John Jay College and the Urban Resource Institute


November 1610:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Undergraduate Open HouseVarious locations, Haaren Hall

November 19-25A Few Good (wo)MenPresented by the Department of Communication and Theatre Arts

Gerald W. Lynch Theater(Times vary. Call 212-279-4200 or visit www.ticketcentral.com for tickets.)

Don’t forget to reset your clocks to Stan-dard Time on November 2 — you won’t want to miss a minute of the excitement that is CUNY Month.

John Jay will once again do its part in the month-long celebration of the City University of New York, with a series of events running the gamut from personal development to health and wellness, from current events to cultural diversity, from the arts to sports and recreation. In short, there is something for everyone.

In a proclamation issued September 20, in which he declared November to be CUNY Month statewide, New York Govenor David A. Paterson made special mention of the Pulitzer Prize won by Professor John Matteson of John Jay’s English Department for his book Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father. Paterson also noted CUNY’s continuing growth in student enrollment, aca-demic standards, student honors and awards, and postgraduate research.

November is typically the month when undergraduate and graduate open houses are held at campuses throughout the CUNY sys-tem, and John Jay is no exception. The gradu-ate open house will come first, on November 6, with the undergraduate open house to fol-low on November 16.

The week of November 17 is International

Education Awareness Week, with a CUNY Study Abroad Fair and programs focusing on the first two John Jay study abroad programs, held this past summer in Morocco and the Dominican Republic.

A number of events will focus on current affairs, including “First Vote 2008,” a celebra-tory election-eve program by the Epic Theatre Ensemble. The event, to be held in the Gerald W. Lynch Theater on November 3, focuses on students who will be voting for the first time. Three John Jay students — Rhonda Nieves, David Chen and William Levenberg — will be honored at the event, which will include a performance of an original short play written for the occasion by Professor PJ Gibson.

The performing and visual arts are well represented at John Jay during CUNY Month, including a midday Latin music concert by Juan Usera y La Tribu on November 4. On Novem-ber 19, the play A Few Good (wo)Men opens for a nine-performance run. The court-martial thriller by Aaron Sorkin features a multicultural ensemble cast of students and faculty, under the direction of Professor Lorraine Moller.

CUNY Month at John Jay will also include health and wellness events, personal and ca-reer development workshops, and a variety of sports and recreation opportunities.

For a complete listing of CUNY Month events at John Jay, visit www.jjay.cuny.edu.

Get Ready to Celebrate:November is CUNY Month

Even among the best students, there are those for whom math just doesn’t add up, or who are stumped by science. Such students may be able to rest a bit easier knowing that John Jay’s Learning Enhancement Center and Math and Science Resource Center are standing by to help.

“The past year has seen major changes in campus tutoring services in mathematics and science,” noted Michele Doney, John Jay’s Coordinator of Math and Science Tutoring. “We have been taking a very close look at what is happening on other campuses, and getting involved in national organizations dedicated to college learning assistance in general and tutoring specifically. In this way, we can ensure that John Jay students are receiving tutoring services in math and science that are designed and administered according to national best practices.”

A key component of the enhancement in tutoring services is an ongoing program of tutor training that includes topics such as roles and responsibilities, ethics, learning styles and strategies, and effective tutoring techniques. The training also allows tutors to pursue national certification through the Association for the Tutoring Profession. To achieve just the first level of ATP certification, tutors must have two letters of recommendation, a minimum of 25 documented hours of tutoring experience, and at least 10 hours of formal training in ATP-approved topics.

Nine of the 12 currently eligible John Jay tutors are awaiting final approval of their certification. Another seven tutors will be eligible to apply later this semester. “This will be the first time math and science tutors at John Jay will be nationally certified,” Doney said, “and to my knowledge this will also be the first time tutors in any subject on our campus will achieve national certification.”

The Learning Enhancement Center is in the midst of changing its name to the Math Preparation Center, but its mission is unaltered, offering tutoring in Math 100, 103, 104, 105 and 108 to help students get out of remediation. The Math and Science Resource Center provides tutoring in 100- and 200-level math courses as well as a broad spectrum of biology, chemistry, physics and toxicology courses.

Tutoring is typically provided to small groups of

Professor Jane Katz, John Jay’s resident apostle of aquatics, has added another item to her long list of lifetime achievements and accolades, having been named as one of nine winners of the New York Post Liberty Medals for 2008.

The Post created the Liberty Medals program seven years ago, following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, to honor “selfless New Yorkers who go the extra mile to benefit others with resourcefulness, empathy and valor,” the newspaper noted.

A longtime member of the Department of Physical Education and Athletics, Katz was honored October 20 along with her fellow medal winners at a reception emceed by TV host Regis Philbin. The winners were chosen by a panel of prominent New Yorkers that included New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and city Comptroller William Thompson, among others.

Katz, who won in the Educator category, has long espoused the view that she can teach any-one to swim and enjoy the water. The Post made special mention of Katz’s latest endeavor, which took her long-held view to a new level. Through the Kids Aquatic Re-Entry (KARE) program, Katz imparts swimming lessons, aquatic survival skills and life lessons to youngsters from group homes run by the Department of Juvenile Justice.

“I teach them the art of playing fair and the buddy system,” said Katz. “When they re-enter society, those rules that were taught in the water carry over to their daily lifestyle.”

Currently on sabbatical, Katz recently returned from Beijing, where she attended the Paralympic Games. An Olympic synchronized swimming performer in 1964 before the sport was formally recognized, Katz helped dedicate a new aquatic facility at a university while she was in Beijing,

John Jay’s Swim Guru Catches Post’s EyeKatz Wins Newspaper’s 2008 Liberty Medal

Professor Jane Katz at the Water Cube, the swimming venue for the recent Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing.

performing one of her swim routines.Katz said she considers the Liberty Medal a

high point of her distinguished career at CUNY. “What this does is it validates 45 years of my being underwater, 45 years of babbling about bubbles,” she said.

Top-Shelf Tutors Aid Students Who AreBaffled by Math or Blinded by Science

three or less in sessions that last up to an hour.Doney continued, “John Jay students are

beginning to notice the change in how math and science tutoring are done on campus, resulting in an increased demand for tutoring. In the fall 2007 semester, when the new practices were first implemented, the Math and Science Resource Center did about 1,300 student-hours of tutoring. In the spring 2008 semester, that number jumped to more than 1,800 student-hours. Midway through the fall 2008 semester, the resource center has already done more than 1,000 student-hours

According to Doney, “A survey conducted over the summer showed that the overwhelming majority of our students would recommend us to others, and feel they were able to earn higher grades in their math and sciences because they came for tutoring. Similar things are happening at the Learning Enhancement Center.”

The Math and Science Resource Center is located in Room 4200 North Hall; the Learning Enhancement Center is in Room 011 Westport. Doney can be contacted by phone at (646) 557-4595, or via email at [email protected]. Briana Weinert, the LEC director, can be reached at (212) 237-8019; email [email protected].

Tutoring coordinator Michele Doney (right) with science

tutor Katrina Harewood.


@ John Jay is published by the Office of Institutional AdvancementJohn Jay College of Criminal Justice

899 Tenth Avenue, New York, NY 10019www.jjay.cuny.edu

Editor Peter Dodenhoff Graphic Design Gary Zaragovitch




PRESENTING…M. VICTORIA PÉREZ-RÍOS (Government) presented a paper, “On the Effectiveness of International Tribunals (ICTY and ICTR),” at the American Political Science Association’s annual meeting in Boston, MA, August 28-31. She also presented two papers — “Investing in Renew-able Energies: Are Some Third-Generation Hu-man Rights More than Wishful Thinking?” and “Accountability for Disappearances: The Role of Regional Courts” — at the annual meeting of the Research Committee on Sociology of Law in Milan-Como, Italy, in July.

ROSEMARY BARBERET (Sociology) and Andrés Rengifo, a graduate of the PhD program in crimi-nal justice and currently an assistant professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, were part of a Commission of Independent Experts selected

by the Colombian statistics agency, DANE, to evaluate crime statistics produced by the National Police of Colombia, from September 15-19.

BETWEEN THE COVERSSimon Baatz (History) wrote “Criminal Minds” for the August 2008 issue of Smithsonian maga-zine. The article is an excerpt of his book For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb and the Murder that Shocked Chicago.

MANGAI NATARAJAN (Sociology) had her newest book, Women Police in a Changing Soci-ety: Back Door to Equality, published by Ashgate Publishing in September 2008. The book focuses on a unique and highly successful experiment begun in Tamil Nadu, India, in 1992, in which all-female police units were established as a way of enhancing the confidence and professionalism of woman officers.

KIMORA (Law, Police Science and Criminal Jus-tice Administration) was named contributing edi-tor of Getting Out by Going In (GOGI), a monthly newsletter published by a nonprofit organization of the same name. GOGI educates federal, state and juvenile offenders in California and Arizona. In addition, Professor Kimora wrote the foreword for Mara Leigh Taylor’s book Women in Prison: Women Finding Freedom. In May, Kimora visited female inmates at the Century Regional Deten-

tion Center in Lynwood, CA, where she spoke about the importance of the GOGI program.

LORI L. MARTIN (African-American Studies) had several publications in 2008 including an ar-ticle titled “Cashing in on the American Dream,” which examined racial differences in housing values over the past few decades. The article appeared in the journal Housing, Theory and Society. Martin also co-authored an article with Hayward Derrick Horton, “Critical Demography and the Measurement of Racism,” as well as a book, Non-Married Women and Asset Owner-ship, which explores differences in the types and levels of assets owned by non-married black and white women.

MARGARET WALLACE (Sciences) recently pub-lished “Forensic Science: The Interface between Science and the Law” in the Korean Journal of Scientific Criminal Investigation. The article dis-cussed the role of molecular biology on forensic science and emphasized DNA-based methods of identification in human, botanical and entomo-logical samples.

EDWARD SNAJDR (Anthropology) had his book, Nature Protests: The End of Ecology in Slovakia, published by Washington University Press. The ethnographic study investigates why Slovakia’s ecology movement, so strong under

socialism, fell apart so rapidly despite the per-sistence of serious environmental problems in the region.

JAMES CAUTHEN (Government) and BARRY LATZER (Government) co-authored an article, “Why so Long? Explaining Processing Time in Capital Appeals,” which appeared in Justice System Journal, a publication of the National Center for State Courts. Their research was sup-ported by a grant from the National Institute of Justice.

BARRY LUBY (Emeritus, Foreign Languages & Literatures) recently published a new book, The Uncertainties in Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Analytic Thought: Miguel de Unamuno the Precursor. The work was published in September by Juan de la Cuesta-Hispanic Monographs.

PEER REVIEWSUSAN OPOTOW (Sociology) was presented with the Morton Deutsch Conflict Resolution Award at the 2008 American Psychological Association Convention in Boston this past August. The award, presented by the Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict and Violence (Divi-sion 48 of the APA) recognizes Opotow “for her outstanding contributions as a scholar, teacher, and mentor.”

One of the centerpieces of John Jay’s Haaren Hall since the building opened in 1988, the Gerald W. Lynch Theater marked its 20th anniversary on October 7 with a gala celebration highlighting the diversity of artistic styles and performers that have graced the stage over the years.

Presenting everything from drama and spoken word to live music and dance, as well as hosting a wide array of conferences and ceremonies, the theater is widely recognized as one of the finest performance venues in New York. The roster of luminaries who have performed there is as long as it is diverse: rock music icons such as Chicago and Elvis Costello; the Joffrey Ballet, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Paris Opera Ballet; opera ensembles including the New York City Opera, Bronx Opera Company and the Metropolitan Opera Guild; and the annual Lincoln Center Festival, which has featured numerous A-list actors.

In addition, numerous student/faculty productions have been mounted in the theater, including West Side Story, The Crucible and Rashomon.

The anniversary celebration included a performance by the Universal Image Dance Team, a student group that won the “John Jay’s Got Talent” contest on September 17, and a preview from the College’s next student-faculty production, A Few Good (wo)Men, the court-martial thriller by Aaron Sorkin, which opens on November 19.

Acclaimed film and stage actor David Strathairn presented a reading of a Robert Frost poem written for the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy in 1961. The evening also included a screening of The Castle: 4 Voices, 70 Years in Prison; a performance by Dzul Dance, featuring alumna Robin Taylor Dzul (MA, 2003); and a scene from the play For Color Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf, which was staged earlier this year at the Bayview Correctional Facility in Manhattan.

Professor Ben Lapidus of the Department of Art and Music closed the show with a three-song set by his Latin jazz band Sonido Isleño.

Since March, the theater has been administered by Executive Director Shannon R. Mayers, aided by a 13-member John Jay College Performing Arts Advisory Council, chaired by Professor Daniel Paget of the Department of Art and Music.

Stars Come Out to Mark Theater’s 20th Anniversary Dance, Drama,Music and More Take Center Stagein Gala Evening

(Left) Professor Greg Donaldson, playing an overbearing Marine colonel, upbraids a young Navy

lawyer, played by Hector Alzate, in a scene from the forthcoming production of the court-martial

thriller A Few Good (wo)Men.

(Above) Kymberli Roberts pours her heart in a wrenching scene from For Colored Girls Who Have

Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf, which was staged earlier this year by John Jay stu-

dents and inmates at the Bayview Correctional Facility in Manhattan.

(Above) Actor David Strathairn offers a dramatic reading of

the Robert Frost poem “Dedication,” which was written for

the 1961 inauguration of President John F. Kennedy.

(Above left) The big finish by members of the Universal

Dance Image Team, a student ensemble that won the first

annual John Jay’s Got Talent competition.

(Left) Music professor Ben Lapidus, standing at left, leads

his Latin jazz band Sonido Isleño in a three-song set that

closed the anniversary celebration.


October 8, 2008

Worth NotingOctober 22 6:00 PMPatrick V. Murphy LecturePolice Chief William Bratton,Los Angeles Police Department

Room 630, Haaren Hall

October 22 7:30 PMRootless: La No-NostalgiaA theatrical concert about migration.Presented by the Department of Latin American and Latina/o StudiesTickets: $15, general admission; $8, John Jay students with ID. Call 212-279-4200.


October 26 9:30 AMCUNY Cross-Country ChampionshipsVan Cortland Park, The Bronx

October 30 5:00 PMWhen Will U.S. CourtsJoin the International Constitutional Conversation?A lecture by Drew S. Days III,former U.S. Solicitor General.Presented by the Center forInternational Human Rights

Gerald W. Lynch Theater Lobby

November 5 3:30 PMState of the College AddressPresident Jeremy Travis


November 7 8:00 AM - 5:00 PMFemicide: Understanding and Preventing the Murder of Women in Intimate RelationshipsCo-sponsored by John Jay College andthe Urban Resource Institute


Is the war on drugs winnable? Is drug enforcement laden with racial bias? Are alternatives to continuing the drug war too dire to be worth serious consideration?

These and other hot-button issues were among the questions raised at a September 25 student forum on current U.S. drug policy and mass incarceration, sponsored by John Jay’s Center for Crime Prevention and Control.

“The Wire: Drugs, Prison and Community Survival” drew a standing-room-only audience of students, faculty and others as an eight-member panel, moderated by Professor David Kennedy, looked at the current state of the war on drugs and its impact on American society. Featured on the panel were Ed Burns and David Simon, senior writers and co-creators of the hit HBO series “The Wire,” who earlier this year were among the co-authors of a commentary in Time magazine that took a highly critical view of the drug war.

“There aren’t any politicians — Democrat or Republican — willing to speak truth on this,” they wrote. “Instead, politicians compete to prove themselves more draconian than thou, to embrace America’s most profound and enduring policy failure.”

The chief legacy of the drug war, they

maintained was to fill prisons with America’s “poorest, most damaged and most desperate citizens.”

Joining them on the panel were Nassau County, NY, District Attorney Kathleen M. Rice; Suzanne M. Corhan, Chief of the Major Narcotics Investigation Bureau for the Kings County, NY,

District Attorney’s Office; Distinguished Professor Todd Clear and Professor Peter Moskos of the Department of Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration, and Professor Douglas Thompkins of the Department of Sociology.

[A video of the student forum can be viewed online at http://johnjay.jjay.cuny.edu/wire/]

President Jeremy Travis traveled to Washington, DC, on September 10 to testify before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on “New Strategies for Combating Violent Crime: Drawing Lessons from Recent Experience.” Noting that “the crime and justice challenges facing the country today are enormous,” Travis outlined a federal strategy for promoting public safety in violence-plagued communities, and called on the federal government to provide the necessary leadership.

“We can confidently say that we now experience the lowest levels of violence in a generation,” Travis said. But then he added, “We have no reason to be complacent, and every reason to implement policies that will bring our rates of violence much, much lower.”

Any consideration of future policy directions should pay particular heed to an inner-city perspective, Travis continued, since “crime does not affect all Americans equally.” The phenomenon of violence in America is primarily an urban one, and concentrated in a small number of poor neighborhoods, often populated by people of color. Moreover, violent crime tends to be committed by, and against, young men in these neighborhoods.

“If we want to produce a safer nation, advance an urban development agenda, and provide equal opportunities for Americans from minority groups, then we must bring these levels of violence down,” Travis told the committee.

Travis, who in the 1990s was Director of the National Institute of Justice, offered an agenda for the new Administration and new Congress that will take office in January 2009. His recommendations included:

¶ The creation of a timely national crime data system that would allow police executives, elected officials and policy makers, academics and community groups to have a data-informed policy discussion about crime trends and effective responses.

¶ Support for the implementation on a national scale of proven crime-reduction strategies. Demands for such success-ful approaches as Operation Ceasefire — pioneered by John Jay Professor David Kennedy and since replicated in dozens of other jurisdictions — currently outstrip local capacity to assist communities with high rates of violence.

¶ A “National Safety Network” that would cut crime, abate drug markets, re-duce reliance on incarceration and promote better relations between the police and minority communities.

¶ Federal leadership in testing new ideas and responses to criminal justice problems and the dissemination of successful models for use by state and local agencies.

[The full text of Travis’s testimony may be found online at http://www.jjay.cuny.edu/1722.php. A webcast can be viewed at http://judiciary.senate.gov/webcast/judiciary09102008-1000.ram.]

President Travis gets his point across in recent testimony before the Senate

Judiciary Committee.

Like an upgraded highway, the road to student success at John Jay is about to become smoother and straighter, thanks to a bevy of new appointments in Student Development, Enrollment Management and Academic Affairs.

The goal of three appointments in counseling and student advisement is to “ensure a holistic approach to student success that involves both Student Development and Academic Affairs,” said a joint statement by Provost Jane Bowers and Vice President for Student Development Berenecea Johnson-Eanes.

Dr. Sumaya Villanueva, the new Director of

Academic Advisement, comes to John Jay from Hostos Community College, where she had been Director of the New Student Advisement and Retention Services Center. During her tenure, student retention increased from 60% to 66% during the first year after implementation of an early warning system.

The new Director of Counseling, Dr. Ma’at Lewis-Coles, has been interim director of the Department of Counseling since January, and a member of the department since 2003. The current president of the New York Association of Black Psychologists, she was responsible for

establishing John Jay’s Transfer Student Peer Counseling Center.

Kate Szur will oversee the College’s transition from Freshman Services to First Year Experience (FYE). As the new FYE Director, Szur will coordinate a range of academic strategies, including Freshman Learning Communities, designed to enhance student performance in the first year and beyond. Szur came to John Jay 10 years ago, and most recently served as Director of the Center for English Language Support.

Familiar Faces in New Roles The three appointments in advisement and

counseling are part of a wave of recent changes in units of the Student Development and Enrollment Management divisions.

Two familiar faces in the realm of student services at John Jay have taken up new duties aimed at enhancing the growing profile and prestige of the College’s Graduate Division.

Bill Devine has become Director of Graduate Admissions, while Fay Williams was named Associate Director. For the past eight years, Devine has been Administrative Director of the New York City Police Leadership Certificate Program at the College. Williams was previously with the Office of Student Financial Services.

“I’m looking forward to the exciting possibilities we find in Graduate Admissions,” Devine said, “particularly the new master’s degree in forensic mental health counseling.”

Also taking on a new assignment is Sylvia Lopez, who was named Director of the Office of Student Financial Services. Lopez, a 1987 alumna of John Jay, had been with the Office of Undergraduate Admissions since 1992, and the office’s Associate Director since 2004.

Of her new role, Lopez said, “I have an absolutely wonderful staff here at Financial Aid, who do a terrific job of serving our students.”

Others taking on new roles include Michael Scaduto, formerly an admissions counselor, who is now Coordinator of the Office of Scholarship Services; Jeremy Sogluizzo, former Assistant Director of Graduate Admissions, who was named Director of Testing, and Angelos Kyriacou, former Assistant Registrar, who has become Associate Director of Undergraduate Admissions.

President Heads to D.C. with a FewIdeas for Senate Judiciary Committee

Advisement, Counseling, Enrollmentto Gain from Flurry of Personnel Moves

Drug Policy Under the MicroscopeCreators of “The Wire” TV Series Anchor Lively Forum

Professor David Kennedy (left) moderates “The Wire” forum discussion before a packed house.









PEER REVIEWJEREMY TRAVIS (President) was named chair of the New York State Juvenile Justice Task Force by the Hon. David Paterson, Governor of New York State. Over the coming year, the newly constituted task force is charged with developing strategies for transforming the state’s juvenile justice system and developing what Travis hopes will be “a more comprehensive and less punitive approach” to handling juvenile offenders.

MARIA VOLPE (Sociology) won the 2008 Lawrence Cooke Peace Innovator Award, presented by the New York State Dispute Resolution Association in collaboration with the New York State Unified Court System Office of ADR and Court Improvement Programs. Volpe will also be the honoree at the Network for Peace Through Dialogue recognition night on October 30 in New York City.

WANDA FERNANDOPULLE (Student

Development) was selected as an Association for Institutional Research Fellow for the upcoming National Conference on First-Year Assessment, to be held October 12-14 in San Antonio, Texas.

JOSEPH KING (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) won the 2008 Roberta Thornton Award, presented by the CUNY Graduate Center’s PhD Alumni Association in recognition of his outstanding achievement as a criminal justice practitioner and scholar.

PRESENTING…KEITH A. MARKUS (Psychology) spent five weeks visiting the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, on an Erskine Fellowship to work with Professor Brian Haig on a joint methodological research project. While there, he presented a colloquium on “Construct Validity and Causal Modeling.” Closer to home, at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association in Boston, Markus presented a poster titled “Abductive Inferences to Psychological Variables: Weighting Competing Criteria” coauthored by Samuel W. Hawes, a John Jay alumnus, and Rula J. Thasites, a current John Jay student.

JANICE BOCKMEYER (Government) presented her paper, “The Politics of Supra-local Nonprofits: Do ‘Good Practices’ Reset the Community Metacenter?” on a panel discussing Local Networks, Race, Immigration and Identity at the

John Jay students make up nearly one-quarter of the students selected for the inaugural group of the CUNY Leadership Academy Program — the largest single delegation from any CUNY campus in the new program.

Following a grueling selection process, a field of nearly 150 candidates was pared down to the 28 students who make up the initial cohort, including six from John Jay.

Said Dr. Joe-Joe McManus, Executive Director of the CUNY Leadership Academy: “All of the nominees were phenomenal. We are confident that we have chosen a group of student leaders who will excel in our program and who are outstanding representatives of their colleges, programs, communities and CUNY.”

Students chosen for the program will participate in a variety of seminars and workshops, lecture sessions, leadership conferences and other professional development opportunities. The Leadership Academy is based at the Metro Tech business and educational center in downtown Brooklyn.

Representing John Jay are: Jessica Armstrong, Paulique Cardona, Shirley Chan, Kimmesha Edwards, Elishia Fludd and Carolyn Hernandez. All but Hernandez, an international criminal justice major, are in the forensic psychology program. Armstrong and Fludd are BA/MA students.

Students from John Jay stood alongside family and friends of the nearly 3,000 people who died in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, to read aloud the victims’ names during ceremonies to mark the seventh anniversary of the attack.

The John Jay students were part of a larger delegation from all 23 City University campuses, hailing from the 85 countries that lost lives on 9/11. The students were selected at the request of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who acknowledged them during the commemoration and thanked them “for giving us the picture of the possibility of a united human family.”

The students and their native countries were: Melissa Lopez (Belize); Christina Bennett (Colombia); Guillermo Monroy (Guatemala); Keiry Martinez (Honduras); Maya Tilipman (Moldova), and Azra Rebronja (Yugoslavia). Attending as alternates without a speaking role in the ceremonies were Emmanuel Anjo (Portugal) and Erin Lamb (Belize).

annual meeting of the American Political Science Association in August.

LARRY SULLIVAN (Library) taught a four-day seminar on elite deviance to government officials at St. John’s College in Belize City, Belize, in March. He also gave a lecture on community justice at the National Police Academy in Belmopan, Belize, on March 12. He presented the paper, “Family Values and Domestic Violence: The Polish Paradigm,” at the annual meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences in Cincinnati in March. This paper was based on research he did at Warsaw University on a Kosciuszko Foundation grant..

BETWEEN THE COVERSELISE LANGAN (Government) published an article on “Assimilation and Affirmative Action in French Education Systems” in the fall 2008 issue of European Education. She was named a visiting scholar at New York University’s Center for European Studies.

KIMORA (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) published an article titled “The Punishment Potlach: A Way Out” in the fall 2008 issue of Insights, a publication of the Offender Preparation and Education Network, Inc. In the article, Kimora and her coauthor, attorney Mark Hazelbaker, contend that this punishment potlach in the United States has ignored the cost of criminal justice, and advocate

an aggressive program of intervention for incarcerated individuals.

LARRY SULLIVAN (Library) had his article “Prison is Dull Today: Prison Libraries and the Irony of Pious Reading” published in the May 2008 issue of PMLA, the journal of the Modern Language Association. His review essay of The Encyclopedia of the Library of Congress appeared in the April 2008 issue of Library Quarterly.

KEITH A. MARKUS (Psychology) recently published an article contrasting alternative causal interpretations of statistical models, titled “Hypothesis Formulation, Model Interpretation and Model Equivalence: Implications of a Mereological Causal Interpretation of Structural Equation Models” in the summer 2008 issue of the journal Multivariate Behavioral Research. A recent issue of the journal Measurement included his article “Constructs, Concepts and the Worlds of Possibility: Connecting the Measurement, Manipulation, and Meaning of Variables,” as well as his rejoinder “Putting Concepts and Constructs into Practice: A Reply to Cervone and Caldwell, Haig, Kane, Mislevy, and Rupp.” Markus also published a critique titled “Abductive Inferences to Psychological Variables: Steiger’s Question and Best Explanations of Psychopathy,” in the summer 2008 issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychology. The critique was coauthored by John Jay alumnus Samuel W. Hawes and current student Rula J. Thasites.

CAMPUS SCENES

Rememberingthe Victims of 9/11

John Jay Leads the Pack in New CUNY Leadership Program

LEOPOLD AND LOEB-OTOMY

GOOD NEIGHBOR POLICY

CRISISMANAGEMENTPanel members reflect on a question from the audience

during one of the sessions at “The Interrogation & Torture

Controversy: Crisis in Psychology,” an all-day conference

held on September 12. Cosponsored by the College’s Center

on Terrorism and the Department of Psychology, along with

York College/CUNY and a number of professional organiza-

tions, the conference examined such themes as the use of

psychologists in coercive interrogations, resistance and ac-

tivism within the psychology profession, ethical guidelines

for research and practice in the post-9/11 era, and working

with survivors of torture and coercive interrogation. Panel-

ists seen here in the session “An Overview of Torture, Its

Consequences and Ethical Meanings for Psychologists”

included (left to right) investigative reporter Katherine

Eban, psychologist Dr. Michael G. Gelles, history professor

Alfred W. McCoy of the University of Wisconsin-Madison,

and John Jay history professor Charles B. Strozier, Director

of the Center on Terrorism.

Director of Alumni Relations Jerylle Kemp (left) accepts a gift to the College from Commerce Bank

branch manager Joseph Dollan and retail market manager Christine Modaffieri following a September

12 ribbon-cutting ceremony for the bank’s newest location at West 62nd Street and Broadway.

NICE JOB, PARTNER!English professors Adam Berlin (left) and Jeffrey Heiman congratulate each other

on a job well done at a September 17 reception for the debut issue of The J Jour-

nal: New Writing on Justice. Berlin and Heiman are co-founders and editors of the

journal, which includes fiction, poetry and personal essays examining justice issues

from a variety of angles.

History professor Simon Baatz inscribes a copy of his critically acclaimed book For

the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb and the Murder that Shocked Chicago, following a

Book & Author presentation on September 15 that explored the notorious 1924

thrill-killing. Joined by psychology professor Louis Schlesinger, Baatz detailed how

two young men, both extremely bright and born to lives of privilege, kidnapped

and murdered a 14-year-old neighbor, then dumped his body in a drainage ditch,

all for the “pure love of excitement” and a quest to commit the perfect crime.

In one of the most sensational criminal cases of the early 20th century, Nathan

Leopold and Richard Loeb were defended by courtroom legend Clarence Darrow,

whose defense strategy enabled them to avoid the death penalty by pleading

guilty and then convincing the trial judge that they were mentally ill.


September 17, 2008

Worth NotingSeptember 22-25Spirit WeekA weeklong series of“Welcome to John Jay” events

Times and locations vary

September 25 11:00 AMThe Wire: Drugs, Prison and Community SurvivalA student forum on current U.S. drug policy and mass incarceration


October 7 6:00 PMA Celebration of the20th Anniversary of theGerald W. Lynch TheaterPerformances by students,faculty and friends of John Jay


October 15 6:00 PMThe CastleA play conceived and directedby David RothenbergTickets: $15 ( free for CUNY students with ID). Call 212-279-4200 for reservations


October 22 6:00 PMPatrick V. Murphy LectureRoom 630 Haaren Hall

October 30 5:00 PMWhen Will U.S. CourtsJoin the International Constitutional Conversation?A lecture by Drew S. Days III,former U.S. Solicitor GeneralPresented by the Center for International Human Rights


John Jay’s departments of English and foreign languages are up and running at their new home, the West 54th Street Academic Annex. This new facility is located on the seventh floor of the “Movie Lab” building at 619 West 54th Street between 11th and 12th Avenues. The annex houses 79 offices, two conference rooms, a kitchen and lounge area. Some faculty members’ office will provide bird’s-eye views of the John Jay women’s softball games at neighboring Clinton Field next spring, while others will overlook the Hudson River.

The departments were relocated to the Academic Annex during the 2008 spring break. The quarters they formerly occupied on the first floor of North Hall are being converted to house consolidated student services.

A shuttle service is being provided between the Academic Annex, the Westport Building and North Hall, operating on a fixed schedule between 7:45 AM and 7:50 PM. In addition, the shuttle will provide drop-offs at the Columbus Circle subway station upon request.

“The College’s critical need for space will be assisted by this dynamic and very attractive addition to the campus,” said President Jeremy Travis.

He was cut down in his prime, as one of the heroic first-responders who perished in the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, but the name and spirit of one probationary firefighter lives on in the new Christian Regenhard Center for Emergency Response Studies at John Jay.

The Center, which was formally launched on September 4, will serve as a research repository and information clearinghouse for the study of emergency responses to natural and man-made disasters. The opening ceremony held at the College was attended by members of the Regenhard family, elected officials, top brass from the Fire Department and members of Regenhard’s probationary school class.

Regenhard had graduated from the Fire Academy less than six weeks prior to the attack on the World Trade Center. He was just 28 years old, assigned to Ladder 131 in Brooklyn, when he was killed in the collapse of the Twin Towers.

“The Center will undertake important research for developing an integrated, comprehensive approach to the study of emergency responses to large-scale disasters,” said President Jeremy Travis, who acknowledged the support of Senators Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer and Representative Jerrold Nadler in securing a $169,000 Congressional earmark to fund the work of the Center.

Noting that 67 members of the College community — alumni, students and others — were killed in the terrorist attacks, Travis said, “We feel compelled to use our talents and energies to honor their memory and their sacrifice.”

Congressman Nadler, who was on hand for the ceremony, said he was “very glad to have helped” with securing an appropriation for the Center. “Congress has a right and a duty to appropriate money for things like the Christian Regenhard Center,” Nadler said. “We have to make sure that some good and some benefit comes out of the tragedies and disasters we face.”

“For the Regenhard family, this Center will

carry on Christian’s legacy,” said Regenhard’s mother, Sally, who as founder and chairwoman of the Skyscraper Safety Campaign has advocated for construction reforms and pressured Congress to investigate the collapse of the World Trade Center. “I wanted something in the academic realm that would have relevance to helping save first-responders and members of the public. Through the work of its dedicated faculty, this Center will honor all first-responders who lost their lives as a result of 9/11 and can help to ensure the safety of all responders in the future.”

Professor Charles Jennings of the Department of Protection Management will serve as the Center’s first Director. He gave attendees at the launch ceremony his “personal assurance that this Center will work to live up to the promise of its namesake.”

The Center plans an ambitious agenda of applied research and data collection aimed at promoting “best practices” and “good practices”

on issues pertaining to homeland security and emergency response. To that end, the Center will collect and analyze such information as oral histories of emergency response workers, GIS data and maps, communication transcripts, incident reports and digital photographs. Its staff will develop after-action and lessons-learned reports, publish periodic industry alerts, and produce scholarly and industry articles in the area of homeland security. With the help of the Lloyd Sealy Library, the Center also hopes to make public-domain documents available online.

On October 1-3, the Center will co-sponsor a symposium on data structures for incident-related archives, which will help determine the structure of the Center’s repository of incident-specific information.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us,” said Professor Glenn Corbett, Chair of the Department of Protection Management and Chair of the Center’s Advisory Board.

Emergency-Response Center Honors the Spirit of 9/11 Hero Firefighter

Fighting back tears, Sally Regenhard (above, at microphone) addresses reporters and others

gathered for the September 4 ceremony to launch the Christian Regenhard Center for Emer-

gency Response Studies, named for her son, Firefighter Christian Regenhard (inset). Joining

Mrs. Regenhard were her husband and daughter, FDNY Chief of Department Salvatore

Cassano (left) and members of Regenhard’s Fire Academy class.

English and Language Faculty in New Home

Fresh Faces by the Hundreds

They came streaming in by the hundreds, filling the theater, the gym and numerous classrooms, as the

fall 2008 freshman orientation on August 21 and 22 welcomed new students to John Jay. The support-

ing cast for the event, attended by more than 2,300 freshmen and their parents, included 48 student

orientation leaders, representatives of the John Jay Alumni Association and members of the Office

of Undergraduate Studies (at right, promoting the “Subway Series” freshman learning experience).

President Travis hosted a luncheon reception for the newest members of the John Jay family.


@ John Jay is published by theDepartment of Institutional Advancement







PRESENTING…GLORIA PRONI (Sciences) presented a paper titled “Chiral Recognition by a CD-sensitive Dimeric Porphyrin Host: Recent Advances in the Assignment of Absolute Configuration” at the 235th American Chemical Society National Meeting & Exposition, April 6-10, 2008 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The work was done in collaboration with the laboratory of chemistry professor Nina Berova of Columbia University. Later in the spring, Proni presented a research talk, “Detection of Opioids in Urine by NMR Spectroscopy: Preliminary Studies” at the 40th Middle Atlantic Regional Meeting (MARM), May 17–21 in Bayside, Queens. Donna Wilson, a forensic science graduate student, worked on this project as a fulfillment of her thesis

requirement. The work was conducted jointly with ELISE CHAMPEIL (Sciences). In late August, Proni presented a poster titled “Synthesis and Chiral Recognition of a Fish Pheromone by CD-Sensitive Dimeric Zinc Porphyrin Host” at the American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition in Philadelphia. Ekaterina Chadwick, an undergraduate forensic science student, co-authored the presentation.

EFFIE PAPATZIKOU COCHRAN (English) was the lead discussant on a panel titled “Four Interrogating Concepts and Cases: Family, Law, and Language” at the Law and Society Annual Conference in Montreal, Canada, on May 31.

ABBY STEIN (Interdisciplinary Studies) spoke at the International Psychohistorical Association on June 4 at Fordham University. Her presentation was titled, “From His Cradle to Your Grave: How Child Abuse Drives Violent Crime.” Stein also served as the invited “Critical Issues” columnist for the spring issue of ISSTD News, published by the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation. Her column focused on “First Defense: Dissociated States and Criminal Violence.” R. TERRY FURST (Anthropology) presented a

paper, “A Qualitative Exploration of an Office-Based Buprenorphine Demonstration Program in New York City,” at the Society for the Study of Social Problems in Boston. He also presented “A Harm Reduction Approach to the Provision of Bupernorphine” at a conference on the Developments in the Treatment of Dependence on Opiate: Practices and Perspectives, in France, and co-authored “Low Threshold Buprenorphine Prescribing,” a paper presented at the International Harm Reduction Conference in Barcelona, Spain.

ELISE CHAMPEIL and GLORIA PRONI (Sciences) co-authored the lecture “Use of NMR Spectroscopy for the Detection of Opioids in Human Fluids” that was presented at the American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition in Philadelphia in late August. Donna Wilson, a recent graduate of the master’s degree program in forensic science, collaborated with the professors on this project as a fulfillment of her thesis requirement.

BETWEEN THE COVERSBENJAMIN LAPIDUS (Art and Music) will have his new book, Origins of Cuban Music and Dance: Changüí, published by The Scarecrow Press on October 28. The book is the first in-

depth study of changüí, a style of music and dance in Guantánamo, Cuba, that contributed to the development of salsa.

KIMORA (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) and MICHAEL AMAN (Communication and Theatre Arts) co-authored an article, “No Country for Old Men: Psychopathic Elements in an Academy-Award-Winning Film,” in which they stress the importance of criminal justice professionals learning elements of psychopathy from the film. The article appeared in the July/August issue of Community Corrections Report on Law and Corrections Practice.

PEER REVIEWROBERT GAROT (Sociology) has won a faculty fellowship for the spring 2009 semester at the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute at Queens College. The fellowship will help facilitate Garot’s research project on “Immigrants and the Law in Contemporary Tuscany.”

ALLISON KAVEY (History) has been awarded a $15,000 faculty development grant by the City University of New York to fund her proposal, “Teaching Portfolios: An Analysis of their Uses for History Pedagogy.”

Twenty 11th-graders from New York City public high schools got an unusual taste of John Jay in July through the first annual Poets for Justice Summer Institute, sponsored by the College Now program.

College Now partnered with two local arts organizations, Urban Word NYC and the Hip-Hop Project, to produce a three-week program that exposed high school students to the college environment and the expectations of college-level coursework. Part history seminar and part creative-writing workshop, the Institute examined the historical roots and contemporary use of poetry as an instrument of social and political movement.

“The Institute embraced the concept that poetry, particularly in hip-hop and spoken-word forms, provides a unique and effective way to engage youth in the educational process and to teach powerful lessons about democratic citizenship,” said David Jean-Paul, program director of College Now.

The “justice poets,” as the students were called, were given a comprehensive overview of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and its direct lineage to hip-hop. Course readings

The fall 2008 semester saw John Jay welcome 40 new full-time faculty members in 14 academic departments. These new professors include specialists to support the newest majors in Economics and English.

President Jeremy Travis, pointing to what he called “the infusion of new energy and talent at the College,” noted that 35 percent of the full-time faculty now at the College were hired in the past four years. “This new generation of faculty, with their demonstrated scholarly potential and devotion to excellence in teaching, will provide leadership at the College for decades to come.”

Several new departments debuted as well. The former Department of Art, Music and Philosophy has been split in two, with the philosophy faculty having a new independent department while the art and music faculty remain together. The Department of Public Management has spun off a new Department of Protection Management and a new Department of Economics.

The most recent additions to the faculty are:

ANTHROPOLOGYR. Terry Furst, PhD, assistant professor, New

School University (ethnography/substance

abuse)Anthony Marcus, PhD, associate professor, CUNY

Graduate Center (cultural anthropology)Patricia Tovar, PhD, associate professor, CUNY

Graduate Center (urban anthropology)

COMMUNICATION AND THEATRE ARTSLyell Davies, PhD, assistant professor, University

of Rochester (visual and cultural studies)

ENGLISHAl Coppola, PhD, assistant professor, Fordham

University (British literature)Jay Paul Gates, PhD, assistant professor,

University of Wisconsin-Madison (medieval studies)

Olivera Jokic, PhD, assistant professor, University of Michigan (Romanticism/women’s studies)

Alexander Long, PhD, assistant professor, University of Delaware (creative writing)

Richard Perez, assistant professor, CUNY Graduate Center (Latina/o literature)

FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURESClara Castro Ponce, PhD, assistant professor,

Brown University (Hispanic studies)Raul Rubio, PhD, assistant professor, Tulane

University (Spanish)

GOVERNMENTSusan Kang, PhD, assistant professor, University

of Minnesota-Twin Cities (political science)Monica Weller Varsanyi, PhD, assistant professor,

University of California-Los Angeles (urban/political/legal geography)

HISTORYAndrea Balis, PhD, lecturer, CUNY Graduate

Center (health-care history)Anissa Helie, PhD, assistant professor, Ecole

des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (contemporary history)

Tracy Musacchio, assistant professor, University of Pennsylvania (Egyptology)

Hyunee Park, PhD, assistant professor, Yale University (history)

Matthew J. Perry, PhD, assistant professor, University of Chicago (ancient history)

LAW, POLICE SCIENCE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE ADMINISTRATION

Joseph Pollini, lecturer, John Jay College of Criminal Justice (police science)

Jon M. Shane, assistant professor, Rutgers University, (police administration)

Cecile Van de Voorde, D Crim, assistant professor, University of South Florida (criminology)

Klaus von Lampe, JD, assistant professor, Goethe Universität (organized crime)

LIBRARYKaren Okamoto, assistant professor, University of

Western Ontario (reference)

MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTER SCIENCEHunter Johnson, PhD, assistant professor,

University of Maryland (computer science)Shaobai Kan, PhD, assistant professor, Wayne

State University (systems science)

PHILOSOPHYHernando Estevez, PhD, assistant professor,

DePaul University (social/political philosophy)Sarah Louise Scott, PhD, assistant professor,

University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (philosophy)

PSYCHOLOGYKevin Yabut Nadal, PhD, assistant professor,

Columbia University (counseling psychology)Deryn Strange, PhD, assistant professor, Victoria

University of Wellington (psychology)Daryl A. Wout, PhD, assistant professor,

University of Michigan (social psychology)

PUBLIC MANAGEMENTAmit Kumar, PhD, assistant professor, American

University (public administration)David Shapiro, JD, assistant professor, Seton Hall

University (commercial law)

SCIENCESJason Rauceo, PhD, assistant professor, CUNY

Graduate Center (genetics/biomedical analysis)Richard Li, PhD, associate professor, University of

Wisconsin-Madison (molecular biology)John Reffner, PhD, associate professor, University

of Connecticut (polymer science)Shu-Yuan Cheng, PhD, assistant professor, St.

John’s University (biochemistry/toxicology)

SOCIOLOGYMucahit Bilici, PhD, assistant professor, University

of Michigan-Ann Arbor (sociology)David A. Green, PhD, assistant professor,

St. John’s College, Cambridge, England (criminology)

Antonio Pastrana Jr., PhD, assistant professor, CUNY Graduate Center (Latina/o studies)

Lucia Trimbur, PhD, assistant professor, Yale University (sociology/African American studies)

John Jay College is on the brink of establishing a trailblazing relationship with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) that will promote career paths, professional development, research and other opportunities for students.

A Memorandum of Intent and Purpose is due to be signed by President Jeremy Travis and several key DEA officials in late September.

The memorandum’s stated purpose is to create a partnership between the College and the DEA’s Equal Employment Opportunity staff and Minority College Relations Program (MCRP) in which participants can conduct DEA activities geared toward fostering educational excellence and fulfilling the agency’s mission. The DEA will increase its outreach to students in disciplines such as criminal justice, finance and accounting, physical sciences and computer science.

Under the terms of the two-year agreement, the DEA will recommend employment oppor-

tunities for students and graduates through the Volunteer Student Program, the Student Tempo-rary Employment Program, the Student Career Experience Program and the Summer Honors Program. The agency will provide career advice and assistance to students, offer forums and workshops aimed at increasing career and educa-tional achievement, and training opportunities at DEA for students and educators.

The DEA will also initiate direct transfers of computer equipment and other technology to the College.

The College’s responsibilities under the agree-ment include providing the DEA with facilities and services for hosting special educational and training programs for students, inviting govern-ment personnel to participate in training and conferences, and working with the DEA’s MCRP manager to establish a consistent and positive rapport with members of the College community.

New Semester, New Departments, New Faculty

were complemented by real-world accounts of guest artists such as renowned poet and playwright Amiri Baraka, founder of the Black Arts Movement.

Students were also given the opportunity to create, produce and perform their own vocal works. They acquired hands-on skills in such areas as songwriting, music production and theory, audio engineering and marketing. Instructors worked with students to produce an audio CD, and the program culminated on July 31 with a performance by students at the famed Nuyorican Poets’ Café.

College Now Program GivesVoice to “Poets for Justice”

With acclaimed poet and playwright Amiri Baraka looking on, Vanessa Capistrano

of Information Technology High School and Joseph Mercedes of Manhattan Village

Academy present their work during the Poets for Justice Summer Institute.

Students to Reap Benefit from John Jay/DEA Partnership


August 27, 2008

Worth NotingSeptember 4 11:30 AMLaunch of the Christian Regenhard Center for EmergencyResponse StudiesFor information, contact Elizabeth McCabe, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs,(212) 237-8918

6th Floor, Haaren Hall

September 12 8:30 AMPrisoner Reentry Institute Occasional Series onReentry ResearchWomen, Reentry and Everyday Life:Time to Work?Venezia MichalsenWomen’s Prison Association


September 12 9:00 AMInterrogation and Torture Controversy: Crisis in PsychologyPresented by the Center on Terrorism,the Division of Social Issues ofthe New York State Psychological Association and York College


September 15 4:00 PM Book & Author LectureFor the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb,and the Murder that Shocked ChicagoSimon Baatz


September 18 3:30 PMFall Faculty & Staff MeetingGerald W. Lynch Theater

September 22-25 Spirit WeekA weeklong series of“Welcome to John Jay” events

Times and locations vary

All aboard! The John Jay Subway Series is in the station, ready for incoming freshmen to begin the “journey of a lifetime.”

The Subway Series is an innovative Web-based learning program aimed at helping new John Jay students make a successful transition from high school to college through what is described as “an (un)common learning experience.” This online experience seeks to “introduce you to some of the disciplines, know-ledge, habits and abilities that you will encounter in your first semesters at college,” President Jeremy Travis tells students in a videotaped intro-duction to the pilot program.

“We chose the subway system as the context for this learning experience because most students will come to John Jay by public transportation,” said interim Dean of Under-graduate Studies José Luis Morín. The flashy yet instructive Web site accompanying the pilot learning program opens with a fanciful render-ing of the Columbus Circle subway entrance that encourages freshmen to “get on track.”

After clicking on the entrance, students find themselves at the turnstiles to a station for an introductory message that explains the learning experience. Another click to “start the journey” brings students inside a subway car, complete with doors that open with a familiar “ding-dong” sound to reveal a route map.

Professor Dara Byrne of the Department of Communication and Theatre Arts serves as the students’ “guide” in a videotaped introduction. She points out: “Imagine yourself as a new pas-senger on this fun and challenging journey. By boarding John Jay’s ‘subway,’ you will learn new academic habits, strategies and abilities that will prepare you for the challenges you will face as you attend college classes.”

The John Jay subway system has nine “learn-ing stops,” each of which introduces the student to a different academic discipline. Students can

get off at one or two of the stops, or as many as all nine.

After selecting a discipline, such as art, mathematics, science, anthropology, sociology or English, students are asked to read online materials that will help them to complete vari-ous assignments, which are then submitted for

review by a Subway Series Evalua-tion Team made up of John Jay fac-ulty. Students then become eligible to win prizes that include Barnes & Noble discount cards, one-month MetroCards and iPods.

“The more stops you take, the more prizes you can win,” Byrne notes.

“We are confident that your par-ticipation in this learning program will help you to develop the skills you will need to succeed at John Jay and beyond,” Travis tells students in his introduction.

The Subway Series learning experience was conceived by Pro-fessor Mark McBeth of the English department and developed for the

College’s Web site by a team from the Depart-ment of Institutional Advancement led by Direc-tor of Communications Christine Godek and including Johnny Taveras, Lenis Perez, Anh Phan and Doreen Viñas. It was unveiled at freshman orientation on August 21 and 22, and formally launched online on August 27.

It has been more than 30 years since John Jay College last offered an English major, but that has now changed with the unveiling of a new undergraduate major that includes what is said to be the country’s first “rich and rigorous curriculum in literature and the law.”

The English major is one of two new curricular offerings at the College, along with a Bachelor of Science program in economics that will include an optional concentration in forensic financial analysis. Both new majors, recently approved by The City University of New York, make their formal debut with the fall 2008 semester.

“Mission-specific” and “writing-intensive,”

according to the proposal approved by the College’s Curriculum Committee, the English major will include a core requirement in Literature and the Law, along with an optional concentration in this field. Students may also opt for a concentration in more traditional literary study.

Designed partly in recognition of the nearly one-third of John Jay students who say they aspire to attend law school, the English major is aimed at developing “moral acuity and independent thought,” according to the proposal. It will provide students with critical skills in analysis and argumentation, and “reinforce the interpretive and linguistic competencies desired of law school candidates.”

The 36-credit major includes a mix of new and existing courses, including “The Word as Weapon,” “Shakespeare and Justice,” “Courtroom Drama,” and “Law in African Literature.” There will also be a capstone Senior Seminar in Literature and the Law.

The new economics major, to be offered by the Department of Public Management, also takes notice of John Jay students’ law school aspirations. Students with a bachelor’s degree in economics are “among the most sought students in law school admissions,” the proposal for the new major states, citing a 1995 study suggesting that a “criminal justice student planning on applying to law school have a dual major or at least a minor in…economics.”

Three concentrations will be offered within the new major: Economic Analysis, Investigation of Economic Crimes, and Forensic Financial Analysis. A new two-course sequence in forensic accounting and auditing will be offered, along with two new senior-level seminars.

With the new economics major, John Jay assumes a leadership position in the rapidly growing fields of economics and crime and the investigation and analysis of commercial and economic criminal activity. Only one other college in the United States is said to offer a bachelor’s degree in economics and crime.

The College’s economics faculty has secured a formal pledge of assistance from the faculty in the Department of Accounting at Borough of Manhattan Community College in further developing the new major.

The largest on-the-job training initiative in John Jay’s history took place to rave reviews on June 19-20. More than 400 employees took part in a variety of professional and personal development workshops, social networking opportunities and entertainment offerings as part of the first Bravo! Employee Summer Institute.

Organized and presented by the college’s Department of Human Resources, the Summer Institute — subtitled “Building the Future Together” — provided dozens of small-group sessions led by in-house experts as well as outside specialists. Participants could learn how to manage their money, deal with difficult co-workers, improve their health and fitness, protect themselves against identity theft, use an iPod or a Facebook account, or run various computer programs.

Each day included a complimentary continental breakfast and lunch, which were provided by corporate sponsors. At the end of a full morning and afternoon of workshops, employees could play softball or volleyball, participate in a yoga session or enjoy a jazz concert in the Gerald W. Lynch Theater.

“Being so new to the College, I did not know

what to expect but I was profoundly impressed by the buzz and energy in the air,” said Director of Human Resources Services Christel Colon. “Without exception, the feedback then and to date remains enthusiastic. I think the Summer Institute was a great success on so many levels and I can’t wait to do it again next year.”

Making a differenceA week after the Summer Institute, 18 John

Jay employees who are “making a difference” with creative problem-solving and superior customer service were honored as the latest

winners of the Bravo! Employee Recognition Awards

“It’s not a stretch to say that the satisfaction of being part of the John Jay community comes from knowing that, by doing our jobs well, we provide something of value and importance to the world at large,” President Jeremy Travis said at a June 25 breakfast ceremony.

The newest Bravo! honorees are: Hector Bracero (Facilities), Inez Brown (Strategic Planning), Rima Douglas (Student Activities), Marianne Kahn (Physical Education and Athletics), Katherine Killoran (Undergraduate Studies), Angelos Kyriacou

(Enrollment Management/International Students), Luzennette Lima (Facilities), Marisol Marrero (One-Stop Center), Tara Mastrorilli (Academic Affairs), Shavonne McKiever (Enrollment Management), Litna McNickle (Freshman Services), Selwyn Morris (Facilities), Luis Negron (Media Services), Tyrone Oree (Physical Education and Athletics), Rafael Quiles (Undergraduate Admissions), Cindy Robles (Payroll), Marilyn Simpson (Continuing and Professional Studies), and Crystal Vasquez (Affirmative Action/Disabled Student Services).

President Travis and Senior Vice President Robert Pignatello (center rear) join the Bravo! award

winners in an enthusiastic thumbs-up salute at the June 25 recognition ceremony..

Major Developments: College Adds New English, Economics Programs

John Jay Employees in Summer Spotlight

Freshmen Can “Get on Track” with Subway Series Learning Experience









ON BOARDLAURA DRAZDOWSKI (Physical Education and Athletics) was appointed head coach of the John Jay women’s softball team. Drazdowski, the College’s Assistant Director of Athletics for Marketing and Promotion, served as interim softball coach for the 2008 season, leading the team to a 12-23 record and a fourth place finish in conference play. Over the summer, John Jay

added two other new head coaches. CARL

NEDELL was named women’s tennis coach,

succeeding AMY ROWLAND, who resigned earlier this year. Nedell had previously coached the John Jay men’s tennis team during the 2000 season, and has also coached for Hunter College, James Monroe High School and Forest

Hills High School. JESSICA KOLACKOVSKY will serve as interim coach of the women’s swimming team for the 2008-09 season, filling

in for JANE KATZ, who will be on sabbatical. Kolackovsky served as a volunteer assistant under Katz last season, and also serves as the College’s head lifeguard. She was a Big East Conference

Academic All-Star as an undergraduate swimmer at Seton Hall University. BETWEEN THE COVERSANDREW SIDMAN (Government) has an article, “Forecasting Non-Incumbent Presidential Elections: Lessons Learned from the 2000 Election,” due out in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Forecasting. Sidman also has 12 entries in the recently published Encyclopedia of U.S. Campaigns, Election, and Electoral Behavior (Sage, 2008).

MARY GIBSON (History) received a Senior Fulbright Research Grant and a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship to finish a book on the history of prisons in modern Italy. Her article “Ai margini della cittadinanza: le detenute dopo l’Unità italiana (1860-1915) [At the Margins of Citizenship: Women Prisoners after Italian Unification]” has been published in the journal Storia delle Donne [Women’s History].

NATHAN LENTS (Sciences) had his manuscript “Identification and Characterization of a Novel Mdm2 Splice Variant Acutely Induced by the Chemotherapeutic Agents Adriamycin and Actinomycin D” published in the journal Cell Cycle in June.

DANIELLE SAPSE (Law, Police Science

and Criminal Justice Administration), ELISE

CHAMPEIL and ANNE-MARIE SAPSE (Sciences), working in collaboration with two professors from the University of Rouen, France,

had their paper “Interaction of DNA Fragments with Methyl Lithium” accepted for publication in the journal Comptes Rendus des Séances de L’Académie Française. The paper applies theoretical methods to the study of DNA fragments interaction with methyl lithium and its possible use for criminal investigation.

PRESENTING…EDGARDO DIAZ DIAZ (Foreign Languages) addressed a full house of doctoral students and faculty members at the University of Padova, Italy, on April 22. Diaz, an ethnomusicologist, spoke about the meaning and influence of Italian opera in the Caribbean.

JANICE BOCKMEYER (Government) moderated the roundtable “Maximum Feasible Misunderstanding at 40: The Midlife Crisis of Community Participation?” at the annual meeting of the Urban Affairs Association in Philadelphia in late April. The roundtable explored the impacts of federal community development policies in the 40 years since the War on Poverty urban initiatives.

MARGARET WALLACE (Sciences) was an in-vited speaker at the Fourth Annual Conference of the Korean Academy of Scientific Criminal Investigation. Wallace’s presentation on “Forensic Science: The Interface between Scientific and the Law” discussed the role of forensic biology in hu-man identification and genotyping botanical and entomological samples. Wallace was also named Foreign Editor of the Journal of the Korean

Academy of Scientific Criminal Investigation.

KIMORA (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) spoke to the Correctional Services Division of the Los Angeles County Sher-iff’s Department on May 23, about the educa-tional needs of adult offenders and the programs funded by the National Institute of Corrections.

M. VICTORIA PÉREZ-RÍOS (Government) pre-sented a paper on “Western Bias in International Law: Francisco de Vitoria’s Writings and the Third World School” at the International Studies Asso-ciation Annual Conference in San Francisco, CA, in late March.

PEER REVIEWMARIA HARTWIG (Psychology) received the “Early Career Award” from the European Association of Psychology and Law, for her “excellent track-record in peer-reviewed papers in international journals and chapters in national and international volumes, and for being an inspiring example showing how a young researcher from a small place can find her way to a top position in the international arena.”

PETER DODENHOFF (Institutional Advance-ment) recently earned his U.S. Coast Guard merchant captain’s certification. The license, awarded on the basis of experience, test scores, fitness, character references and other criteria, allows the for-hire operation of merchant and recreational vessels in U.S. coastal waters, including charters and yacht deliveries.

In the past, John Jay College has held its biennial International Conference on Justice and Policing in Diverse Societies in such cities as St. Petersburg, Russia; Bologna, Italy; Budapest, Hungary, and London. This June, the conference was sited for the first time in the Western Hemi-sphere, drawing an enthusiastic throng of more than 225 prominent scholars, civic leaders and government officials to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The three-day conference was cosponsored by several leading institutions of higher education in Puerto Rico, including the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico, the Catholic University of Puerto Rico, Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, the University of Puerto Rico Law School and El Sistema Universitario Ana G. Méndez. More than 20 countries from every continent except Antarctica were represented at the June 9-12 gathering, where 45 panel discussions and presentations explored the latest research on various criminal justice topics.

“This conference provided a framework for criminal justice scholars and professionals to share knowledge and discuss strategies to address the most serious challenges of the 21st

century,” said President Jeremy Travis. “John Jay College, our faculty and our conference partners are uniquely positioned to foster this important dialogue.”

Led by President Travis, the John Jay delegation included 75 faculty members, college officials, and doctoral and graduate students.

The conference’s opening plenary address on “Gender Justice at the International Criminal Court,” was delivered by the Hon. Navanethem Pillay, the only African judge of the appellate division of the International Criminal Court at The Hague. Other plenary speakers were Hugo Fruhling, director of the Center for Studies on Public Safety and professor at the Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Chile, and Jan J.M. van Dijk, a professor of victimology at Tilburg University in The Netherlands and former Policy Director on Crimes Issues for the United Nations in Vienna.

A number of top government officials from Puerto Rico participated in the conference, at which sessions were held in both English and Spanish. Among them were Miguel Pereira, the commonwealth’s Secretary of Corrections, and

Marta A. Mercado Sierra, a prosecutor with the Puerto Rico Office of Women’s Affairs.

Panelists and presenters discussed a broad array of topics, including governance and cybercrime, counterterrorism, therapeutic jurisprudence, international perspectives on domestic violence, curbing public corruption, Latin American prisons and justice, evolving

sentencing systems, juvenile justice, human trafficking, and much more.

The Office of Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vilá of Puerto Rico underscored the importance of the International Conference by hosting an opening-night reception for attendees at La Fortaleza, the 16th-century fortress in Old San Juan that serves as the governor’s official residence.

A $250,000 grant from the JEHT Founda-tion will allow John Jay College to establish an Arson Screening Project that will marshal the College’s forensic science, law enforcement and legal expertise to develop a process for screen-ing arson cases, apply that process to a grow-ing backlog of “bad science” convictions, and disseminate the assessments to the media and criminal justice agencies.

The screening project will be run by John Jay’s Center for Modern Forensic Practice.

“This will enable the College to utilize its ex-pertise in examining cases where questionable

forensic techniques were used to obtain an arson conviction,” said President Jeremy Travis. “Receiv-ing this kind of support reaffirms John Jay’s posi-tion as a leader in criminal justice research.”

James M. Doyle, the Center’s director, pointed out that the Arson Screening Project was devel-oped in consultation with the Innocence Project, which already has a backlog of arson cases in need of scrutiny. The Innocence Project limits its own direct involvement to cases in which biologi-cal evidence can provide a conclusive answer.

“This funding will enable the Center to collect and evaluate claims of wrongful conviction based

Combine 22 top Arizona police officials, an all-star faculty of current and former law enforce-ment luminaries, the staff of the John Jay Lead-ership Academy, stir thoroughly for three days, and you have the makings of “an unequivocal success,” according to Dr. Ellen Scrivner, the academy’s director.

The program, held in Phoenix from June 24-26, was a first for the academy’s Public Safety Executive leadership Institute, and was presented in conjunction with the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University.

“These sessions afforded participants an opportunity to sharpen their professional skills in responding to the increasingly complex public safety issues they confront daily,” said Scrivner.

The Public Safety Executive Leadership Insti-tute is a unique national program designed solely for top law enforcement officials. Its curriculum focuses on the complex interaction of strategic, cultural and political processes and how they combine to influence the effectiveness of public safety leadership.

The faculty for the Arizona program included

Darrel Stephens, retired Chief of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, NC, Police Department and for-mer executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum; Paul Evans, retired Commis-sioner of the Boston, MA, Police Department; Frank Straub, Commissioner of the White Plains, NY, Police Department and an alumnus of John

on the use of a faulty, folk-science of fire indica-tors over the past 20 years,” said Doyle. “For the first time, we will expand beyond the Innocence Project tradition to take a systemic look at old convictions where there is no DNA evidence.”

The project will be led by Doyle, along with Professor Peter D. DeForest of the Department of Sciences and Peter Diaczuk, the Center’s director of forensic science training.

The New York-based JEHT Foundation sup-ports research and best practices in areas relevant to the foundation’s core values of justice, equal-ity, human dignity and tolerance.

Jay, and George DeLama, former Managing Editor of the Chicago Tribune.

The faculty led participants through a series of interactive learning dialogs — the Leadership Academy’s signature activity — to explore real-world, real-time public safety leadership challenges and solve multidimensional leadership

problems. Participants were required to shift their focus from discrete management skills and tactical activities to seeing the “big picture” through action-learning experiences.

The Leadership Academy has been invited to deliver similar executive institute programs in two additional states.

Taking San Juan by Storm:

Biennial Justice ConferenceIs a Multinational Success

President Travis (standing, 4th from left) is joined by a blue-chip array of Puerto Rican officials, international criminal justice

luminaries and John Jay College representatives at the governor’s mansion in Old San Juan during a welcoming reception

before the opening of the International Conference on Justice and Policing in Diverse Societies. Among those on hand were

Professor Mangai Natarajan, chair of the conference organizing committee (seated, 3rd from left) and the Hon. Navanethem

Pillay (seated at right), the only African judge of the appellate division of the International Criminal Court at The Hague,

who was the keynote speaker for the conference’s opening plenary session.

College Experts to Screen Faulty Arson Cases

It’s Back to School for Police Officials:

Leadership Academy Scores with Arizona Road Show


May 7, 2008

Worth NotingMay 12 9:00 AMMedia, Race andCapital PunishmentPresented by the Center on Media, Crime and Justice, the Center on Race, Crime and Justice, and the Department of Psychology

Featuring David Kaczynski of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty, and screenings of the documentaries Race to Execution and Juror Number Six


May 27 5:30 PMCommencementAwards CeremonyGerald W. Lynch Theater

May 28 6:00 PMHonorary DegreeRecipients’ DinnerOffice of the President

May 28 7:30 PM - 11:30 PMNight of the Stars:A Celebration to Honorthe Graduating Class of 2008(Event limited to membersof the graduating class.)

6th Floor, Haaren Hall

May 29 10:30 AM & 3:30 PM2008 Commencement CeremoniesThe Theater at Madison Square Garden

June 2 8:30 AMImmigration and Justice: Where Do We Go From Here?Presented by the Centeron Media, Crime and Justice


Professor John Matteson of the English department recently became the second member of the John Jay faculty to win a Pulitzer Prize for literature. He won the 2008 Prize for Biography for his acclaimed book Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father.

The book examines the relationship between the celebrated author of Little Women and her father, the 19th-century utopian idealist and philosopher Bronson Alcott.

Matteson was bowled over by winning the Pulitzer, echoing the words of John Steinbeck when he won a Nobel Prize for Literature, who said he felt “wrapped and shellacked.”

“I am extraordinarily pleased,” said Matteson. “I am so thankful to have been able to do this with and for John Jay College, which hired me when no one else would and has supported me through thick and thin.”

Matteson, who holds a PhD in English from Columbia University and a law degree from Harvard Law School, has taught literature and legal writing at John Jay since 1997. His biography of the Alcotts — the first to examine Louisa May and her father jointly — has been hailed by critics as “engrossing,” “elegantly written” and “impossible to put down.” The book, which was already cited as one of the best

books of 2007, is due out in a paperback edition later this year.

“This is a stunning achievement by a promi-

Once Again, a Pulitzer Prize HasJohn Jay Professor’s Name on It

Professor John Matteson beams after learning that his book Eden’s Outcasts (above

right) won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Biography.

A new literary journal that, like John Jay College, takes a multidisciplinary approach to criminal justice issues will make its debut in May.

The J Journal: New Writing on Justice “is framed within John Jay’s principal points of academic focus and was generated when we found no outlet for those writing creatively within the criminal justice field,” said Professor Adam Berlin of the English department, who is co-editor of the journal along with his colleague, English professor Jeffrey Heiman.

The inaugural issue includes fiction, poetry and personal essays examining justice issues from a variety of angles. “Our contributors are professional writers, criminal justice professionals, lawyers, professors, police officers and inmates,” Heiman noted. “Responses to our calls for submissions were enthusiastic and came from all parts of the country.”

The editors foresee two target audiences for the J Journal: readers of literary journals and criminal justice professionals interested in creative writing about such issues. They also hope to build a subscription base that includes libraries, criminal justice institutions, other criminal justice programs and targeted listservs. “Professors might find the journal a fruitful addition to scholarly reading lists,” Berlin added.

Top John Jay students continue to win the notice of various outside entities, as scholarships, fellowships and other accolades —some of them first-time achievements for the College — have been pouring in over the past several months.

“This is great news,” said President Jeremy Travis. “We have developed quality selection processes that have resulted in John Jay students being accepted to prestigious programs.”

Below are highlights about these high-achieving students.

O Kaplan, My Kaplan! John Jay’s first effort to compete in the Kaplan

Leadership Program was an immediate success

with the selection of JANET ARAYA, a criminal justice major. She was chosen along with nine other City University students for the program’s 2008 cohort, its largest to date.

The Kaplan Leadership Program is aimed at helping associate degree students move into and successfully complete a bachelor’s degree.

Araya’s acceptance letter from the foundation noted, “Your academic success, commitment to pursuing your education, the strength of your application and the positive impression you made during your interviews all contributed to our decision.”

Second SteamboatAMANDA INGLE, a junior majoring in

forensic psychology, recently became the second John Jay student to win a prestigious Steamboat Foundation Summer Scholarship.

Like John Jay’s previous Steamboat Scholar, Abdoulaye Diallo, who won the award in 2007, Ingle will be partnered with the Center for Court Innovation. Ingle, a Justice Scholar and president

of the Phi Eta Sigma honor society, is concerned with studying alternatives to incarceration for mentally ill and juvenile offenders.

The scholarship provided by the Greenwich, CT-based foundation allows outstanding students to connect with acknowledged leaders in public, private and nonprofit organizations.

Alpine AmbassadorsAs spring break arrived for John Jay students, a

delegation of 10 high-achieving undergraduates once again made their way to Salzburg, Austria, to serve as student ambassadors to the prestigious 2008 Salzburg International Study Program.

Professors Mark McBeth and Rosemary Barberet led the John Jay contingent, the members of which — all Dean’s List or honors students — included:

ARIE BRAIZBLOT, an international criminal justice major, who plans to pursue graduate study in international relations and a career with a federal or international agency;

KIMMESHA EDWARDS, a forensic psychology major and McNair Scholar, who hopes to pursue a doctorate in clinical

psychology and a law degree with a focus on human rights and gender law;

RICHARD FERRIS, a McNair Scholar majoring in government, who has interned in the office of New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, and hopes to pursue a doctorate in public policy;

DI’INDRA FORGENIE, a justice studies major, who has her sights set on becoming an immigration or international human rights attorney;

RENNAE FRANCIS, a forensic science major from Dominica in the Caribbean, who plans to pursue graduate degrees in criminal justice and business administration;

EDWIN M. HERNANDEZ GARCIA, a Justice Scholar majoring in public administration, who plans to attend law school in hopes of playing a key role in the future development of his native Dominican Republic;

DOMINIQUE MORGAN, a Peter Vallone Scholarship winner majoring in justice studies, who is currently a New York State Assembly intern and hopes to become a lawyer focusing on international human rights;

DAVID MORGANTE, a CUNY Baccalaureate student majoring in international crime and terrorism studies, who served with the U.S. Marines in Iraq and hopes to become a special agent with the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security;

ELIZABETH SOTO, a public administration major, who is planning a career as a Foreign Service officer with the State Department, and is currently in line for a summer internship with the department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs;

CHRISTOPHER YU, an international criminal justice major, who was recently awarded an internship with the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office, a non-governmental organization.

nent member of our faculty,” said President Jeremy Travis. “We are delighted to join the world in our cele-bration of Professor Matteson’s talents.”

CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein added: “Professor Matteson’s achievement adds to the luster of the University’s impressive roster of award-winning faculty. I congratulate him on winning the Pulitzer Prize for his first book as he joins the winners’ circle of CUNY faculty.”

Mike Wallace, a Distinguished Professor of History at John Jay, won a Pulitzer Prize for History in 1999 for his book Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898.

A mountain scene that greeted John Jay’s student ambas-

sadors to the Salzburg International Study Program. (More Student Achievers on Page 2)

Literary Journal Tackles Criminal Justice Issues

Spring Semester Brings a Bumper Crop of Student Scholarship & Fellowship Winners









PRESENTING…SUSAN OPOTOW (Sociology) presented a paper on “After the American Civil War: Moral Inclusion and Exclusion in the Reconstruction and Jim Crow Eras” and co-presented “Post 9/11 Conflicts in New York City, 2001-2006” at the Western Social Science Association convention in Denver, CO, on April 25. At the annual meeting of the American Association of Museums in Denver on April 29, she chaired a panel on “Quantifying Fun in the Museum Environment: Results of Recent Research.” An article by Opotow, “Not So Much as Place to Lay our Head: Moral Inclusion and Exclusion in the American Civil War Reconstruction,” was published in the March 2008 issue of the journal Social Justice Research.

GLORIA BROWNE-MARSHALL (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) was a participant in an April 12 seminar on the Supreme Court’s 1857 Dred Scott decision. The

seminar was sponsored by the Black History Committee of the Dutchess County Historical Society. Also participating in the seminar was

EDWARD J. SHAUGHNESSY (professor emeritus of sociology).

ELISE LANGAN (Government) presented a paper on “Muslims in Non-Muslim Countries” at the Comparative and International Education Society at Teachers College, Columbia University on March 17. On March 27, she presented her paper, “A Survey of Identity and Attitudes in French Higher and Secondary Education” at the American Educational Research Association in New York City.

ITAI SNEH (History) served as a judge in the “Mock Trial on the Responsibility of States to Take Armed Action to Stop Genocide at the International Court of Justice,” and presented a paper on “Human Rights as the Missing Link in U.S. Foreign Policy: Justice, Politics and Publicity,” at the International Studies Association annual conference, held in San Francisco in late March.

GENE O’DONNELL (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) was the keynote speaker at the annual James Connolly/Mike Quill Labor Celebration hosted in March by the Transport Workers Union, Local 100.

BENJAMIN LAPIDUS (Art, Music and Philosophy) will be the scholar-in-residence for

the Jewish Museum of New York’s humanitarian mission to the Jewish community of Cuba from May 27 to June 3. On July 13, he will be performing at the Central Park Summerstage, and in August he will be performing in Japan with celebrated flutist Kaori Fujii.

NATHAN LENTS and DIANA FRIEDLAND (Sciences) both presented their research at the recent annual conference of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, held in San Diego, CA. Lents presented a poster titled “Discovery and Characterization of a Novel DNA Damage-Induced Splice Variant of Mdm2.” Friedland delivered a lecture on “Pokeweed Antiviral Protein, an Unusual Ribosome Inactivating Protein.” She also presented the most recent data from her John Jay laboratory at a poster session, with a poster titled “Characterization of Pokeweed Antiviral Protein’s Interaction with Eukaryotic Initiation Factors and an S/R Loop Oligoribonucleotide.”

BETWEEN THE COVERSANN A. HUSE (English) published a review of Patricia Phillippy’s book Painting Women: Cosmetics, Canvases, and Early Modern Culture in the latest issue of Clio: A Journal of Literature, History, and the Philosophy of History.

ABBY STEIN (Interdisciplinary Studies) published her article “This Is Your Brain on Trauma” in the spring 2008 issue of the Journal of Psychiatry.

Stein was also an invited speaker at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Division 39, held on April 10 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York.

GEORGE ANDREOPOULOS (Government) recently had his book Human Rights Education for the 21st Century, which he co-authored with Richard Pierre Claude, published in Portuguese by the University of Sao Paulo Press in Brazil. This is the third foreign language edition of the book; it previously appeared in Japanese and Chinese editions.

PEER REVIEWDELORES JONES BROWN (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) received the 2008 William Bracey Award from the New York Chapter of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) on May 7. The award recognizes outstanding achievements benefiting the African-American community.

ROBERT D. MCCRIE (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) was recently honored with the Richter H. Moore Jr. Educator Award by the Security and Crime Prevention Section of the Academy of Criminal Justice

Sciences. The award, presented by MARVIE

BROOKS (Library), cited McCrie as a superb teacher who has helped many students to become good practitioners and educators, and who mentors students even after they graduate.

Shaheen Wallace, a junior majoring in government, will take office June 6 as president of the John Jay College Student Council for the 2008-2009 academic year.

Wallace, who served this past year as a member of the council’s Judicial Committee, won the election handily during three days of balloting on March 29 and 31 and April 1.

Serving with Wallace will be vice president Clement James, a graduating senior majoring in criminal justice, who also held that office this

CSTEPping OutTwo John Jay students won prizes at the 16th

annual CSTEP (Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program) Statewide Student Conference, held April 4-6. Four students presented posters in the Natural Science category, with

ANA SANCHEZ taking second place for her presentation on “Depurination of RNA by Pokeweed Antiviral Protein (PAP): FLuorometric Determination of Released Adenine.”

EKATERINA CHADWICK won third prize for “Chiral Recognition of a Fish Pheromone by CD-Sensitive Dimeric Zinc Pophyrin Host.”

A total of eight John Jay CSTEP students and two staff members attended the conference, at which 50 colleges and universities in New York were represented. This marked the second consecutive year in which John Jay students won prizes at the CSTEP conference.

Taking on the WorldA team of John Jay students won the

Distinguished Delegation award at the National Model United Nations Conference that concluded on April 26 — the fourth consecutive year that that John Jay’s Model UN team has brought home a major award.

“Our is the only John Jay team that participates in an academic competition at the international level and wins major awards on a regular basis,” said Professor George Andreopoulos, director of the John Jay Center for International Human Rights and an advisor to the team. “This year’s award is particularly satisfying for me since we were representing Greece” — Andreopoulos’s native country.

The Model UN team is coached by Matthew Zommer, a lecturer in the Department of Government. The delegation members were:

GABRIELE URSITTI, JOSEPH SIMONE,

CHRISTINA LEE, SARAH REHMAN, PATRICK

SCULLIN, ALI BESSYONI, NORHAN BASUNI,

PAWEL MILKO, MONIKA LEKARCZYK,

NORY BOIATCHIAN, LATOYA BROWN,

MEGGIN SIMMERS, SUSANNE DUQUE,

KSENIA KHAIMOVA, YURI HARRY, KAFAY

LOUIE LIANG, ANEESA BABOOLAL, EWA

HELENA HERNIK and RALITSA RUSKI. Research support was provided by students

ARIE BRAIZBLOT, MARGARET COLBERT and

SYBIL D’ANGELO.

Model StudentThe state capitol in Albany came calling for

John Jay junior MALYNDA RASCOE in April, with the news that she had won a scholarship to attend the Model State Senate Session Project. Rascoe, a government major with double minors in history and philosophy, plans to attend law school after graduating from John Jay in 2009, with the goal of getting involved in politics.

The Model Senate Project, administered by the City University’s Edward T. Rogowsky Internship Program in Government and Public Affairs, each year brings together more than 60 CUNY and SUNY students for a series of intensive training seminars on state policy formulation, legislative processes, representation and leadership.

Jolly Good FellowCAROLINA ALMARANTE, a McNair Scholar

and former Salzburg student ambassador, who will graduate May 29 with a bachelor’s degree in public administration, has won a highly competitive Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs.

The fellowship will give Almarante the opportunity to engage in a series of two- to seven-week projects in the St. Louis, MO, area. Completion of the fellowship also comes with automatic admission and possible scholarships to a number of selective graduate programs

It’s Springtime, And Student Achievement Is in Bloom

New President in Store for Student Council

CAMPUS SCENES

AUTHOR! AUTHOR!Faculty members (above) from a wide range of disciplines

who authored books published in 2007 were feted

in President Jeremy Travis’s office on April 8. Their

books, seen displayed at left, included everything from

biographies of Louisa May Alcott and Johnny Depp to

thoughtful examinations of gangs, comparative policing,

issues in constitutional law and philosopher Martin

Heidegger, among other topics.

FREE AT LASTIshmael Beah fields a question from the audience

at the April 10 Book & Author discussion where he

spoke about his book A Long Way Gone: Memoirs

of a Boy Soldier. The book chronicles his experience

as a precocious 12-year-old boy in Sierra Leone

who got swept up in that country’s brutal civil war

in the 1990s. Beah became a machine gun-toting

soldier living a drug-fueled life of casual mass

slaughter, before he escaped army life at age 15

with help from UNICEF. Two years later, he made it

to the United States, where in 2004 he graduated

from Oberlin College in Ohio. He is now an

outspoken children’s-rights advocate.

THE PLAY’S THE THINGJonathan Butler, as a defendant, and

Todd Davis, a prison guard, interact in

a scene from In The Moment, a one-

act play staged at John Jay on March

6, followed by a thought-provoking

panel discussion. Written by Butler, a

Hoboken, NJ, police officer, and Ross

London, a former Hoboken judge, and

produced by Professor Lorraine Moller

of the Department of Speech, Theater

and Media Studies, the play challenges

audience assumptions about race, class,

police shootings, black-on-black crime

and prison dynamics. Said London:

“What we are trying to do is...let the

audience take a look from the inside of

the young African-American cop faced

with a life-and-death situation.”

past year. Treasurer-elect Nadine Hylton, a BA/MA student in forensic psychology, was previously a council member at-large. James and Hylton are receipients of the 2008 CUNY Leadership Award.

Class representatives also elected to the 2008 council, include: freshman Benigno Macias; sophomores Stephanie Montero and Natalie Vasquez; juniors Reeshad Ali, Sekou Kesselly, Victoria Oyaniran and Edwin Hernandez; and seniors Attalah Cox and Porfirio Fernandez. Davinder Sahota was elected to an at-large seat.


April 16, 2008

Worth NotingApril 30 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM2008 Alumni ReunionGymnasium

April 30 - May 4 8:00 PMMother Courage and Her Children: A Chronicle of WarPresented by the Department of Speech, Theatre and Media Studies

Gerald W. Lynch Theater(Call 212-237-8363 for ticket reservations.)

May 2 - 3 9:00 AMHuman Traffickingand Migrant SmugglingPart of the Policing Across Borders Project. Presented by the Center forInternational Human Rights,in collaboration with the Center for Security Studies of the Greek Ministryof the Interior(By invitation. For more information,call 212-484-1353.)


May 6 4:00 PMBehind Bars:Latinos/as in PrisonPresented by the Department ofPuerto Rican/Latin American Studies


May 7 4:00 PMBook & Author LectureCop in the Hood: My Year Policing Baltimore’s Eastern DistrictPeter Moskos


May 12 9:00 AMMedia, Race andCapital PunishmentPresented by the Center on Media, Crime and Justice, the Center on Race, Crime and Justice, the Department of Psychology, and the Office for the Advancement of Research

Featuring David Kaczynski of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty, and screenings of the documentaries Race to Execution and Juror Number Six


One of John Jay’s newest academic innovations, the Center for the Advancement of Teaching, was formally launched on March 25 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony that also saluted the individuals whose insight and enterprise brought the new center into being.

“What more important thing can we do than celebrate and elevate teaching?” said President Jeremy Travis at the ceremony, before a packed

Get ready, Class of 2008 — your graduation ceremonies are just around the corner!

On Thursday, May 29, at the Theatre at Madi-son Square Garden, John Jay will present degrees to an anticipated graduating class of more than 2,800 students. Duplicating the success of last year’s commencement exercises, there will once again be two graduation ceremonies, one at 10:30 AM and one at 3:30 PM.

The 10:30 ceremony will be for students receiving degrees in computer information systems, criminology, deviant behavior, government, international criminal justice, judicial studies, justice studies, forensic psychology, forensic computing and legal studies, as well as for recipients of dispute resolution certificates.

At 3:30, the College will present degrees in forensic science, corrections, criminal justice, fire science, police studies, public administration,

protection management and security management.

The College will award honorary doctoral degrees to Gary L. Wells, a distinguished professor at Iowa State University and a pioneering expert in eyewitness identification; Ellen Wolf Schrecker, a professor at Yeshiva University and one of the leading historians of the Cold War era, and Dr. Paul Farmer, a physician who is founding director of Partners In Health, an international organization that treats some of the world’s poorest populations.

This year’s commencement-related festivities will also include more than two dozen awards’ ceremonies, receptions, dinners, and a rooftop cocktail party and dance for the Class of 2008.

For complete information on the 2008 commencement, consult the College Website at www.jjay.cuny.edu/academics/1230.php.

A two-day roundtable — “From the Classroom to the Community: Exploring the Role of Education during Incarceration and Reentry” — explored the role education plays in incarceration and reentry, in hopes of bridging the gap between the disparate worlds of corrections and academia.

Hosted by John Jay’s Prisoner Reentry Institute and the Urban Institute Justice Policy Center on March 31 and April 1, the conference drew observers and participants from more than 20 states and from such professional spheres as academia, state and federal government, and the nonprofit sector.

“We gather in this format to explore the difficult, complex and controversial phenomenon of increased incarceration and coming home, what that means for us and our communities,” said President Jeremy Travis, who served as the roundtable’s facilitator.

Travis noted that there has been a “changed national mood” about incarceration and reentry, exemplified by passage of the Second Chance Act of 2007, which would reauthorize a grant program for returning offenders. With this, Travis said, our government is “making a statement about investing in people coming back from prison.”

Topics raised by roundtable participants ranged from the moral imperative of providing inmates with an education to the practical means for doing so and the strategic reasons why it serves the best interests of communities. Asked for one good idea that would move the field forward, they responded with such suggestions as creating educational programs for inmates that could be transferred to schools on the outside; an information campaign for the public on how correctional education helps improve public safety; forming strategic partnerships that would raise employment among ex-convicts; and fostering the understanding that small measures can create big changes over time.

In a presentation titled “Race, Poverty, and

Education: Intersections with Incarcerations and Reentry,” Theodore M. Shaw, former president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, commented on the lack of a civil rights movement, such as there was in the 1960s, that would include the incarcerated. While there are civil rights organizations, he posited, there is no “organic movement” to draw people committed to these issues.

Exploring the significance of providing post-secondary education for prisoners, Jeanne Woodford, a former warden at San Quentin and now chief adult probation officer for San Francisco County, CA, maintained that college is important to inmates.

“San Quentin is popular for its college programs,” she said. Under California laws, returning inmates are released back into

their old communities, many of which have unemployment rates of 40 percent. “This makes it hard to succeed with or without college.”

Myriad challenges exist to providing post-secondary education for inmates. Participants pointed to resistance from lawmakers who consider basic education in prison an amenity. Furthermore, they noted, the Internet has had such an enormous impact on education that if that technology cannot be used as a tool in inmate education programs to contact libraries, it will be tremendously difficult to provide college-level scholarship.

Steve Schwalb, a veteran correctional administrator who is president and CEO of Pioneer Human Services, cautioned, however that “leadership on technology needs to come from prison administrators, not educators.”

house in the center’s new office space in Room 333 Haaren Hall. The center, whose stated aim is “making teaching visible and valued,” is under the direction of Meghan Duffy, a 1999 graduate of John Jay who is currently a PhD candidate in theater studies at the CUNY Graduate Center.

At the ribbon cutting, Provost Jane Bowers gave a special tip of the hat to the person she called her “noodge-in-chief,” Kathy Killoran, who brought the center from concept to reality. “The center,” said Bowers, “will put John Jay on the map as a place that really knows how to teach.”

One of the first initiatives by the center is the production of an e-handbook providing a variety of helpful information for faculty at John Jay, which will be accessible on the College Intranet.On April 1, the center and the Lloyd Sealy Library co-sponsored a workshop titled “Exploring the Web of Knowledge,” aimed at helping faculty members and graduate students learn how to track experts from a wide range of disciplines who are citing their publications.

The launch ceremony included a tribute to Professor Betsy Gitter, who recently retired after a long career as a faculty member in the Department of English. President Travis presented

Improving Reentry Through EducationConference Looks at Role of Colleges in Aiding Ex-Offenders

Interim Dean of Undergraduate Studies Jose Luis Morin has the happy assignment of presenting Vaneza Guevara (center)

with the 2008 Prisoner Reentry Fellowship, created and funded by El Diario/La Prensa, as the newspaper’s Publisher and

CEO, Rossana Rosado, looks on. The fellowship, presented at the prisoner reentry conference on March 31, gives a high-

achieving undergraduate a $1,000 prize and the opportunity to work with the College’s Prisoner Reentry Institute.

The Big Day Nears forGraduating Class of 2008

Center Makes Teaching “Visible & Valued”

Gitter, who served as the first interim director of the center, with the first “Innovations in Collaboration Award” in recognition of her “contributions to the life of the College over so many years.” The award will become an annual honor presented to a John Jay faculty member in Gitter’s name.

“I’ve had fun every year I’ve been here,” said Gitter. “I’ve had an enviable career, and the collaboration with colleagues has been wonderfully invigorating.”

Meghan Duffy, director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching, and re-

cently retired English professor Elisabeth Gitter, who served as the center’s interim

director before Duffy. {Photo: Steve Singer]









BETWEEN THE COVERSTODD CLEAR (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) has had his book Imprisoning Communities: How Mass Incarceration Makes Disadvantaged Communities Worse (Oxford University Press, 2007) chosen as one of the finalists for the annual C. Wright Mills Book Award, presented by the Society for the Study of Social Problems.

GEORGE ANDREOPOULOS (Government) recently published “The Challenges and Perils of Normative Overstretch” in The United Nations and the Politics of International Authority (Routledge, 2008). Andreopoulos was also recently a Visiting Professor at the Institut des Études Politiques of the University of Toulouse in France, where he lectured on “Crimes of War and Crimes of Peace.”

PEER REVIEWGLORIA PRONI (Sciences) has been selected by the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation to receive a 2008 Special Grant in the Chemical Sciences. The $31,180 award will support Proni’s project titled “Chemistry is All Around Us.”

PRESENTING…EFFIE PAPATZIKOU COCHRAN (English) was the invited keynote speaker on March 18 at the spring faculty development workshop at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, NY. Her topic was “Creating Inclusive Pedagogies for Diverse Classrooms: Building Bridges and Forging Links.”

ELLEN BELCHER (Library) presented a paper titled “Interpreting Halaf Figurines: Empirical Proposals” at the recent annual conference of the British Association of Near Eastern Archaeologists, in Liverpool, UK. On March 4, she presented a paper on “The Halaf Beads and Pendants from Domuztepe (Kahramanmara, Turkey): Technological and Reductive Strategies,” at the Sixth International Conference on Chipped and Ground Stone Tools of the Fertile Crescent, in Manchester, UK.

GABRIELLE SALFATI (Psychology) was the featured speaker in March at the monthly meeting of the Society of Professional Investigators in Manhattan. Salfati is director of

the College’s Offender Profiling and Crime Scene Analysis Research Unit.

JEREMY TRAVIS (President) gave the Orison S. Marden Lecture at the New York Bar Association on March 19, on the subject of “Race, Crime and Justice: A Fresh Look at Old Questions.”

Professor Delores Jones Brown of the Department of Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration was formally announced as director of the College’s Center on Race, Crime and Justice on March 26, after having served as the center’s interim director since late 2005.

“This is an auspicious day for John Jay,” President Jeremy Travis said at a reception honoring Jones Brown. “This center will be one of the most important activities for the College in the decades to come. Nobody else does this. Professor Jones Brown nurtured the center through its incubation stage and put it on the map.”

To date, the center has sponsored or co-sponsored a variety of seminars, symposia and discussions on such topics as stop-and-frisk

John Jay faculty will continue to make a powerful contribution to the nation’s anti-terrorism and domestic security efforts, aided by $580,063 in new multiyear grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The funds will be used to support education, research and professional development aimed at training the next generation of homeland security experts and scholars.

According to President Jeremy Travis, the homeland security grants “solidify John Jay’s role as a premier research institution for the study of terrorism and other domestic security issues.

The Elmira, NY, area is home to four correctional facilities, as well as to an unusual mixed-race neigh-borhood known to locals as “Zebratown.” For the past several years, the area has also served as a part-time home of sorts for John Jay Professor Greg Donaldson. His forthcoming book, with the working title of Zebra-town, will examine issues of prisoner reentry through the lens of ex-convict Kevin Davis, one of the area’s residents.

On March 27, before a standing-room-only audience, Donaldson dis-cussed the genesis of his research, some of the pitfalls he has encountered, and the process of writing what he calls “creative nonfiction.”

A member of the Department of Speech, Theater and Media Studies, Donaldson first met Davis while doing research for his book The Ville: Cops and Kids in Urban America (Ticknor & Fields, 1993), a no-holds-barred look at life in New York City’s tough Brownsville neighborhood.

Davis, known by the street name Killer Kev, served 10 years in prison for murder, and did two things upon his release. He decided not to return to New York City, but rather to remain in Elmira, in the Zebratown section that was home to nu-merous other ex-inmates and mixed-race couples and families. He also promptly got in touch with Donaldson.

Donaldson acknowledged that he had been eager to research and write a book about a per-son “behind the gangsta types in rap songs,” although he admitted that his motivation was fraught with misgivings. “Why would I want to write about and reinforce a stereotype?” he mused. “I realized a good story isn’t enough.

The fact is that we’ve become addicted to certain stereotypes.” He then decided to try writing a book about “Killer Kev’s reentry into society.”

A hulking, hyper-alert man with zero tolerance for disrespect, Davis “always wanted to be a star, and saw the possibility of a new book about him as a capstone to his career,” Donaldson said.

Methodically fielding a steady barrage of ques-tions from the students and faculty members in the audience, Donaldson said he made sure Davis was aware that his story would be told “flaws and all.” He approached the research and writing of the book “as a journalist, not an academic.” The research included numerous visits to Elmira to meet with Davis and his wife, a white woman from Pennsylvania. He used court records, prison records, diaries, interviews and other sources to come up with the truth of the story. “You have to triangulate your data, and you have to have 20 times more information than you’re likely to use,” Donaldson said. Through it all, he never found Davis to exaggerate “even one single bit.”

Davis has visited Donaldson’s “Criminal Justice in the Theater” class, where he always comes off as “polite, soft-spoken and understated.”

These grants will help to support innovative faculty projects that will prepare our students for future leadership roles.”

One three-year grant of $291,835 will fund a team of researchers from the CUNY Graduate Center and John Jay College of Criminal Justice. This funding will enable the institution to recruit, support and train an interdisciplinary group of criminal justice faculty and students in the CUNY Criminal Justice Doctoral Program and the undergraduate John Jay Criminal Justice Honors Program to teach and conduct research on homeland security and terrorism, targeting

Smilesof Fame

The newest members of the John Jay Athletics Hall of Fame sport high-wattage smiles after

their March 19 induction ceremony. Joined by former Director of Athletics Susan Larkin (left)

and her successor, Davidson Umeh (right), the inductees are: Derrick Tinsley, basketball and

baseball; Gregory Andrew, basketball; Carri Raffone, softball, and William Allard, pistol

shooting. Full details on the athletic greats and their accomplishments can be found by visit-

ing the Hall of Fame on the fourth floor of Haaren Hall.

Professor’s Book Sizes Up LifeAfter Prison in “Zebratown”

Federal Funds Help Train New Homeland Security ScholarsPresident Travis introduces Professor Delores Jones Brown as the new Director of the Center on Race, Crime and Justice.

practices, the death penalty, racial profiling, the Scottsboro Boys case, prisoner reentry and minorities in policing. The center recently welcomed its second visiting scholar, Rod Brunson, an assistant professor of justice studies at the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

The center is a continuation of an idea that Travis first began to consider while he was a senior fellow at the Urban Institute. Seed money to plan and create the center was provided by the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation.

A former Monmouth County, NJ prosecutor, Jones Brown received high praise from Dean for Research James P. Levine for her “boldness, inclusiveness and congeniality.” He noted that she received an award for excellence from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences in 2006 for her work in launching the center.

Race, Crime & Justice Center Gets Permanent Director

Jones Brown Removes “Interim” from Title

THOMAS A. KUBIC (Sciences) moderated a session on forensic microscopy at the recent 46th Annual Eastern Analytical Symposium in Somerset, NJ. Among the more than 3,500 scientists and students in attendance were John

Jay science faculty members PETER DE FOREST,

NICHOLAS PETRACO and PETER DIACZUK.

applicants from traditionally underrepresented groups.

Under the direction of Professors Stephen Rice of the Department of Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration and Joshua Freilich of the Department of Sociology, this grant will also afford students the opportunity to participate in internships with peer institutions as well as develop and present their own empirical research.

A second grant, totaling $288,768, will fund a project titled “Educating Tomorrow’s Homeland Security Leaders Today.” Led by Professor Peter

Romaniuk of the Department of Government, the project will enhance the focus of John Jay’s graduate curriculum on homeland security, and increase the ability of junior faculty members to conduct research into homeland security topics involving the social, behavioral and economic sciences.

The grant will also help to create a Homeland Security Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (HS-STEM) community of students and support the recruitment and retention of minority graduate students interested in homeland security careers.

Professor Greg Donaldson (rear, at microphone) discusses the five years of research that

went into the writing of his manuscript Zebratown.


March 26, 2008

Worth NotingMarch 27 12:30 PM“Zebratown”A research discussionby Professor Greg DonaldsonPresented by the Center on Race,Crime and Justice, the Department of Speech, Theater and Media Studies,the Department of African-American Studies, and the Office for the Advancement of Research


April 3 3:15 PMThe DNA Wars: Science, Law and Controversy in the Making of DNA ProfilingProfessor Jay Aronson,Carnegie Mellon UniversityPresented by the Office for the Advancement of Research


April 7 5:30 PMGraduate Lecture SeriesPoisoning: The Interface betweenClinical and Forensic ScienceDr. Lewis Nelson, Director,New York City Poison Control Center

Multi-Purpose Room, North Hall

April 10 3:30 PMBook & Author LectureA Long Way Gone:Memoirs of a Boy SoldierIshmael Beah


April 11 8:30 AM - 5:15 PMLiterature and Law ConferencePresented by the Department of EnglishRegistration required. Online athttp://literatureandlaw.blogspot.com

Various campus locations

The Second Annual Law Day at John Jay, held on March 1, turned into a day of firsts, as the College presented its first John Jay Medal for Justice to the Hon. Judith Kaye, the first woman to serve as Chief Judge of the State of New York.

John Jay, one of the nation’s founding fathers, was the first person to hold the chief judgeship in New York.

At the Law Day event, sponsored by the College’s Pre-Law Institute, Kaye delivered the first Samuel and Anna Jacobs Foundation Lecture on the Law and the Legal Profession. Kaye told the more than 250 students who had come to learn more about legal careers that they should believe in themselves and have the confidence to pursue their dreams.

“However difficult your path may seem, the only obstacles are the ones you create,” the Chief Judge said. “No calling offers so many opportunities to contribute to policy-making, change the world or change one person at a time.”

Gender biases were very noticeable when Kaye first entered the legal profession, she recalled, with separate ladies’ entrances to the court and a separate lunch club for women. In fact, she said, some challenges still exist with regard to promoting diversity in the legal system.

Kaye drew a parallel between John Jay the

man and John Jay College, noting that both are committed to justice. “John Jay College carries forth its namesake John Jay’s tradition of commitment to the public good and advancement of our collective knowledge in the rule of law,” she said, calling the College “a great local, state and global leader” and President Jeremy Travis a “cool, dynamic president.”

The Law Day event included workshops and panel discussions on the law school application process, financial aid options and how to prepare

Shannon R. Mayers, a long-time veteran of the New York City performing arts scene, joined the John Jay community on March 10 as the College’s new Theater Services Director.

Mayers was director of production at the Arts World Financial Center in New York from 2002-2007, and production manager at the Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College from 1998-2000. She is no stranger to the City University, having served as an adjunct professor of drama, theater and dance at Queens College.

In the summer of 2007, Mayers was program director for the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, where she negotiated the largest income-generating event for the park, the Microsoft Zune Concert, and increased revenues for the park and the conservancy.

She has also worked with the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Theater for a New Audience, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, and the Ellen DeGeneres show, among other venues.

“I am confident that her broad knowledge of the arts and the educational community will help expand, enhance and transform the theater’s ongoing mission at John Jay to become a substantial performing arts center,” said Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration Robert Pignatello. “She will help integrate this enormous asset into the life of our students, the curriculum and the outside community.”

After an exhaustive national search, President Jeremy Travis named Dr. Jane Bowers as the College’s new Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Travis formally announced the appointment to enthusiastic applause at the Spring Faculty and Staff Meeting held on March 3. Bowers had been serving as interim Provost since July 1, 2007. Previously, she was John Jay’s Dean of Undergraduate Studies.

“Jane is passionately devoted to our College,” Travis said. “In a time of historic change at John Jay, we are fortunate to have as our academic leader someone with deep knowledge of our community, creative

ideas about ways to support scholarship and teaching, and strong interpersonal skills. I am confident that she will provide energetic and creative leadership during the critical next phase of our journey toward academic excellence.”

Travis specifically noted that during Bowers’ tenure as interim Provost, she has created new financial and budgetary systems, opened new lines of communication with fellow administrators and the faculty, forged new relationships between Academic Affairs and Student Development,

and worked to recruit and retain “the very best faculty.”

As Dean of Undergraduate Studies, and

On With the ShowCollege Names New Theater Director

Law Day Is a Blue (and Gold)-Ribbon Event as College Salutes New York’s Chief Judge

Speakers Map Out Paths to Legal Careers for John Jay Students

for the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT). Attendees also learned about life as a law school student from a distinguished panel of John Jay alumni who are now practicing law.

One of those former John Jay students on hand for Law Day was Bronx Supreme Court Justice Wilma Guzman, a 1978 graduate who was the day’s Alumni Honoree. Guzman urged the students to “work in the trenches, and know everything there is to know.”

“The American Dream happens every year at John Jay,” Guzman said.

President Jeremy Travis presents New York State Chief Judge Judith Kaye with the first-ever John Jay Medal for Justice at

the second annual Law Day event on March 1. At right, Bronx Supreme Court Justice Wilma Guzman, a 1978 graduate of

John Jay, with her Alumni Honoree award.

“Energized” Bowers Named as Provost

Dr. Jane Bowers is all smiles after the formal an-

nouncement of her appointment as Provost and

Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs.

subsequently as interim Provost, Bowers played a key role in the design and implementation of educational partnerships with CUNY community colleges and the development of new liberal arts majors at John Jay.

Bowers, who was a member of John Jay’s English department faculty from 1987-1997, said she was “excited by the opportunity come back to a college I love and help shape its future. It’s a privilege and a dream come true.”

“I have a lot of ambition for the College,” Bowers said, “and I’d like to help students realize their ambitions. Love is not too strong a word for how I feel about the students here.”

One of the best parts of her job, Bowers said, is getting to know the future faculty of John Jay through her involvement in the recruitment process. “It’s exciting to have all this fresh energy and vision.”

“I am gratified and very much energized by President Travis’s vote of confidence in me, and the many expressions of congratulation I’ve gotten from colleagues at John Jay.”

With the recent spate of championship seasons accumulating for John Jay College athletic teams, the co-ed rifle team was not about to be left behind. On March 1, the team captured its fourth Mid Atlantic Conference (MAC) title in five years, capping off a winning season that began back in October.

The championship-winning meet in Cambridge, MA, included a 2028-1909 victory over Massachusetts Maritime Academy in small bore rifle. In a three-way matchup in the air-rifle discipline, the John Jay team shot a 2131 to defeat SUNY Maritime College, with 2095, and Massachusetts Maritime, with 1984.

Competing in the Mid Atlantic Conference, since the CUNY Athletic Conference does not include a rifle program, the John Jay shooters

regularly compete against Hofstra University, the University of Akron, Virginia Military Institute, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University and the US Naval and Coast Guard academies,

among other schools. Leading the rifle team in the

championship meet, as he had all season, was sophomore Stephen Wilson, who scored 562 in small-bore and 548 in air rifle.

The rifle team’s victory also brings to four the number of John Jay athletic teams that are reigning conference champions, along with the baseball, men’s cross-country and men’s basketball teams. At a victory celebration on March 4, head rifle coach Vincent Maiorino acknowledged the championship company his team

was keeping. “It’s nice to be among the elite in the College along with the basketball, baseball and cross-country teams,” he told the audience. “I also would like to thank the many who have supported us through all our success.”

Once Again, Rifle Team Finds Its Mark

Head coach Vincent Maiorino (right) and the championship John Jay rifle team.









The annual “wearing o’ the green” took place March 14 at John Jay, as the McCabe Fellowship Breakfast honored a “firm advocate, supporter and fan” of the College, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

The event celebrates the exchange program that was created in memory of Irish police detective Jerry McCabe, who was killed in the line of duty during an attempted robbery in June 1996. Each year, two or more members of An Garda Síochána, the Irish national police, come to John Jay for an intensive course of study toward a graduate degree.

Quinn was introduced by President Jeremy Travis, who called her “someone known to this community, the community of people who care about policing.” Travis recalled how, in the aftermath of the murder of John Jay graduate student Imette St. Guillen in February 2006, “Christine Quinn came through for us and we were able to turn our grief into something very positive,” namely the all-day Nightlife Safety Summit that was held at the College in September of that year.

With the summit session, Quinn told the audience, “John Jay College lived up to the best sense of what a public university should be about.”

Quinn, whose support for the NYPD includes a successful effort to provide upgraded, customized body armor for all uniformed officers, praised police by noting that they exhibit “a tremendous amount of bravery to do a job with far less recognition than they deserve.”

Over the next year, Quinn said, “I hope to deepen the City Council’s commitment to people in our uniformed services.”

One of numerous speakers who paid tribute to the ongoing success of the McCabe Fellowship program, Quinn called it “a great opportunity to learn, to plagiarize even, and to do the most we can to provide the best police training we can.” She was followed to the podium by Mary

Hanafin, the Irish Minister for Education and Science, who noted that “the top education provided at John Jay College makes a major contribution to the success of policing in Northern Ireland.”

“This is a College very much rooted here in New York, yet with an international outreach and influence,” said Hanafin.

Continuing on the morning’s theme, Sir Hugh Orde, Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said the McCabe Fellowship “demonstrates just how much good can come from something so tragic.” Niall Burgess, the Irish Consul General in New York, recalled that Detective McCabe “embodied excellence in policing in every respect.” The McCabe breakfast, he added, has become “an extraordinarily important event on a busy St. Patrick’s Day calendar in New York.”

Anne McCabe, the slain detective’s widow, pointed out “how consoling it is for me and my family to stand shoulder to shoulder with people who stand for the same rights and beliefs as we.”

“Of all the memorials to Jerry,” she said, “the fellowship program at John Jay has a very special place in my heart.”

This year’s McCabe fellows are Gardaí Eleanor O’Halloran, who is in the Public Administration-Inspector General program, and Olivia Markham, who is pursuing a master’s in criminal justice. They will both complete their graduate studies at John Jay this summer.

PRESENTING…YI HE (Sciences) recently presented a work titled “Determination of Chloroanilines in Environmental Waters Using Hollow Fiber Supported Liquid-Liquid Microextraction,” at the Pittcon 2008 conference held in New Orleans March 2-7.

BETWEEN THE COVERSJOSHUA FREILICH (Sociology) co-authored a research brief, “Surveying State Police Agencies about Domestic Terrorism and Far-Right Extremism,” that the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) recently published. The lead

author of the brief was JOSEPH SIMONE JR., a graduating senior at John Jay, who was awarded two START undergraduate research fellowships to work with Freilich and Professor Steven M. Chermak of Michigan State University on the project.

KIMORA (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) authored an article titled “Providing Incentives to Offenders in the Reentry Process,” which appeared in a recent issue of the Journal of Community Corrections.

EFFIE PAPATZIKOU COCHRAN (English) had a paper, “Judicial Syntax: A U.S. History,”

published in the conference proceedings of the Second European IAFL Conference on Forensic Linguistics/Language and the Law. The paper was originally presented at the International Association of Forensic Linguistics (IAFL) Conference in Barcelona, Spain.

DOROTHY MOSES SCHULZ (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) co-authored an article, “Making Rank: The Lingering Effects of Tokenism on Female Police Officers’ Promotion Aspirations,” which appears in the March 2008 issue of Police Quarterly. Professor Carol A. Archbold of North Dakota State University was her co-author.

PEER REVIEWDANIELLE SAPSE (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) received a $3,000 PSC-CUNY grant for research into the application of theoretical methods to forensic science and its legal aspects, and the presentation of the results in a series of lectures at the University of Rouen in France this fall.

JOSEPH KING and SERGUEI CHELOUKHINE (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) were elected as distinguished professors of the Russian Academy for the Study of National Security. In addition, their article,

“Corruption Networks as a Sphere of Investment Activities in Modern Russia,” which was featured in the March 2007 issue of the Journal of Communist and Post-Communist Studies, was named one of the “Top 25 Hottest Articles” for 2007 by the website ScienceDirect.

RICHARD KOEHLER (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration, retired) was recently honored by the municipal government of Valadares, Brazil, for the 15 years of service that he and his law firm, Koehler & Isaacs LLP, have provided to Brazilian immigrants living in the United States. The 23-attorney, New York-based firm specializes in immigration, labor and employment, personal injury, real estate, criminal, matrimonial and general practice cases.

CAMPUS SCENES

An aggressive sign-up period has begun to encourage John Jay students, faculty and staff to participate in CUNY Alert, the new university-wide emergency notification system that will soon go online

CUNY Alert will enable the University’s campuses to provide alerts and timely information in emergencies, such as severe-weather scenarios, fires and bomb threats, civil disturbances, major road closings and threats to personal safety. Participation is elective in the secure, Web-based alert system, which will provide messages ranging from specific instructions to general warnings, depending on the severity of a given incident.

By signing up online at www.cuny.edu/alert — or on campus at one of several information kiosks — participants can choose how they wish to receive voice or text notifications: cell phone, home phone, e-mail or IM, or any combination of these. The Web page provides step-by-step instructions for signing up, and the process takes less than two minutes.

“The College is committed to doing all we can to ensure the safety of all members of the College community,” said President Jeremy Travis. “CUNY Alert will help us achieve this goal.”

Sign Up Nowfor CUNY Alert

Professors Joseph King and Serguei Cheloukhine with their

credentials from the Russian Academy for the Study of

National Security.

Irish Eyes Are Smiling atAnnual McCabe Breakfast

THE EVIL THAT MEN DO . . .One of the world’s leading experts on torture, Dr. Darius Rejali, a professor of political science at Reed College in Oregon and

author of Torture and Democracy (Princeton University Press, 2007), addressed a full house of students and faculty at John

Jay on March 13 on the subject of “Torture, Democracy and Our Future.” Presented by John Jay’s Center for International

Human Rights and the CUNY PhD/MA Program in Political Science, Rejali noted that throughout history, democratic societies

have sometimes set the pace when it comes to torture, although their track record is nowhere near as bad as that of

authoritative regimes. Torture, Rejali said, remains “an absolute danger to democratic life.”

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn gestures during her remarks as

keynoter at the annual McCabe Fellowship Breakfast on March 14.

LIFE OF RILEY . . .New Orleans Police Superintendent

Warren J. Riley gave the Big Apple a

taste of policing in the Big Easy when he

visited John Jay on February 27 as the

keynote speaker for the annual Lloyd

Sealy Memorial Lecture, co-sponsored

by the College and the New York chap-

ter of the National Organization of Black

Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE).

Riley, a 27-year policing veteran, took

the reins of the New Orleans depart-

ment in the fall of 2005, less than a

month after his city was devastated by

Hurricane Katrina.

REMEMBERING JIM FYFE . . .Dean for Research James Levine presents the 2008 Fyfe Fellowship award to Kevin McCarthy, at the 2nd James Fyfe Police Ac-countability Conference, “Stop and Frisk: Policy, Practice and Research,” on February 28. On hand to remember the late John Jay distinguished professor were (from left): Fyfe’s widow, Dr. Candace McCoy; Dr. Karen Terry, executive officer of the PhD Program in Criminal Justice; 2007 Fyfe Fellow Charles Lieber-man; Levine; Fyfe’s sister, Dorothy R. Fyfe; Dr. Delores Jones Brown, director of the Center on Race, Crime and Justice; and McCarthy.


March 5, 2008

Worth NotingMarch 10 9:15 AMHigh-Tech Surveillance Societies and Our PrivacyPresented by the Center forCybercrime StudiesJeff Jonas, Chief Scientist,Entity Analytic Solutions


March 14 8:30 AMMcCabe Fellowship BreakfastGuest speaker: New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn

Auxiliary Gymnasium

March 21 8:30 AM - 10:00 AMPrisoner Reentry InstituteOccasional Series onReentry ResearchTransitional Jobs for Formerly Incarcerated IndividualsDan BloomMDRC


March 27 5:30 PM - 7:00 PMGraduate Lecture SeriesThe Physical Evidence Record and Alternate Sources of Information in Criminal InvestigationsProfessor Peter DeForestScience Department


The New York Giants are no longer the only underdog champions in town. The John Jay Bloodhounds on February 22 capped a Cinderella run through the CUNY Athletic Conference post-season tournament with a stirring 68-54 victory over York College to capture the College’s first-ever men’s basketball championship.

The top-seeded and heavily favored York team had beaten John Jay handily during the regular season, and took the court for the finals as the conference’s two-time defending champion. The Bloodhounds, meanwhile, began the tournament as the sixth seed with a 10-15 regular-season record, but proceeded to knock off the College of Staten Island (CSI) and New York City College of Technology en route to the championship game.

It was the team’s first appearance in the finals since 1990, and the players made the most of it.

“I thought we were supposed to be the underdog in this game,” said President Jeremy Travis. “Apparently someone forgot to tell our players.”

The Bloodhounds’ wounded warrior, senior forward Hakeem Kased, won the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award for his 13-point performance in the finals and 23-point outburst in the quarterfinals against CSI, as well as his constant on-the-court leadership.

“This means everything,” said Kased, the team captain, who was in tears after the final buzzer sounded and his team’s championship became official. “This is for four years of hard work, for

all the running. This is for all the student-athletes who have too much on their plates. I knew that if we played consistently in this tournament, no one could stop us.”

Kased’s own plate is kept full with athletics, academics and a full-time job with the New York City Transit Authority, where he works the overnight shift as a track maintainer. He missed the entire 2006-2007 season with a knee injury, and played much of this season with a variety of ailments, including an injured back.

His teammate Vaughn Mason, a junior forward, led the Bloodhounds with 14 points in the championship game before fouling out. Both Mason and Kased were named to the all-tournament team.

“It’s a tremendous compliment to see these young men who believed in the coaches and themselves, day in and day out, to get to this point and get out there and do it on the court,” said third-year head coach Charles Jackson.

The men’s basketball team next moves on to its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division III post-season tournament, against an opponent yet to be determined.

Hometown HeroChris Jaeger, a sophomore forward for the

Bloodhounds, was featured in the February 11 sports section of USA Today, in an article focusing on his experience with the U.S. Army in Iraq for 12 months in 2004 and 2005.

Jaeger compared heroics on the basketball

court with heroics under fire, saying: “In sports, a good athlete has good instincts. Same with being a good soldier. You want to be someone you can count on. You don’t have to sit there and think about what to do.”

His experience in Iraq, he said, gave him a

deeper appreciation for basketball, which he was unable to play in the extreme conditions of the war zone. “Basketball was always where I could forget all my problems,” he said. “That was the one thing you could do to relieve your stress over there and you didn’t have that option.”

The John Jay men’s basketball team, led by tournament Most Valuable Player Hakeem Kased (left), celebrate at center court

after dominating York College 68-54 on February 22 to capture the CUNY Athletic Conference championship — the team’s

first conference title ever.

Patricia Cornwell, the best-selling crime writer, has donated $1 million to John Jay College to establish a Crime Scene Academy that will become the first and only international center for crime scene training for professionals, students and interested members of the general public.

Cornwell’s numerous fiction and nonfiction works have been published in dozens of countries and languages, and have earned her widespread acclaim for her meticulous research and insistence on detailed accuracy, especially in forensic medicine and law enforcement procedures.

“I’ve always respected and admired law enforcement professionals, and am intimately aware of the dangers and difficulties of their jobs,” she said. “Police, forensic scientists and pathologists, and so many others have been unfailingly generous in sharing their expertise with me. Now it is my privilege to give something back. The greatest gift is knowledge, and there’s no better place to get it than John Jay College.”

John Jay presented Cornwell with an honorary doctorate of letters at the May 2007 commencement ceremony, citing her “commitment to the principles of academic excellence and understanding for all.”

The Crime Scene Academy will comprise five central components:

A Cornwell Fellowship Program in crime scene decision-making, through which law enforcement professionals from across the country will be recruited and brought to John Jay to learn the latest advances in crime scene investigation and set the standards necessary for modernizing the practice. Over time, it is envisioned that this network of Cornwell Fellows will create a national cohort that will assume leadership roles in the evolution of the forensic science community.

A Police Leadership Program, which will

include a series of weeklong symposiums for senior law enforcement executives to promote better understanding of the management of a criminal case from the crime scene through the investigative and adjudicative processes. Police executives will interact with John Jay faculty experts in forensic science, psychology, law and police science.

Law Enforcement and Crime Scene Laboratory Training Modules, to provide college-level instruction in state-of-the-art crime scene investigation techniques. In conjunction

with these modules, the Crime Scene Academy will develop a train-the-trainers program supplemented by online training.

A Post-Baccalaureate Forensic Science Certificate Program, an intensive 10-week summer certificate program that will give students with undergraduate degrees in the natural sciences the comprehensive training in forensic science and criminalistics they need to compete for jobs in forensic laboratories.

K-12 Teacher Programs/Continuing Education Public Programs, a series of training sessions for teachers, middle-school students and the general public. The program for teachers will incorporate into its curriculum materials developed by the John Jay Department of Sciences for an established weeklong training session for K-12 science teachers.

President Jeremy Travis said in accepting the gift: “Patricia Cornwell, who is noted for her realistic portrayal of forensic investigations and law enforcement, has been educating millions of devoted fans about forensic science and medicine through her best-selling crime novels for more than 15 years. This makes her the perfect partner for John Jay College, which has long been recognized as the premier center for forensic study in the United States. This generous

gift will allow us to address the critical need to enhance the quality of crime scene analysis around the country. It will also further realize our mission of providing students with the latest innovations in modern forensics and their applications in crime scene investigations and analysis. The Crime Scene Academy will serve a national constituency of law enforcement personnel.”

A national search will be conducted for a director of the new Crime Scene Academy.

Best-Selling Author Gives John Jay$1M for New Crime Scene Academy

Cornwell: “My Privilege to Give Something Back” to Policing

Hoop Dreams Come True as John Jay Wins CUNY Title

Mark Your CalendarMarch 14 is the application

deadline for top 2008 commencement awards.

For details, contact Mary Nampiaparapil, director of scholarships. (646) 557-4516.

[email protected].

Crime writer Patricia Cornwell, the recipient of an honorary doctorate

from John Jay in 2007. Her $1-million gift to the College will establish a

pioneering Crime Scene Academy.









Braving a blast of inclement wintry weather, attendees at the 18th annual Malcolm/King Breakfast on February 22 heard speaker after speaker exhort them to never lose sight of the importance of education and doing one’s best.

The breakfast, named for slain civil rights activists Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., drew an enthusiastic group of faculty, staff and students to the College gymnasium.

The 2008 event honored playwright and novelist David Lamb, whose first novel Do Platanos Go Wit Collard Greens? achieved critical and commercial success with its exploration of relations between blacks and Latinos. He also

wrote the plays Platanos and Collard Greens and From Auction Block to Hip Hop.

Richard James Ferris, a senior major in government at John Jay, followed Lamb to the podium, addressing most of his remarks to fellow students in the crowd. “If we truly want to honor the memory of Martin and Malcolm,” Ferris said, “we should pursue education. We must make sure that tomorrow belongs to us.”

The morning’s keynote speaker, award-winning reporter and commentator Dominic Carter of the NY1 news channel, said with a smile that he felt upstaged by Ferris’s brief remarks. “I should’ve spoken before you — you delivered the keynote address,” he said to Ferris. “You have an outstanding future.”

Like Ferris before him, Carter addressed his comments largely to the students who were present. Asking them to stand up and be recognized, roughly half the audience rose to its feet, including about a dozen high school students. “This is what it’s all about,” Carter observed. “This is what Dr. King and Malcolm X ultimately gave their lives for.”

Carter grew up in a Bronx housing project, where he was raised by a grandmother he described as having “a PhD in loving me.” He called himself a “proud product” of affirmative action, noting, “without that opportunity, I would not be standing here today.”

When Cyclone Sidr slammed ashore in Bangladesh on November 15, packing 150-mph winds and torrential rains, it did more than carve a swath of destruction that left thousands dead and hundreds of thousands homeless. It triggered a student-run relief effort at John Jay that in very short order raised nearly $4,500 and earned the official recognition of the Bangladeshi government.

President Jeremy Travis paid tribute on February 7 to the members of the Bangladesh club and other student organizations, at a reception in his office that was attended by the Asian nation’s Consul General to the United States, Mohammed Shamsul Haque. The students’ fundraising effort, Travis said, is another example of “building a reflexive communal reaction to come together in times of need.”

Syeda Begum, who described herself as “just a regular student here,” explained that people she worked with at the U.S. State Department had encouraged her to get involved in the Bangladesh relief effort. She enlisted the aid of Professor Mabel Gomes in the Department of Public Management. Soon after, the student African American Club, Haitian Club and Muslim Students Association also came on board. “John Jay really came through to help us,” said Begum.

People were first asked to donate time to the relief effort, Begum said. Requests for donations of money came later.

Gomes, who saw first-hand the extent of cyclone-related devastation in Bangladesh, said the money raised at John Jay would go directly

to where the needs are greatest. She said of the students’ efforts, “If you can transcend boundaries of race, religion and nationality, you can have an impact on the world.”

The Bangladeshi consul general said he felt “very privileged, personally and professionally,” to be on hand for the salute to the students. “I feel very proud that we’re not alone in our plight, that we have friends like you around the world,” said Haque. “I’ll let our people know that there’s

“We can achieve anything if we really believe in it and are willing to work hard,” said Carter. “Don’t listen to the nay-sayers. We don’t have the right to ever do less than our best.”

Proceeds from the Malcolm/King breakfast are used to support a leadership scholarship for John Jay students who demonstrate

outstanding academic achievement and success in African American studies. This year’s award was presented to Conrad Phillips, a Dean’s List student with a 3.6 GPA, who last year joined John Jay faculty members and representatives of the media and law enforcement as a panelist at the “Stop Snitching” symposium.

Attendees at the 18th annual Malcolm/King Breakfast enjoy a conversational moment during the festivities on February 22.

From left to right: Kewaulay Kamara, Department of African American Studies; author and playwright David Lamb; NY1

news anchor Dominic Carter; Dean of Graduate Studies Jannette Domingo; Gregory Bryant, director of the Liberty Partner-

ship Program; student honoree Conrad Phillips.

Breakfast Salutes Those Whose Future Honors the Past

a community at John Jay College that cares about them.”

Haque, who said the money raised by John Jay students would go toward building one of several multipurpose cyclone shelters, opened the door to building a partnership between Bangladeshi institutions and John Jay, and invited Travis to visit his country. “We want to benefit from values like yours, and institutions like yours,” Haque said.

Student-Driven Effort Raises Fundsto Aid Bangladesh Cyclone Victims

The formal debut of the Mozart Academy at John Jay College took place on Sunday, February 3 with a program presented by the academy’s Concerts By Children division.

Hundreds of enthusiastic families filled the Gerald W. Lynch Theater for a program that included performances by the Carnegie Hill Children’s Orchestra of Haydn’s Toy Symphony and “The Great Gate of Kiev” from Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Tchaikovsky’s Concerto for Violin, played by 12-year-old soloist Sirena Huang, brought the house down.

Concerts By Children, the brainchild of John Jay Artist-In-Residence Caroline Stoessinger, is aimed at building new audiences and educating families to weave the legacy of great music into their lives. “Concerts By Children is a testament to the power of music as a shared language in a city filled with different dialects, ethnicities and cultures,” said Stoessinger. “The concerts celebrate the city’s youngest performers, drawn from all cultures, playing the masterpieces of past generations for all audiences. More than simply child performers, the musicians are a credit to their art and a treat for audiences of all ages to hear.”

Huang has performed in concerts sponsored by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright, King Abdullah of Jordan, former President Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel.

The large audience on February 3 included Professor James Cohen of the Department of Public Management, who attended along with Christopher, a boy he mentors in the Big Brother Program.

“Before the concert began, Chris was fidgety, but, as soon as the children on stage began playing, he was riveted to the music,” said Cohen. “For me, it was inspiring to see such a wonderfully diverse group of young people playing classical music, with such evident skill.”

Children’s Concert Launches Mozart Academy Program

Violin prodigy Sirena Huang captivates the audience with

her performance of Tschaikovsky’s Concerto for Violin.

PEER REVIEWHOWARD PFLANZER (Speech, Theatre and Media Studies) has been awarded a Playwriting Residency to work on a new project, beginning in June 2008, by the Fundacion Valparaiso in Mojacar, Spain.

IRA TITUNIK (Sciences) recently won the Markle Award for the Forensic Scientist of the Year 2007. The award was presented by the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Sciences at the University of New Haven.

PRESENTING…KIMORA (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) addressed the Osborne Association on February 12 on “Child Abuse and Domestic Violence,” as part of a seminar series sponsored by OASIS (the Outcome and Assessment Information Set), a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

STEPHEN HANDELMAN (Center on Media, Crime and Justice) delivered a lecture to the Cleveland Council on World Affairs on February 19, on the “Russian Mafia and Transnational Organized Crime in the New Russia.”

THOMAS KUBIC (Sciences) and PETER

DIACZUK (Center on Modern Forensic Practice) traveled to Kigali, Rwanda, in January to evaluate evidence on behalf of defense counsel representing individuals accused of crimes before the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

BETWEEN THE COVERSJEREMY TRAVIS (President) had his article, “Reflections on the Reentry Movement,” published in the December 2007 issue of Federal Sentencing Reporter. The article looks back at the first 10 years following Attorney General Janet Reno’s call for proposals to create new

reentry partnerships and reentry courts around the country.

ITAI SNEH (History) has had his latest book, The Future Almost Arrived: How Jimmy Carter Failed to Change U.S. Foreign Policy, published by Peter Lang Publishers.

MICHAEL AMAN (Speech, Theatre, and

Media Studies) and KIMORA (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) have co-authored an article titled “Psychopathic Elements in the Film Goodfellas,” which will appear as the lead article in the May/June issue of Community Corrections Report on Law and Corrections Practice, published by the Civic Research Institute. In the article, they stress the importance of criminal justice professors teaching elements of psychopathy to criminal justice professionals, using film as a learning tool, not just entertainment.

Joined by Professor Mabel Gomes (second from left) and student representatives, President Travis presents a check to Bangla-

desh Consul General Mohammed Shamsul Haque, to be put toward relief efforts in the cyclone-stricken nation.


March 5, 2008

Worth NotingMarch 10 9:15 AMHigh-Tech Surveillance Societies and Our PrivacyPresented by the Center forCybercrime StudiesJeff Jonas, Chief Scientist,Entity Analytic Solutions



Auxiliary Gymnasium

March 21 8:30 AM - 10:00 AMPrisoner Reentry InstituteOccasional Series onReentry ResearchTransitional Jobs for Formerly Incarcerated IndividualsDan BloomMDRC


March 27 5:30 PM - 7:00 PMGraduate Lecture SeriesThe Physical Evidence Record and Alternate Sources of Information in Criminal InvestigationsProfessor Peter DeForestScience Department


The New York Giants are no longer the only underdog champions in town. The John Jay Bloodhounds on February 22 capped a Cinderella run through the CUNY Athletic Conference post-season tournament with a stirring 68-54 victory over York College to capture the College’s first-ever men’s basketball championship.

The top-seeded and heavily favored York team had beaten John Jay handily during the regular season, and took the court for the finals as the conference’s two-time defending champion. The Bloodhounds, meanwhile, began the tournament as the sixth seed with a 10-15 regular-season record, but proceeded to knock off the College of Staten Island (CSI) and New York City College of Technology en route to the championship game.

It was the team’s first appearance in the finals since 1990, and the players made the most of it.

“I thought we were supposed to be the underdog in this game,” said President Jeremy Travis. “Apparently someone forgot to tell our players.”

The Bloodhounds’ wounded warrior, senior forward Hakeem Kased, won the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award for his 13-point performance in the finals and 23-point outburst in the quarterfinals against CSI, as well as his constant on-the-court leadership.

“This means everything,” said Kased, the team captain, who was in tears after the final buzzer sounded and his team’s championship became official. “This is for four years of hard work, for

all the running. This is for all the student-athletes who have too much on their plates. I knew that if we played consistently in this tournament, no one could stop us.”

Kased’s own plate is kept full with athletics, academics and a full-time job with the New York City Transit Authority, where he works the overnight shift as a track maintainer. He missed the entire 2006-2007 season with a knee injury, and played much of this season with a variety of ailments, including an injured back.

His teammate Vaughn Mason, a junior forward, led the Bloodhounds with 14 points in the championship game before fouling out. Both Mason and Kased were named to the all-tournament team.

“It’s a tremendous compliment to see these young men who believed in the coaches and themselves, day in and day out, to get to this point and get out there and do it on the court,” said third-year head coach Charles Jackson.

The men’s basketball team next moves on to its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division III post-season tournament, against an opponent yet to be determined.

Hometown HeroChris Jaeger, a sophomore forward for the

Bloodhounds, was featured in the February 11 sports section of USA Today, in an article focusing on his experience with the U.S. Army in Iraq for 12 months in 2004 and 2005.

Jaeger compared heroics on the basketball

court with heroics under fire, saying: “In sports, a good athlete has good instincts. Same with being a good soldier. You want to be someone you can count on. You don’t have to sit there and think about what to do.”

His experience in Iraq, he said, gave him a

deeper appreciation for basketball, which he was unable to play in the extreme conditions of the war zone. “Basketball was always where I could forget all my problems,” he said. “That was the one thing you could do to relieve your stress over there and you didn’t have that option.”

The John Jay men’s basketball team, led by tournament Most Valuable Player Hakeem Kased (left), celebrate at center court

after dominating York College 68-54 on February 22 to capture the CUNY Athletic Conference championship — the team’s

first conference title ever.

Patricia Cornwell, the best-selling crime writer, has donated $1 million to John Jay College to establish a Crime Scene Academy that will become the first and only international center for crime scene training for professionals, students and interested members of the general public.

Cornwell’s numerous fiction and nonfiction works have been published in dozens of countries and languages, and have earned her widespread acclaim for her meticulous research and insistence on detailed accuracy, especially in forensic medicine and law enforcement procedures.

“I’ve always respected and admired law enforcement professionals, and am intimately aware of the dangers and difficulties of their jobs,” she said. “Police, forensic scientists and pathologists, and so many others have been unfailingly generous in sharing their expertise with me. Now it is my privilege to give something back. The greatest gift is knowledge, and there’s no better place to get it than John Jay College.”

John Jay presented Cornwell with an honorary doctorate of letters at the May 2007 commencement ceremony, citing her “commitment to the principles of academic excellence and understanding for all.”

The Crime Scene Academy will comprise five central components:

A Cornwell Fellowship Program in crime scene decision-making, through which law enforcement professionals from across the country will be recruited and brought to John Jay to learn the latest advances in crime scene investigation and set the standards necessary for modernizing the practice. Over time, it is envisioned that this network of Cornwell Fellows will create a national cohort that will assume leadership roles in the evolution of the forensic science community.

A Police Leadership Program, which will

include a series of weeklong symposiums for senior law enforcement executives to promote better understanding of the management of a criminal case from the crime scene through the investigative and adjudicative processes. Police executives will interact with John Jay faculty experts in forensic science, psychology, law and police science.

Law Enforcement and Crime Scene Laboratory Training Modules, to provide college-level instruction in state-of-the-art crime scene investigation techniques. In conjunction

with these modules, the Crime Scene Academy will develop a train-the-trainers program supplemented by online training.

A Post-Baccalaureate Forensic Science Certificate Program, an intensive 10-week summer certificate program that will give students with undergraduate degrees in the natural sciences the comprehensive training in forensic science and criminalistics they need to compete for jobs in forensic laboratories.

K-12 Teacher Programs/Continuing Education Public Programs, a series of training sessions for teachers, middle-school students and the general public. The program for teachers will incorporate into its curriculum materials developed by the John Jay Department of Sciences for an established weeklong training session for K-12 science teachers.

President Jeremy Travis said in accepting the gift: “Patricia Cornwell, who is noted for her realistic portrayal of forensic investigations and law enforcement, has been educating millions of devoted fans about forensic science and medicine through her best-selling crime novels for more than 15 years. This makes her the perfect partner for John Jay College, which has long been recognized as the premier center for forensic study in the United States. This generous

gift will allow us to address the critical need to enhance the quality of crime scene analysis around the country. It will also further realize our mission of providing students with the latest innovations in modern forensics and their applications in crime scene investigations and analysis. The Crime Scene Academy will serve a national constituency of law enforcement personnel.”

A national search will be conducted for a director of the new Crime Scene Academy.

Best-Selling Author Gives John Jay$1M for New Crime Scene Academy

Cornwell: “My Privilege to Give Something Back” to Policing

Hoop Dreams Come True as John Jay Wins CUNY Title

Mark Your CalendarMarch 14 is the application

deadline for top 2008 commencement awards.

For details, contact Mary Nampiaparapil, director of scholarships. (646) 557-4516.

[email protected].

Crime writer Patricia Cornwell, the recipient of an honorary doctorate

from John Jay in 2007. Her $1-million gift to the College will establish a

pioneering Crime Scene Academy.









Braving a blast of inclement wintry weather, attendees at the 18th annual Malcolm/King Breakfast on February 22 heard speaker after speaker exhort them to never lose sight of the importance of education and doing one’s best.

The breakfast, named for slain civil rights activists Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., drew an enthusiastic group of faculty, staff and students to the College gymnasium.

The 2008 event honored playwright and novelist David Lamb, whose first novel Do Platanos Go Wit Collard Greens? achieved critical and commercial success with its exploration of relations between blacks and Latinos. He also

wrote the plays Platanos and Collard Greens and From Auction Block to Hip Hop.

Richard James Ferris, a senior major in government at John Jay, followed Lamb to the podium, addressing most of his remarks to fellow students in the crowd. “If we truly want to honor the memory of Martin and Malcolm,” Ferris said, “we should pursue education. We must make sure that tomorrow belongs to us.”

The morning’s keynote speaker, award-winning reporter and commentator Dominic Carter of the NY1 news channel, said with a smile that he felt upstaged by Ferris’s brief remarks. “I should’ve spoken before you — you delivered the keynote address,” he said to Ferris. “You have an outstanding future.”

Like Ferris before him, Carter addressed his comments largely to the students who were present. Asking them to stand up and be recognized, roughly half the audience rose to its feet, including about a dozen high school students. “This is what it’s all about,” Carter observed. “This is what Dr. King and Malcolm X ultimately gave their lives for.”

Carter grew up in a Bronx housing project, where he was raised by a grandmother he described as having “a PhD in loving me.” He called himself a “proud product” of affirmative action, noting, “without that opportunity, I would not be standing here today.”

When Cyclone Sidr slammed ashore in Bangladesh on November 15, packing 150-mph winds and torrential rains, it did more than carve a swath of destruction that left thousands dead and hundreds of thousands homeless. It triggered a student-run relief effort at John Jay that in very short order raised nearly $4,500 and earned the official recognition of the Bangladeshi government.

President Jeremy Travis paid tribute on February 7 to the members of the Bangladesh club and other student organizations, at a reception in his office that was attended by the Asian nation’s Consul General to the United States, Mohammed Shamsul Haque. The students’ fundraising effort, Travis said, is another example of “building a reflexive communal reaction to come together in times of need.”

Syeda Begum, who described herself as “just a regular student here,” explained that people she worked with at the U.S. State Department had encouraged her to get involved in the Bangladesh relief effort. She enlisted the aid of Professor Mabel Gomes in the Department of Public Management. Soon after, the student African American Club, Haitian Club and Muslim Students Association also came on board. “John Jay really came through to help us,” said Begum.

People were first asked to donate time to the relief effort, Begum said. Requests for donations of money came later.

Gomes, who saw first-hand the extent of cyclone-related devastation in Bangladesh, said the money raised at John Jay would go directly

to where the needs are greatest. She said of the students’ efforts, “If you can transcend boundaries of race, religion and nationality, you can have an impact on the world.”

The Bangladeshi consul general said he felt “very privileged, personally and professionally,” to be on hand for the salute to the students. “I feel very proud that we’re not alone in our plight, that we have friends like you around the world,” said Haque. “I’ll let our people know that there’s

“We can achieve anything if we really believe in it and are willing to work hard,” said Carter. “Don’t listen to the nay-sayers. We don’t have the right to ever do less than our best.”

Proceeds from the Malcolm/King breakfast are used to support a leadership scholarship for John Jay students who demonstrate

outstanding academic achievement and success in African American studies. This year’s award was presented to Conrad Phillips, a Dean’s List student with a 3.6 GPA, who last year joined John Jay faculty members and representatives of the media and law enforcement as a panelist at the “Stop Snitching” symposium.

Attendees at the 18th annual Malcolm/King Breakfast enjoy a conversational moment during the festivities on February 22.

From left to right: Kewaulay Kamara, Department of African American Studies; author and playwright David Lamb; NY1

news anchor Dominic Carter; Dean of Graduate Studies Jannette Domingo; Gregory Bryant, director of the Liberty Partner-

ship Program; student honoree Conrad Phillips.

Breakfast Salutes Those Whose Future Honors the Past

a community at John Jay College that cares about them.”

Haque, who said the money raised by John Jay students would go toward building one of several multipurpose cyclone shelters, opened the door to building a partnership between Bangladeshi institutions and John Jay, and invited Travis to visit his country. “We want to benefit from values like yours, and institutions like yours,” Haque said.

Student-Driven Effort Raises Fundsto Aid Bangladesh Cyclone Victims

The formal debut of the Mozart Academy at John Jay College took place on Sunday, February 3 with a program presented by the academy’s Concerts By Children division.

Hundreds of enthusiastic families filled the Gerald W. Lynch Theater for a program that included performances by the Carnegie Hill Children’s Orchestra of Haydn’s Toy Symphony and “The Great Gate of Kiev” from Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Tchaikovsky’s Concerto for Violin, played by 12-year-old soloist Sirena Huang, brought the house down.

Concerts By Children, the brainchild of John Jay Artist-In-Residence Caroline Stoessinger, is aimed at building new audiences and educating families to weave the legacy of great music into their lives. “Concerts By Children is a testament to the power of music as a shared language in a city filled with different dialects, ethnicities and cultures,” said Stoessinger. “The concerts celebrate the city’s youngest performers, drawn from all cultures, playing the masterpieces of past generations for all audiences. More than simply child performers, the musicians are a credit to their art and a treat for audiences of all ages to hear.”

Huang has performed in concerts sponsored by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright, King Abdullah of Jordan, former President Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel.

The large audience on February 3 included Professor James Cohen of the Department of Public Management, who attended along with Christopher, a boy he mentors in the Big Brother Program.

“Before the concert began, Chris was fidgety, but, as soon as the children on stage began playing, he was riveted to the music,” said Cohen. “For me, it was inspiring to see such a wonderfully diverse group of young people playing classical music, with such evident skill.”

Children’s Concert Launches Mozart Academy Program

Violin prodigy Sirena Huang captivates the audience with

her performance of Tschaikovsky’s Concerto for Violin.

PEER REVIEWHOWARD PFLANZER (Speech, Theatre and Media Studies) has been awarded a Playwriting Residency to work on a new project, beginning in June 2008, by the Fundacion Valparaiso in Mojacar, Spain.

IRA TITUNIK (Sciences) recently won the Markle Award for the Forensic Scientist of the Year 2007. The award was presented by the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Sciences at the University of New Haven.

PRESENTING…KIMORA (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) addressed the Osborne Association on February 12 on “Child Abuse and Domestic Violence,” as part of a seminar series sponsored by OASIS (the Outcome and Assessment Information Set), a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

STEPHEN HANDELMAN (Center on Media, Crime and Justice) delivered a lecture to the Cleveland Council on World Affairs on February 19, on the “Russian Mafia and Transnational Organized Crime in the New Russia.”

THOMAS KUBIC (Sciences) and PETER

DIACZUK (Center on Modern Forensic Practice) traveled to Kigali, Rwanda, in January to evaluate evidence on behalf of defense counsel representing individuals accused of crimes before the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

BETWEEN THE COVERSJEREMY TRAVIS (President) had his article, “Reflections on the Reentry Movement,” published in the December 2007 issue of Federal Sentencing Reporter. The article looks back at the first 10 years following Attorney General Janet Reno’s call for proposals to create new

reentry partnerships and reentry courts around the country.

ITAI SNEH (History) has had his latest book, The Future Almost Arrived: How Jimmy Carter Failed to Change U.S. Foreign Policy, published by Peter Lang Publishers.

MICHAEL AMAN (Speech, Theatre, and

Media Studies) and KIMORA (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) have co-authored an article titled “Psychopathic Elements in the Film Goodfellas,” which will appear as the lead article in the May/June issue of Community Corrections Report on Law and Corrections Practice, published by the Civic Research Institute. In the article, they stress the importance of criminal justice professors teaching elements of psychopathy to criminal justice professionals, using film as a learning tool, not just entertainment.

Joined by Professor Mabel Gomes (second from left) and student representatives, President Travis presents a check to Bangla-

desh Consul General Mohammed Shamsul Haque, to be put toward relief efforts in the cyclone-stricken nation.


February 13, 2008

Worth NotingFebruary 22 9:00 AM18th AnnualMalcolm/King BreakfastGuest speaker: Dominic Carter, NY1RSVP to 212-237-8764

Gymnasium

February 27 6:00 PMLloyd Sealy LecturePolicing America’s Cities in the 21st Century: Challenges and Triumphs in New York City and New OrleansCommissioner Raymond W. Kelly,New York City Police DepartmentSuperintendent Warren J. Riley,New Orleans Police Department


February 28 9:00 AMStop and Frisk ConferencePresented by the Center onRace, Crime and Justice andthe Office for Advancement of Research


March 1 9:00 AMLaw DayPresented by the Pre-Law Institute

Gymnasium and various locations

March 3 3:30 PMSpring Faculty/Staff Meeting and Service Recognition ReceptionGerald W. Lynch Theater & Theater Lobby


Auxiliary Gymnasium

President Jeremy Travis is encouraging John Jay students, faculty and staff to participate in CUNY Alert, a new university-wide emergency notification system that will soon go online following an initial signup period.

CUNY Alert will enable the University’s campuses to provide alerts and timely information in emergencies, such as severe-weather scenarios, fires and bomb threats, civil disturbances, major road closings and threats to personal safety. Participation is elective in the secure, Web-based alert system, which will provide messages ranging from specific instructions to general warnings, depending on the severity of a given incident.

By signing up online at www.cuny.edu/alert, participants can choose how they wish to receive voice or text notifications: cell phone, home phone, e-mail or IM, or any combination of these. The Web page provides step-by-step instructions for signing up, and the process takes less than two minutes.

“The College is committed to making sure we do all we can to ensure the safety of all members of the College community,” Travis said. “CUNY Alert will help us achieve this goal.”

College Pushes Sign-Ups forCUNY Alert Net

More than $200,000 in scholarship funds is waiting to be claimed by qualified John Jay students, and the College is launching a major Web-driven effort to ensure that funds and students come together smoothly.

In early February, the College unveiled the latest component of its newly redesigned Web site, focusing on the array of scholarship options available to students. With an application deadline of February 28 drawing near for many of the scholarships for the spring 2008 semester, the hope is that increasing numbers of students will take advantage of these opportunities.

“Merit scholarship is grant money and you do not have to pay it back,” observed Mary Nampiaparampil, the director of scholarship services. “It is given in recognition of your academic achievement and public service.”

She noted that there are scholarships for freshmen, sophomores, upper-division and graduate students, as well as ones specifically for women, international students, research-oriented students and more.

The Web site includes downloadable applica-tion forms in PDF format that students can print, fill out and submit. The forms themselves have been streamlined, so that a single form now covers more than 30 scholarships.

“We have a brand new focus on scholarships at the College, and are encouraging as many qualified students as possible to apply,” said Vice President for Enrollment Management Richard Saulnier, who oversees the scholarship services office. “We have no shortage of highly qualified students — and we always want more — but for

some reason some scholarship opportunities have gone underutilized in the past.”

“We’re trying to ensure that institutional scholarship funds are being spent for the purposes for which they were intended,” added Saulnier.

Most undergraduate and graduate scholar-ships have February 28 deadlines. Nampia-parampil urged students to consult the list of available scholarships online at www.jjay.cuny.edu/340.php, or visit the Office of Scholarship

Services in Room 4113N. Most scholarship ap-plications require essays and/or letters of recom-mendation, she noted, urging students to seek any needed help from the Writing Center or faculty members who know them well.

“President Travis wants more emphasis on recruiting, recognizing and rewarding highly qualified students, and that’s exactly what we’re trying to do. The reorganization of scholarship services and the overhaul of the Web site is all part of that,” Saulnier noted.

“And what did you do on your summer vacation?”

For roughly 60 John Jay students, the answer to that oft-posed question will soon involve earning college credits in exotic locales, as part of a series of intensive study abroad programs this coming June.

The three inaugural faculty-led study abroad programs are:

“Urban Cultural Spaces in Puerto Rico,” taught by Professor Alma Mora (Foreign Languages), meeting in San Juan, PR.

“Caribbean Criminology,” taught by Professors David Brotherton (Sociology) and Luis Barrios (Puerto Rican/Latin American Studies), meeting in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

“Gender, Culture, Community and Violence,” taught by Professor Chitra Raghavan (Psychology), meeting in Rabat, Morocco.

Ken Lewandoski, the Director of International Studies and Programs, noted that while John Jay students have had study-abroad opportunities in the past through other CUNY campuses, this will be the first time they can earn John Jay College academic credits in programs led by John Jay faculty. The programs qualify under the Study/Travel Opportunities for CUNY Students (STOCS) program, which will allow participating students to receive $750 to $1,500 in financial aid. (The deadline for STOCS applications is March 14.)

“We want these programs to be academically rigorous — not travel abroad, but study abroad,” Lewandoski added. “They are all designed to enhance a student’s chosen course of study.” The four-week programs will include classroom lectures and discussions, field trips and presentations by local persons of interest.

Living arrangements will vary from one

program to the next. Students will stay in apartments at the University of Puerto Rico, dormitories at the Autonomous University of

Santo Domingo or in Moroccan homes.

All students will be required to attend a pre-departure orientation, and to share their experiences with the broader John Jay College community upon their return, Lewandoski said.

“Congratulations in advance to the students who will have the unparalleled opportunity to travel with John Jay professors to study these interesting topics in such interesting parts of the world,” said President Jeremy Travis.

Application dates for the three courses vary. For more information, contact Lewandoski at 212-484-1339, e-mail [email protected].

Dollars for Scholars With Deadline Looming, Thousands in Scholarship Aid Await Students

Faculty to Lead GroundbreakingStudy-Abroad Programs This Summer

Thousands of dollars in scholarship aid — along with a streamlined application process — await qualified students.

John Jay students will have a chance to study abroad in San Juan, PR, or one of two other

locales this summer in four-week, credit-bearing courses.

$3 Million in Free PublicityJohn Jay continues to maintain a high media

profile nationwide, with a new survey showing that the College’s faculty, administration, students and alumni were quoted or mentioned in more than 1,089 stories appearing in print and dedicated Internet news sites in 2007.

An appraisal of the media placements using the PRTrak database estimated the value of the media visibility to be equivalent to roughly $3 million in paid advertising.

Although the College arranges appearances on television and radio programs for many faculty members, the survey does not include broadcast news reports, as the College does not subscribe to broadcast monitoring services.

All 19 academic departments received press attention. While some garnered more than others, John Jay’s faculty were quoted

in an impressive number of print and online publications. The College’s centers and institutes were also mentioned in many media outlets

Media visibility, while nationwide, varied by region, with most of the press attention concentrated in the Middle Atlantic region (New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania) and the South Atlantic. The New York Daily News (10 percent) and The New York Times (6 percent) gave the College the most media attention.

The Communications Office is eager to promote faculty members’ expertise as well as students’ accomplishments. Faculty who would like to provide expert commentary to the media or who have information to share about their scholarly activity should contact Chris Godek (212-237-8628, [email protected]) or Doreen Vinas (212-237-8645, [email protected]).









PRESENTING…BENJAMIN LAPIDUS (Art, Music and Philosophy) will perform in concert on April 5 at the East Midwood Jewish Center in Brooklyn to celebrate the release of his newest CD, Herencia Judia. Lapidus is an acknowledged master of the guitar, the six-string Cuban tres and the 10-string Puerto Rican cuatro. His new CD is inspired by the musical traditions of the Spanish Caribbean and Jewish liturgical music.

ABBY STEIN (Interdisciplinary Studies) was invited by the Indian Academy of Forensic Medicine to present her critically acclaimed book Prologue to Violence: Child Abuse, Dissociation and Crime (The Analytic Press, 2007) at an international conference in Mumbai, India in February.

ITAI SNEH (History) delivered a paper titled “From Vietnam to Carter: Attempts to Reverse Realpolitik” at a conference on peace studies at the London School of Economics on February 2.

EFFIE PAPATZIKOU COCHRAN (English) kept up a busy schedule during her yearlong sabbatical in 2007, including pressing ahead with her video research project involving nonverbal cues and communication in parole board hearings. She co-presented a paper — “What Legal Writers Should Know: A Syntactic Analysis of a Legal Brief” — at the biennial conference of the International Association of Forensic Linguists

in Seattle, WA. She also taught a seminar on “Sector Analysis: X-Word Grammar” for the University of Catania in Ragusa, Sicily.

BETWEEN THE COVERSKIMORA (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration/Interdisciplinary Studies) authored an article titled “Detention in a Japanese Jail for Ten Days in 1998,” which will appear in the May/June 2008 issue of American Jails magazine. In the article, she explores the work of Setsuo Miyazawa from Aoyama Gakuin University in Japan and the reflections of genbatsuka, or increased severity of punishment that is written into Japanese criminal justice policy, from the point of view of one American incarcerated in a Japanese prison.

JANICE BOCKMEYER (Government) published her chapter “Building the Global City — The Immigrant Experience of Urban Revitalization,” in the book Governing Cities in a Global Era: Urban

Innovation, Competition, and Democratic Reform (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007). The book, edited by Robin Hambleton and Jill Simone Gross, represents the work of scholars from 11 countries on urban challenges facing city residents, leaders and managers in all continents.

ITAI SNEH (History) published a review of Richard Parker’s biography John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics on the Web sites H-1960s and H-Net Reviews.

JAMES DOYLE (Center on Modern Forensic

Practice) and JENNIFER DYSART (Psychology) have co-authored, with Elizabeth Loftus, the 4th edition of Eyewitness Testimony: Civil and Criminal (LexisNexis, 2008). The book provides courtroom-ready trial techniques and the latest psychological research concerning a wide variety of issues pertaining to eyewitness testimony. Loftus, the lead author, is a distinguished professor at the University of California-Irvine.

Professor John Matteson of the English department knew he had a hit on his hands when his book Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father was published last year by W.W. Norton. After all, the initial reviews lavished the book with such praise as “engrossing,” “elegantly written” and “a deftly rendered and highly recommended portrait.”

Further evidence of the book’s significance and merit came in early January, with the news that Eden’s Outcasts had been named as one of the best books of 2007 by both the Christian Science Monitor and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Eden’s Outcasts chronicles the relationship between the celebrated author of Little Women and her father, Bronson Alcott, who is described as a self-taught farm boy turned idealist and philosopher. In its review last August, the Monitor praised Matteson for telling “the tale of a most unusual American life.”

“Particularly for those unfamiliar with the Alcott story,” the Monitor’s reviewer wrote, “this is a journey of much interest.”

The Post-Dispatch was no less effusive in its applause for Eden’s Outcasts, describing it as “impossible to put down” as it unfolds its tale of “two fascinating main characters.” The book

New York City police officers will soon be returning to our classrooms in significant numbers, thanks to a new initiative that will make it easier for them to obtain their bachelor’s degrees at John Jay.

The new program, due to begin in the summer of 2008, will allow officers to complete their degrees by earning 30 credits at the College, finish at least 50 percent of their major at John Jay and earn 120 credits including prior academic experience and NYPD training.

Until now, NYPD officers seeking to obtain their bachelor’s degree from the College often had to complete added course requirements that left them with close to 200 credits before graduating.

“President Travis saw a need for more police officers at John Jay, and the faculty liked the idea of having veteran officers, with their work and life experience, in their classes,” said William Devine, director of the College’s NYC Police Leadership Certificate Program, a 12-credit sequence that channels roughly 750 officers through John Jay each year. “Further

Two Thumbs Up. . .

English Professor’s Work Makes “Year’s Best” Lists

includes numerous portraits of father, daughter and other Alcott family members, which the newspaper characterized as “one of the volume’s chief pleasures.”

Matteson, who called the critical praise for his

book “very gratifying,” said that telling the story of Bronson and Louisa May Alcott began to take shape for him as two areas of interest — one scholarly and one personal — converged.

“I thought about writing a book on 19th

century utopian communities,” he recalled, “and Bronson Alcott, who founded the Fruitlands community, was one of the first I explored. At the same time, I wanted to write about an important father-daughter pair, because I am a dad myself. Before I knew it, the book began to take on a life of its own.”

Other biographers have examined the lives of Louisa May Alcott and her father individually. Eden’s Outcasts, Matteson noted, is the first book to look at their lives jointly.

A paperback edition of the book is due out later this year. Matteson will also be serving as a consultant and on-air commentator for a forthcoming PBS documentary on Louisa May Alcott.

Matteson, who has taught literature and legal writing at John Jay since 1997, holds a PhD in English from Columbia University and a law degree from Harvard Law School. Based on the success of Eden’s Outcasts, he recently signed a contract with W.W. Norton to write a second biography. The new work will focus on Margaret Fuller, the pioneering women’s right activist, gender theorist and journalist. He hopes to have the book out in time for the Fuller bicentennial in 2010.

English professor John Matteson (center) is joined by his department colleagues Margaret Tabb and Elisabeth Gitter at a

Book & Author presentation on November 12 where they discussed his critically acclaimed biography Eden’s Outcasts: The

Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father. The book was recently named as one of 2007’s best by two major newspapers.

investigation pointed up the excess-credit impediment, and steps were taken to remedy the situation.”

“The administration is behind this, the faculty are behind this, and the Police Commissioner is behind this,” Devine continued. Travis and Vice President for Enrollment Management Richard Saulnier met with Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, who personally endorsed and promoted the idea.

The program, which is being handled by the Division of Enrollment Management in conjunction with the Counseling Department, offers a personal touch for interested officers. The Office of Undergraduate Admissions will evaluate officers’ credits and determine eligibility for the program. Officers then meet one-on-one with a dedicated academic advisor who will develop a personal academic profile for them and assist them in completing their degrees within 120 credits.

“The personal touch is very important,” Devine added, “because each student is different.”

Active or retired NYPD members who are in the program will be able to complete their degrees in as few as six semesters.

More than 100 officers attended one of three recent workshops on the program and are now in the pipeline to enroll for the summer

or fall semesters. Additional workshops will be scheduled and interested officers should e-mail [email protected] for more information. Officers can also call Katie Pzeniczna in the Division of Enrollment Management at 212-237-8874.

Looking for Clues

It’s not every day that the National Institute of Justice and the FBI sponsor a Trace Evidence Symposium — the session held

in Clearwater, FL, in August was the first in more than a decade. Still, members of the John Jay Department of Sciences were

out in force, as forensic scientists and trace-evidence specialists from around the world gathered to share expertise and

present research. Professor Peter R. DeForest (above right) was a moderator and presenter in both the evidence recogni-

tion and recovery workshop and the general session on education and research, where he was joined by Professor Thomas

A. Kubic (above left). Kubic also presented a paper on laboratory report writing. Other faculty members at the symposium

were Professor Nicholas Petraco, who presented on the debris generated by the collapse of the World Trade Center towers;

and Peter Diaczuk, director of forensic science training for the Center for Modern Forensic Practice, who was a panelist in the

evidence recognition and recovery workshop and presented on firearm evidence and shooting scene reconstruction.

New Effort Seeks to Ease Path to Bachelor’s Degrees for Police

Led by John Jay’s Center for International Human Rights, police officials from six European nations gathered at the College on December 13 and 14 for the first of three workshops as part of the project “Policing Across Borders: Strengthening the Role of Law Enforcement in Global Governance.”

The workshop, “Strengthening Cooperation in the Fight against Terrorism: Legislation, Institu-tions, and Proposals,” brought together officials from Greece, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey, along with

academics and representatives of intergovern-mental and non-governmental organizations.

The workshop was co-sponsored by the Greek Center for Security Studies and the Institute for Central-Eastern Europe and the Balkans of the University of Bologna. Funding for the three-year “Policing Across Borders” project was provided by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

The next workshop in the series, focusing on human trafficking and migrant smuggling, will take place at John Jay on May 2 and 3.

Hands Across the Border


January 23, 2008

Worth NotingFebruary 4 6:00 PMOpening Reception for DadsAn exhibition of photographsby Stephen Shames, part ofthe annual movingWALLS series.

6th Floor Gallery Space, Haaren Hall

February 22 9:30 AM18th AnnualMalcolm/King BreakfastCall (212) 237-8764 for details

Gymnasium

February 27 5:30 PMLloyd Sealy LecturePolice Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, New York City Police Department


February 28 9:00 AM - 5:00 PMStop and Frisk ConferenceSponsored by the Center onRace, Crime and Justice,the Office for Advancement of Research, and the New York Civil Liberties Union


March 1 8:30 AM - 3:30 PMLaw DayPresented by the Pre-Law Institute

Gymnasium and various locations

Twenty-one employees who are “making a difference at a critical time in John Jay’s history” were honored December 20 as the first winners of the Bravo! Employee Recognition Awards.

Robert Pignatello, Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration, pointed out that the Bravo! Program will recognize new and creative ideas, innovative problem-solving and superior customer service, and will include the outstanding employee of the year honors that are bestowed at commencement. “It’s all part of

our ongoing effort to turn John Jay into a more employee-centered organization,” he said.

Dean of Human Resources Donald Gray, emcee of the first Bravo! awards presentation, noted, “After 19 years at John Jay, I couldn’t have hoped for a more qualified, more deserving inaugural group of honorees.”

President Jeremy Travis observed that everywhere he travels throughout the United States, “People know of John Jay, and it’s because of the work we do here — and a lot of

The inaugural recipients of the Bravo! Employee Recognition Awards, joined by President Travis, flash an enthusiastic

“thumbs-up” after they were honored on December 20.

work goes into making this institution one of quality, day after day, year after year, and even decade after decade.”

With the new awards, Travis said, “We are recognizing the ‘extra ingredient’ that goes into institutional transformation.”

The College’s vice presidents were called to the podium in alphabetical order to introduce the employees in their units who were to receive the Bravo! awards. The winners were:

Academic AffairsAzinia BrooksSandrine DikambiDarryl Westcott-Marshall

Student DevelopmentMalaine ClarkeChristine GivensDana Trimboli

Institutional AdvancementJuan TaverasGary Zaragovitch

President’s OfficeElizabeth McCabe

Finance and AdministrationGeorge CorreaMario Alex DeLeonJoseph LaubYenny RodriguezSuzette SanchoKevin Silva

Enrollment ManagementSean JulieNilsa LamCheuk LeeSylvia Crespo-LopezJo-Alejandra LugoPeggy Roth

Kudos for Employees who Provide an “Extra Ingredient”

John Jay College is due to receive more than $1.5 million in federal funds to support a wide range of criminal justice research initiatives.

The funds, in the form of grants and Congressional earmarks, will support efforts examining emergency response to large-scale disasters, gang violence and crime prevention, sex offender management, domestic violence, undergraduate science education and public safety leadership.

“The Congressional earmarks will insure that national visibility is given to the landmark work of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control and the Regenhard Center for Emergency Response. Furthermore, federal funding of John Jay’s programs helps to insure that John Jay maintains its criminal justice leadership position,” said a jubilant President Jeremy Travis. “Our faculty are recognized world over for their expertise and these funds attest to their scholarship.”

The funded programs include:¶ A $330,000 grant from the Department of

Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, for the project “Real-Time Decision-Making for Public Safety Executives.” Led by Ellen Scrivner, Director of the John Jay Leadership Academy, the program will focus on the real-world practice of preparedness leadership and decision-making among public safety leaders.

¶ A $305,500 Congressional earmark, sponsored and led by Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), to support the award-winning work of the College’s Center for Crime Prevention and Control, directed by Professor David Kennedy. The funds will allow the Center to develop and disseminate crime-reduction strategies through hands-on fieldwork, research and unique partnerships with communities, the police and other law enforcement professionals in cities throughout the United States.

¶ A $296,656 grant from the National Institute of Justice for the project “Sex Offender

Management, Treatment and Civil Commitment: An Evidence-Based Analysis Aimed at Reducing Sexual Violence.” Professors Elizabeth Jeglic and Cynthia Mercado of the psychology department will lead the effort to examine the program management, treatment and recidivism of sexual offenders in New Jersey.

¶ A $265,883 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the project “Can Family-Based Prevention of Conduct Problems Prevent IPV Development?” Led by psychology professor Miriam Ehrensaft, the initiative will explore whether intimate partner violence (IPV) in high-risk children can be prevented via early, family-focused intervention.

¶ A $206,424 grant from the Department of Education for the Comprehensive Program Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) Invitational Priority A. Science professor Anthony Carpi will lead the project to develop a

curriculum and supporting content for teaching the process of science to undergraduates.

¶ A $178,600 earmark, sponsored and led by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) with the backing of the state’s Congressional delegation — prominently Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) — to support the creation of the Christian Regenhard Center for Emergency Response Studies. The Center, directed by Glenn Corbett, professor of public management, will provide an integrated and comprehensive approach to the study of emergency response to large-scale disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

“Thanks a Million (and a Half)!”Faculty Research Efforts Get a Major Infusion of Federal Funds

SUNY-Old Westbury’s loss is John Jay’s gainWayne Edwards, former Dean of Students

at the State University campus on Long Island, was recently named as John Jay’s new Dean of Students. He began the new position officially in early January.

President Jeremy Travis noted that Edwards is “an experienced student services professional who will bring great strength and creativity to his new post. His arrival represents a great day for our students and a new chapter in strengthening and revitalizing student services at John Jay.”

At Old Westbury, Edwards supervised residential life, judicial affairs, career services, counseling services, the Student Union, interfaith services and student activities. He was a faculty member in the Department of American/Media Studies, teaching such courses as popular music in U.S. culture, the politics of the media, and culture, communication and society.

Edwards also has extensive experience in the music and publishing industries, as senior director at Mercury Records, as director of media relations for the Lee Solters public relations firm, and as editor in chief of Black Sounds magazine. He holds two master’s degrees and is currently completing his PhD in sociology at the CUNY Graduate School.

The deanship at John Jay was filled on an interim basis by Arnold Osansky, who was praised by Travis for his “exemplary service” in taking on an “important assignment at a critical time in the history of the College.” Osansky is now the Director of Outreach Programs. In this new position, he will oversee the College’s outreach efforts to high schools, community colleges and professional organizations in order to advance our recruitment of more diverse and better prepared students.

New Deanof StudentsTakes the Reins

The work of Professors David Kennedy (above left) and Glenn Corbett will be aided by recent Congressional earmarks.

WELCOME,SPRING 2008FRESHMEN!









BETWEEN THE COVERSMICHAEL BLITZ (Interdisciplinary Studies) had his newest book, Johnny Depp: A Biography, published by Greenwood Press. This is Blitz’s second biography since 2006 in Greenwood’s Young Adult series.

ADINA SCHWARTZ (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) published her “Commentary on Nichols R.G., Defending the Scientific Foundations of the Firearms and Tool Mark Identification Discipline: Responding to Recent Challenges, J. Forens. Sci. 2007 May; 52(3): 586-94” in the November 2007 issue of the Journal of Forensic Sciences. In recent months, Schwartz has taught Continuing Legal

Education sessions on challenging firearms and tool mark identification for the North Carolina Bar Association, the Juvenile Defender Leadership Summit, the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, the Los Angeles Public Defender Forensic Science Conference and the National Seminar for Federal Defenders.

KIMORA (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) authored an article titled “To Shame or Not to Shame: Lessons from ‘Quiz Show,’” which will appear in the March/April 2008 issue of Community Corrections Report on Law and Corrections Practice. In the article, she makes a case for not shaming those being held in correctional facilities.

ON BOARDGABRIELLE SALFATI (Psychology) was appointed as Associate to Dean of Research JAMES LEVINE. In this role, she will be assisting Levine while he is serving in the dual capacities of Dean and Interim Chair of the Department of Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration. With the addition of Salfati to the Office for the Advancement of Research, “the College will continue its ambitious drive to further enhance its research agenda and increase

its reputation in the world of scholarship,” Levine said in a statement issued jointly with JANE BOWERS, the Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs.

PEER REVIEWJEREMY TRAVIS (President) recently received the 2007 Research Award from the International Corrections and Prison Association, an Edinburgh, Scotland-based professional organization. The award cited Travis for “the significant body of work that you have done in the field of corrections and, in particular, for your recent seminal research on prisoner reentry.”

PRESENTING…YI HE, ANTHONY CARPI, PETER DEFOREST and NICHOLAS PETRACO (Sciences) were featured presenters and panelists at the 46th Eastern Analytical Symposium & Exposition, “Opening Up the World of Analysis,” held in November in Somerset, NJ. Also participating in the symposium was PETER DIACZUK, the director of forensic science training for John Jay’s Center for Modern Forensic Practice.

KIMORA (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) addressed the Osborne

With the 2008 Presidential election campaign beginning to shift into high gear, Americans have a piece of advice for candidates: elected officials should spend less time talking about terrorism and more time discussing specific strategies for preventing crime.

The advice came in a recent national survey conducted by the College’s Center on Media, Crime and Justice, which was released in conjunction with the third annual Harry Frank Guggenheim Symposium, held at John Jay on December 3-4. The survey found that registered voters view crime as an issue on a par with the economy and health care.

The finding that people are still worried about crime and ways to address it “isn’t a surprise at all,” said President Jeremy Travis.

“If you’ve watched the presidential debates over the past few months, you’re hard-pressed to hear a discourse on crime,” Travis said. “You hear

a lot about security and terrorism — incredibly important issues, to be sure — but not about crime. This poll indicates that candidates need to discuss crime, its causes and potential ways to address it, because voters are ready to listen.”

According to the poll, which was conducted for the center by the Global Strategy Group, 53 percent of American voters agreed strongly with the view that crime is a very serious problem. Sixty-four percent said they believed there is more crime in America than one year ago. Forty-three percent said they wanted the media to focus more attention on crime prevention and less on crimes committed, and 36 percent felt that elected officials are not talking enough about preventing crime.

Asked to identify the primary causes of crime, 33 percent of those surveyed pointed to drugs and alcohol, 17 percent said poverty, and 6 percent cited illegal immigration.

When it came to possible ways of reducing crime in the United States, survey respondents called for putting more police on the streets (24 percent), tougher sentencing (24 percent), stricter gun laws (18 percent) and violence prevention programs for youths (18 percent). Other strategies that were identified included job training programs for prisoners and parolees (16 percent), more mental health and drug treatment programs (14 percent), preventing illegal immigration (11 percent) and removing criminal penalties for possession of certain drugs (11 percent).

The 1,000 registered voters who were polled included a mix of city dwellers, suburbanites and rural residents. One-third said they had completed college and/or graduate school.

The poll was made possible through grants from the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation and the Open Society Institute.

Association on “Cultural Diversity and Competence” on November 27. She spoke about the importance of overcoming prejudice and promoting diversity in correctional counseling.

HOWARD PFLANZER (Speech, Theatre and Media Studies) held a reading of his play Jersey Nights at the Living Theatre in Manhattan on January 14.

JANE KATZ (Physical Education and Athletics), above, recently won seven gold medals competing in swim events at the 2007 Maccabiah Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

As Campaign Heats Up, Poll FindsCrime Issues Still Matter to Voters

A certain hamburger-restaurant chain proclaims itself to have served “billions and billions.” The John Jay College Office of Continuing and Professional Studies is quietly making its mark by serving 560 — and counting — with a cutting-edge package of DNA training aimed at police, prosecutors, defense attorneys and others throughout New York State.

The training initiative is part of a $2-million contract awarded to the office by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS), of which $1 million was passed along to the New York City Police Department and the remainder used by John Jay for statewide DNA training.

“The DCJS set a goal of training 400 law enforcement officers by the end of 2007,” said Dean of Continuing and Professional Studies Judith Kornberg. “We did 560.”

The training was led by Herb Johnson of the John Jay Criminal Justice Center, Peter Diaczuk of the Center for Modern Forensic Practice and Marilyn Simpson of the New York-New Jersey Regional Community Policing Institute, which is based at John Jay. On December 13, President Jeremy Travis saluted the trainers and Dean Kornberg with a reception in his office.

“Logistically, this has been absolutely the biggest project to date by the Office of Continuing and Professional Studies,” Kornberg said. “Our trainers covered the state from Niagara in the west to Suffolk in the east, from Plattsburgh in the north to Westchester in the south, and many other points in between.”

Kornberg said the prosecutors’ training component has been subcontracted to the New York State Prosecutorial Training Institute in Albany, and that her office hopes to develop a training curriculum for defense attorneys sometime this spring. Additional training will focus on nurses, coroners and, Kornberg hopes, crime scene technicians.

“This solidifies John Jay’s reputation as the place to come for DNA training in the Northeast,” she said.

On January 15, the state DNA advisory subcommittee, which regulates and monitors public DNA labs in New York, met at John Jay in a symposium on the use of “familial matching” search techniques in the state’s DNA data bank. The Webcast session was open to the College community.

When the Issue Is DNA Training, the Answer Is “John Jay”

BehindClosed Doors

President Travis and Special Agent Harry Kern, chief of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit, cut the ribbon December 11 to open the expanded “FBI

Room” in North Hall, which houses hundreds of closed-case files available to John Jay graduate students in forensic psychology as part of an educa-

tional and research partnership between the College and the FBI. Above right, at the ribbon-cutting, students wait to receive certificates for comple-

tion of the educational component of the program.

Muchas,Muchas GraciasInterim Dean of Undergraduate Studies Jose Luis

Morin presents an award to Rossana Rosado, Publisher

and CEO of the newspaper El Diario/La Prensa, at the

annual Latino/a Breakfast on November 30. Rosado,

the event’s keynote speaker, surprised attendees

with her announcement of a new Prisoner Reentry

Fellowship, beginning in the Spring of 2008. Open to

undergraduates with at least 30 credits and a GPA of

2.5 or higher, the Fellowship will award $1,000 and

give the selected student the opportunity to work

with the College’s Prisoner Reentry Institute on issues

related to people returning home from prison and

jail. Applications for the competitive fellowship must

include two essays and a letter of recommendation.

For complete details on how to apply and application

deadlines, contact the Office of Scholarship Services in

the Division of Enrollment Management.

QUESTIONS? PROBLEMS?

THE ONE-STOP CENTER

IN NORTH HALL

HAS ANSWERS.

John Jay Newsletter (Archive 2008)

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