Letter to the college community
June 2004
Dear Colleagues, Students, and Friends,
This year's seventy-ninth Commencement Exercises celebrated our largest graduating class ever—1,731 undergraduate and 1,261 graduate students. Many have been accepted into some of the most prestigious graduate programs in the nation, some with full or partial scholarships. Others have received significant national recognition.
Michael Nau received a Fulbright Award to study in Jakarta. He will study prominent liberal Muslim intellectuals and compile a portrait of the highly visible intellectual class that is playing an important role in establishing democracy in Southeast Asia.
Mohammed Alsaidi was awarded a Jonas E. Salk Scholarship and will attend Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine. A native of Yemen, Alsaidi majored in computer science and chemistry and studied a method of directly quantifying a specific RNA in an RNA mixture that may have major implications for monitoring gene expression.
Schuyler Esprit, a member of the Honors Academy who spoke at Commencement on behalf of the Class of 2004, received a number of fellowships and accepted one from the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African and African American Studies at the University of Virginia, where she will study postcolonial literature, especially the writings of the African diaspora.
Sonya A. Donaldson, a Mellon Mays Fellow who, during her four years at Brooklyn College, worked as the technology editor for Black Enterprise Magazine, will also attend the University of Virginia on a full scholarship to work toward a doctoral degree in English.
Oriel Ceballos Whyte, the son of a local minister, is graduating from the SEEK program with a full scholarship to the Princeton Theological Seminary.
Honorary degrees were awarded to our Commencement speaker, Robert J. Silbey, '61, dean of the School of Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and known worldwide for his contributions to theoretical chemistry; to Lee Bontecou, one of the most original and influential American artists of the twentieth century and a dedicated teacher, loyal especially to the Brooklyn College Art Department, where she taught from 1971 to 1991; and to Nicolas Roeg, the acclaimed British film director.
The College gave Distinguished Alumni Awards to Carl I. Cohen, '67, professor of psychiatry and head of the Division of Geriatric Psychology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, and to Marjorie Magner, '69, chairman and CEO of Citigroup's Global Consumer Group.
The Presidential Medal was awarded to Michael Lynne, '61, co-chairman and co-chief executive officer of New Line Cinema, which produced The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Strategic Plan
Early in the spring, we issued a Strategic Plan Mid-Course Report, 2000-2003, that outlined the progress we have made and the work still to be accomplished. As we move toward the completion of the current plan, we are beginning to develop ideas for a Strategic Plan, 2005-2010. With this in mind, the Expanded Executive Committee devoted much of the semester to discussions related to planning, budget, and national trends in higher education. At the same time, Provost Roberta Matthews and I hosted three working dinners with faculty and senior staff, each devoted to one of three major goals in the current Strategic Plan: maintaining academic excellence, creating a student-oriented campus, and becoming a model citizen in the community. These meetings helped us to begin thinking through some of the major issues we face in the years ahead, how we may build on our accomplishments and foresee future opportunities. We continue to engage the College community in this process.
Princeton Review
The Princeton Review has recognized Brooklyn College once again. In their new publication, America's Best Value Colleges (2005 edition), the College ranked third in the nation behind the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Amherst College. Rice University, Bates College, Grinnell College, and the University of Texas at Austin followed us among the top ten institutions.
West Quad Project
Since the removal of the Bedford Avenue overpass last summer, preparation for major construction on the West Quad Project has continued throughout the year. The demolition of Plaza Building will begin later this summer and take several months, during which we will endure some inconvenience-chiefly, noise and vibration. We will make every effort to minimize disruption in the classroom and offices and will keep you informed of every stage of this transformation of our campus.
Moves
In anticipation of the Plaza Building demolition, the Film Department, the Student Club Room, computer labs, lecture halls, and classrooms have found temporary quarters in the freshly renovated Field Building. Student clubs are located in a centralized area on the first floor in a configuration that promotes interaction and efficient communication among the various organizations. The I.T.S. Public Computing Labs now feature 250 new computers in an inviting open work space. Nearby are lounge areas, study rooms, classrooms, and a videoconference room. The Department of Film, on the second floor, has office space for faculty and staff and specially designed lecture halls with screens and projection equipment. The second floor is also the new home of the Office of Student Testing, with large, technically equipped rooms for preparing students for such tests as the CUNY Assessment Tests, the Calculus Placement Test, the Transfer Students’ Writing Test and the CPE (CUNY Proficiency Exam).
A contest to choose a new name for the building will be announced at the beginning of the fall semester We look forward to hearing suggestions.
Enrollment
Our admission standards for entering freshmen have risen. Mean SAT score of applicants for the freshman class this fall is 1102; CAA is 85.16. The higher standards have brought a slight drop in applications, though less in fact than we expected. Of the ca. 10,000 undergraduate students we expect to be in residence this fall, about 6,700 have registered as of this morning.
New Faces
Twenty-three new faculty members will join the College in the fall. They include such outstanding scholars as the natural philosopher Emily Brady and chemist Roberto Sánchez Delgado. Please join me in welcoming them to the College.
Faculty Awards
Roni Natov, professor of English, was awarded the first Claire Tow Distinguished Teacher Award in recognition of her commitment to teaching and guiding students. The award, which comes with a $10,000 stipend, was established early this year by Leonard Tow, '50, in honor of his wife, Claire, who graduated from Brooklyn College in 1952.
Irene Sosa, associate professor of Tel