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“Immigrant Youth Lead the Way: Emotional and Cultural Resistance” was our final lecture in the five-part lecture series, Children’s Studies 25th Anniversary Social Justice for Children. The speakers, Guadalupe Ambrosio and Jasmine Sosayas, framed their discussion around undocumented students and individuals and shared their personal experiences as Latina women and advocates for undocumented individuals in schools and our societies. Some topics included creating safe spaces and equal opportunities for undocumented students and individuals and ways that staff and faculty can support these students and the development of a safe space for them in class and on campus. They focused on how to break the way we are systematically trained to react in specific ways that in turn criminalize and marginalize undocumented youth. Ambrosio is the co-executive director at The New York State Youth Leadership Council, an undocumented female youth lead organization. Sosayas, a double major in Puerto Rican and Latino studies and political science, is the president of the Brooklyn College Dream Team, an organization focused on making a safe space for undocumented students on campus.
Our fourth lecture series, “Social Justice + Mathematics = An Equation for Youth Well-Being,” in honor of the Children Studies’ 25th Anniversary: Social Justice for Children, was presented by Kari Kokka. Kokka discussed the importance of incorporating social justice mathematics into classrooms, where students develop their academic and sociopolitical consciousness. Kokka, assistant professor of mathematics education in the Department of Instruction and Learning at the University of Pittsburgh, focuses her research on student and teacher perspectives of social justice mathematics and the longevity of STEM teachers of color in urban schools. In doing so, she has shown the significance of a healing-informed social justice mathematics approach where students engage in trauma healing practices, identify their emotions, engage in social issues and their structures, and further develop their sociopolitical ideas and well-being. Kokka is the co-founder of Creating Balance in an Unjust World Conference on STEM Education and Social Justice and the co-chair of the AERA SIG Critical Educators for Social Justice. Kokka spoke to a full house of children and youth studies students, where they were able to participate in her discussion on “How might healing, trauma informed care, radical healing, and social justice goals be important to your own work?” and other related topics during “Turn and Talk.”
During the 3rd Leadership Disability Awards Dinner and 50th Anniversary of the S.O.F.E.D.U.P. Club, Children and Youth Studies (CHST) instructors received awards for “offices and individuals that truly make a positive impact in our students lives.” CHST student Jennifer DeLaCruz received the Active Members of the S.O.F.E.D.U.P. Club Award.
Children First Club members preparing for their Spring Bake Sale. Proceeds were donated to the Save the Children for Refugee Children Aid Efforts.
“For the Children? Protecting Innocence in a Carceral State” was the third of five lecture series in honor of the founding of Children’s Studies at Brooklyn College, held on May 2, 2018. Erica Meiners touched on the many ways that society and organizations (e.g., law enforcement) marginalize and criminalize children and youth, specifically those of color. Interactions with their daily environments and local police display levels of maturity assumptions, increasing their age by 4.5 years, thus, leading to unjust treatment. Meiners is the author of several books, including For the Children? Protecting Innocence in a Carceral State (University of Minnesota 2016), and articles in a wide range of academic outlets. She is the Bernard J. Brommel Distinguished Research Professor at Northeastern Illinois University, where she is a member of her labor union, University Professionals of Illinois, and teaches classes in justice studies, education, and gender and sexuality studies. Meiners is involved in movements that involve access to free public education for people during and after incarceration: In 1998 she co-founded and still teaches at an alternative high school for people exiting prisons and jails, and in 2011 started work with others to organize education and art programs at Statesville Prison.
“What’s Your Issue” was the second of five lectures in honor of the founding of Children’s Studies at Brooklyn College and is supported by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. It was held on November 29, 2017. It is a national participatory action research project designed with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and gender nonconforming (LGBTQ and GNC) youth to document the dreams, desires, and priorities of LGBTQ and GNC youth.
25th Anniversary! Did you know that 2016 marked the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Brooklyn College Children’s Studies Program and Center (now known as the Children and Youth Studies Program and the Children’s Studies Center for Research, Policy and Public Service) by Founding Director and Professor Emerita Gertrud Lenzer? We have created a special timeline infographic to celebrate The History of Children’s Studies! (pdf) The occasion was celebrated by the launch of The Children’s Studies 25th Anniversary Social Justice for Children Inaugural Lecture Series, funded by the Carnegie Corporation of America on April 4, 2017. Professor Roni Natov, English Department, delivered the guest lecture, “Children’s Literature and the Courage to Imagine.” Lenzer also founded the field of the sociology of children section within the American Sociological Association (ASA) in 1991. In celebration of their 25th anniversary, she was interviewed for the spring 2016 ASA newsletter (pdf), wherein she shared her reflections and recollections of those times.
Student Spotlights—Children and Youth Studies students and alumni are truly extraordinary. Read about their stories: Keisha Keith and Rosalia Racuglia (pdf), Debralee Brown (pdf), and Pascale Gay (pdf).
Professor Gertrud Lenzer represented the Children’s Studies Center for Research, Policy and Public Service at the presentation of the U.S. government delegation before the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child on January 16, 2013, in Geneva. The delegation discussed the 2010 U.S. Reports to the Committee on U.S. Implementation of the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child—one on the involvement of children in armed conflict, and the other on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
Lenzer participated in an NGO-consultation with the U.S. delegation and attended a reception hosted by Ambassador Betty E. King, the Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in honor of Harold Hongju Koh, legal adviser of the U.S. Department of State prior to the session.
For more information, see Professor Gertrud Lenzer Testifies Before U.N. Committee Professor Gertrud Lenzer Testifies Before U.N. Committee published in the fall 2012 Brooklyn College Magazine.
The Alternative Report of the Children’s Studies Center for Research, Policy and Public Service on the “New York State Measures Giving Effect to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography (pdf)” is now documented as part of the official treaty website (pdf) on the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. (Scroll down to United States of America, OPSC and “Information from other sources.”)
On May 11, 2012, the Children’s Studies Center submitted the Alternative Report to the Periodic Report of the United States of America, January 22, 2010. This in turn resulted in the Children’s Studies Center being invited on June 18, for the purpose of discussing the report, as one of three U.S. nongovernmental organizations to attend the Pre-sessional Working Group meeting and appear before the Committee on the Rights of the Child, in Geneva. Gertrud Lenzer attended and participated in the official Pre-sessional Working Group meeting and hearings in Geneva.
The Children and Youth Studies Program and the Children’s Studies Center for Research, Policy and Public service welcomed visitors from the University of Bialystok, Poland: Professor Jolanta Sztachelska and Magister Karolina Szymborska. In March, Professor Gertrud Lenzer was invited as keynote speaker at the first conference on Children’s Studies at the University of Bialystok, Poland. entitled Children’s Studies as an Interpretative Perspective. The conference, in its call for papers, referred to Brooklyn College as the founder of Children’s Studies Programs.
During their visit, Sztachelska and Szymborska presented in three CHST courses: CHST 2100: Perspectives on Childhood, with Gertrud Lenzer; CHST 2120: Generation Next, with Katherine Hejtmanek; and CHST 3110: Human Rights of Children, with Irma Kramer. Their presentations included talks about literature for children, literature for the Internet generation, children’s rights, and the ideas and writings of Janusz Korczak.
Children and Youth News (pdf), the ASA Section on the Sociology of Children Newsletter, featured highlights from our Children’s Studies Center of the process of publishing the proceedings from our most recent event, National Consultation: Social Justice for Children: To End Child Abuse and Violence Against Children, as well as reports submitted by Gertrud Lenzer to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child and her invitation to attend their upcoming meeting in Geneva.
New York State Assemblyman Honorable William Scarborough’s Children and Youth Studies course, “Children, Public Policies, Advocacy and Legislation in New York State’s” speaker series, was highlighted in the BC News. Scarborough, along with the Children and Youth Studies Founding Director Gertrud Lenzer, developed this course. It is now in its fourth consecutive year and is an “intrinsic part of the syllabus” that gives students the opportunity to discuss such issues as education, foster care, the juvenile justice system, the child protective system, and mental health. Read the article in its entirety. To view information on distinguished speakers we’ve welcomed in the past, check out our distinguished guest speakers page.
Salute to Scholars (pdf), a CUNY magazine, highlights Professor Gertrud Lenzer in the article “A Transformative Voice for Children’s Rights” in the Winter 2013 edition. The article covers a brief look at Lenzer’s interest in the rights of children stemming from research done on the working conditions of children in 19th-century England at the University of Leicester in 1967 up to her present-day work as a professor and the founding director of the Children and Youth Studies Program and the Children’s Studies Center for Research, Policy and Public Service at Brooklyn College.
Gertrud Lenzer and the Children’s Studies Center were highlighted in a special feature on the Brooklyn College website about her participation in the official Pre-sessional Working Group meeting and hearings in Geneva. Lenzer was representing the Children’s Studies Center, one of only three nongovernmental organizations to be invited to appear before the 18 members of the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child.
“It is certainly an honor for the Children’s Studies Center,” Lenzer says. “It is wonderful for Brooklyn College to be involved in these important treaty obligations.”
Children’s Studies Center Alternative Report of the New York State Measures Giving Effect to the Optional Protocol (pdf), May 11, 2012, the Children’s Studies Center for Research, Policy and Public Service of CUNY. Brooklyn College was invited as one of three U.S. nongovernmental organizations to attend the Pre-sessional Working Group meeting and appear before the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), on June 18, 2012, in Geneva. Gertrud Lenzer attended and participated in the official Pre-sessional Working Group meeting and hearings.
Child and Youth News (pdf), the ASA section on the Sociology of Children Newsletter, featured updates to the National Consultation website, request to sign our Joint Statement and mention of reports submitted by Gertrud Lenzer to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child for their upcoming meeting in January 2013.
The Children and Youth Studies Program, with the Children First Club, held a commencement celebration following Commencement at Brooklyn College for its fall 2011 and spring 2012 graduates. Our Outstanding Senior Award and the recipients of the Special Senior Award were announced. Professors Gertrud Lenzer, Katherine Hejtmanek, and Jeremy Porter gave opening remarks to the celebration held in the new Children and Youth Studies Office in James Hall. There were 99 major graduates, 32 concentrators, and 28 minor graduates in children and youth studies!
The Children’s Studies Center for Research, Policy and Public Service at Brooklyn College submitted on May 11, 2012, an Alternative Report on New York State Measures Giving Effect to the Optional Protocol (pdf), to the Periodic Report of the United States of America, January 22, 2012.
The Children’s Studies Center for Research, Policy and Public Service sent out a press release regarding the release of videotaped recordings, transcriptions, and findings for its November 4, 2011, National Consultation, “Social Justice for Children: To End Child Abuse and Violence Against Children.”
The Children First Club held the Fashion.Addication.Extravaganza., a fundraiser fashion show in the Student Center. Proceeds from the event went to homeless youth in New York and girls in need in Africa.
Professor Gertrud Lenzer was invited as keynote presenter at the first conference on children studies in Poland at the University of Bialystok. The Children Studies as an Interpretative Perspective Conference referred to Brooklyn College in its call for papers as the founder of children’s studies in 1991. Lenzer was the only foreign speaker and representative of a children’s studies program from any country. Her presentation, “Children’s Studies and the Human Rights of Children: Future Challenges,” has been translated into Polish and will be published in the conference proceedings.
Professor Gertrud Lenzer was invited as one of the moderators at the international Human Rights and the Humanities Conference, at the National Humanities Center in the Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The panel, which included Lenzer, discussed the topic “How can the history of humanitarianism or other rights movements illuminate our understanding of human rights? How pertinent to the practical application of human rights law today is an understanding of prior movements?”
The Children and Youth Studies Program, with the Children First Club, held our 20th Anniversary Celebration of the Founding of Children’s Studies.
The Children First Club released the first issue of the Children First Club Newsletter (pdf).
The chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, Dennis M. Walcott, spoke in Assemblymember Scarborough’s course CHST 3320 Children, Public Policies, Advocacy and Legislation in New York State.
The Children’s Studies Center for Research, Policy, and Public Service held a national consultation event at the Association of the Bar in Manhattan titled, “Social Justice for Children: To End Child Abuse and Violence Against Children.” The all-day conference featured speakers and panelists in the fields of neuroscience and epigenetic research, the social sciences, public health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the courts and the judiciary, the U.S. Department of Justice the Office of the Attorney General, public and non-for-profit child protection and advocacy agencies, key members of the New York State legislative branch and New York City government, and more. For more information on the event and the speakers, visit the consultation website. The press release for the consultation was picked up by PR Newswire.
The Children First Club held a bake sale at Brooklyn College to raise money for Les Petit Okapis International, an organization that raises money for street children in Congo.
Professor Gertrud Lenzer was the chair and organizer of the Fourteenth Charles R. Lawrence II Memorial Lecture. The event, “Confronting Precarious Work: Toward a New Social Contract,” featured guest speaker Arne L. Kalleberg, a Kenan Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The on-campus event was featured in The Excelsior (pdf).
The Children First Club participated in Brooklyn College’s Welcome Back Bash. Loretta Chin wrote about the event in the student newspaper, The Excelsior, in the article “Making Children First at the Welcome Back Bash and Club Fair.” (pdf)
The Children’s Studies Program has officially been renamed the Children and Youth Studies Program. All majors, concentrators, and minors will now be in Children and Youth Studies programs.
Assemblymember William Scarborough’s course, CHST 3320: Children, Public Policies, Advocacy and Legislation in New York State, featured a series of distinguished guest speakers.
The Children’s Studies Program has made changes to the major (pdf), concentration (pdf), and minor (pdf) programs. We have also created a new minor, Pre-Professional Explorations: Focus on Children in Social Services and the Law! (pdf)
Professor Gertrud Lenzer and Loretta Chin participated with the Correctional Association’s Juvenile Justice Coalition Conditions of Confinement Group in a meeting with Tamara Steckler, Attorney-in-Charge of the Juvenile Rights practice at Legal Aid to discuss juvenile justice reform in New York.
Professor Gertrud Lenzer and Professor Joe Grochowalski attended the Global Summit on Ending Corporal Punishment and Promoting Positive Discipline conference in Texas. The conference brought together an international group of children’s rights activists, policy makers, researchers, and many others who are committed to ending corporal punishment of children worldwide.
The Children’s Studies Program, along with the Children First Club, held a commencement celebration following Commencement at Brooklyn College for their fall 2010 and spring 2011 graduates. Honorable Bryanne A. Hamill was in attendance to announce the recipient of the Outstanding Senior Award and the recipients of the Special Senior Award. Professor Gertrud Lenzer, Professor Joe Grochowalski, and Elise Goldberg gave opening remarks at the celebration. There were 66 major graduates, 26 concentrators, and 28 minor graduates in children’s studies.
The New York State Assembly passed a bill (A.0644A) that would establish a new Executive Office of the Child Advocate to ensure the safety of children in the state’s child welfare, juvenile justice, and child care systems. Our website has extensive information on legislation (pdf) for an Independent Office of the Child Advocate for New York.
Child and Youth News (pdf), the ASA Section on the Sociology of Children Newsletter, featured news updates on the Children’s Studies Program on page 13.
The Children First Club held a Dance-a-Thon in the Student Center to raise money for Les Petits Okapis International. Haydee Britton, co-founder of the organization, spoke at the event.
The Children First Club held a bake sale to raise money for Les Petits Okapis International, an organization that raises money for street children in Congo.
Brooklyn College held an open house for incoming students; the Children’s Studies Program was represented by members of the Children First Club: Teresa Anderson, Jeanny Kim, Deseree Prince and Dasha Vodrazkova. Cynthia Tsang, a graduate of the Children’s Studies Program, also represented children’s studies at the event.
“Professional Perspectives and Children,” the capstone course for the children’s studies major, taught by Professor Joe Grochowalski, will feature a series of distinguished guest speakers throughout the spring 2011 semester.
“Children and the Law,” taught by Professor Ellen Fried, J.D., Esq., will feature a series of distinguished guest speakers during the spring 2011 semester.
Brooklyn College released an article, “Children’s Studies Distinguished Speakers Series Gives Students Professional Insight,” discussing Assemblyman Scarborough’s Children’s Studies course in the fall 2010 semester.
Loretta Chin and Gertrud Lenzer presented testimony (pdf) (pages 70–74 and 113–19) on behalf of the Children’s Studies Center at the New York City Council Juvenile Justice Committee and General Welfare Committee Public Hearing on “Oversight: The Mayor’s Proposal to Overhaul the New York State Juvenile Justice System.” They presented information concerning Bill A00644, for an independent Office of the Child Advocate (OCA) for New York. They requested the committee to consider “an entity of oversight for the protection of the civil, constitutional and human rights of all children and youth in the systems of dependency and juvenile and criminal justice.”
Professor Gertrud Lenzer, a board of directors member of the National Child Labor Committee, and Elise Goldberg attended the NCLC Annual Lewis Hines Awards ceremonies and dinner.
The Children’s Studies Center participated as members of a feedback loop to the New York Juvenile Justice Steering Committee to develop a State Strategic Plan for reform of the juvenile justice system.
Child and Youth News (pdf), the ASA Section on the Sociology of Children Newsletter, featured news updates on the Children’s Studies Program and Center on page 8.
Loretta Chin presented testimony (pdf) (pages 49–54) on behalf of the Children’s Studies Center at the New York City Council Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice Services and Committee on Juvenile Justice Public Hearing (pdf) on “Oversight: Jail Violence at Adult and Adolescent Facilities on Rikers Island.” (pdf) She provided information and related materials about S6877 Parker Same as A 3233-B Clark “establishes the independent office of child advocate to ensure the protection and promotion of legal rights for youth in juvenile justice facilities; repeals certain provisions relating to the office of the ombudsman.” The legislation was introduced as a result of a 2004 Children’s Studies Carnegie Corporation funded Policy Symposium: Children and the Law in New York. One of the policy symposium goals was to explore the idea of an independent Office of the Child Advocate for New York as a systemic change that would provide independent oversight and accountability over the fragmented systems of child welfare, juvenile justice and related areas of child supervision and administration.
Professor Gertrud Lenzer was a speaker at a panel discussion and fundraiser on children’s rights, hosted by Amnesty International Group, in New York. The focus of the event was a discussion about global children’s rights, especially as it pertains to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The Children First Club, with the Model U.N. Club and student government, hosted an event, “Believe That You Can Help: How You Can Help to Save Our Children and Youth All Over the World,” (pdf) in the Student Center. Haydee Britton, from the United Nations and one of the founders of Les Petits Okapis International gave a presentation. Professor Gertrud Lenzer gave an introduction at the event. The event was also featured in The Excelsior (pdf).
Victor Karunan, a member of our Children’s Studies Advisory Board, has been appointed as deputy representative for UNICEF Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore based in Kuala Lumpur effective January 2011. We congratulate him and wish him well in his new position.
Brooklyn College held an open house for incoming students; the Children’s Studies Program was represented by members of the Children First Club Teresa Anderson, Jeanny Kim and Deseree Prince. The students discussed the program and courses to incoming students who expressed interest in the program.
Professor Ellen Fried, J.D., Esq. (pdf) was a principal speaker at the panel discussion, “Modern Slavery: The Trafficking of Women and Children,” as part of the Justice Speaks Lunch Series at New York Law School. Fried discussed the trafficking of women and children within and into the United States.
Professor Gertrud Lenzer was a panel participant at the all-day City University of New York Black Male Initiative Fifth Annual Conference, The Politics of Progress From Abolitionist Frederick Douglass to President Barack Obama, held at LaGuardia Community College. The panel presentation was entitled,”Mirror to America: The Life and Legacy of John Hope Franklin.”
Howard Davidson, Esq., director of the American Bar Association’s Center on Children and the Law and member of the Children’s Studies Advisory Board, published a paper, “A U.S. National Ombudsman” (pdf), in the First Focus 2010 publication Big Ideas: Game Changers for Children.
Professor Gertrud Lenzer was featured in the Marquis Who’s Who in America 2011 (pdf). The book contains biographies of the nation’s most notable people.
Elise Goldberg attended the Early Childhood Convocation in the Student Center. As the student advisers in Children’s Studies, Professor Gertrud Lenzer and Elise Goldberg were invited to attend.
Loretta Chin represented Children’s Studies at the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF) Inaugural Conference, Power in Numbers: Uniting the Asian Pacific American Community for Action.
The Children’s Studies Program and Center and Professor Gertrud Lenzer were referenced numerous times throughout the Child and Youth News Fall 2010 Newsletter (pdf), released by the Sociology of Children and Youth Section of the American Sociological Association. References can be found on pages 1, 5, 6, 10, and 11.
Children and the Law, taught by Professor Ellen Fried, J.D., Esq., featured a series of distinguished speakers.
Assemblymember William Scarborough’s course Children, Government, and Public Policy in New York State featured a series of distinguished speakers from different careers involving children and youth.
Professor Gertrud Lenzer presided over “Section on Children and Youth Paper Session. Children in Global Perspective” (pdf) at the American Sociological Association meeting in Atlanta.
The Children’s Studies Center and Program were featured in Child Rights Campaigns’ weekly Newsletter (pdf) as one of three educational programs that embrace the Committee on the Rights of the Child to strengthen children’s rights.
Children’s Studies is invited to conduct preliminary program evaluation research for the Annual Brooklyn Children’s Sports and Fitness Expo. Professor Gertrud Lenzer and Joseph Grochowalski are heading the research team for this project with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Joseph Grochowalski attended the Juvenile Justice Coalition Subcommittee meeting for Sexually Exploited Youth.
Gertrud Lenzer, Elise Goldberg, and Loretta Chin attended the full meeting of the Juvenile Justice Coalition, “Shaping the Change: The Movement, the Coalition and the System. New York City Department of Probation Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi and Laurence Busching, executive deputy commissioner of the Division of Youth and Family Justice (formerly DJJ), were guest speakers.
Children’s Studies is the featured department in Child and Youth News, the Spring 2010 newsletter (pdf) of the Sociology of Children and Youth Section of the American Sociological Association. The feature article can be found on page 7.
Gertrud Lenzer, Elise Goldberg, and Loretta Chin attended the 10th Anniversary Commemoration of the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Launch of Universal Ratification Campaigns at UNICEF House, New York. Lenzer addressed the audience regarding the role of academia and how it can contribute to the ratification and implementation of the Optional Protocols. She also presented (pdf) a citation of commendation (pdf) from Assemblymember William Scarborough, chair of the Committee on Children and Families, in the New York State Assembly to Professor Yahghee Lee, chair of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Children’s Studies distributed 100 copies of their publication Third Child Policy Forum of New York: Implementation and Monitoring of the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography.
The first class of Children’s Studies students to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in children’s studies celebrated their graduation at Commencement at Brooklyn College. Following the ceremony, Children’s Studies and the Children First Club held a very special commencement celebration for the new major graduates. Approximately 75 of our students graduated this year with the children’s studies major, concentration, or minor. Of those, 15 students graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in children’s studies.
Children’s Studies was honored at the Brooklyn College Annual Book Party event for the publication Child Policy Forum of New York, Implementation and Monitoring of the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography (pdf). Gertrud Lenzer, Loretta Chin, and Joseph Grochowalski were among the honorees.
Loretta Chin represented Children’s Studies at the “First Annual Building Bridges Conference: Community Partnerships and Learning,” hosted by the Provost’s Task Force on City-Based and Sustainability Education and the Carol L. Zicklin Chair in the Honors Academy at Brooklyn College.
Professor Gertrud Lenzer and Loretta Chin attended an awards dinner in honor of William Scarborough, chair of the Committee on Children and Families in the New York State Assembly, celebrating his 15th year in the New York State Assembly for the 29th District in Queens.
Children’s Studies co-sponsored The Legacy Tour, with Benjamin Banneker Academy for Community Development, and the Ronald Edmonds Learning Center (MS113.) The “Invisible Children” sponsored event focused on the plight of child soldiers in Uganda. Special guest: Innocent, a former Ugandan child soldier.
Children’s Studies Director Gertrud Lenzer and staff visited Children’s Defense Fund New York headquarters to meet with Executive Director Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson and staff.
Professor Gertrud Lenzer was invited to serve as a consultant in the appraisal of the M.A. program in Child and Youth Studies at Brock University, in St. Catharine’s, Ontario.
Honorable Esther M. Morgenstern (pdf) taught a section of the Children’s Studies course Children and the Law (CHST 3310).
U.S. Treaty Report (pdf) highlighted the “essential role” of the Children’s Studies Center.
Children’s Studies participated in the Million Father Club Toy Drive.
Children’s Studies and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture hosted the Fourth Child Policy Forum of New York—Youth Forum for Middle and High School Students: The Human Rights of Children on the 55th Anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education and the 20th Anniversary of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. The interactive program featured student presentations, an introduction to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, and guided tours of the Schomburg’s Courage exhibitions.
Gertrud Lenzer is pictured on page 2 of the American Sociological Association’s Children and Youth’s Section Fall 2009 (pdf). The Child Welfare Policy Job Posting for the Children’s Studies Program and Center is listed on page 5.
Professor Gertrud Lenzer and Loretta Chin represented the Children’s Studies Center at New York State Senator Velmanette Montgomery’s Meeting of Juvenile Justice Minds: A Roundtable Discussion. Nationally recognized professionals tackled the topic of juvenile justice reform, discussing juvenile welfare issues, including the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) August 2009 report, which detailed the inhumane treatment of troubled youth at juvenile detention facilities in New York. Dialogue from participants encompassed the DOJ report and other issues pertaining to disadvantaged youth but focused on offering possible solutions on ways to prevent juvenile delinquency and promote positive outcomes for at-risk youth.
Children’s Studies, in collaboration with the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, hosted the Fourth Child Policy Forum of New York: The Human Rights of Children on the 55th Anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education and the 20th Anniversary of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. Insights were provided by influential academic and legislative figures, including the Honorable Dennis M. Walcott, Owen M. Fiss, Howard Davidson J.D., and the Honorable Velmanette Montgomery.
Professor Gertrud Lenzer and Founding AAARI Board Member Loretta Chin attended the Asian American/Asian Research Institute (AAARI) 8th Anniversary Celebration. More than 400 Asian and non-Asian academic, business, civic and community leaders, students, staff, and faculty were in attendance. View photos of faculty and staff at the event.
Professor Gertrud Lenzer (pdf), Elise Goldberg, and Loretta Chin attended the Interactive Panel Discussion on Child Participation (pdf). The event explored the concept of child participation (pdf) through the lens of children themselves and featured a panel of young people from different areas who shared their stories, experiences, and hopes in promoting meaningful child participation. The event was held by the Permanent Missions to the United Nations of Belize, the Czech Republic, Sweden, and Uruguay in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Plan International, Save the Children, and War Child Holland at the Danny Kaye Visitors’ Centre, UNICEF House in New York.
Children’s Studies Program hosted lecture series with top-ranking New York children and youth policy makers. The lecturers met with students in our Special Topics course, Children, Government and Public Policy in New York State, taught by Assemblyman William Scarborough, chair of the Committee on Children and Families in the New York State Assembly.
at Brooklyn College.
The State Education Department approved the new Bachelor of Arts degree program in children’s studies (pdf).
CUNY Board of Trustees approved the bachelor of arts degree program in children’s studies.
By invitation, Professor Lenzer attended A Celebration of the Lives of John Hope and Aurelia Whittington Franklin, at Duke University.
Elise Goldberg participated in the Comptroller’s Citywide Taskforce meeting, Adolescent Pregnancy, Parenting and Prevention. Guest speaker: Peter Kleinbard, Youth Development Institute.
Professor Gertrud Lenzer participated in The National Symposium on the Convention on the Rights of the Child (pdf) in Washington, D.C. Lenzer chaired and convened the panel “Incorporating the CRC Into Curricula.” The event was sponsored by The Campaign for U.S. Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, of which Lenzer is a member.
The CUNY Board Committee on Academic Policy, Program, and Research approved the proposal for a Bachelors of Arts degree program in children’s studies. It was then sent to the CUNY Board of Trustees to vote on at their June 22 meeting.
Professor Gertrud Lenzer, founding chair of the American Sociological Association (ASA) Section on Children and Youth, and of the Children’s Studies Program and Center, was featured in the ASA newsletter on children and youth, Child & Youth News (pdf).
Professor Gertrud Lenzer spoke at the Brooklyn College memorial services for John Hope Franklin, James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of History and Professor of Legal History in the Law School at Duke University. This memorial celebrated the distinguished career of Franklin, one of the most influential historians who was also the first African American to hold the chairmanship of any academic department in the state of New York, a position that he held as full professor and chair of the Department of History at Brooklyn College from 1956 to 1964. In Memoriam: John Hope Franklin (pdf).
Children’s Studies mourns the death of John Hope Franklin. The Prince and the Orchid (pdf)
Loretta Chin, Elise Goldberg, and Joe Grochowalski participated in the Comptroller’s Citywide Taskforce meeting, “Adolescent Pregnancy, Parenting and Prevention.” Guest speaker: Senator Velmanette Montgomery, chair, Standing Committee on Children and Families.
Brooklyn College Faculty Council approved the curriculum document for a Bachelor of Arts degree program in children’s studies.
Legislation for the Office of the Child Advocate was introduced by Senator Velmanette Montgomery, chair of the Committee on Children and Families, in the New York State Senate. This legislation for an Office of the Child Advocate was originally introduced following the Children’s Studies Children and the Law Policy Symposium, held in 2004. For the latest version of the legislation, go to: http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/menuf.cgi and enter bill number S4790.
The Honorable William A. Scarborough joined Children’s Studies as an adjunct member of the faculty. He is currently speaking in several Children’s Studies classes on topics that relate to children and his work as the chair of the Committee on Children and Families in the New York State Assembly.
Ellen Fried, board member of Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS) held a private screening and discussion about the GEMS film Very Young Girls for our Perspectives on Childhood class. She spoke about GEMS and commercial exploitation.
Children’s Studies was awarded a grant from the Oak Foundation for its “Violence Against Children” project.
Loretta Chin, research coordinator, and Elise Goldberg, coordinator, Children’s Studies Program and Center, participated in the Cradle to Prison Pipeline Campaign event held at Medgar Evers College.
Children’s Studies held the Third Child Policy Forum of New York: Implementation and Monitoring of the Optional Protocol to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, at the Church Center at the United Nations. This very successful event featured prominent speakers and more than 150 attendees and led directly to the establishment of a ChildRights Working Group.
Legislation for the Office of the Child Advocate A03233 was reintroduced by Assembly Member Barbara M. Clark in the New York Assembly. This legislation for an Office of the Child Advocate was originally introduced following the Children’s Studies Children and the Law Policy Symposium, held in 2004. For the latest version of the legislation go to http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/ and enter bill number A03233.
Children’s Studies made a presentation at the Middle States Self-Study Town Hall Meeting at Brooklyn College to provide feedback to the working draft of the self-study on the Middle States re-accreditation process that the college is undergoing in preparation for the Decennial Evaluation by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, scheduled for a site visit March 29–April 1, 2009.
Assemblymember William A. Scarborough, chair of the Committee on Children and Families in the New York State Assembly and newly elected chair of the Million Fathers March Club (MFMC), invited Children’s Studies to join him at the first planning meeting of the MFMC in Queens, New York. This is the first of many such meetings and these activities will be a part of the Children’s Studies Diversity Initiatives.
Children’s Studies was awarded a grant from CUNY University Affirmative Action Committee of the Diversity Projects Development Fund for continuation of their Child Policy Forum of New York.
Brooklyn College held its bi-annual open house for incoming students. There was an excellent turnout with many disciplines in participation. Teresa Anderson, Jane Muller, and Alicia Wade, who are all children’s studies students and work in the Children’s Studies Center, represented the Children’s Studies Program and Center. They spoke as peers with many prospective students who showed great interest in children’s studies, and distributed information about the advantages of the program via posters, pamphlets, and discussion. As one student left the table, she stated, “I have chosen my concentration!” The event was a huge success.
Children’s Studies was commissioned to conduct research in “Childhood and Adolescent Bereavement” for the New York Life Foundation.
In recognition of our commitment to the Human Rights of Children, Children’s Studies was the recipient of the life work of the late Dr. Cynthia Price Cohen. She founded and was the executive director of Child Rights International Research Institute and participated in the drafting of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1983 until it was adopted by the General Assembly in 1989. We are in the planning stages of an event to acknowledge this very special gift.
Margaret-Ellen Pipe co-authored “Do Best Practice Interviews With Child Abuse Victims Influence Case Processing?” with Yael Orbach, Michael Lamb, Craig B. Abbott, and Heather Stewart.
Simone Ek, senior adviser on the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, made a very special guest lecture for Children’s Studies classes, which was shared as a campus-wide event. Visiting from Sweden, she is the leading authority on the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. During 1980–89 she was external relations director of Swedish Save the Children International in Geneva and active in the whole drafting of the convention.
Children’s Studies announced that Professor Margaret-Ellen Pipe has accepted an invitation to become a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied.
Children’s Studies launched its new course, CS 33: Children and the Law, taught by Associate Professor Angela O. Burton, Esq., a full-time faculty member at the CUNY School of Law.
Elise Goldberg was a participant and volunteer for Transfer Evaluation Day at Brooklyn College. The event was geared toward improving services to undergraduate transfer students. Approximately 100 students attended, and most left with complete transcript evaluations due to the help of college staff and volunteers.
Professor Gertrud Lenzer volunteered to lead a freshman common reading discussion group during orientation. The session involving small-group discussion of the book Interpreter of Maladies was to be the first college-level academic experience for most of the student participants.
Professor Gertrud Lenzer, as founding chair of the American Sociological Section on the Sociology of Children, was invited to and attended the Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association, Business Meeting and Sessions of the Sociology of Children and Youth Section, Boston, July 31–August 1.
Professor Margaret-Ellen Pipe became a member of the organizing committee for the conference of the International Society on the Study of Behavioral Development, Germany.
Children’s Studies’ inaugural publication of New Horizons.
Loretta Chin and Professor Gertrud Lenzer were invited to participate in an Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) Statewide Convening in Latham, N.Y., “Transforming Child Welfare Practice to Improve Outcomes: The Role of Oversight—Together Building an Effective and Efficient Accountability System.” Chin represented the Children’s Studies Center. The morning program included presentations of overviews of the existing oversight mechanisms for children within OCFS and governmental offices; the afternoon program discussed the existing legislation for the establishment of an Office of the Child Advocate in the New York State Assembly (A00304d) and in the New York State Senate (S6298a.)
Professor Gertrud Lenzer was the panel organizer and chair of “The Interdisciplinary Field of Children’s Studies at Brooklyn College: Origins, Mission, and Research Agenda,” at the international conference, Child and Youth Research in the 21st Century: A Critical Appraisal, held at the European University of Cyprus in Nicosia, Cyprus. Lenzer presented “Origins, Mission and Policy Work at the Children’s Studies Center and Program at Brooklyn College, The City University of New York” and Professor Margaret-Ellen Pipe presented “Interviewing Children About Abuse.” Joining them was Nicole Schaefer-McDaniel, previously a faculty member in the Children’s Studies Center, who presented “Children Talk About Their New York City Neighborhoods: The Role of Subjective and Objective Neighborhood Evaluations in Understanding Child Health.”
Loretta Chin served as a member of the Brooklyn College Presidential Advisory Committee on Diversity to provide input on the Brooklyn College Diversity and Inclusion Plan 2008–13.
Student volunteers from the Children’s Studies Center, Professor Gertrud Lenzer, and Elise Goldberg participated in the Brooklyn College Spring Open House. They advised many of the visiting and prospective students and their parents about the Children’s Studies Program and Center. Our special focus on children and the arts was highlighted by performances of children of our staff and students from the Suzuki Program of the Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music, whose director collaborated with us toward making this event possible.
Children’s Studies staff representatives Loretta Chin and Elise Goldberg were members of the planning committee and facilitated the participation of children’s studies students in the annual Student Affairs Civic Engagement Breakfast. Two of our students, who were single mothers, spoke about the difficulties of their situations and the effects on their children due to housing issues, financial aid issues, and the ability to attend a four-year college while receiving public assistance.
Professor Gertrud Lenzer was a panelist on “Right to Participation in Education System” at the Columbia University Child Rights Working Group’s all-day conference The Child Right to Participation: Ethical Challenges, held at Columbia Law School.
Loretta Chin, by special invitation, participated as a member of a group of students, staff, and faculty who met with CUNY University Dean of Recruitment and Diversity Henry Davis to discuss and provide input for the university’s Strategic Priorities and Initiatives Plan for Inclusive Excellence.
Professor Margaret-Ellen Pipe gave an invitational address, “Investigating Child Abuse,” to the counseling supervisors at Pace University at the end-of-year function.
Professor Margaret-Ellen Pipe gave the keynote address, “Interviewing Young Children About Abuse: What Can We Expect Them to Remember and Recount?” at the conference of the Association for Early Childhood and Infant Psychologists, Pace University.
Classroom guest lecture by Judge Bryanne Hamill, Brooklyn Family Court. The judge discussed her career path to becoming a Family Court judge in Kings County, and led a very interactive discussion on the different aspects of cases that come before her and how the legal system is applied in each case.
Elise Goldberg served as a member of the Brooklyn College Campaign for Student Success Plan, which was created as a response to the student advisement area of the CUNY Executive Vice Chancellor’s “University Targets” initiative to improve communications and advisement of students.
Professor Margaret-Ellen Pipe was a presenter and co-author of two papers at the American Psychology-Law Society conference, in Jacksonville, Florida: “Do Best-practice Interviews Have an Impact on Case Outcomes?” and “Show Me on the Drawing Where She Touched You: The Impact of Interview Technique and Delay on Children’s Recall of Bodily Touch.”
Professor Gertrud Lenzer gave testimony before New York State Assembly Committee on Higher Education on “Examining the New York State Higher Education Preliminary Report and Its Initial Recommendations,” New York City.
Professor Gertrud Lenzer was personally invited by Judge Judith S. Kaye, chief judge of the State of New York Court of Appeals and Chair of the Commission on Justice for Children, to attend the New York State Bar Association Annual Meeting, Presidential Summit: Breaking the Cycle for Youth at Risk, moderated by Judge Kaye.
Children’s Studies was awarded a grant from the CUNY University Affirmative Action Committee of the Diversity Projects Development Fund for continuation of its Child Policy Forum of New York.
Professor Gertrud Lenzer convened and moderated the second Child Policy Forum of New York: “The Campaign for United States Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child” to a capacity audience of students, faculty, elected officials, and invited guests in the Woody Tanger Auditorium. The Children’s Studies Center, in collaboration with other constituents within Brooklyn College and the City University of New York, took the lead to organize and host the only such event in the New York City area.
Professor Gertrud Lenzer was chair, Charles R. Lawrence II Memorial Lecture, and organizer of the Thirteenth Charles R. Lawrence II Memorial Lecture, “Popular Power in a Globalizing World,” with Frances Fox Piven, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Sociology, Graduate School and University Center, CUNY.
Professor Gertrud Lenzer was invited to present at the Second Annual CUNY Black Male Initiative Conference. Her presentation was entitled: “Focus on the State of Black Education: Investing in the Next Generation of African American Students” (manuscript in preparation for publication). She was also moderator of the panel discussion: “Challenges Facing African American Male Students, Pre-Kindergarten to High School.”
Classroom guest lecture by Victor Karunan, chief, Adolescent Development and Participation (ADAP) Division of Policy and Practice, UNICEF Headquarters, New York. Karunan visited the Children’s Studies class, Perspectives on Childhood, taught by Professor Gertrud Lenzer. He discussed the work of UNICEF and more specifically ADAP.
