THE GRADUATE CENTER, CUNY: 365 Fifth

Newsbriefs

Conference on Italian Fashion

A conference on October 30-31, "Italian Fashion: Identities, Transformations, Production," explored the role that fashion has played in the past, and in the contemporary world, in shaping identities‹and as a manifestation of Italy's cultural and artistic wealth. Pictured above in a panel, "Italy/Creativity: A Source of Inspiration," are the designers Ernesto Esposito and Anna Sui. The conference was organized by Eugenia Paulicelli, professor of comparative literature at The Graduate Center and Queens College. It was co-sponsored by The Graduate Center's Women's Studies Program, the Italian Cultural Institute, and the Italian Trade Commission.

Grants Awarded

Following is a list of grants received in June and July 2002. In June, The Graduate Center received one award of $3,237; in July it received 17 awards totaling $1,041,699. Below is a list of principle investigators and awards, including all grants received through the Office of Sponsored Research.

June

Johanna Warshaw (Anthropology), Leakey Foundation: Primate and Mammalian Bone Microstructure ($3,237)

July

Paul Attewell and David Lavin (Sociology), Andrew W. Mellon Foundation: The Long-Term Consequences of Higher Education for Disadvantaged Women: A Supplemental Request ($50,000 increase)

Theodore Brown (CUNY Institute for Software Design and Development), Standard & Poor's/McGraw Hill: Development Grant Between Standard & Poor's and CISDD ($19,000)

Dee Clayman (Classics), Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation: Database of Classical Bibliography ($25,000)

Marilyn Gittell and Charles Price (Howard Samuels State Management and Policy Center), The Annie E. Casey Foundation: Welfare Reform and the College Option: Lessons Learned ($28,000)

Robert Haralick (Computer Science), Aish HaTorah: Torah Codes ($5,500 increase)

Barbara Martinsons (Center for the Study of Women and Society), Racolin Foundation: The Community and College Fellowship: Re-entry Program for Ex-offenders ($74,000 increase)

Ricardo Otheguy and Gita Martohardjono (Research Institute for the Study of Language in Urban Society, in collaboration with Queens College), Rockefeller Brothers Fund: Supporting Language Skills in Immigrant Pre-Schoolers: An Innovative, Structure-Based Intervention Program ($50,000)

Susan Saegert (Center for Human Environments), Urban Homesteading Assistance Board: Connecting Low-Income Communities to Develop Digital Age Skills ($15,000)

Brian Schwartz and Gail Smith (Institutional), Irene Diamond Fund: CUNY Pipeline/Diamond Fellowship Program ($79,261 increase)

Gerald Sider and Christopher Lawrence (Anthropology), National Science Foundation: Doctoral Dissertation Research: Globalization, Gender, and Inequality in Rural Greece ($12,000)

Gail Smith (Office of Expanded Educational Opportunity), CUNY: Seminar on Mentoring ($1,100)

Alisa Solomon (Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies), Andrew Goodman Foundation: Histories of Activism Studies ($2,000); New York Council for the Humanities: Queer as What ($1,200); and the Ford Foundation: International Resource Network ($100,000)

Mike Wallace (Gotham Center for New York City History), Booth Ferris Foundation: Teaching NYC History K-12 ($50,000 increase)

Thomas Weiss (Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies), Government of Norway: A Future-Oriented Intellectual History of the UN on the World Economy ($79,638) and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation: Creation of the Inter-University Consortium on Security and Migration ($450,000)

Photos: Branan Edgens

SPECIAL SECTION:
Campaign for The Graduate Center
click here

Rohatyn Honored at Gala Dinner to Benefit The Graduate Center

Ambassador Felix Rohatyn received the President's Medal from President Frances Degen Horowitz

On October 15, Felix G. Rohatyn, former U.S. ambassador to France and current president of Rohatyn Associates LLC, was honored at the Fourth Annual Foundation Dinner. The event, attended by board members, contributors, and friends of The Graduate Center, successfully raised nearly half a million dollars for the institution.

Rohatyn is best known for his enlightened leadership of the Municipal Assistance Corporation, which is credited with saving New York City from financial ruin in the 1970s and providing stabilizing oversight into the 1990s. In addition to serving as U.S. ambassador to France from 1997 to 2000, Rohatyn has been a global ambassador for the integrity and viability of American capitalism in diverse public and private roles.

After an introduction, "Felix G. Rohatyn: A New Yorker for New York," given by history Ph.D. candidate Lucas Waltzer, President Frances Degen Horowitz awarded Rohatyn with the President's Medal. It was inscribed to him, "For Your Visionary Contributions to New York."

"Time and again you have joined your voice with deeds designed to keep intact the delicate social fabric of our society when dealing with even the most severe fiscal challenges," she said. "Time and again you have been prescient in seeing what others could not or would not see."

Rohatyn then gave a speech, "New York City's Role as the Financial Capital of the World," in which he assessed the current economic climate. "I do not recall a period of greater gloom in the financial community," he said, comparing these times to the 1970s, when there was a war in the Middle East, the stock market had collapsed, and New York City was on the verge of bankruptcy. Now, we face similar challenges, he said, and how the U.S. deals with Iraq will have a dramatic impact on the domestic economy.

Dinner in the Dining Commons.

"Our national economy is fundamentally on the wrong track," said Rohatyn, painting a picture in which recent corporate scandals, in addition to the threat of war, may be putting the future of American capitalism in jeopardy. "The most important issue facing our country today is the issue of fairness," he said. "I am a capitalist, and I believe that market capitalism is the best economic system ever invented for the creation of wealth, but it must be fair, it must be regulated, and it must be ethical."

Marian and Andrew Heiskell served as honorary chairs of the event. Co-chairs were Richard I. Beattie, chairman, executive committee, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett; Amabel B. James, chair, board of trustees, The Graduate Center Foundation; Martin Lipton, senior partner, Wachtel Lipton Rosen & Katz; Henry A. McKinnell, chairman of the board & CEO, Pfizer, Inc.; and Bernard L. Schwartz, chairman & CEO, Loral Space & Communications. Provost William Kelly was master of ceremonies.

Photos: Don Pollard.

"Sidney Hook Reconsidered: A Centennial Celebration"



Photos: Wayne Geist

A conference, "Sidney Hook Reconsidered: A Centennial Celebration," presented by the Center for the Humanities, was held on October 25-26, featuring multiple panel discussions on one of America's most controversial public philosophers. Participants in a roundtable, "Sidney Hook: Between Philosophy and Politics," were (clockwise from top left) Cornel West, Princeton University; Christopher Phelps, Ohio State University-Mansfield; John Patrick Diggins, The Graduate Center; Robert Westbrook, University of Rochester (moderator); and Robert Talisse, Vanderbilt University. A keynote address, "Charting the Intellectual Career of Sidney Hook: Five Major Steps," was given by David Sidorsky of Columbia University. The conference was cosponsored by the Ph.D. Programs in English, History, and Philosophy and was organized by Matthew Cotter, a student in the history program.

Spanish Literary Events

On February 7 and 8, 2003, at The Graduate Center, the International Congress "Miguel Delibes" will pay tribute to one of Spain's most outstanding contemporary literary figures. The Junta de Castilla y León (The Autonomous Community of Castile and León) has organized this congress in collaboration with the University of Valladolid and The Graduate Center's Ph.D. Program in Hispanic & Luso-Brazilian Literatures. Focusing on prose and ideas of Delibes, the congress will include theater and film presentations and a concurrent bio-bibliographical exhibition. Other events organized with the Junta de Castilla y León have included a symposium on Teaching Spanish in the US: Challenges and Opportunities, which took place September 27-28. A series of four seminars on textual criticism was also initiated this fall, with the support of the Junta de Castilla y León and the Fundación Duques de Soria. The first was taught and coordinated by John O'Neill, curator of manuscript and rare books of the Hispanic Society of America.

In Memoriam

E. Allen McCormick, a former professor of German at The Graduate Center, died on October 22 of leukemia. He was 77. McCormick received his Ph.D. in 1951 from the University of Berne, Switzerland, and taught German and comparative literature for 40 years at institutions including the University of Michigan, Princeton University, Harvard University, Brown University, and Dartmouth College. He was chair of the Comparative Literature Department at Queens College from 1970 to 1974 and executive officer of the German program at The Graduate Center from 1980 to 1992. McCormick was a life-time member of the Modern Language Association, and his publications include the German textbook, Lebendige Literatur, and many articles in academic journals and encyclopedias. Most recenlty, he was chief editor of Studies in European Thought, a 20-volume compendium that was completed last year.