All,
As we come to the close of the academic year, I want to introduce two new colleagues who will help the Graduate Center broaden its reach.
One of our key goals as a school, expressed in our Strategic Plan, is broadening our impact by teaching new subjects and attracting new, diverse kinds of students in master’s degree programs and new non-degree programs. We’ve already made strong progress on the master’s front in 2017-18, with six new degrees approved by New York State. Now over five hundred strong, our master’s students have dedicated staff and space (the lounge in 7405). GC doctoral students now work as advisers for students in the Master’s of Arts in Liberal Studies program. We established several scholarships for MALS students this year and next year will also offer a similar number to students in programs outside of MALS. We created an annual fund to support master’s students travel and research.
Now I am very happy to announce the arrival of Professor Julie Chi-hye Suk, currently Professor of Law at the Cardozo School of Law – Yeshiva University, as Dean for Master’s Programs and Professor of Sociology, with affiliations with Liberal Studies and Political Science. She will work with program directors to meet master’s students’ needs in a systematic way and to advocate for their distinctive interests. With a law degree from Yale and master’s and doctoral degrees in Politics from Oxford, she will bring an interdisciplinary background to her work with faculty at the Graduate Center encouraging curricular creativity and experimentation. Her years of experience in law schools will help her relate to students who seek a master’s degree to enrich their professional paths. Her commitment to the liberal arts, expressed in her wide-ranging, cross-disciplinary record of publications, makes her an ideal advocate for students in all disciplines across the arts and sciences. As a scholar of gender, race, and class inequality, Professor Suk possesses intellectual passions that match her commitment to diversity and to the public mission of CUNY.
Master’s students are one important growing group we are welcoming into the GC. Our vision embraces other audiences as well. We have skills and knowledge to offer that transcend traditional courses or degrees and that draw new people through our doors.
I am very happy to announce that Brian Peterson joins us on June 1 as Dean for Academic Initiatives and Strategic Innovation. A seasoned administrator who played a key role in building the CUNY School of Professional Studies, he will lead new academic programming, including an enlarged CUNY BA, certificates, hybrid courses, and non-degree offerings. Working closely with faculty and staff, he will develop innovative educational experiences that will serve diverse partners including city agencies and NGOs — with whom the Graduate Center already has a range of ties and he has deep experience. Second, he will support the Graduate Center’s Executive Officers, program directors, and other academic and administrative leaders to improve our strategic planning and implementation. Third, he will establish relations between the Graduate Center and international institutions, allowing for greater numbers of international students to join us and smoothing the way for our doctoral students to study and do research abroad.
I want to express gratitude for the diligence and commitment of the current master’s programs’ administrators, both faculty and staff, as well as the designers and directors of our new programs. I also want to thank those faculty who have worked above and beyond to create and support internships, summer institutes, and other unconventional experiences for all our graduate students. Finally, I want to express my sincere gratitude to Interim Dean for Master’s Programs and Professor of Sociology Julia Wrigley, who has brought her wisdom and deep knowledge of CUNY to the assistance of students and faculty for the past year.
With a growing master’s population and a range of new programs, the Graduate Center is moving into new terrain while at the same time we work harder to improve doctoral education. With the goal firmly in my mind of better serving all students and faculty, I am excited by the prospect of these additions to our strengths. I am delighted to welcome new Deans Julie Suk and Brian Peterson to the Graduate Center.
Best wishes for a restful and recuperative summer.
From the Provost - Archive
Joy Connolly is the Provost and Senior Vice President at the Graduate Center. As the institution’s chief academic officer, she ensures the quality and performance of all degree-granting programs. Her current priorities include opening up the Graduate Center to larger numbers of the public, including masters students, who seek access to the GC’s intellectual strengths; developing creative non-degree programs; strengthening global partnerships; lifting the GC’s distinctive public-facing profile; and fostering innovation and experimentation in graduate education.
Before joining the Graduate Center in August 2016, Connolly was the Dean for the Humanities and Professor of Classics at New York University, where she was responsible for about 400 faculty in close to 30 departments, programs, centers, and institutes. Previously, as the Director of NYU’s College Core Curriculum, she put in place a post-doctoral program that featured workshops for graduate students on pedagogy and practical preparation for the job market. Earlier in her career, she taught at the University of Washington and at Stanford.
Connolly’s research focuses on Roman ideas about aesthetics, communication, ethics and political action, particularly as they relate to the 18th century and the contemporary world. Her first book, The State of Speech (Princeton, 2007), examined the role of communication in Roman ideals of citizenship. The Life of Roman Republicanism (Princeton, 2014) analyzed key themes in Roman thought: freedom, recognition, antagonism, self-knowledge, irony, and imagination. Connolly is also the author of Going on the Market, a handbook available on line that helps students navigate graduate school as well as the job-application and post-doctoral fellowship processes. Along with scholarly articles and book chapters, she has written reviews for the Times Literary Supplement, The Nation and The New York Times Book Review.
Connolly earned her AB from Princeton University and her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. She first studied classical literature and culture at Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts, and is a member of the School’s board of trustees.
Email: jconnolly@gc.cuny.edu
Phone: (212) 817-7229
Reporting to the Provost and serving as deputy, the Associate Provost and Dean for Academic Affairs assists in supervising a variety of administrative and fiscal areas, including all doctoral and master’s programs, interdisciplinary studies, the certificate programs, students’ professional development, the Graduate Assistant Programs, annual dissertation awards competition, oversight of the CUNY Performance Management Process (PMP) annual reports for GC goals and outcomes, and the Language Reading Program. The Associate Provost and Dean for Academic affairs also plays a key leadership role in the Humanities, Social Science and Science Discipline clusters, and is a significant partner in the implementation of the Graduate Center’s Strategic Plan.
Email: dolan@gc.cuny.edu
Phone: (212) 817-7205
Reporting to the Provost, the Dean for the Sciences oversees all of the science doctoral programs (including the health science programs). The Dean for the Sciences also monitors admissions and the 5-year student fellowship packages offered by the joint doctoral degree programs in the bench sciences, and plays a leadership role in the Science Discipline cluster.
Email: jbrumberg@gc.cuny.edu
Phone: (212) 817-7215
Bazan, Margarita
Associate Director for Academic Operations
Rm 8113.07
(212) 817-7238
Brumberg, Joshua
Dean for the Sciences
Rm 8111.03
(212) 817-7215
Joy Connolly
Provost and Senior Vice President
Rm 8113.03
(212) 817-7200
Doneger, Myra
CUNY Administrative Assistant
Rm 8111
(212) 817-7288
Ellis, Anne
Director of Graduate Assistant Programs/
Special Assistant to the
Associate Provost and Dean for Humanities and Social Sciences
Rm 8113.09
(212) 817-7284
Ellis, Edward
CUNY Administrative Assistant
Rm 8113
(212) 817-7244
Fish, Barbara L.
Director of Faculty Administration and Academic Information Systems
Rm 8113.06
(212) 817-7228
Gayle, Tamra L.
Administrative Executive Coordinator
Rm 8113
(212) 817-7205
Jiménez, Olga
College Assistant
Rm 8113
(212) 817-7239
Kinger, Mansha
CUNY Office Assistant
Rm 8113
(212) 817-7237
Maldonado, Rosa A.
Academic Operations Specialist
Rm 8111.05
212-817-7287
Modica, Stacy
Assistant to the Provost
Rm 8113.15
(212) 817-7229
Olan, David
Associate Provost and Dean for Academic Affairs
Rm 8113.11
(212) 817-7205
Peterson, Brian
Dean for Academic Initiatives and Strategic Innovation
Rm 8111.02
(212) 817-7209
Sponzo, Rachel
Associate Director of Student Research Fellowships
Rm 8113.14
(212) 817-7282
Tiongson, Stacie
Executive Director of Academic Affairs
Rm 8113.04
(212) 817-7226
Wong, Steven
Assistant Director of Faculty Administration and Academic Information Systems
Rm 8110
(212) 817-7286