Summer Update

Dear Graduate Center community,

It was wonderful to hold an in-person commencement ceremony a few weeks ago and celebrate more than 430 graduates of the classes of 2020, 2021, and 2022. I was glad to see many of you there and have an opportunity to thank the faculty mentors who guided our graduates in reaching this milestone. If you weren’t able to attend the ceremony, I hope you caught some of the excitement on social media, and invite you to watch the ceremony and see the photos.

Opening our doors
Less than a week after Commencement and in collaboration with CUNY TV, the Graduate Center hosted the New York debut of the Colour of Music Festival. This ongoing festival showcases the talents of classical musicians and composers of African descent. It is a true celebration of diversity and inclusion, and its New York premiere presented the perfect occasion to resume live concerts in the Elebash Recital Hall. The stirring concert, which you can enjoy on CUNY TV, gives a taste of what’s to come as we return to live performances by our own students and visiting artists in the coming year.

We also had the privilege of hosting in the James Gallery the Songwriters Hall of Fame Songwriting Experience, a new traveling exhibit curated by the Grammy Museum. This interactive exhibit celebrates the work and lives of legendary songwriters such as Smokey Robinson, Carole King, and Woodie Guthrie.

Watch for news about our full slate of exhibitions, performances, and public programs that you can experience this fall.

Kudos to Graduate Center faculty, students, and alumni

We recently announced the marvelous gift of $2 million from MacKenzie Scott to College Access: Research and Action, or CARA, at the Graduate Center. CARA helps first-generation college students, low-income students, and students of color enroll in and persist through college and other post-secondary opportunities. CARA grew out of academic work at the Graduate Center by its alumnae founders, Janice Bloom and Lori Chajet. The transformative gift is a tribute to their remarkable leadership.

Congratulations to Presidential Professor Phil Kasinitz, who has been awarded the Distinguished Career Award from the International Migration section of American Sociological Association (ASA), and to Professor Margaret Chin, who is a co-winner of the Max Weber Book Award from the Organizations, Occupations, and Work section of ASA for her book Stuck: Why Asian Americans Don’t Reach the Top of the Corporate Ladder. We also congratulate the four Art History students who have been awarded prestigious fellowships from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institute. Many more awards and achievements are shared on the Graduate Center website news feed and on Twitter. Take a look!

Welcoming our new and returning students this fall
We are looking forward to welcoming our new students to the Graduate Center and to welcoming back all of you. Program orientations will begin in just a couple of weeks. Campus orientation events will be held on Monday, August 22, and classes begin Thursday, August 25.

We are very fortunate to attract such talented students to our programs and to have the opportunity to guide them on their graduate degree journeys. We also know how important it is for new students to feel welcome, meet the new and continuing students in their programs, learn where to go and whom to see for student support services, and begin engaging with the faculty. Thanks in advance for being present and available to them as we begin the fall semester.

One more thing …
As a reminder, we continue to follow the CUNY COVID-19 policies. Please refer to our updated and streamlined COVID guidelines and resources. We also continue to encourage everyone to get the vaccination boosters for which they are eligible, and to remember that wearing a mask provides added protection against both contracting and transmitting the virus.

With best wishes,

Robin L. Garrell
President