CWE Relocates to Financial District, Re-Launches Web Site

The Center for Worker Education will relocate in August to the historic CunardBuilding at 25 Broadway in the Financial District. CWE will occupy 44,000 square feet of space on the seventh floor, including classrooms, seminar rooms, a computer lab, student lounge and 150-seat auditorium. The new location puts CWE in close proximity to 15 subway lines, PATH trains to New Jersey and the Staten Island Ferry. Its current home at 99 Hudson St. in Tribeca is to become residential condominiums. A $640,000 grant from the New York City Council will help pay for technology upgrades and new equipment for CWE’s media and film courses.  Also, CWE recently re-launched its website at http://www.ccny.cuny.edu/cwe. New features of the web site include student and alumni profiles, CWE news and events, staff and faculty profiles and directory, as well as CWE history and fun facts. More about this story

Sophie Davis, Engineering Students Making Difference Over Spring Break
Eighteen students from the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education and the CCNY Chapter of Engineers Without Borders will spend spring break making a difference, working on projects in New Orleans and Honduras, respectively. The 15 Sophie Davis students, led by Anne Dembitzer, Professor of Community Health and Social Medicine, will perform general volunteer work in the hurricane-devastated CrescentCity during their stay. A grant from the Arnold P. Gold Foundation is supporting the trip. Three members of Engineers Without Borders, accompanies by Beth Wittig, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, and Cliff Gold, P.E., a CCNY Civil Engineering alumnus, will conduct assessment work for a water collection, treatment and distribution system that the newly formed group is designing for Nueva Suiza, a small village in a mountainous region of Honduras. Funding for their trip was made possible by grants from The Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies, the Grove School of Engineering, the CCNY Alumni Association and the CCNY Auxiliary Enterprise Committee. More about this story

Undergrad Psych Major Attends Prestigious Yale Conference

Undergraduate psychology major and City College Fellow Jen Lyne, ’07, attended the prestigious Psychoanalytic Research Training Program at YaleUniversity last month. She is the first undergraduate ever to participate in the seminar, which normally accepts only advanced doctoral candidates and other professionals. The program provides a collaborative environment in which participants are mentored by leading psychoanalysts in designing psychoanalytically relevant research. It is co-sponsored by the AnnaFreudCenter at University College London and Yale’s ChildStudyCenter. In addition, Ms. Lyne was invited to participate in the ongoing research of the YaleCenter’s “Minding the Baby” project, an intervention program for at-risk parent developed by CCNY Professor of Psychology Arietta Slade and Dr. Lois Sadler, both of whom are on the Center’s faculty. She currently is working with Professor Slade to develop a study proposal. Before enrolling at CCNY, Ms. Lyne was a Hollywood talent agent. She currently is a screenwriter with EUE/Screen Gems and is president of the City College Psychology Club.

CCNY Team Earns 3^rd Place in Cardiology Meeting Competition
Yuliya Vengenyuk, a graduate student in the CUNY-CCNY Biomedical Engineering PhD program and Savvas Xanthos, an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, took third place honors in a Young Investigators Award competition at the AmericanCollege of Cardiologists 55^th Annual Meeting last month in Atlanta. Their paper was one of 15 selected from hundreds of submissions for oral presentation at the prestigious final competition. The paper was also presented as a poster entitled a “New Hypothesis for Vulnerable Plaque Rupture.” The research team headed by Distinguished Professor Sheldon Weinbaum is investigating a new hypothesis proposed by Professor Weinbaum that minute cellular level calcifications or iron deposits in the thin fibrous caps that overly soft lipid lesions are the cause of cap rupture. This rupture, which is then followed by a life threatening thrombotic event, is the single largest cause of death in the U. S. The team plans to publish its findings, which could provide insights into vulnerable plaque detection and future treatment, later this year.

Two CCNY Science Professors Receive NSF Career Grants
Assistant Professor of Chemistry Iban Ubarretxena-Belandia and Assistant Professor of Physics Carlos A. Meriles, have received CAREER grants from the National Science Foundation. Professor Ubarretxena plans to investigate the molecular basis for regulated intra-membrane proteolysis, a signal transduction mechanism that is directly involved in many forms of cancer as well as the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease. The five-year funding for Professor Ubarretxena’s project, “Biochemical and Structural Characterization of Intramembrane Proteases,” totals $934,363, with a year one appropriation of $115,133. Professor Meriles’ project, “Long-Range Dipolar Fields as a Tool for Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Microscopy” has been authorized for $587,000 over five years. The year one appropriation is $147,000. Professor Meriles’ investigation aims to develop techniques for using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to analyze the chemical composition of single cells and functions of cellular components.  More about this story

Music Professor Sheila Jordan Wins MAC Award
Legendary jazz vocalist Sheila Jordan, an Adjunct Professor in the Music Department, is this year’s winner of the Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs (MAC) Lifetime Achievement Award. Past award winners include Liza Minnelli, Joan Rivers, and The Manhattan Transfer. Ms. Jordan will be honored at the 20^th Annual MAC Awards show at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center at Borough of Manhattan Community College, 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 17. Tickets are $45-$160. Call (212) 220-1460 for details. More about this story

Latino Alumni Honor Guillermo Linares, David Diaz
Guillermo Linares, ’75, and David Diaz, ’65, will receive the Simon Bolivar Award at the CCNY Latino Alumni Group’s First Career Achievement Award Dinner, April 24. Mr. Linares is New York City Commissioner for Immigrant Affairs. In 1991, he became the first Dominican-American to hold public office in the United States when he was elected to the New York City Council. Mr. Diaz ’65, an Emmy award-winning broadcast journalist is Distinguished Lecturer in the Political Science and Media and Communication Arts departments at The City College. The ceremony will be held in the Faculty Dining Room starting with a reception at 6 p.m. Tickets are $30. For more information, write to liaison@mail.alumniassociationccny.org. 

Wingate Fitness Center Reopens
Just in time for spring, the WingateFitnessCenter has reopened after a year of renovation work. Replete with an indoor track and all the standard fitness equipment, the gym, on the third floor of Wingate Hall, is open to The City College community 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. - 7 p.m. Monday to Thursday, and 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. on Fridays. Admission is free but a medical clearance, available from the Wellness and Counseling Office in Room 15, MarshakScienceBuilding, is required. With the opening of the HoffmanStudentCenter last January, the upcoming reopening of the Game Room in early May, and current work on the Graduate Student Lounge and badly-needed student space in Baskerville, the College is on-track to creating the extracurricular student space that our students deserve.

Dominican Studies Institute Receives Activist’s Documents
The Dominican Archives of the CUNY-Dominican Studies Institute has received a collection of historical documents pertaining to Hope R. Stevens, noted Harlem lawyer and civil rights activist. Mr. Stevens, a native of Tortola, British Virgin Islands, who was raised in the island of Nevis was a key figure in the pro-independence movement of several Caribbean islands including Barbados, Saint Kitts, and Nevis. He passed away in 1982. The collection consists of papers, photographs, correspondence, notes, and memorabilia associated with Mr. Stevens’ professional work, as well as his civic and social life from the 1930s to the late 1970s. A surviving son, Anthony R. Stevens-Acevedo, who is the Institute’s acting Assistant Director, donated the collection. More about this story

$500G NOAA Grant to Boost Underrepresented Minority Participation in Research
The City College of New York (CCNY) has received a $499,314 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to introduce undergraduate students to applied research applications. The grant, one of five awarded by the federal agency for an “Environmental Demonstration Project,” is part of an initiative to develop and enhance educational opportunities at minority-serving institutions. More about this story

Volleyball Team Falls in NECVA Tourney First Round; Spring Sports Underway
Men’s Volleyball:  The 16^th seeded Beavers lost to first-seeded Stevens Tech, three games to zero, in the first round of the NECVA Tournament. HunterCollege bested CCNY, three games to zero in the CUNYAC semifinals. The Beavers finished their season 14-14 overall and 10-5 in the CUNYAC. Sophomore Rafael Jerez and junior Malcolm Jerome led the team in digs and kills, respectively. Baseball:  The 6-15 Beavers have won their last five, defeating Mitchell, Yeshiva (three times) and USMMA. They play SUNY New Paltz at home 3 p.m. Tuesday. Outdoor Track & Field: The men’s 4x100 relay team qualified for the ECAC championship with a strong showing at the Richard Stockton invite, March 25. At the same event, Jola Jegede-Jide, Antonete Brown and Miranda Munro finished 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd respectively in the women’s 100-meter dash. Men’s Tennis: New Head Coach Eric Stone’s team debuted with a 1-7 loss to Yeshiva, March 23. The team, which is 1-5 overall and 1-1 in the CUNYAC, faces USMMA in its next home match, April 20. Lacrosse Club:  Fordham defeated the 0-2 Beavers 1-12 on March 23. The Beavers face SUNY New Paltz at home 12 noon April 22 at the GoldmanCenter. Complete sports:

From the President

One important initiative begins when school opens again after spring break: OurSpace.CCNY.  I know that many of you share my happy conviction that, through the efforts of so many in the College community, our campus has become cleaner and more beautiful over the past few years. The famous math huts have been replaced by the great lawn of Shepard Hall. Four out of five land-marked Neo-Gothic buildings have lost their scaffolding and drapery, and Compton-Goethals is not far behind. Faculty and student lounges have been created and more are to come. The NAC lobby has been spruced up. Obviously there is more to do, but I am pleased that we have come this far. 

I ask all of you to take the beautification of the environment that we live in so many hours a day to the next level. No matter how diligent our custodial staff is, with more than 15,000 people “living here,” it cannot possibly pick up after everyone. All of us need to pitch in. This is our space.  When you return from break, you will see OurSpace posters around campus urging everyone to pitch in, and you will begin to hear about additional initiatives designed to make our home-away-from-home look its best. I am counting on everyone to join me in this endeavor; we as a community have everything to gain.  

I wish all of you a joyous holiday, whatever you celebrate, and look forward to seeing you on our first day back, April 24, at noon in The Great Hall, when we award an Honorary Doctorate to CCNY’s newest Nobel Laureate, Dr. Robert Aumann.

Gregory H. Williams

138^th @Convent is produced by The Office of Communications at The City College of New York. We welcome your comments & suggestions for stories; please email eletter@ccny.cuny.edu.