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John Jay Magazine
FALL 2008
EDUCATING FOR JUSTICE
John Jay College
THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
of Criminal Justice
 
JohnJayCollege
T H E C I T Y U N I V E R S I T Y O F N E W Y O R K
of Criminal Justice
PRESIDENT
Jeremy travis
, . . . . . . I . .
President’s Letter 
Reflections on a prize
M
C
Nair Scholars:Tenacity anddedicationTurning lives around
Improving the Odds forPrisoner Reentry
On the road toMoroccothe brookly bridge
125 Years of Visual andLiterary Magic
The boys of summer 
The 1978 Championship seasonat John Jay
Planned Giving Alumni Worth Noting Alumni Notes
1248111417232427
CONTENTS
John Jay Magazine
EDUCATING FOR JUSTICE
Dear friends of John Jay College,These are exciting times at John Jay. Two years ago, we launched a transformation of the College, which today is on track andon schedule. We are changing our student profile, by phasing out our associate degree programs, establishing educationalpartnerships with the community colleges, and raising the College’s admission standards. This fall, we admitted 1,414 freshmanbaccalaureate students, a 43.9% increase over two years ago. This is an impressive accomplishment that speaks to the powerfulappeal of a John Jay education.We have also launched an ambitious faculty hiring initiative, with welcome support from CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein.In fall 2004, John Jay had 338 full-time faculty; in fall 2008, we have 424 full-time faculty, a 25% increase in four years. This fall,we welcomed 38 new full-time faculty to our community. They are impressive. They earned their doctorates at some of thebest universities in the world, value John Jay’s distinctive interdisciplinary environment, and embrace the opportunity to teachJohn Jay’s highly-motivated, justice-oriented students.At the core of the transformation is the enrichment of our academic programs. We have already added majors in Economicsand English. Many more majors are under development, including majors in Gender Studies, Global History, Philosophy, andLatin American Studies. These liberal arts majors will be distinctive because they are offered at John Jay. Each will speak toour mission of “educating for justice.”This year, we will approve a new Honors Program, reform our General Education requirements, launch an academic advisementinitiative, design a First Year Experience, expand our freshman learning communities, and engage our faculty in helping ourstudents decide upon their majors.As a result of these complementary initiatives, John Jay will take its place in the top tier of the nation’s educational and researchinstitutions, while retaining our distinctive focus on criminal and social justice, and graduating students who are prepared forchallenging careers in a complex world.This issue of the
John Jay Magazine
highlights the strengths of our College. This year, for the second time, a John Jay professorwon the Pulitzer Prize. Professor John Matteson, who won the prize for biography, shares his thoughts on receiving thisremarkable honor. Our McNair Scholars, young people motivated to pursue undergraduateresearch and graduate degrees, give us a glimpse of how their lives have changed becauseof this program. Experts in the field of prisoner reentry offer their thoughts on thesignificance of John Jay’s Prisoner Reentry Institute.This past summer, the College launched its first faculty-led study-abroad programs.Students who participated in the program in Morocco share their insights and reactions.We also celebrate the Brooklyn Bridge through the eyes of Professor Richard Haw,who published a book on the topic, and reminisce with the baseball team of 1978 aboutJohn Jay’s first championship season. Finally, we catch up with alumni who are making theirmark across our nation.In these uncertain economic times, it is particularly important that I express appreciationfor your continuing support of the College. We remain committed to our core mission of“educating for justice.” With your help, we will continue to tackle some of society’s difficultchallenges, and prepare a new generation of leaders.
Jeremy Travis
President
Jeremy Travis
Vice PresidentInstitutional Advancement
Tova Friedler 
Executive Director of Communications& Editor
Christine Godek 
Senior Writer
Jennifer Nislow 
Contributing Writers
Peter DodenhoffSharon JohnsonJohn MattesonMarie Rosen
Photography Coordinator
Doreen Viñas
Alumni Contributor
Sharice Conway 
Production Coordinator
Kathy Willis
Designer
JRenacia 
John Jay Magazine is a publicationof the Department of InstitutionalAdvancement, published twice a yearand distributed free to alumni andfriends of John Jay College ofCriminal Justice.
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8 9 9 T E N T H AV E N U E N E W Y O R K , N Y 1 0 0 1 9 T. 2 1 2 . 2 3 7 . 8 6 0 0 F. 2 1 2 . 2 3 7 . 8 6 0 7 J T R AV I S @ J J AY. C U N Y. E D U
Cover: Peter de Séve,
Liberty,
1998.©Peter de SèveThis page:Top: Tavik Frantisek Simon,
New York-Brooklyn Bridge,
1927.From the author’s collectionRight: Anonymous,
Construction of the Anchorage,
n.d. (Detail)Courtesy of the Institute Archives andSpecial Collections, Folsom Library,Rensselaer Polytechnic University
 
One ofthe truly remarkablethings aboutlife in America isour capacity to re-inventourselves.One way or another,just abouteveryone who wantsonegets a secondchance.
When I was a kid, I used to enjoy readingnewspaper stories about newly anointedNobel Prize winners. My favorite parts tendedto be the photographs. Because of the timedifference with Stockholm, the prizes alwaysseemed to be announced around breakfasttime in America, meaning that the press hereusually descended on unsuspecting winnerswhen they were still in their pajamas. I got akick out of seeing the pictures of greateconomists and chemists blinking into acamera lens, obviously elated but also a bitbothered that they had just arrived atimmortality in a bathrobe and slippers.Now, a Pulitzer Prize is not a Nobel, thoughI’m flattered when people mix them up. Forthe record, they don’t hand out Nobels forbiographies, so I have no hope of evergetting one, even if I were that good, so aPulitzer is about as high as I can go. In anycase, I was very glad on April 7 that thePulitzer Prizes were announced at three in theafternoon and that, when the photographercame, I happened to be wearing a tie.It all happened, marvelously enough, whenChancellor Goldstein was addressing acollege-wide faculty meeting in the lobby ofthe John Jay College theater. He hadconcluded his remarks and was fieldingquestions when I felt a tap on my shoulder.“You have to leave this room right now,”came the urgent whisper. “It’s an emergency!”Just the words that the son of twooctogenarian parents and a 14-year-olddaughter loves to hear. I moved hastily outthe door, wondering which of them was inintensive care. I was thus doubly unpreparedwhen I was met by our department secretary.She told me that I had to go to North Hall tosee an Associated Press photographerbecause I had just won the Pulitzer Prize forbiography. If you are old enough (and I am, just barely) to remember the Mexico CityOlympics, you likely recall one of the iconicimages from those games, and I don’t meanthe John Carlos/Tommie Smith black powersalute. I’m thinking of long-jumper BobBeamon after his jump shattered the existingworld record: On his knees. Hands over hisface. A picture of pure astonishment and joy.That, to a tee, was my reaction, though thephotographer came too late to catch it. Toobad, I think, since it makes a much betterimage than blinking in a bathrobe.During my career as a professor and critic,I’ve been blessed with the opportunity topublish work on some outstanding writers,including Ralph Waldo Emerson, HermanMelville, William James, and, of course,Bronson and Louisa May Alcott. One favoritewriter about whom I haven’t written a word isF. Scott Fitzgerald. Late in his life, Fitzgeraldsaid, “There are no second acts in Americanlives.” It’s an interesting line — succinct,tinged with pathos — and entirely wrong.One of the truly remarkable things about lifein America is our capacity to re-inventourselves. One way or another, just abouteveryone who wants one gets a secondchance.Winning the Pulitzer Prize has made me thinka great deal about second acts — and notonly because the book that won the Prize,
Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father 
, is about a father and adaughter who redeemed themselves in eachother’s eyes and achieved new, abundantlives after passing through tremendoushardship. In a sense, winning this prize hasbeen the culmination of my own second act. Ibegan my professional life as an attorney,practicing in the courts of California andNorth Carolina. Although I took pride in thequality of the work I did, I found that I wantedto add something more to the world insteadof just dividing up the pie. So began mysecond act, which, in its own quiet way, wasfilled with narrow escapes worthy of IndianaJones. When I applied to graduate school, myapplications were rejected by every schoolbut one — Columbia. When I completed myPhD and hunted for a teaching position, I wasagain turned down by every place but one —John Jay. When I offered the idea for
Eden’sOutcasts
for sale, again, only one publishinghouse was receptive — W.W. Norton andCompany. Until April of this year, the noes inmy life in academe far outnumbered theyeses. Since April 7, the yeses have finallystarted to predominate. But had it not beenfor the yes I received several years ago fromJohn Jay College, there would have been noacademic job for me, no
Eden’s Outcasts
, noPulitzer Prize. My feelings when I reflect onthis require some greater word thangratitude.The man I work for, President Jeremy Travisalso knows a bit about second acts, havinghad a noteworthy career as a maker of justice policy and having now emerged as anoutstanding leader in higher public education.The signal work of his career to date has alsodealt with second acts — in studying thechallenges that face ex-convicts returning tolife outside prison.President Travis believesin the power of people to re-imagine andremake themselves. During his tenure aspresident of John Jay, which is nowwitnessing the return of humanities majors toour curriculum, President Travis has shownhis confidence in a college to transform itselfinto a more dynamic, enlightened institutionthan it has ever been before. To have such amodel for inspiration has made a hugedifference.While I’m talking about inspiration, I shouldalso mention the man I wrote about, BronsonAlcott, who was himself a teacher. In studyinghow Bronson Alcott taught, I have learned alot about how to conduct myself in theprofession that he saw as the greatest of allhuman occupations.Alcott wrote a series ofmaxims about how to be an effective teacher.Here are four of them:
“To teach nothing merelyfrom subservience tocustom.To teach byencouragement.
3
Reflections
on a Prize
By Professor John Matteson
2
The two faces ofJohn Matteson:Professor of English andPulitzer Prize-winning author.
 a Pulitzer Prizeis not a Nobel,thoughI’m flattered when peoplemix them up.
continued on page 22 
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