@John Jay News and Events of Interest

to the College Community

September 17, 2008

Worth Noting Emergency-Response Center Honors

September 22-25
Spirit Week
A weeklong series of
the Spirit of 9/11 Hero Firefighter
“Welcome to John Jay” events He was cut down in his prime, as one of
the heroic first-responders who perished in the
Times and locations vary terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, but the
name and spirit of one probationary firefighter
September 25 11:00 AM lives on in the new Christian Regenhard Center
The Wire: Drugs, Prison and for Emergency Response Studies at John Jay.
The Center, which was formally launched on
Community Survival September 4, will serve as a research repository
A student forum on current U.S. drug
and information clearinghouse for the study
policy and mass incarceration
of emergency responses to natural and man-
Room 630 Haaren Hall made disasters. The opening ceremony held at
the College was attended by members of the
October 7 6:00 PM Regenhard family, elected officials, top brass
from the Fire Department and members of
A Celebration of the
Regenhard’s probationary school class.
20th Anniversary of the Regenhard had graduated from the Fire
Gerald W. Lynch Theater Academy less than six weeks prior to the attack
Performances by students, on the World Trade Center. He was just 28 years
faculty and friends of John Jay old, assigned to Ladder 131 in Brooklyn, when he
was killed in the collapse of the Twin Towers. Fighting back tears, Sally Regenhard (above, at microphone) addresses reporters and others
Gerald W. Lynch Theater gathered for the September 4 ceremony to launch the Christian Regenhard Center for Emer-
“The Center will undertake important research
gency Response Studies, named for her son, Firefighter Christian Regenhard (inset). Joining
for developing an integrated, comprehensive
October 15 6:00 PM approach to the study of emergency responses
Mrs. Regenhard were her husband and daughter, FDNY Chief of Department Salvatore
Cassano (left) and members of Regenhard’s Fire Academy class.
The Castle to large-scale disasters,” said President Jeremy
A play conceived and directed Travis, who acknowledged the support of carry on Christian’s legacy,” said Regenhard’s on issues pertaining to homeland security and
by David Rothenberg Senators Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer mother, Sally, who as founder and chairwoman emergency response. To that end, the Center
Tickets: $15 ( free for CUNY students and Representative Jerrold Nadler in securing a of the Skyscraper Safety Campaign has will collect and analyze such information as
with ID). Call 212-279-4200 for $169,000 Congressional earmark to fund the advocated for construction reforms and oral histories of emergency response workers,
reservations work of the Center. pressured Congress to investigate the collapse of GIS data and maps, communication transcripts,
Gerald W. Lynch Theater Noting that 67 members of the College the World Trade Center. “I wanted something in incident reports and digital photographs. Its staff
community — alumni, students and others the academic realm that would have relevance to will develop after-action and lessons-learned
— were killed in the terrorist attacks, Travis helping save first-responders and members of the reports, publish periodic industry alerts, and
October 22 6:00 PM said, “We feel compelled to use our talents public. Through the work of its dedicated faculty, produce scholarly and industry articles in the area
Patrick V. Murphy Lecture and energies to honor their memory and their this Center will honor all first-responders who of homeland security. With the help of the Lloyd
Room 630 Haaren Hall sacrifice.” lost their lives as a result of 9/11 and can help to Sealy Library, the Center also hopes to make
Congressman Nadler, who was on hand for ensure the safety of all responders in the future.” public-domain documents available online.
October 30 5:00 PM the ceremony, said he was “very glad to have Professor Charles Jennings of the Department On October 1-3, the Center will co-sponsor
helped” with securing an appropriation for the of Protection Management will serve as the a symposium on data structures for incident-
When Will U.S. Courts Center. “Congress has a right and a duty to Center’s first Director. He gave attendees at the related archives, which will help determine the
Join the International appropriate money for things like the Christian launch ceremony his “personal assurance that structure of the Center’s repository of incident-
Constitutional Conversation? Regenhard Center,” Nadler said. “We have to this Center will work to live up to the promise of specific information.
A lecture by Drew S. Days III, make sure that some good and some benefit its namesake.” “We have a lot of work ahead of us,”
former U.S. Solicitor General comes out of the tragedies and disasters we The Center plans an ambitious agenda of said Professor Glenn Corbett, Chair of the
Presented by the Center for face.” applied research and data collection aimed at Department of Protection Management and
International Human Rights “For the Regenhard family, this Center will promoting “best practices” and “good practices” Chair of the Center’s Advisory Board.

Gerald W. Lynch Theater Lobby

English and
Fresh Faces by the Hundreds
Language Faculty
in New Home
John Jay’s departments of English and foreign
languages are up and running at their new
home, the West 54th Street Academic Annex.
This new facility is located on the seventh
floor of the “Movie Lab” building at 619 West
54th Street between 11th and 12th Avenues.
The annex houses 79 offices, two conference
rooms, a kitchen and lounge area. Some faculty
members’ office will provide bird’s-eye views
of the John Jay women’s softball games at
neighboring Clinton Field next spring, while
others will overlook the Hudson River.
The departments were relocated to the
Academic Annex during the 2008 spring break.
The quarters they formerly occupied on the first
floor of North Hall are being converted to house
consolidated student services.
A shuttle service is being provided between
the Academic Annex, the Westport Building
and North Hall, operating on a fixed schedule
between 7:45 AM and 7:50 PM. In addition, the
shuttle will provide drop-offs at the Columbus
Circle subway station upon request. They came streaming in by the hundreds, filling the theater, the gym and numerous classrooms, as the
fall 2008 freshman orientation on August 21 and 22 welcomed new students to John Jay. The support-
“The College’s critical need for space will
ing cast for the event, attended by more than 2,300 freshmen and their parents, included 48 student
be assisted by this dynamic and very attractive orientation leaders, representatives of the John Jay Alumni Association and members of the Office
addition to the campus,” said President Jeremy of Undergraduate Studies (at right, promoting the “Subway Series” freshman learning experience).
Travis. President Travis hosted a luncheon reception for the newest members of the John Jay family.
New Semester, New Departments, New Faculty
The fall 2008 semester saw John Jay welcome
40 new full-time faculty members in 14 academic
departments. These new professors include
specialists to support the newest majors in
Economics and English.
President Jeremy Travis, pointing to what he
called “the infusion of new energy and talent at
the College,” noted that 35 percent of the full-
time faculty now at the College were hired in the
past four years. “This new generation of faculty,
with their demonstrated scholarly potential and
devotion to excellence in teaching, will provide
leadership at the College for decades to come.”
Several new departments debuted as well. The
former Department of Art, Music and Philosophy
has been split in two, with the philosophy faculty
having a new independent department while
the art and music faculty remain together. The
Department of Public Management has spun off
a new Department of Protection Management
and a new Department of Economics.
The most recent additions to the faculty are:
ANTHROPOLOGY
R. Terry Furst, PhD, assistant professor, New
School University (ethnography/substance
College Now Program Gives
Voice to “Poets for Justice”
Twenty 11th-graders from New York City
public high schools got an unusual taste of
John Jay in July through the first annual Poets
for Justice Summer Institute, sponsored by the
College Now program.
College Now partnered with two local arts
organizations, Urban Word NYC and the Hip-
Hop Project, to produce a three-week program
that exposed high school students to the college
environment and the expectations of college-
level coursework. Part history seminar and part
creative-writing workshop, the Institute examined
the historical roots and contemporary use of
poetry as an instrument of
social and political movement.
“The Institute embraced
the concept that poetry,
particularly in hip-hop and
spoken-word forms, provides
a unique and effective way
to engage youth in the
educational process and to
teach powerful lessons about
democratic citizenship,” said
David Jean-Paul, program
director of College Now.
The “justice poets,” as
the students were called,
were given a comprehensive
overview of the Black Arts
Movement of the 1960s
With acclaimed poet and playwright Amiri Baraka looking on, Vanessa Capistrano
and its direct lineage to of Information Technology High School and Joseph Mercedes of Manhattan Village
hip-hop. Course readings Academy present their work during the Poets for Justice Summer Institute.
FACULTY / STAFF NOTES
PRESENTING…
GLORIA PRONI (Sciences) presented a paper
titled “Chiral Recognition by a CD-sensitive
Dimeric Porphyrin Host: Recent Advances in
the Assignment of Absolute Configuration” at
the 235th American Chemical Society National
Meeting & Exposition, April 6-10, 2008 in
New Orleans, Louisiana. The work was done in
collaboration with the laboratory of chemistry
professor Nina Berova of Columbia University.
Later in the spring, Proni presented a research
talk, “Detection of Opioids in Urine by NMR
Spectroscopy: Preliminary Studies” at the 40th
Middle Atlantic Regional Meeting (MARM),
May 17–21 in Bayside, Queens. Donna Wilson,
a forensic science graduate student, worked
on this project as a fulfillment of her thesis
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abuse)
Anthony Marcus, PhD, associate professor, CUNY
Graduate Center (cultural anthropology)
Patricia Tovar, PhD, associate professor, CUNY
Graduate Center (urban anthropology)
COMMUNICATION AND THEATRE ARTS
Lyell Davies, PhD, assistant professor, University
of Rochester (visual and cultural studies)
ENGLISH
Al Coppola, PhD, assistant professor, Fordham
University (British literature)
Jay Paul Gates, PhD, assistant professor,
University of Wisconsin-Madison (medieval
studies)
Olivera Jokic, PhD, assistant professor, University
of Michigan (Romanticism/women’s studies)
Alexander Long, PhD, assistant professor,
University of Delaware (creative writing)
Richard Perez, assistant professor, CUNY
Graduate Center (Latina/o literature)
FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES
Clara Castro Ponce, PhD, assistant professor,
Brown University (Hispanic studies)
Raul Rubio, PhD, assistant professor, Tulane
were complemented by real-world accounts
of guest artists such as renowned poet and
playwright Amiri Baraka, founder of the Black
Arts Movement.
Students were also given the opportunity
to create, produce and perform their own
vocal works. They acquired hands-on skills in
such areas as songwriting, music production
and theory, audio engineering and marketing.
Instructors worked with students to produce an
audio CD, and the program culminated on July
31 with a performance by students at the famed
Nuyorican Poets’ Café.
requirement. The work was conducted jointly
with ELISE CHAMPEIL (Sciences). In late
August, Proni presented a poster titled “Synthesis
and Chiral Recognition of a Fish Pheromone by
CD-Sensitive Dimeric Zinc Porphyrin Host” at the
American Chemical Society National Meeting and
Exposition in Philadelphia. Ekaterina Chadwick,
an undergraduate forensic science student, co-
authored the presentation.
EFFIE PAPATZIKOU COCHRAN (English)
was the lead discussant on a panel titled “Four
Interrogating Concepts and Cases: Family, Law,
and Language” at the Law and Society Annual
Conference in Montreal, Canada, on May 31.
ABBY STEIN (Interdisciplinary Studies) spoke at
the International Psychohistorical Association on
June 4 at Fordham University. Her presentation
was titled, “From His Cradle to Your Grave: How
Child Abuse Drives Violent Crime.” Stein also
served as the invited “Critical Issues” columnist
for the spring issue of ISSTD News, published
by the International Society for the Study of
Trauma and Dissociation. Her column focused on
“First Defense: Dissociated States and Criminal
Violence.”
R. TERRY FURST (Anthropology) presented a
educating for justice
University (Spanish)
GOVERNMENT
Susan Kang, PhD, assistant professor, University
of Minnesota-Twin Cities (political science)
Monica Weller Varsanyi, PhD, assistant professor,
University of California-Los Angeles (urban/
political/legal geography)
HISTORY
Andrea Balis, PhD, lecturer, CUNY Graduate
Center (health-care history)
Anissa Helie, PhD, assistant professor, Ecole
des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
(contemporary history)
Tracy Musacchio, assistant professor, University of
Pennsylvania (Egyptology)
Hyunee Park, PhD, assistant professor, Yale
University (history)
Matthew J. Perry, PhD, assistant professor,
University of Chicago (ancient history)
LAW, POLICE SCIENCE AND CRIMINAL
JUSTICE ADMINISTRATION
Joseph Pollini, lecturer, John Jay College of
Criminal Justice (police science)
Jon M. Shane, assistant professor, Rutgers
University, (police administration)
Cecile Van de Voorde, D Crim, assistant professor,
University of South Florida (criminology)
Klaus von Lampe, JD, assistant professor, Goethe
Universität (organized crime)
LIBRARY
Karen Okamoto, assistant professor, University of
Western Ontario (reference)
MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTER SCIENCE
Hunter Johnson, PhD, assistant professor,
University of Maryland (computer science)
Shaobai Kan, PhD, assistant professor, Wayne
State University (systems science)
Students to Reap Benefit from
John Jay/DEA Partnership
John Jay College is on the brink of establishing
a trailblazing relationship with the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) that will
promote career paths, professional development,
research and other opportunities for students.
A Memorandum of Intent and Purpose is
due to be signed by President Jeremy Travis and
several key DEA officials in late September.
The memorandum’s stated purpose is to
create a partnership between the College and
the DEA’s Equal Employment Opportunity staff
and Minority College Relations Program (MCRP)
in which participants can conduct DEA activities
geared toward fostering educational excellence
and fulfilling the agency’s mission. The DEA will
increase its outreach to students in disciplines
such as criminal justice, finance and accounting,
physical sciences and computer science.
Under the terms of the two-year agreement,
the DEA will recommend employment oppor-
paper, “A Qualitative Exploration of an Office-
Based Buprenorphine Demonstration Program
in New York City,” at the Society for the Study
of Social Problems in Boston. He also presented
“A Harm Reduction Approach to the Provision
of Bupernorphine” at a conference on the
Developments in the Treatment of Dependence
on Opiate: Practices and Perspectives, in France,
and co-authored “Low Threshold Buprenorphine
Prescribing,” a paper presented at the
International Harm Reduction Conference in
Barcelona, Spain.
ELISE CHAMPEIL and GLORIA PRONI
(Sciences) co-authored the lecture “Use of
NMR Spectroscopy for the Detection of Opioids
in Human Fluids” that was presented at the
American Chemical Society National Meeting and
Exposition in Philadelphia in late August. Donna
Wilson, a recent graduate of the master’s degree
program in forensic science, collaborated with
the professors on this project as a fulfillment of
her thesis requirement.
BETWEEN THE COVERS
BENJAMIN LAPIDUS (Art and Music) will
have his new book, Origins of Cuban Music and
Dance: Changüí, published by The Scarecrow
Press on October 28. The book is the first in-
PHILOSOPHY
Hernando Estevez, PhD, assistant professor,
DePaul University (social/political philosophy)
Sarah Louise Scott, PhD, assistant professor,
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
(philosophy)
PSYCHOLOGY
Kevin Yabut Nadal, PhD, assistant professor,
Columbia University (counseling psychology)
Deryn Strange, PhD, assistant professor, Victoria
University of Wellington (psychology)
Daryl A. Wout, PhD, assistant professor,
University of Michigan (social psychology)
PUBLIC MANAGEMENT
Amit Kumar, PhD, assistant professor, American
University (public administration)
David Shapiro, JD, assistant professor, Seton Hall
University (commercial law)
SCIENCES
Jason Rauceo, PhD, assistant professor, CUNY
Graduate Center (genetics/biomedical analysis)
Richard Li, PhD, associate professor, University of
Wisconsin-Madison (molecular biology)
John Reffner, PhD, associate professor, University
of Connecticut (polymer science)
Shu-Yuan Cheng, PhD, assistant professor, St.
John’s University (biochemistry/toxicology)
SOCIOLOGY
Mucahit Bilici, PhD, assistant professor, University
of Michigan-Ann Arbor (sociology)
David A. Green, PhD, assistant professor,
St. John’s College, Cambridge, England
(criminology)
Antonio Pastrana Jr., PhD, assistant professor,
CUNY Graduate Center (Latina/o studies)
Lucia Trimbur, PhD, assistant professor, Yale
University (sociology/African American studies)
tunities for students and graduates through the
Volunteer Student Program, the Student Tempo-
rary Employment Program, the Student Career
Experience Program and the Summer Honors
Program. The agency will provide career advice
and assistance to students, offer forums and
workshops aimed at increasing career and educa-
tional achievement, and training opportunities at
DEA for students and educators.
The DEA will also initiate direct transfers of
computer equipment and other technology to
the College.
The College’s responsibilities under the agree-
ment include providing the DEA with facilities
and services for hosting special educational and
training programs for students, inviting govern-
ment personnel to participate in training and
conferences, and working with the DEA’s MCRP
manager to establish a consistent and positive
rapport with members of the College community.
depth study of changüí, a style of music and
dance in Guantánamo, Cuba, that contributed to
the development of salsa.
KIMORA (Law, Police Science and Criminal
Justice Administration) and MICHAEL
AMAN (Communication and Theatre Arts)
co-authored an article, “No Country for Old
Men: Psychopathic Elements in an Academy-
Award-Winning Film,” in which they stress the
importance of criminal justice professionals
learning elements of psychopathy from the film.
The article appeared in the July/August issue
of Community Corrections Report on Law and
Corrections Practice.
PEER REVIEW
ROBERT GAROT (Sociology) has won a faculty
fellowship for the spring 2009 semester at the
John D. Calandra Italian American Institute at
Queens College. The fellowship will help facilitate
Garot’s research project on “Immigrants and the
Law in Contemporary Tuscany.”
ALLISON KAVEY (History) has been awarded a
$15,000 faculty development grant by the City
University of New York to fund her proposal,
“Teaching Portfolios: An Analysis of their Uses for
History Pedagogy.”