Building the College's Future Brick by Brick
Join the growing ranks of alumni taking the unique opportunity to leave their mark upon the College by donating a brick ($250 or $500), a tree ($1,000) or a bench ($5,000) on the Jay Walk, a 60,000-square-foot esplanade that links Haaren Hall to the new building on 11th Avenue. It's a way to celebrate a special memory or honor a loved one while providing needed scholarships for our students through a tax-deductible donation. To learn more about this campaign, click here or call 212.237.8688.

New Leadership Team in Student Affairs
The John Jay Division of Student Affairs is in the hands of new leadership for the 2012-2013 academic year, following the departures of Vice President Berenecea Johnson Eanes and Dean of Students Wayne Edwards.

On July 16, President Jeremy Travis announced the appointment of Dr. Thomas Stafford as Interim Vice President of Student Affairs. He will serve in the position while a search is conducted for a permanent replacement for Eanes.



Stafford's extensive résumé in student affairs includes having served for the past 25 years as Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at North Carolina State University. In that role he oversaw such programming as building an athletics program, student leadership development and international student activities. He served on the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services that advised the U.S. Secretary of Defense on issues relating to women in the military.

Stafford, who holds a doctoral degree from Florida State University, has published widely on student retention, campus diversity, residential life and student leadership, and has lectured frequently on issues of student life and the integration of student affairs and academic affairs.

Working with Stafford will be Dean of Students Kenneth Holmes, who comes to John Jay from the University of Bridgeport, where he held the same position. Holmes has also served as Assistant Vice President for Student Life at Binghamton University, and also held student-affairs positions at Oberlin College and St. Mary's College of Maryland.

John Jay Designated as a "Military Friendly School"
John Jay, long a beacon of opportunity to countless veterans seeking to launch or advance their post-military educations and careers, has earned an official stamp of approval as a "military friendly school" by GI Jobs magazine. The 2013 Military Friendly Schools® list honors the top 15 percent of colleges, universities and trade schools that are doing the most to embrace America's military service members, veterans and spouses as students and ensure their success on campus. John Jay, which currently has an estimated 600 students who are military veterans, was recognized for providing veterans with the best services, programs, scholarships, discounts, clubs, networking and staff.


Uncommon Commons



One of John Jay's new signature spaces, the Jay Walk, was opened to the community on September 13, with a festive ribbon-cutting held during the Community Hour so that students could be the first to usher in this 60,000-square-foot rooftop terrace.

"The Jay Walk is one of the crown jewels of the College's new expanded campus," said John Jay President Jeremy Travis. "This spectacular space is an oasis of green where students, faculty and staff can relax, socialize and study."

Featuring wide lawns, trees, benches, a vegetable garden and a link between John Jay's two buildings, the Jay Walk is an integral component of the College's recent expansion. An oversized flight of outside stairs provides a place where students can sit and enjoy their surroundings in an amphitheater-like setting. The stairs lead to the quarters of the science department.

Custom engraved bricks and personalized trees and benches on the Jay Walk provide supporters of John Jay with a unique way to honor and remember alumni, graduating students, faculty, friends and loved ones. The net proceeds from these commemorative gifts go directly to support scholarships and other programs to benefit students. Visit https://johnjay.jjay.cuny.edu/jaywalk for more information on the Jay Walk campaign.

Pushing the Frontiers of Science
Forensic science alumni might not recognize the new home of the Department of Sciences, a longtime cornerstone of the John Jay curriculum. Over the summer, the department moved into three floors of state-of-the-art laboratories, classrooms and offices in the tower of John Jay's new building,



The department now occupies more than 20 teaching and research labs equipped with the latest scientific equipment and audiovisual packages. The facilities include a high-security vault for storing narcotics, a room devoted to ballistics testing, and labs designed and equipped with the specific research interests of faculty members in mind.

Professor Lawrence Kobilinsky, the forensic serologist who chairs the department, said the spacious, well lit, airy labs "will help us attract the best faculty for our programs, and recruit students left and right." In addition, he was quick to add, "the new facilities and new instrumentation will allow the faculty to explore areas of science that we have only dreamed about." The new equipment includes a scanning electron microscope with X-ray capabilities.

To staff the sprawling high-tech facility, the science department has already hired six new college lab technicians. The department's strategic plan calls for hiring five new full-time faculty members immediately, and 12 more over the next three years.

"We are now very well poised to expand our science offerings and elevate the caliber of research and teaching that is conducted here," said Professor Nathan Lents, the department's deputy chair for personnel and faculty.


Longtime Supporters Step Up for Vera Fellows



A $250,000 gift from the vice chair of the John Jay College Foundation Board and his wife will help support the Vera Fellows Program at John Jay. In recognition of the gift, the College has named the new rooftop terrace the Elizabeth and Arthur J. Mirante II Faculty Dining Terrace.

Mirante, is a former CEO of Cushman & Wakefield, the commercial real estate firm. In 2012 he became a Principal and Tri-State President of Avison Young, Canada's largest independently-owned real estate services firm.

The Mirantes are staunch, longtime financial supporters of the Vera Fellows Program, which provides a unique internship and academic experience for outstanding undergraduate students who have demonstrated a commitment to social justice and public service.

The College recently launched the Campaign for the Future of Justice, a $50-million fundraising effort that coincides with John Jay's upcoming 50th anniversary in 2014. For information on the campaign and how you can support the College, contact Whitney Hedberg, Director of Major Gifts, Office of Marketing and Development, 646.557.4469; whedberg@jjay.cuny.edu.


Mark of Distinction



John Matteson, John Jay College's Pulitzer Prize-winning Professor of English, has been named a University Distinguished Professor by the City University Board of Trustees. Matteson becomes the eighth member of the John Jay faculty to hold Distinguished Professor rank.

"We congratulate Professor Matteson on this great honor," said President Jeremy Travis. "He has combined outstanding scholarship and engaging writing to produce works that have enlightened scholars, students and the general public. He continues to make significant contributions to the study of literature as well as to the overall academic life of the College."

Matteson was awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Biography for his book Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father.

"For the longest time," said Matteson, "humanities were not what sprang to mind when people thought about John Jay. It's wonderful to see how perceptions are changing. I am absolutely delighted to be the first English professor at John Jay to become a distinguished professor, but it's also a great honor to belong to a truly distinguished department."

Matteson, who joined the John Jay faculty in 1997, is a leading scholar of 19th-century American literature and is recognized internationally for his work on Herman Melville, Bronson and Louisa May Alcott, and Margaret Fuller, the latter of whom he chronicled in his most recent work, The Lives of Margaret Fuller: A Biography. Matteson was the first academic director of the John Jay College Honors Program. He joins Blanche Wiesen Cook, Gerald Markowitz and Mike Wallace (History); Saul Kassin, Steven Penrod and Cathy Spatz Widom (Psychology), and Jock Young (Sociology) as Distinguished Professors at John Jay.

Calling all members of the Class of 2010!
What have you been up to? What is your current perspective on your experiences at John Jay? The Office of Institutional Research would like to know.

The office counts on you to assist John Jay in better preparing our current and future students for their careers, and you can help by taking a moment to complete an online survey.

First, if you'd like to remain connected with John Jay by receiving news updates and information on coming events, please verify or update your contact information by visiting the Alumni Association page - www.jjay.cuny.edu/alumni -- and click on "Update Your Information."

As for the two-year alumni survey, it's simple. Go online, and in any browser, type the survey link into the address line: http://surveygoldplus.com/s/B3B9C998A7E84355/17.htm. Your answers are confidential; no individual information is ever revealed.

Thank you for taking the time to help us help others.

Stay connected
Don't miss the news about the John Jay MPA program, one of the College's oldest master's degree programs! By accessing The MPA Newsletter: The Newsletter of the John Jay College Master of Public Administration Program, at http://mpa.jjconline.net, you'll be able to read about Professors Jeanne-Marie Col and Ned Benton at the conference of the African Forum of State Inspectors General in Luanda, Angola; a new honors specialization in the MPA Inspection and Oversight Program; career advice for graduating MPA students from Mary Ann Triest, and much more.

Save the Date...
Graduate Open House - Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Alumni will have the opportunity to meet with program directors, meet specialists in the fields of forensics, criminal justice, public administration and protection management, digital forensics and cybersecurity. Information about admissions requirements, student financial services, scholarships, careers in public service, internships and student life will be available.

For more information or to RSVP, visit http://www.jjay.cuny.edu/1718.php.

EVENTS WORTH NOTING

Book Signing & Discussion
Thursday, September 27, 2012                     1:30 PM

Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism
Richard D. Wolff, Emeritus Professor of Economics
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Sponsored by the Department of Economics and the Economics Club.

Room L2.84, New Building

Film Screening: "The House I Live In"
Wednesday, October 3–                               5:30 PM

A documentary on America's drug war, by Eugene Jarecki
Includes reception and Q&A with the director
Sponsored by the Center on Media, Crime and Justice.

RSVP at www.jjay.cuny.edu/centers/media_crime_justice/5695.htm

Lecture Hall, Room L63, New Building

Film Screening & Panel Discussion: "Bully"
Thursday, October 11                                 5:00 PM

Sponsored by The Weinstein Company, the United Federation of Teachers and the Manhattan DA's Office

Cafeteria, 2nd Floor, New Building

Lecture: "Protection of Urban Areas DHS Research"
October 17                                         1:30 PM - 3:15 PM

Dr. Adam Hutter, Director, U.S. Department of Homeland Security National Urban Security Technology Laboratory

Sponsored by the Christian Regenhard Center for Emergency Response Studies

Room 630, Haaren Hall

Alumni Profiles

Steve Kelly (BS '72), Heather Schiff (BA '02), Jason Bowrey (BA '03), James DeCesare (BA '08) & John Dobkowski (BA '08)

Five former student-athletes were among the latest members to be inducted into the John Jay College Athletics Hall of Fame on September 14. Steve Kelly, Heather (Stewart) Schiff, Jason Bowrey, James DeCesare and John Dobkowski were honored along with Professors Jane Katz and Susan Larkin.



The induction ceremony and reception, held in the Faculty/Staff Dining Room of the new building, brought out a full house of John Jay alumni, students, faculty and staff, College Foundation trustees, and friends and family of the honorees.

"It is a wonderful thing for the inductees and the College to reconnect and to acknowledge people who have made so many great contributions to this institution," said Director of Athletics Dan Palumbo. "I am very proud to be the athletics director of this College and to be bringing this very important function back in into the spotlight."

Kelly played basketball for John Jay for three seasons and was a three-year member of the College's rowing crew. He holds the distinction of being the only Bloodhound athlete named to three U.S. Olympic teams, competing in the 1972 and 1976 Olympics in the four-man kayak event. He is now co-owner of Bob Block Fitness Equipment in Indianapolis, where he and his wife, Margo (BA '75), have made their home for the past 20 years.

DeCesare and Dobkowski were four-year mainstays of the baseball team that won the 2007 CUNY Athletic Conference championship. DeCesare, a perennial all-star second baseman, compiled a career batting average of .365, with 209 hits and 150 runs batted in. Dobkowski, a hard-throwing right-hander, closed out his career as the all-time John Jay and CUNY Athletc Conference leader in wins, with 30.

Schiff was as dangerous in the batter's box as she was fierce on the mound. Her three-year softball career included a .374 batting average, with 144 hits and 112 runs batted in. She also won 39 games as a pitcher, striking out 279.

Jason Bowrey was a first-team conference all-star during each of his three seasons with the men's soccer team, a career in which he scored 27 goals and 11 assists in 49 games.

Katz has been part of the CUNY system for more than 52 years, as a professor of physical education, swim coach and apostle of the life aquatic. She is also a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

Larkin served in the dual capacities of Director of Athletics and chair of the Department of Health and Physical Education from 1987 to 2008. She was the first female athletics director in CUNY, and has also coached volleyball and tennis, among other roles.

The inductees' acceptance remarks were laden with reminiscences and tributes to family members, former teammates and their alma mater. "Everyone has their path, and I'm grateful that my path went through John Jay," said Kelly, who was also a former Student Council president. "I came to open the pool at John Jay almost 25 years ago and never left," the characteristically effervescent Katz recalled. Schiff teetered on the edge of tears as she thanked her family and said, "Twenty-five years ago I started playing softball, and never in a million years did I think I'd be standing here tonight." DeCesare and Dobkowski were effusive in praising Palumbo, who recruited and coached them as part of what Palumbo called "the greatest team in CUNY history." Bowrey, now a Florida resident, was unable to attend the ceremony, but sent his thanks via a touching video.

During the evening, members of the 2007 John Jay baseball team got together to buy a commemorative brick on the new Jay Walk, which will read in part, "Thank you Coach [Palumbo] for giving us the ultimate all-around college experience."

With the latest inductees, the Hall of Fame now numbers 26 athletes, coaches and administrators. The Hall of Fame plaques are located on the fourth floor of Haaren Hall.