On the Path to Success

 

John Jay students are continuing their winning ways, securing coveted internships, appointments and other honors. Some of the latest achievers include:

 

Joy Song (left), who is pursuing her master’s degree in Digital Forensics & CyberSecurity, was accepted to a summer internship with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Advisory Board on Cyber Security, which advises the Governor on ways to protect the State’s infrastructure and information systems. Song is spending the summer in Albany researching, analyzing and writing white papers on different aspects of cyber security.

 

Song, who earned her undergraduate degree at Cornell University, worked as a business systems analyst on Wall Street for more than 10 years. She reevaluated her career goals after the economy collapsed in 2008, and was able to reconnect with her “dream job.”

 

“Once my dream was to do decoy work for the police, like when they bust crime rings,” she said. “You would feel like your work means something. On Wall Street I felt I could get hit by a bus and it wouldn’t matter; no one would miss me. I wanted to do something where I was not only using my skills, but actually improving society.”

 

Kalyssa Daley, a Criminology major, was accepted into the highly competitive, 10-week Federal Bureau of Investigation Volunteer Internship Program this summer. The program is a 10-week internship that provides students with an up-close exposure to the FBI’s operations and the opportunity to explore possible career prospects.

 

FBI Special Agent Brian O’Rourke, who met Daley when he was a guest speaker in Professor John Walsh’s police science class, said of her: “Kalyssa is a poised, smart, ambitious and enthusiastic young woman with a limitless future. In an age of iPhones, excessive texting and e-mail, Kalyssa makes eye contact, is a great conversationalist, and genuinely interested in forging a human connection. People will follow Kalyssa because she has the attributes of a great leader.”

 

Daley’s personal motivation to join the FBI — a longtime dream — is grounded in lessons of service to others that she learned from her parents. “My parents taught me to always help others before worrying about yourself and let karma take care of the rest. This internship gives me the opportunity to do what I am passionate about.”

 

The future of forensic financial analysis took center stage on June 14, when five John Jay students were honored by the New York Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (NYCFE) as the latest winners of an essay contest on the topic “Protecting Domestic and International Markets.”

 

The awards were presented during an all-day NYCFE conference held at John Jay, facilitated by Professor Randall LaSalle of the Department of Economics. Recognized by the NYCFE were undergraduate Economics majors Simon Bojovic, Andrea Ciotti, Vitali Kremez and Sabrina Pestel, and MPA graduate student Mayuri Saxena. All have expressed an interest in fraud examination as an academic or professional pursuit, although in diverse ways. Bojovic is awaiting appointment to the New York City Police Department, and also plans to go to law school. Pestel, one of John Jay’s Pinkerton Community Fellows, is interested in ecological-awareness issues. Saxena hopes for a career as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. State Department.

 

The NYCFE John Jay Scholarship Program presents up to five scholarships to be used to purchase the 2013 CFE Exam Prep Toolkit, U.S. Edition, valued at up to $1,298. The toolkit includes the latest edition of a computer-based self-study course for those seeking to earn the coveted Certified Fraud Examiner designation.

 

Naithram Singh, who graduated this spring with a BA in Criminal Justice, was selected for an internship this summer with Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization. Interpol is the largest international, politically neutral law enforcement agency in the world, with 190 member countries.

 

“I am eager and ecstatic to be selected for Interpol,” said Singh, who is working in the organization’s Washington, DC, office. “The division I will be in, counterterrorism, doesn’t accept many interns, so I realize how lucky I am to be given this opportunity. I’m hoping that it turns into a full-time position.”

 

In addition to winning numerous awards and scholarships as an undergraduate, Singh has conducted research on risk perception for the National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events and he worked as an intern with the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism.

 

Krista Giordano, a Forensic Psychology major, spent the spring 2013 semester studying in Florence, Italy, through the College of Staten Island’s College Consortium for International Studies (CCIS), a program open to John Jay students.

 

Giordano took a broad range of classes in Florence, including cooking, art history and psychology of crime. She learned about the criminal justice system in Italy as well as those in Spain and France, since the three countries often collaborate to solve cases.

 

“It was very interesting to compare Italy’s methods for handling crime with other countries’ methods,” Giordano said. “I loved that I could travel to a different country every weekend.” In all, Giordano visited 18 countries on three continents during her semester abroad. “It was the most amazing experience I’ve ever had, and I would do anything to go back.”

 

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Music and a Movie al Fresco


Not even a mid-July heat wave could keep a capacity crowd from filling the Jay Walk on July 16 for an evening concert and movie under the stars.

 

The Twilight Series — free and open to the public as well as the John Jay College community — got underway with a performance by Latin jazz artist Ralph Irizarry and Timbalaye (left), followed by a screening of the recently released action thriller “Olympus Has Fallen,” starring Morgan Freeman and Gerard Butler.

 

“This was a great opportunity to showcase our school,” said Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration Robert Pignatello. “It’s an important goal of ours to be a good neighbor and a community resource for arts and culture, and this opening event proved more successful than we even imagined.”

 

The series will conclude on August 13 with a performance by Nilson Matta’s Brazilian Voyage and the film “42,” based on the life of baseball legend Jackie Robinson. RSVP's are at capacity. Walk-ins will be admitted at 6:15 PM based on space availability.

 

The Twilight Series is made possible by Student Activity fees and funds secured by New York City Council Member Gale Brewer.

 

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Convocation Welcomes Students

 

John Jay’s entering freshman class of 2013 will be formally welcomed to the College on September 3 with a New Student Convocation.

 

The event will take place in the Gerald W. Lynch Theater during the Community Hour, from 1:40 – 2:50 PM.

 

“The purpose of convocation is not only to welcome new students, but also to establish a connection between them and academic life at John Jay,” noted Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Jane Bowers. “Convocation fulfills this purpose by ceremonially recognizing students for having accepted the call to educate for justice and by communicating the importance of faculty and staff as their partners for success.”

 

Faculty members in attendance will be robed in academic attire for the convocation, at which the keynote speaker will be the distinguished John Jay alumna Leticia Theodore-Greene (BA ’95), Deputy Commissioner for External Affairs with the New York State Division of Human Rights.


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New Stop-and-Frisk Resource

 

Combining cutting-edge research, provocative videos and thought-provoking articles and reports, the new Web site stopandfriskinfo.org was launched recently by John Jay College’s Center on Race, Crime and Justice (CRCJ).

 

The site was developed and is being overseen by Professors Delores Jones-Brown (left) of the Department of Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration and Brett Stoudt of the Department of Psychology. Jones-Brown was the CRCJ’s founding Director and is currently a Faculty Research Fellow with the Center.

 

Funded by the Tides Foundation as part of its Funds for Fair and Just Policing, the new Web site works closely with Communities United for Police Reform (CPR), a consortium of academics, grass roots organizations and advocacy groups. The Marijuana Arrest Research Project at Queens College is also a partner in the CPR consortium. In addition, the site includes links to numerous organizations with kindred interests or agendas, including the New York Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Consortium for Police Leadership in Equity, the Public Science Project, the Sentencing Project and the Urban Institute. “The site is an essential resource for providing and publicizing factual, scientifically valid information about current stop-and-frisk policing practices,” said Professor Jones-Brown. The site also includes videos, scholarly articles and public policy reports on the legality, effectiveness and impact of stop and frisk-related policing, along with alternatives to current practices. There are international articles and policy reports, as well as a page through which scholars can submit their work for possible inclusion on the site.

 

Anchoring the Web site is the CRCJ’s newly revised report “Stop, Question and Frisk Policing Practices in New York City: A Primer,” written by Jones-Brown along with Stoudt and CUNY Graduate Center doctoral students Brian Johnston and Kevin Moran.

 

Professor Jones-Brown was recently quoted in the newspaper The Epoch Times on the subject of two stop-and-frisk reform measures under consideration by the New York City Council. One bill would create an inspector general for the New York City Police Department, a move Professor Jones-Brown says “would allow for another layer of protection to push back against policies deemed not morally right.”

 

To learn more about the new Web site, visit www.stopandfriskinfo.org

 


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Rossana Rosado and Alan S. Abel Join Board of Trustees

 

John Jay College of Criminal Justice has announced the appointment of Alan S. Abel and Rossana Rosado to the John Jay College Foundation Board of Trustees. The two new board members boast stellar credentials in the public, private and nonprofit sectors.

 

Alan S. Abel
As Leader of Global Anti-Money Laundering Practice for the accounting and consultancy firm of Crowe Horwath LLP, Alan Abel is responsible for quality assurance on Crowe’s financial crime engagements, working with more than 100 global and regional banks and other financial institutions to help develop and strengthen their governance, business processes and controls, and risk assessment and management. He has served in similar roles for the firms of Coopers & Lybrand and PricewaterhouseCoopers. A CPA and Certified Fraud Examiner with degrees from Brown and Georgetown universities, Abel is a member of the Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group, a public/private sector partnership advising the U.S. Treasury Secretary on national anti-money laundering policy. He has also worked with the governments of 35 countries and jurisdictions to evaluate and assist their money laundering detection and deterrence efforts. Abel is a highly sought-after speaker at conferences, seminars and media outlets, and is a widely quoted source for industry and mainstream publications.

 

Rossana Rosado
The Publisher and CEO since 1999 of El Diario La Prensa, the nation’s oldest Spanish-language newspaper, Rosado is a veteran of 25 years in New York media. An Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning journalist, Rosado has also worked for WPIX, WCBS-AM and FM radio, and WNYC-TV 31. For three years she was Vice President for Public Affairs of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, serving in both the Dinkins and Giuliani administrations. Prior to becoming El Diario La Prensa’s Publisher, Rosado was the newspaper’s Editor in Chief, the first woman to hold that position. She maintains active affiliations with many of New York’s nonprofit organizations, including the United Way of New York City, the Community Service Society of New York and the New York Women’s Foundation, and is a member of the Advisory Board of the City University Graduate School in Journalism.

 

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FACULTY & STAFF NOTES


On Board

Joseph Laub (Information Technology) has been named as the College’s Chief Information Officer. Laub has been with John Jay for nine years, serving for the past year as interim CIO. Joining him is Ken Ihrer, who has been appointed as interim Chief Technology Officer. Ihrer has been interim CIO at City College and Assistant Vice President of Technology and Chief Information Security Officer at Temple University.

 


Presenting…

 

Jodie Roure (Latin American and Latina/o Studies) was the keynote speaker July 10 at the inauguration of Puerto Rico's fourth specialized domestic violence court. Roure’s address provided an international human rights perspective and encouraged greater collaboration within government and with community-based groups and women's groups, transparency and unadulterated research. On June 4, Roure was in Geneva, Switzerland, as a participant in a panel discussion on “Violence Against Women & Girls in Latin America & the Caribbean” as part of the United Nations Human Rights Council Session 23.

 

Blanche Wiesen Cook’s (History) recent talk on “Eleanor Roosevelt and Human Rights” at Adelphi University has been featured on C-Span. Cook’s lecture explored the timely crucial importance of the former First Lady and her lifelong devotion to peace and to universal human rights. Cook is currently completing the third and final volume of her biography of Roosevelt.

 


The Printed Page

 

David Kennedy (Criminal Justice/Center on Crime Prevention and Control) had an op-ed published in The New York Daily News on July 15, “Getting Beyond Stop-and-Frisk: Another Tactic Has Been Far More Critical to Making Neighborhoods Safer.” In the commentary, Kennedy discusses the innovative group-focused approaches that are helping to reduce homicide rates in New York City.

 

Staci Strobl (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) has a new book, Comic Book Crime: Truth, Justice and the American Way, just published by NYU Press. The book, co-written with Nickie D. Phillips of St. Francis College, examines such iconic characters as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman to provide a comprehensive understanding of crime and justice in contemporary American comic books.

 

Dan Feldman (Public Management) published a commentary June 9 in the Albany Times Union in which he contends that taxing gasoline will save jobs and strengthen the solvency of cities and counties in New York. The article was co-written with former New York City Transportation Commissioner Lucius Riccio. Feldman was recently named Perspective and Commentary Editor of Public Administration Review, the leading journal in the public administration field.

 

Kevin Nadal (Psychology) has had his latest book, That’s So Gay! Microaggressions and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community, published by the American Psychological Association.

 


Recognition

 

Paul Kelly (Registrar) has had his latest film, “My Day,” honored at the recent Long Island International Film Expo. The film’s leading lady, Judith Roberts, won the award for Best Actress in a Short Film. The award, presented on July 25, is the second for the movie and Roberts, having won for Best Actress at the Queens World Film Festival earlier this year. Kelly, who produced and directed the film, co-wrote the screenplay with Paul Brenner (Audio Visual Services).

 

Lila Kazemian (Sociology) was honored July 2 by the French Society of Criminology, which presented her with an award for her scholarly work on the rehabilitation of inmates.

 

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CALENDAR

 

August 7 – 5:30 PM
Stop, Question and Frisk Policing Practices in New York City
Presented by the Center on Race, Crime and Justice
RSVP to stop.frisk.info@gmail.com
Moot Court Room, 6th Floor, New Building

 

August 13 – 6:30 PM
Twilight Concert and Movie Series
Featuring the music of Nilson Matta’s Brazilian Voyage, and the movie “42.”
Click here to RSVP

The Jay Walk

 

September 10 – 6:00 PM
Dedication of John Jay 9/11 Memorial Sculpture
RSVP to memorialdedication@jjay.cuny.edu
Lynn and Jules Kroll Atrium, New Building