(Not seeing images? Click 'Download Pictures')
Congratulations, Dean Lang!
By now you've probably heard the good news: Jessica Lang has been named dean of Baruch Weissman after serving as interim dean for 16 months during what was "arguably one of the most challenging periods in all of higher education," as Baruch Provost Linda Essig put it.
"Your tenure as interim dean came at the most critical time when we were all on survival mode and focused on daily challenges," said Professor Pablo Peixoto (Natural Sciences). "You got us through it all and put the future back in our perspectives. With your kind leadership, you reminded us of the value we bring to the table and inspired us to roll up our sleeves. Thank you for your catalyzing leadership, and here’s to many more victories!"
Professor Shelly Eversley, interim chair of the Department of Black and Latino Studies, called Dean Lang "an incredible collaborator and a compassionate leader who listens to and cares about the students, faculty, and staff in Weissman and across the college community.”
Dean Lang is also the founding William Newman Director of Baruch’s Sandra Kahn Wasserman Jewish Studies Center, and a scholar and expert in the fields of early American fiction and Jewish American and Holocaust literature. Her most recent book, which she co-edited, is Off the Derech: Leaving Orthodox Judaism.
Her appointment, pending approval by CUNY's Board of Trustees, is official January 1.
|
|
THE HARMAN-NYRB PUBLISHING PIPELINE: A string of alumni who worked as assistants for the Sidney Harman Writer-in-Residence Program and/or who interned at The New York Review of Books are launching careers in the publishing industry.
Baruch alumna Ashley Candelario, a former NYRB intern, recently got a job at HarperOne Group (HarperCollins Español, HarperVia, Amistad, HarperOne) in the publicity department. Alumna Nikkia Rivera, who does publicity for Flatiron Books, was a Harman program assistant. Alumna Katherine Hernandez, who works at Simon & Schuster and was featured in the last issue of this newsletter, was also a Harman assistant.
The pathway to the publishing industry "seems to be a lovely pattern for former Harman assistants," said Professor Bridgett Davis (Journalism), former director of the Harman Program.
|
|
Student Sable Gravesandy and alumna Anacaona Rodriguez Martinez, who are both interning at The New York Review of Books, recently earned a double byline in NYRB for an interview with Ed Park, a novelist, journalist, former executive editor at Penguin Press, and founding editor of The Believer magazine.
"Our Harman interns are doing us proud over there," said Harman Program director Esther Allen, who coordinates the NYRB internships for Baruch students.
|
|
TECH REPORTER: Journalism alumnus Dalvin Brown '18 has moved from The Washington Post to The Wall Street Journal, where he is a personal tech reporter. He's also launched a YouTube channel for tech news. Watch his YouTube channel here and take a look at his recent print story on sales of tech gifts here.
|
|
|
|
CORP COMM ALUMNI REFLECT: Huge thanks to to alumni Malaika Hollis, Patrick Labossiere, and Arianna Balkeran, who shared their reflections on Weissman's corporate communication master's program in this 30-second slideshow.
|
|
Faculty Publications, Podcasts, and Media Mentions |
|
EGYPT: What was life like for ordinary people who lived in Egypt under Roman rule from 30 BC to 640 AD? Professor Anna Lucille Boozer (History) uses objects, portraits, and letters to explore the topic in her book out this month, At Home in Roman Egypt: A Social Archaeology. The book's themes include religion, health, disability, death and the afterlife, along with how individuals created social and cultural change.
ASSESSING STUDENTS: The latest Bloomberg column from Professor Andrea Gabor (Journalism) looks at the movement away from traditional grading in some California school districts. Gabor describes her own approach to teaching and grading at Baruch, as well as the political-reporting class that she teaches every other year with Professor Vera Haller. "The class, which coincides with upcoming elections, focuses on a key political problem — such the Texas-Mexico border crisis — and requires our students, many of them immigrants, to conduct on-the-ground reporting with experts, including border police, who work on the issues they are studying."
BLACK RADICALS: Professor Johanna Fernandez (History) gave a talk at the October 23-25 "Spirit of Mandela" International Tribunal on "The role of Black radicals − Civil War to the carceral state." Her remarks illustrated "the ways in which what we know today as the largest carceral nation in the world emerges, not randomly in the 1980s and ’90s; it emerges out of a campaign unleashed against the freedom fighters of this country, who civilized American society in that period, Black radicals."
LATINX VISIONS: The final episode of the first season of the Latinx Visions podcast has dropped, offering a look at the community organization Mixteca. The podcast is hosted by Professors Rebecca Salois and Rojo Robles (Black and Latino Studies). Listen here.
|
|
SAYED KASHUA: The Sandra K. Wasserman Jewish Studies Center presents acclaimed novelist/journalist Sayed Kashua December 7, 5:30 pm, via Zoom. Sign up here.
|
|
BRIDGETT DAVIS: The Baruch in DC network is hosting an evening with Professor Bridgett Davis, author of the critically acclaimed memoir The World According to Fannie Davis. Everyone in the Baruch community is invited to attend. The event is billed as a holiday party; participants are invited to wear a funny sweater. Sign up here.
|
|
Explore the Mishkin Gallery
Enjoy this short video about the Mishkin Gallery and works of art that can be found around campus. The video is emceed by the gallery's director, Alaina Claire Feldman, and it showcases some of the Master of Arts Administration students who curated the Reframing America exhibition. Visit that show online here and watch the video here.
|
|
ICYMI: College Rankings Roundup
Here's a roundup of some of the overall rankings that the college racked up this semester.
-
For the seventh consecutive year, Baruch ranked #1 in the nation on CollegeNET’s Social Mobility Index, the premier benchmark recognizing colleges that move students from low-income families into good paying jobs.
-
Princeton Review put Baruch’s alumni network in the top 20 nationally among public schools.
-
Baruch's Master in Financial Engineering program is rated #1 by QuantNet, beating out Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, the Ivies, and MIT.
- U.S. News & World Report compared Baruch to 175 universities in the North, and ranked it #3 among public institutions (tie), #2 among public institutions in New York State (tie), #16 among all public and private institutions (tie), #2 top performers on social mobility, #3 for least debt, #5 campus ethnic diversity, #6 for freshmen retention rate (tie) (89 percent average for first-year students), #10 most innovative schools (tie), and #18 best undergraduate teaching (tie).
For a full list of college rankings, click here.
|
|
Help Spread the Word to Students...
Students who volunteer or who have unpaid internships at nonprofits are eligible to apply for $3,000 stipends from the Dr. Wendy Heyman Public Interest Fellowship. There are 16 fellowships available for the Spring 2022 semester. Details here.
|
|
Past newsletters here. Next newsletter: December 20. Weissman blog here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
