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Let's Get Those Faculty Photos In Shape!
You may have noticed that some faculty photos on the Weissman website are missing or blurry. We're working to fix that with help from a part-time summer staffer, Daniel Jacobson. Dan is reaching out to faculty to gather new images where needed, so be on the lookout for his email. He's also collecting revised faculty bios for those seeking updates.

Later this summer, Baruch's technology department hopes to create separate linkable pages for faculty bios with individual URLs. These would replace the pop-up windows where the bios now appear.
New Media Artspace Opens Pandemic-Inspired Show
A new summer pop-up show at the New Media Artspace explores the distortions that arise when the virtual and physical worlds collide. It's a theme we can all relate to as we emerge from the pandemic.

The show, called "re:semblance," opens this Thursday, June 17, at 6 p.m., with a livestreamed event on YouTube. The show will be on view June 17-July 16 on NMA's website.

"With limited access to the physical world and face-to-face contact with others, the virtual world may act as a temporary substitute for – or a semblance of – society," the docent curators wrote in describing the exhibition. Technology "allows us to cast a literal and metaphorical screen to distort our authentic selves. If that authenticity is compromised, how are we representing ourselves and why?"

The exhibition showcases 13 works by emerging artists and collaborative groups. Most of the works were created during the pandemic.
A Father's Strength: The Best of Refract Magazine
Essays about Black hair, a student's sleep-deprived existence, and the waning strength of a father's hands won Refract Magazine's annual Berlfein Contest awards.

Maria Jacome, '21, was honored for a poignant essay about her dad and his ailing hands, called "A Father's Strength." Danyil Blyschak, '24, won for "Arrhythmia," a lyrical meditation on his exhausting life as a New York City student and commuter. Roshelle Ferguson, '21, combined scholarship and testimony in her examination of racist beauty standards, "Natural Hair Discrimination and How Society's Impact Dictates Negative and Positive Perceptions of Black Hair and Hairstyles."

Each winner received $500 from the family of Baruch alumnus Harold Berlfein. Berlfein won $100 in 1938 for an essay he wrote as a City College student. That award inspired him and his wife to establish the Berlfein Family Prize, and his daughters continue to fund the prize. Berlfein earned an accounting degree in 1939 from City College's downtown campus, which is now Baruch. You can read a terrific short profile of Berlfein and his wide-ranging interests here. (Among other things, he could say "It's a pleasure to meet you" in 32 languages.)

Refract, Weissman's student-run digital magazine, publishes literary nonfiction focusing on contemporary issues in the arts, sciences, politics, culture and literature. Every story is illustrated with gorgeous artwork from the New Media Artspace. We're hoping to help Refract build readership by promoting it in partnership with its new editor, Rachel Dalloo. Check out Refract's podcast, Endnotes, and follow @RefractMag on Twitter.
Mishkin Gallery: Looking Ahead and Looking Back
The Mishkin Gallery has received a $10,000 grant for an exhibition, "Who Speaks for the Oceans?" scheduled to open in Spring 2022. The exhibition is being organized by Alaina Claire Feldman, Mishkin Gallery's director and curator, in collaboration with David Gruber, WSAS Presidential Professor of Environmental Science & Professor of Biology.

The grant will support the production of new artworks and archival research. The funding comes from the Etant Donnés program of the FACE Foundation (French-American Cultural Exchange in Education and the Arts) in partnership with Cultural Services of the French Embassy.
Meanwhile, this summer, the Mishkin Gallery is looking back through its archives to revisit past exhibitions. The work, themes, and artists from these shows will be celebrated in social media posts.

The series kicked off June 7 with a lookback at "Ray Johnson: Collages of Art, Poetry, Music and Film," which the gallery hosted in 2014. Johnson was an American artist associated with the Neo-Dada and Pop-Art movements. He created a genre called "mail art" consisting of collages of images of prominent individuals and scraps of correspondence. Follow Mishkin Gallery on Facebook and Instagram to see the rest of the lookbacks.
Help Spread the Message on Fall Class Changes
Beginning Tuesday, June 15, we'll be working to help get the word out to students that their fall classes may have changed from online to hybrid or in person. Please help us spread the message by encouraging students to check their schedules and by amplifying our social media posts on Instagram and Twitter.
Faculty Awards and Media Mentions
FIVE WEISSMAN PROFESSORS WIN EUGENE LANG FELLOWSHIPS
Congratulations to these Weissman professors for winning 2021-22 Eugene M. Lang Junior Faculty Fellowships:
  • Zoe Griffith, History (Cities of Clay and Stone: Empire and Society in the Ottoman Mediterranean, 1680-1830).
  • Emily Johnson, Journalism (Conflict in Northern Ethiopia).
  • Laura Kolb, English (Katherine's Missing Soliloquy: Silence, Gender, and Character on the Shakespearean Stage)
  • Christopher Stults, Pyschology (Development of an Intimate Partner Violence Intervention for Young Gay and Bisexual Men)
  • Steven Swarbrick, English (Shakespeare's Earth: Life Outside the Human Climate Zone)
NY RESTORATION PROJECT VIDEO WITH CHESTER ZARNOCH GETS 10K VIEWS
The New York Restoration Project featured WSAS Environmental Science Professor Chester Zarnoch in a 48-second video that's gotten more than 10,000 views. The NYRP tweeted the video in a post about Zarnoch's work on an ecosystem restoration project at Manhattan's Sherman Creek Park.
JOHANNA FERNANDEZ AND THE YOUNG LORDS IN AMSTERDAM NEWS
The Amsterdam News featured Professor Johanna Fernandez's book The Young Lords: A Radical History for winning three awards from the Organization of American Historians.
Upcoming Events
  • JUNE 17, noon: WSAS community meeting via Zoom with Interim Dean Jessica Lang, Vice President Katharine Cobb and Interim Provost Myung-Soo Lee.
  • JUNE 17, 6 p.m.: New Media Artspace opens "re:semblance," livestreamed on YouTube.
  • GRADUATE DEGREE INFORMATION SESSIONS: Summer and fall info sessions have been scheduled for master's degrees in mental health counseling (beginning July 7), corporate communication (beginning Aug. 11), and industrial organizational psychology (beginning Aug. 10). Details here.
Alumni News
Trouble sleeping? Get tips for a good night's sleep in this Authority Magazine interview with Sabrina Tropper, who got her master's degree in mental health counseling at Weissman in 2014.
Dina Jahani, who earned her master's degree in industrial organizational psychology at WSAS in 2015, works for HRBP, Global Business Solutions at TikTok.
A Recipe for Caribbean Heritage Month from BLS
June is Caribbean-American Heritage Month. Check out the link to a Trinidadian chicken recipe in this post from Baruch's Black and Latino Studies blog. The recipe comes from Michelle and Suzzane Rousseau, who spoke to BLS Professor Regina Bernard about Caribbean foodways. The Rousseaus are cookbook authors and owners of SummerHouse restaurant in Kingston, Jamaica.
Send questions, comments, or news to baruchwsas@baruch.cuny.edu.
Find past newsletter editions here. Next newsletter: June 28.