John Jay College Magazine - Fall 2008

John Jay Magazine EDUCAT I N G F O R J U S T I C E

FALL 2008

John Jay College T H E

C ITY

UNIVE RSITY

O F

NE W

YO RK

of Criminal Justice

John Jay Magazine E D U C A T I N G F O R JUSTICE

John Jay College John Jay College T H E

C I T Y

U N I V E R S I T Y

O F

N E W

of Criminal Justice of Criminal Justice T H E

C I T Y

U N I V E R S I T Y

O F

N E W

PRESIDENT

Y O R K

Y O R K

Jeremy travis PRESIDENT

Jeremy travis

Dear friends of John Jay College,

CONTENTS

1

President’s Letter

2

Reflections on a prize

4

MCNair Scholars: Tenacity and dedication

We have also launched an ambitious faculty hiring initiative, with welcome support from CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein. In fall 2004, John Jay had 338 full-time faculty; in fall 2008, we have 424 full-time faculty, a 25% increase in four years. This fall, we welcomed 38 new full-time faculty to our community. They are impressive. They earned their doctorates at some of the best universities in the world, value John Jay’s distinctive interdisciplinary environment, and embrace the opportunity to teach John Jay’s highly-motivated, justice-oriented students.

Turning lives around Improving the Odds for Prisoner Reentry

At the core of the transformation is the enrichment of our academic programs. We have already added majors in Economics and English. Many more majors are under development, including majors in Gender Studies, Global History, Philosophy, and Latin American Studies. These liberal arts majors will be distinctive because they are offered at John Jay. Each will speak to our mission of “educating for justice.”

On the road to Morocco

This year, we will approve a new Honors Program, reform our General Education requirements, launch an academic advisement initiative, design a First Year Experience, expand our freshman learning communities, and engage our faculty in helping our students decide upon their majors.

8 President Jeremy Travis Vice President Institutional Advancement Tova Friedler Executive Director of Communications & Editor Christine Godek

11 14

Senior Writer Jennifer Nislow Contributing Writers Peter Dodenhoff Sharon Johnson John Matteson Marie Rosen Photography Coordinator Doreen Viñas Alumni Contributor Sharice Conway Production Coordinator Kathy Willis Designer JRenacia

the brookly bridge 125 Years of Visual and Literary Magic

17

The boys of summer The 1978 Championship season at John Jay

23

Planned Giving

24

Alumni Worth Noting

27

Alumni Notes

Cover: Peter de Séve, Liberty, 1998. ©Peter de Sève This page: Top: Tavik Frantisek Simon, New York-Brooklyn Bridge, 1927. From the author’s collection Right: Anonymous, Construction of the Anchorage, n.d. (Detail) Courtesy of the Institute Archives and Special Collections, Folsom Library, Rensselaer Polytechnic University

These are exciting times at John Jay. Two years ago, we launched a transformation of the College, which today is on track and on schedule. We are changing our student profile, by phasing out our associate degree programs, establishing educational partnerships with the community colleges, and raising the College’s admission standards. This fall, we admitted 1,414 freshman baccalaureate students, a 43.9% increase over two years ago. This is an impressive accomplishment that speaks to the powerful appeal of a John Jay education.

John Jay Magazine is a publication of the Department of Institutional Advancement, published twice a year and distributed free to alumni and friends of John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

As a result of these complementary initiatives, John Jay will take its place in the top tier of the nation’s educational and research institutions, while retaining our distinctive focus on criminal and social justice, and graduating students who are prepared for challenging careers in a complex world. This issue of the John Jay Magazine highlights the strengths of our College. This year, for the second time, a John Jay professor won the Pulitzer Prize. Professor John Matteson, who won the prize for biography, shares his thoughts on receiving this remarkable honor. Our McNair Scholars, young people motivated to pursue undergraduate research and graduate degrees, give us a glimpse of how their lives have changed because of this program. Experts in the field of prisoner reentry offer their thoughts on the significance of John Jay’s Prisoner Reentry Institute. This past summer, the College launched its first faculty-led study-abroad programs. Students who participated in the program in Morocco share their insights and reactions. We also celebrate the Brooklyn Bridge through the eyes of Professor Richard Haw, who published a book on the topic, and reminisce with the baseball team of 1978 about John Jay’s first championship season. Finally, we catch up with alumni who are making their mark across our nation. In these uncertain economic times, it is particularly important that I express appreciation for your continuing support of the College. We remain committed to our core mission of “educating for justice.” With your help, we will continue to tackle some of society’s difficult challenges, and prepare a new generation of leaders.

8Jeremy 9 9 T E N Travis T H AV E N U E

8 9 9 T E N T H AV E N U E

NEW YORK, NY 10019

NEW YORK, NY 10019

T. 2 1 2 . 2 3 7 . 8 6 0 0

T. 2 1 2 . 2 3 7 . 8 6 0 0

F. 2 1 2 . 2 3 7 . 8 6 0 7

F. 2 1 2 . 2 3 7 . 8 6 0 7

J T R A V I S @ J J A Y. C U N Y. E D U

J T R A V I S @ J J A Y. C U N Y. E D U

second act, which, in its own quiet way, was filled with narrow escapes worthy of Indiana Jones. When I applied to graduate school, my applications were rejected by every school but one — Columbia. When I completed my PhD and hunted for a teaching position, I was again turned down by every place but one — John Jay. When I offered the idea for Eden’s Outcasts for sale, again, only one publishing house was receptive — W.W. Norton and Company. Until April of this year, the noes in my life in academe far outnumbered the yeses. Since April 7, the yeses have finally started to predominate. But had it not been for the yes I received several years ago from John Jay College, there would have been no academic job for me, no Eden’s Outcasts, no Pulitzer Prize. My feelings when I reflect on this require some greater word than gratitude.

Reflections on a Prize By Professor John Matteson

The two faces of John Matteson: Professor of English and Pulitzer Prize-winning author.

a Pulitzer Prize is not a Nobel, though I’m flattered when people mix them up.

When I was a kid, I used to enjoy reading newspaper stories about newly anointed Nobel Prize winners. My favorite parts tended to be the photographs. Because of the time difference with Stockholm, the prizes always seemed to be announced around breakfast time in America, meaning that the press here usually descended on unsuspecting winners when they were still in their pajamas. I got a kick out of seeing the pictures of great economists and chemists blinking into a camera lens, obviously elated but also a bit bothered that they had just arrived at immortality in a bathrobe and slippers. Now, a Pulitzer Prize is not a Nobel, though I’m flattered when people mix them up. For the record, they don’t hand out Nobels for biographies, so I have no hope of ever getting one, even if I were that good, so a Pulitzer is about as high as I can go. In any case, I was very glad on April 7 that the Pulitzer Prizes were announced at three in the afternoon and that, when the photographer came, I happened to be wearing a tie. It all happened, marvelously enough, when Chancellor Goldstein was addressing a

college-wide faculty meeting in the lobby of the John Jay College theater. He had concluded his remarks and was fielding questions when I felt a tap on my shoulder. “You have to leave this room right now,” came the urgent whisper. “It’s an emergency!” Just the words that the son of two octogenarian parents and a 14-year-old daughter loves to hear. I moved hastily out the door, wondering which of them was in intensive care. I was thus doubly unprepared when I was met by our department secretary. She told me that I had to go to North Hall to see an Associated Press photographer because I had just won the Pulitzer Prize for biography. If you are old enough (and I am, just barely) to remember the Mexico City Olympics, you likely recall one of the iconic images from those games, and I don’t mean the John Carlos/Tommie Smith black power salute. I’m thinking of long-jumper Bob Beamon after his jump shattered the existing world record: On his knees. Hands over his face. A picture of pure astonishment and joy. That, to a tee, was my reaction, though the photographer came too late to catch it. Too bad, I think, since it makes a much better image than blinking in a bathrobe.

During my career as a professor and critic, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to publish work on some outstanding writers, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Herman Melville, William James, and, of course, Bronson and Louisa May Alcott. One favorite writer about whom I haven’t written a word is F. Scott Fitzgerald. Late in his life, Fitzgerald said, “There are no second acts in American lives.” It’s an interesting line — succinct, tinged with pathos — and entirely wrong. One of the truly remarkable things about life in America is our capacity to re-invent ourselves. One way or another, just about everyone who wants one gets a second chance. Winning the Pulitzer Prize has made me think a great deal about second acts — and not only because the book that won the Prize, Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father, is about a father and a daughter who redeemed themselves in each other’s eyes and achieved new, abundant lives after passing through tremendous hardship. In a sense, winning this prize has been the culmination of my own second act. I began my professional life as an attorney, practicing in the courts of California and North Carolina. Although I took pride in the quality of the work I did, I found that I wanted to add something more to the world instead of just dividing up the pie. So began my

The man I work for, President Jeremy Travis also knows a bit about second acts, having had a noteworthy career as a maker of justice policy and having now emerged as an outstanding leader in higher public education. The signal work of his career to date has also dealt with second acts — in studying the challenges that face ex-convicts returning to life outside prison. President Travis believes in the power of people to re-imagine and remake themselves. During his tenure as president of John Jay, which is now witnessing the return of humanities majors to our curriculum, President Travis has shown his confidence in a college to transform itself into a more dynamic, enlightened institution than it has ever been before. To have such a model for inspiration has made a huge difference. While I’m talking about inspiration, I should also mention the man I wrote about, Bronson Alcott, who was himself a teacher. In studying how Bronson Alcott taught, I have learned a lot about how to conduct myself in the profession that he saw as the greatest of all human occupations. Alcott wrote a series of maxims about how to be an effective teacher. Here are four of them:

“To teach nothing merely from subservience to custom. To teach by encouragement. continued on page 22

2

3

One of the truly remarkable things about life in America is our capacity to re-invent ourselves.

One way or another, just about everyone who wants one gets a second chance.

MCNair Scholars A Lesson in

Tenacity AND Dedication Duquann Hinton

Alexandra Tellez

Jessica Armstrong

Shirley Sut Yee Chan

By Jennifer Nislow

70 percent of MCNair Scholars go on to master’s programs within two years of graduating from John Jay, and many more after that period.

Prison seemed more likely than college at one point in graduate student Duquann Hinton’s life. Having informally dropped out of school in the seventh grade, no one is more surprised by his academic success than Hinton himself. At 23, he is working towards a master’s degree at the CUNY Graduate Center in socialpersonality psychology. But there is no overstating the difficult road that led Hinton from youthful offender to master’s degree candidate. Hinton, who graduated in 2007, earned his GED in a detention center where he was sent after a few arrests. He entered John Jay as a SEEK student, meaning that regardless of how well he did in class, he had to have a tutor. It was this tutor who took him by the hand to the Ronald E. McNair Program office,

4

recalled Hinton. Still, it took two more visits there before Hinton applied to the program. “A PhD sounded like something good to have, but it wasn’t something I thought I wanted or needed,” said Hinton. “Even going in, I didn’t really know what a PhD entailed, and what you had to do to get one. Or what graduate school was. It all sounded really nice to me, but I didn’t know what they meant, for real.” He is one of the 196 John Jay students who have participated in the Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program over the past 15 years. Named after astronaut Ronald E. McNair, the program’s goal is to prepare selected students with strong academic potential for doctoral studies. Not all McNair Scholars share Hinton’s troubled background, but many come from similarly disadvantaged circumstances. And like him, they are all first-generation college students. John Jay is part of the network of more than 180 campuses across the country that offers McNair scholarships to eligible undergraduates. Dr. Jannette Domingo, Dean of Graduate Studies, wrote the initial grant proposal that brought the program here in 1992. She served as chairperson and director of John Jay’s McNair Program until 2007. “Over the years, the McNair Scholars have been more social-justice oriented and more international than the College,” said Domingo. “The McNair Program and the McNair Scholars, I think, have been models, and

have pointed the way in terms of the College’s direction on undergraduate research and the global perspective on social justice.” Students apply for the McNair Program during their sophomore year and enter the program as juniors. The scholarship provides specialized support services for two years, including mentorship by faculty members; tutoring and exam preparation; career counseling; assistance in applying to graduate school; a $2,800 stipend — usually after their junior year; and help in obtaining financial aid for graduate school. According to the program’s associate director, Ernest Lee, 70 percent of McNair Scholars go on to master’s programs within two years of graduating from John Jay, and many more after that period. The McNair Program reflects the mission of the college in which it resides. Thus, there are many different models operating nationwide. John Jay’s is distinctive in a number of ways. One is that students do not enter the program with a mentor of their own choosing, with whom to work individually. Another is that all of its McNair Scholars major in one of the social sciences taught at the College. John Jay is funded for 21 McNair Scholars (although that number will increase to 27 at the start of the next five-year grant cycle). Seven faculty members from a number of disciplines including AfricanAmerican Studies, where the McNair Program is housed, Forensic Psychology, Puerto Rican/Latin-American Studies and Counseling, mentor three students each.

A critical component of the program has always been to involve students in research methodology in order to help prepare them for graduate school. For many years, noted Domingo, McNair was the only program that required this of participants. McNair Scholars act as research assistants to their mentors during their first year, then in their second year conduct their own research project. “The mentors are very, very important,” said Domingo. “We have tried to match people on the basis of their interest, but also — to the extent possible — those people who we think can work well with each other.” Dr. Kwando Kinshasa of the African-American Studies Department was Hinton’s mentor.

John Jay is part of the network of more than

“Just to meet somebody like that who kind of shared some of the experiences I had growing up, it was grounding to me,” said Hinton. “If he had a PhD, I could have one, too.” Kinshasa though, saw through all of his “games,” he said. While Hinton grumbled at his first assignment — reading eight books and assorted journal articles over the winter break, he felt liberated and accomplished when he completed the work. “All these great feelings together,” said Hinton. A problem for many students who have participated in the program has been the struggle to make their own friends and families understand why they are willing to

5

180 campuses across the country that offers McNair scholarships to eligible undergraduates.

remain in school such an indefinite length of time in pursuit of a doctorate, noted Domingo.

Ernest Lee, Associate Director, McNair Program

a key element of the program is the encouragement students get from peers, faculty and staff who share their goals — not just at John Jay, but at MCNair programs across the country.

McNair Scholars “come from not always the easiest backgrounds, and don’t have the easiest lives,” said Psychology Professor William Gottdiener, who is a McNair mentor. “They are typical of many students at John Jay in terms of having family responsibilities and working, at least part-time, outside of their regular studies, plus they’re taking the McNair Program,” he said. “It’s a challenge on many fronts to the students. They have tremendous fortitude; they’re bright; they’re ambitious; and they’re trying to figure out if a doctoral program in some field is what they want to do.” Given all that, a key element of the program is the encouragement students get from peers, faculty and staff who share their goals — not just at John Jay, but at McNair programs across the country, Domingo explained. This network forms a fellowship that supports them as they move on to other institutions for graduate work. In addition to the tangible skills it gives these students, McNair helps them develop confidence in their ability to do doctoral studies. As firstgeneration college students, they may not have someone within their immediate circle who serves as an academic role model. “I don’t think I could emphasize enough the importance of being able to identify with other students who have the same sorts of aspirations,” said Domingo. That has certainly been true for Jessica Armstrong, 23, a forensic psychology major who is also in the College’s BA/MA Program. Armstrong’s family lives in Texas. She is a transfer student from New Orleans who has been on her own since she was 17.

“You have a lot of staff support, but then you have a whole network of students who are going through what you’re going through,” she said. “My dad always says, ‘Oh, I’m very proud of you,’ but at the same time, it’s like, ‘What are you doing? I don’t get it.’ They don’t quite understand why I’m still in school.” 6

Armstrong plans on earning a PhD in clinical psychology and specializing in addiction studies like Gottdiener, who is her mentor. She would like to have her own practice one day and continue to do research on substance abuse. Her McNair project looks at the types of defense mechanisms addicts use and how these mechanisms are modified by trauma and trauma symptoms. Shirley Sut Yee Chan has also benefited from the support of the McNair network. Chan, 22, hopes to attend medical school at New York University after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in forensic psychology. She gave up a full scholarship at Barnard College where she was an economics major to come to John Jay. A senior, Chan is taking all of her science requirements now. She has not yet decided whether she will go into emergency medicine or psychiatry. “I believe there are two types of systems here,” she said. “There’s your peer network, and there’s your mentor-level/director-level support. On the peer side, we all know we’re going through the same thing. We can commiserate together. On the top level, I have my mentor and I have Mr. Lee. I can approach them with anything, academic concerns, personal problems that are stressing me out…they will try to counsel me through it,” said Chan. Kimmesha Edwards, another first-year McNair Scholar majoring in forensic psychology, described Lee as both understanding and empathetic, as well as someone who “helps bring out of you what you didn’t know you had,” she said. “He pushes you when you think you have nothing left to push for, he finds something to make you push for. And the beauty is he’s still there. When you leave and go to grad school, he still accepts those phone calls.” Alexandra Tellez is still calling Lee and Gottdiener two years after finishing her McNair Program. The 23-year-old Tellez graduated from John Jay with a master’s in forensic psychology. “It’s a relationship that was definitely more intense at the time I was in McNair, but we still keep in touch just because the relationship was so strong,” she said. “I feel I owe a lot of what I’ve become to them…so I always want to let them know how I’m doing.”

The summer months are not a break for McNair Scholars. They spend that time traveling to McNair conferences nationally to present their work. At these events, students get a chance to present their work and learn to withstand the sometimes “withering critiques” of their mentors, said Domingo. Moreover, having students give papers at these events is an important means of exposing them to an array of concepts and ideas new to them, noted Kinshasa. Many of these students consider themselves worldly because they are from New York, but in reality, he noted, they are actually quite parochial. “They have to go someplace else,” Kinshasa said. “[They] give papers in everything from psychology to public administration in a very crisp, well-developed, critiqued manner.” All McNair participants are required to take the Spring Semester Research Seminar that meets on Fridays. It not only aids them with their research here, but also puts them ahead of their fellow students when they enter graduate school.

Kinshasa added, “The McNair program is structured so that as soon as the students enter the program they have a PhD on their mind, they’re thinking of that orientation. That puts a positive, intellectual strain on them, meaning that they are beginning to think about ‘what do I want to do when I have my PhD?’”

Edwards found that class invaluable. “I felt it was a big, big help,” she said. “Narrowing down a topic, getting your topic to a point where it’s doable in the two-year time frame that you have, because it’s great to have these great, big ideas, but it seems small until you start the process and you realize how big this really is. The Friday class was amazing on focusing and taking a small piece so that you can finish,” said Edwards. Tellez began her first job in August as a cognitive therapist at the Center for Cognition and Communication. In addition, she will spend the next year in preparation for a doctoral program she hopes to start in fall of 2009. Tellez’s McNair project looked at the different perspectives that lawyers and psychologists have with regard to competency to stand trial when the defendant is mentally deficient. But during her graduate work, her area of research interest shifted to working with sexual predators, after an externship through John Jay working at the Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center. As for Hinton, his area of research interest at the CUNY Graduate Center is the historical and contemporary experiences of the AfricanAmerican community and the unique and thoughtful ways it expresses itself in the face of obstacles to that expression. “The literature on that topic…a lot of it is just pathology-oriented and it’s just not true,” he said. “I want to spend my career trying to even out the balance.”

Professor Kwando Kinshasa, Department of African-American Studies

students get a chance to present their work and learn to withstand the sometimes “withering critiques” of their mentors.

Jennifer Nislow is Assistant Publications Director at John Jay College.

The purpose of the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program is to encourage low-income individuals who are first-generation college students and/or traditionally underrepresented in graduate education to pursue doctoral study. Named for Dr. McNair, the program serves as a living memorial to a man who overcame seemingly insurmountable odds to be awarded his PhD in physics and later, to realize his dream of becoming an astronaut for NASA.

7

Thus, with a stroke of the pen, a conservative Republican President

Turning Lives Around Improving the Odds for Prisoner Reentry By Sharon Johnson

The Institute has focused attention on the three things every returning prisoner needs:

staying healthy and sober, landing a job and finding a place to live.

The Second Chance Act of 2007, passed by both houses of Congress with huge bipartisan majorities and signed into law by President Bush this past April, signals a sea change in a mindset that has prevailed for the past 25 years, one that demonized those who have been incarcerated. The law, first eloquently proposed in Bush’s 2004 State of the Union address, authorizes grants to government agencies and nonprofit groups to provide a wide variety of services that can help reintegrate ex-offenders into the community.

founded the Prisoner Reentry Institute at John Jay as well. This Institute is contributing to a new national discourse on prisoner reentry by focusing on keeping recently released people away from crime and helping them to become productive, contributing members of society.

Thus, with a stroke of the pen, a conservative Republican President officially endorsed the notion that fighting crime and protecting the public requires more than just building prisons and warehousing inmates. It also requires providing a path for ex-offenders that can lead to a better life once the prison gates have opened.

the implementation and management

“Today, with the nation’s crime rates at the lowest level in a generation, the political environment is more conducive to focusing on finding ways to reintegrate former prisoners,” said Jeremy Travis, President of John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a recognized scholar on prisoner reentry issues.

PRISONER REENTRY INSTITUTE In 2005, Travis published But They All Come Back: Facing the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry, which proposed new approaches like reentry courts to help prisoners make a successful transition. That same year, he

8

“As the only public university-based center that focuses on reentry, we are in a unique position to provide evidence-based research to enhance of programs,” said Debbie A. Mukamal, Director of the Institute. “Traditionally, the measure of successful reentry was the recidivism rate. Although this statistic is important, we are also looking at other measures, such as whether a person has a job with a career ladder, is paying child support, living in one’s own home rather than a homeless shelter, and is enrolled in school.” “The Institute has focused attention on the three things every returning prisoner needs: staying healthy and sober, landing a job and finding a place to live,” said Martin F. Horn, Commissioner for New York City’s Department of Correction and the Department of Probation. “Its research on what recently released prisoners need to become productive, contributing members of society has provided important information for our department‘s reentry plan, the most ambitious such program in the nation.” “Thirty percent of all rearrests occur during the first six months,” said Mukamal. “If we can help formerly incarcerated individuals

officially endorsed the notion that fighting crime and protecting the public requires more than just building prisons and warehousing inmates.

It also requires providing

a path for ex-offenders that can lead to a better life once the prison gates have opened. meet challenges during this period, we increase the likelihood that they will turn their lives around and become productive members of society.”

paid community service projects and internships for 275 18-to-24-year-old former prisoners who have returned to their homes in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn and the South Bronx.

Addressing Healthcare Needs

Many of the jobs that former prisoners used to fill are disappearing, thanks to automation and globalization. Other hard-toemploy individuals like immigrants and welfare recipients have become entrepreneurs. To determine whether entrepreneurship was a realistic career path for formerly incarcerated individuals, the Institute convened a series of conversations among experts in criminal justice, workplace development and entrepreneurs in 2006.

In April, the Institute and healthcare professionals at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan released a report that showed a serious geographic mismatch between where returning inmates live and where medical and mental health services are located. The team found that inmates return in disproportionate numbers to impoverished communities, with 26 percent returning to just six districts, and that these areas needed more providers. “Returning prisoners often have serious health conditions like diabetes and heart disease that require ongoing treatments,” said Jeff Mellow, associate professor in the Department of Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration who directed the project. “If they don’t get the medications they need, they may suffer a life-threatening heart attack. Those who need substance abuse treatment often have a difficult time travelling to distant facilities and drop out of programs, which may lead them to resume using harmful substances.”

Facing the Employment Dilemma The Institute has tackled unemployment by collaborating with the New York City Department of Correction on a job readiness initiative. Called the New York City Justice Corps, the initiative provides six months of

Several formerly incarcerated individuals who had started successful cleaning services, landscaping businesses and a bakery shared their experiences. In addition to common obstacles like the lack of formal training in business development and access to credit, they faced barriers like parole and probation regulations that prohibited interstate travel and working without direct supervision by an employer. The experts came up with solutions such as having education departments of local correctional facilities add an introductory,

9

Debbie A. Mukamal, Director, Prisoner Reentry Institute

Thirty percent of all rearrests occur during the first six months.

self-employment unit to the curriculum of existing vocational programs. These and other strategies became part of “Venturing Beyond the Gates,” a 92-page monograph on facilitating successful reentry with entrepreneurship.

of Medicine and the Urban Institute have launched an initiative to come up with possible solutions.

Morocco…

On the Road to Advancing the Profession

John Jay Students Expand Their Horizons Tackling the Hard Questions

Martin F. Horn, Commissioner, New York City Department of Correction and New York City Department of Probation

Sampling of Occasional Series on Reentry Research April 18, 2008:

An Examination of the Impact of Formerly Incarcerated Persons Helping Others

March 21, 2008:

Transitional Jobs for Ex-Prisoners: Early Impacts from a Random Assignment Evaluation of the Center for Employment Opportunities

April 13, 2007:

Governing through Crime: How the War on Crime Transformed American Democracy and Created a Culture of Fear

February 9, 2007:

Sentencing for Dollars: The Financial Consequences of a Criminal Conviction

December 15, 2006:

Punitiveness in the Imprisonment of Women, 1977-2004

“One reason why the Institute’s research is so valuable is that the Institute goes out of its way to include input from formerly incarcerated individuals,” said JoAnne Page, President and CEO of the Fortune Society, a nonprofit organization that provides life skills training for returning prisoners. “The Institute has also tackled issues that have long been ignored, such as the needs of the more than 12 million people who pass through U.S. jails each year.” Because more than 80 percent of inmates are incarcerated for less than a month, jails have little time or capacity to address the serious health, substance abuse and other problems of this population. The Institute’s “Life After Lockup,” an analysis of 42 local reentry programs across the country, highlights steps that jail administrators, local correctional staff and probation officers can take in working with this population. Tapping educational opportunities is often difficult for returning prisoners because they are unaware of programs. To overcome this problem, the Institute produced a “Back to School Guide for Continuing Your Education After Prison” and worked with the career development offices of the City University of New York to improve services for students with prison records. “One of the reasons I came to John Jay to earn a PhD in criminal justice was the opportunity to work on projects like the educational guide,” said Anna Crayton, deputy director of research. “By bridging the gap between research and practice, these projects come up with creative solutions like entrepreneurship to the problem of unemployment.” The Institute is also tackling another looming crisis: the national prison population is graying at an unprecedented rate and many prisons are ill-equipped to provide acute care for strokes and heart attacks and manage chronic conditions like diabetes and kidney failure. The Institute, the New York Academy

10

“Professional development is a major focus of everything we do at the Institute,” said Mukamal. “Although social workers often work with incarcerated individuals and their family members, their academic training and field placement rarely focus on the needs of this population, so we have partnered with the National Association of Social Workers and the Center for Law and Social Policy on a project that will develop a set of learning tools for academic courses, fieldwork placement, and other measures to fill this gap.” Another project targets future leaders. The Institute and the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at NYU are developing an 18-month program for people with 5 to 10 years of experience in the criminal justice system who have been recognized by their organizations as candidates for promotion. Since June 2005, the Institute has sponsored the “Occasional Series on Reentry Research,” where academicians, policymakers and practitioners discuss the latest research on topics such as felon disenfranchisement, families and reentry and community supervision.

“These sessions have had a long-lasting impact on the recovery movement,” said John Jay Sociology Professor Douglas Thompkins, who is also a member of the Fortune Society’s Board of Directors. “Two years ago, we presented cutting-edge research on how educational programs can be adapted in prison as well as improvements made in community programs for those who have returned. Now state officials are considering a demonstration project, which shows the tremendous influence the Institute has had on reentry.” Sharon Johnson is an editor and freelance writer with over 2,000 articles published in the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune and women’s magazines.

By Peter Dodenhoff

“You must remember this…” And they will. Ten John Jay students who traveled to Casablanca and other Moroccan cities this past June for a groundbreaking study-abroad program came away with more than just three undergraduate or graduate credits in psychology or other cross-listed disciplines. They enjoyed a four-week immersion in another culture that none of them will soon forget. “Who wouldn’t want to take the opportunity to go to Morocco?” said Shea Alvarez, who earned her master’s degree in forensic psychology on May 29 and promptly packed her bags for the trip to Morocco. “This was an opportunity to become immersed in a culture that’s largely misunderstood in the Western world.” Led by Professor Chitra Raghavan of the Department of Psychology, the course on “Gender, Culture, Community and Violence” was designed to be academically rigorous, with classroom lectures and discussions, field trips and presentations by local persons of interest. In addition, participants engaged in a community service project at a Moroccan school. “The experience was beyond my expectations; I’m still exhausted,” Raghavan said a few weeks after the group returned.

Why They Went The five undergraduate and five graduate students who participated agreed to keep blogs during their trip, and to share the journals with John Jay Magazine upon their return. Some also agreed to be interviewed about the experience. “Because of my research interests, I felt it was important to understand Arab cultures and Islam, and get a firsthand impression from legal, social and cultural perspectives,” said Alvarez, who is now enrolled in the John Jay/CUNY doctoral program in forensic psychology. One of her travel companions, Jillian

Christian Aulbach and Professor Chitra Raghavan find an elusive patch of shade beneath an ancient stone arch.

Sarandrea, a graduate student in forensic mental health counseling, learned of the program after having a class with Raghavan. Sarandrea, who said she has a working interest in gender and family violence issues, always wanted to but never had traveled abroad, “…and this was a golden opportunity.” Christian Aulbach, a junior majoring in international criminal justice who was one of just three males in the group, was also making his first trip overseas, and signed up in order to “learn about another culture and maybe debunk a few myths. Living there for a month changed my views about a lot of things.”

11

this was a golden opportunity.

This was an opportunity to become immersed in a culture that’s largely misunderstood in the Western world. Academic Rigor The academic component of the month-long adventure was no less rigorous than the living conditions or the climate. For starters, students were immediately immersed in Arabic language study. “You have to know some Arabic just to get around,” said Aulbach. “It was difficult at first. We’d wake up at 9 o’clock and do three hours of language instruction. Then we’d have lots of lectures on gender issues, family violence and the Moudawana, Morocco’s family law.” This law, unanimously adopted in 2004, significantly upgraded the status of women in the country.

The pace was virtually non-stop, aimed at providing a near-saturation level experience, but not one of the students came home with regrets about having participated. “I loved the program, and I’d love to go back,” Sarandrea said. “I’m sure that after I got back my family got sick of hearing me rave about Morocco.”

Shocks to the System John Jay study-abroad participants get a feel for Moroccan-style couture.

there was no shortage of culture shocks for the John Jay students.

As might be expected in making one’s first trip to a non-Western country, there was no shortage of culture shocks for the John Jay students. For starters, the students realized that they were the foreigners, not the natives. “For once, the staring eyes were on me, judging and observing my every move,” one anonymous blogger wrote. “I do not mind the intriguing eyes on me, but it is interesting to experience this because it opens my mind to how it must feel to someone foreign in New York City.” Each city has its medina, the ancient, walled section of town that is crisscrossed with streets scarcely wider than the average alleyway, yet lined with vendors’ stalls. If the Moroccan cities themselves offered culture shocks, the medinas took things to yet another level. “It was quite an experience,” Aulbach wrote. “There were dozens of people from the stalls who would walk up to you with their menus, while the chef would yell down to you in 14 different languages. They all fought for your business.”

12

“I’ve traveled a fair amount but never have I felt as culturally shell-shocked as that first night in the medina,” one student wrote. Another commented, “The medina felt strikingly similar to New York City because it was a small, crowded, smelly area with lots of diversity crammed into a tiny space.” That’s not to say there weren’t similarities to what the students were used to. “Despite the many culture shocks, the general hustle and bustle of Rabat is familiar,” Alvarez wrote regarding the Moroccan capital city. And like New York — “the city that never sleeps” — Rabat and other Moroccan cities had a latenight culture of their own. Other discoveries by the students? “The coffee was horrible,” said Sarandrea, “sort of like instant. Tea is their big thing. And the pastries were as good as anything I’ve ever had. I went over there expecting to lose like 15 pounds. I ended up gaining.” In general, students could hardly have spoken with greater fondness about the Moroccan people — the ones they stayed with or the ones they encountered in their travels. “The people I met and interacted with were very open and friendly, and always excited to help in any way. Most of all, they are patient,” Alvarez wrote in a blog entry soon after arriving in the country. “A very warm and welcoming culture.” Aulbach noted in a posttrip interview: “They were just the nicest people.”

In a familiar street scene, Moroccans relax beneath a blazing midday sun.

Yes, But It’s a Dry Heat… One thing the students noticed the instant they stepped off the plane in Casablanca was the incredibly intense heat of a Moroccan summer. “I had seen desert before, and dryness of course is one of its major attributes, but everything looked thirsty,” Sarandrea blogged. The impression only became more dramatic on field trips the students took through the Moroccan countryside. “The sun seems to burn hotter each place we go,” wrote one student. “The landscape en route from Casablanca to Marrakesh changed from dusty, dry and flat to dusty, dry and mountainous, while shepherds, field workers and brick makers blended into to the terrain. With fickle air conditioning on the bus, we were sweating and shedding our clothes, but I can’t imagine how it must feel to work in those shadeless fields in such relentless heat every day of your life.” The oppressive Moroccan heat didn’t let up when it came time for the John Jay students to engage in an outdoor community service project, painting murals on the bathroom walls at an elementary school. Nor did the heat stop them. They took to the task with aplomb, earning the gratitude of the teachers and staff and miles of smiles from the Moroccan schoolchildren, who couldn’t seem to get enough of their contact with the visitors.

Graduate student Shea Alvarez takes time for some monkeying around.

“The children enjoyed seeing us visiting the school,” Sarandrea wrote in her journal. “They tried to interact with us by waving and

smiling to everyone. The staff had to hide us in a classroom when it was time for the children’s recess. The children were so involved in us that we were distracting them from their playtime.” The heat exacerbated the smells wafting from the primitive school bathroom, and seemed to encourage swarms of insects. Alvarez recalled “a never-ending bombardment of flies, testing my reflexes, laughing at me… and the ants — little ones, big ones. My toes were swollen and red from the bites and the sun. But it was all good because we were doing community service for a school in an underprivileged neighborhood. No matter how hot, dirty or smelly that place was, I was glad to be there.”

Scenes from a community service project: Paul Ibarra and Ysaeric Taveras (top), along with Christian Aulbach and Kelsey Kowalski (above), help brighten up a Moroccan school.

“John Jay improved the environment that these young children play and learn in throughout the year, and I felt honored to be a part of it,” Aulbach recalled. Alvarez seemed to be speaking for the group when she observed, “It made me a richer person — intellectually, spiritually and more.”

It made me a

[This John Jay study-abroad program is particularly significant because it is the first led by John Jay faculty. The Morocco course was one of two such programs offered this summer. The other was a course on “Caribbean Criminology” that was teamtaught in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, by Professors David Brotherton and Luis Barrios.]

richer

Peter Dodenhoff is editor of @ John Jay.

and more.

13

person — intellectually, spiritually

Left to Right:

Great East River Suspension Bridge, 1874. (Detail) Published by Currier and Ives. Courtesy of the Library of Congress

First Passenger Across the East River Bridge, Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, September 9, 1876. Courtesy of Yale University Library A Never Ending Job, Puck, September 21, 1881 Courtesy of the Cornell University Library

the structure has served

The Brooklyn Bridge

as a subject

125 Years of Literary and Visual Magic

for emerging schools of artists since its completion 125 years ago this year.

“The span between Manhattan and Brooklyn is essentially a pre-modern structure created with wooden cranes and horse-drawn wagons. And yet it stands as an icon of modernism, having inspired some of the most significant painters and photographers of the 20th Century,” points out Richard Haw in his book Art of the Brooklyn Bridge: A Visual History. A member of John Jay’s English department faculty, British-born Haw first visited New York City in 1992. So taken with the city, and in particular the Brooklyn Bridge, he completed a doctoral degree in American literature and culture at Leeds University in the U.K. His thesis on the span became the basis for his first book, The Brooklyn Bridge: A Cultural History. Haw moved here permanently in 2001 and lives, not surprisingly, in Brooklyn. “After I had done the first book,” he said, “I got really interested in the art of the Brooklyn Bridge and I started looking for images of the

14

bridge. I came to the conclusion that the visual record of the bridge extended over absolutely everything. The most obvious thing is paintings, photographs, etchings, lithographs, all those types of things, but also book covers, LP covers, magazine covers, films and comic books,” said Haw. “Spider Man is always on the Brooklyn Bridge.” In Art of the Brooklyn Bridge, Haw interweaves a narrative on the creation of the bridge with its social and artistic history. He provides biographical sketches of the laborers and engineers, exhibitionists and thrill-seekers, and politicians and financiers who contributed to the legend and lore of the structure. Some of these people include the bridge superintendent William Kingsley; “Boss” William M. Tweed, who bilked hundreds of thousands of dollars from the bridge’s construction costs; John and Washington Roebling, the father and son who designed and engineered the span; and Steve Brodie, who if not the first daredevil to jump off the bridge, is certainly the most celebrated. But Haw’s main focus is how the structure has served as a subject for emerging schools of artists since its completion 125 years ago this year.

Haw’s interest in writing the book stems from his belief that the Brooklyn Bridge appeals to two important parts of one’s psyche — the heart and the head. The heart, he explains, because the bridge is a beautiful structure to both be on, and to observe from a distance. The head, as a scholar Haw says, because it is fascinating to explore the variety of contexts within which the bridge belongs. It is a part of New York’s financial, political, engineering and artistic histories. The bridge is “an incredibly unique part of urban planning history,” he said.

is always on the

By Jennifer Nislow

“Another way of looking at the visual history of the Brooklyn Bridge is that it really is, in many respects, the history of American art,” said Haw. “There are a lot of people from the Hudson River Valley School, the Impressionists, the Ash Can School, modernists, photographers like [Edward] Steichen and Karl Struss. When you move past that, you get into the social realism of the New Deal and the WPA art. The bridge was on a lot of murals painted at that time,” he said.

Spider Man

Brooklyn

There are few architectural structures that encompass as many domains as the Brooklyn Bridge, according to Haw. St. Paul’s Cathedral in London is one, but “there aren’t a lot,” he said. While the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge and the George Washington Bridge are of equal significance in the chronicles of engineering, none have inspired the bounty of art and literature, as has the Brooklyn Bridge.

Bridge.

Haw said that he stopped counting images of the bridge when he hit 1,000. The book, which has 267 illustrations and photographs, took approximately two years to write. Archival images were gathered by Haw from the Brooklyn Historical Society, the New York Historical Society, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Brooklyn Museum, among other scholarly and fine art institutions around the country. Some of the images come from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute that has a digital collection of images of both the bridge and of Washington Roebling.

Another way of looking at the visual history of the Brooklyn Bridge is that it really is, in many respects, the history of American art. 15

RECALLING 1978 THAT CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON FOR JOHN JAY’S

Boys of Summer

Professor Richard Haw in front of his favorite subject.

“My conclusion is that the bridge has the richest visual history of any manmade object,” said Haw.

After World War II, Haw notes, the bridge became a subject for abstract painters such as Robert Indiana, Georgia O’Keefe and Ellsworth Kelly. Unlike their predecessors, they were not interested in the masses that crossed it each day. “They depicted the span as a pure shape or an aesthetic ideal. Lifted above the messy business of urban life, their bridge became a perfect, selfcontained art object, an American version of Keats’s ‘well-wrought urn,’” writes Haw.

The bridge is an incredibly unique part of urban planning history.

During this period, Arthur Fellig, better known as Weegee, and Andreas Feininger, documentary photographers who, Haw writes, “extended the documentary aesthetic of New Deal art and helped set the stage for the post-war boom in documentary photography,” photographed the bridge. While many of the renowned photojournalists who shot the bridge during the 1930s and 1940s, such as Walker Evans and Esther Bubley, focused on its structure — the towers and cables — others explored the foot traffic and community around the span. In 1946, Harper’s Bazaar brought together photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson and writer Alfred Kazin for an article about the

16

By Peter Dodenhoff

bridge, according to Haw. “Cartier-Bresson was not the first photographer to click a few rolls of film while strolling along the bridge,” Haw writes, “but he was the first to focus so intently on the people he found there. If the walkway gave the bridge its breath, CartierBresson’s photographs gave it life.” From the post-war period to the present, the bridge has continued to inspire contemporary artists who depict it in its gritty reality or with romantic whimsy. Over the past 20 years, a number of well-known artists have captured its image. Andy Warhol, who designed the poster for the bridge’s centennial in 1983, did a silkscreen of the bridge. Artist Trish Mayo built a replica of it in 2005 from twigs for the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. In artist Peter de Sève’s 1998 work, he uses the bridge as a hammock for the Statue of Liberty. As for whether Haw believes that his affection for the bridge is at least partly due to his status as an Englishman and not a native New Yorker, he takes a cue from essayist E.B. White. In “This is New York,” Haw notes, White writes that there are three kinds of people in New York: Natives, who take it all for granted; people who live in New Jersey and Connecticut to whom the city is a place of timetables and train stations; and people like himself, who come here because they are fascinated by New York. “It’s often those people who have come desperately looking for New York who have written some of the best novels about New York, painted the best paintings of New York,” said Haw. “I think there is a real fascination with what you don’t know — I’ve always been fascinated by New York.”

We are the champions — then (during a spring training trip to Florida) and now (at John Brant’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2007).

In the realm of instant messaging, “BFF,” or Best Friends Forever, is one of the most commonly used shorthand terms. Arguably, it’s also one of the most overstated or misapplied, since it is a genuine rarity for college-age chums, even very close ones, to remain friends for very long — and certainly not “forever.” That cannot be said of the members of John Jay’s 1978 baseball team — the team that won the College’s very first conference championship — who remain the best of friends 30 years later. The sleek athleticism of youth has yielded in some cases to the weathered looks and softer midsections that

come with middle age. Their once-daily fraternizing on ballfields, in locker rooms and on long road trips has gradually diminished as the demands of work and family have increased.

Still, these former “Boys of Summer” continue to stay in close touch with each other and, as importantly, with the school whose uniform they wore, bonded by sharply etched memories of that championship season.

Jennifer Nislow is Assistant Publications Director at John Jay College.

17

The members of the team remain the best of friends 30 years later.

The success of the 1978 team was a function of talent, work ethic and team chemistry — with the latter element providing the glue that ultimately made the championship possible. Chemistry was the constant behind on-the-field achievements, off-the-field hijinks, locker-room camaraderie and more.

Coach Lou DeMartino (in white polo shirt, bottom) and his “Boys of Summer.” At far right and opposite page bottom, Lex Review, the John Jay student newspaper, devoted thorough coverage to the baseball team’s championship-winning exploits.

In a sense, the players were a reflection of their times, certainly in terms of deportment. “We were hard-partying animals and Lou really had to control us,” Brant admitted. “Once Lou got so ticked at us, he kicked an equipment bag and he almost broke his foot because we had stashed a keg in there.”

Back in the Day

DeMartino called upon his wideranging reservoir of contacts in sandlot baseball to assemble what was to become the 1978 championship team.

In 1978, John Jay was only a year removed from “The Crisis,” the brief but frantic period in which the City University very nearly shut the College down. The College was saved from this near-death experience, but at a cost of its liberal arts majors and deep cuts in its budget, its faculty ranks and its student population. New York City’s fiscal crisis of 1975-1976 had decimated the Police Department, and as officers lost their jobs to layoffs, many went looking for work in other parts of the country. Their departure created a phalanx of empty seats in John Jay’s classrooms. In other cases, students left John Jay early to take advantage of whatever law enforcement openings might be found in the area. In the midst of this topsy-turvy state of affairs was a baseball program that was just entering its seventh season of varsity play, its fifth under head coach Lou DeMartino. Up to that point, the baseball team had largely been consistent in its mediocrity. “We had never had a winning season,” recalled Anthony Lamberti, a leftfielder and team co-captain who was entering his fourth and final season in the spring of 1978. “Our best record in any season had been 11-11.” 1978 turned out to be the year it all came together, as John Jay fielded a team whose whole was greater than the sum of its talented parts. “Louie was hungry for success — ravenous, even — and hungry for excellence. And he recruited his brains out to put together a team of champions,” said Dr. Susan Larkin, the College’s former athletic director and chair of the Department of Physical Education and Athletics, who in 1978 was one of DeMartino’s junior colleagues.

18

DeMartino called upon his wideranging reservoir of contacts in sandlot baseball to assemble what was to become the 1978 championship team. From youth leagues in Brooklyn came Lamberti, first baseman/pitcher Pete McMahon, third baseman Rich Hubert, right fielder Bernie Salaman and second baseman Mike Sheptuk. Staten Island programs produced pitchers Bob Mulligan and Jim Ernst, centerfielder Joe Maffeo and designated hitters Bryan Dunigan and Joe Sciandra, while Queens Little Leagues provided catcher and three-year team captain John Brant, shortstop Jim Quigley and pitcher Ron Genovese.

Talent, Work Ethic and Chemistry “Lou used to really work us hard,” said Lamberti, “and usually when we had a day off from practice, it wasn’t just that he was throwing us a bone. He might’ve told us we had a day off because we had played well, but in fact he’d be off somewhere recruiting.”

The bond among players was key, Brant observed. “We came from all kinds of different backgrounds, but we just jelled. We might not have been all that talented individually, except for Mulligan, of course, but we played so well as a team.” (In fact, John Jay ended the season third in the nation in team scoring.) Whenever one player had a sub-par game, another would step up to provide a crucial hit or game-saving play. Parts of this well-oiled machine seemed virtually interchangeable. As good a pitcher as Mulligan was (and he was one of the best in the nation), on days when he wasn’t pitching, DeMartino had him play first base so as not to lose his potent .372 batting average in the lineup. Lamberti was among the top 20 in the nation in batting that year, hitting for a .439 average. Hubert was 10th in the nation in stolen bases, with 18 in 19 attempts, and Sheptuk was fifth nationally in runs batted in per game. When the score

began to pile up, DeMartino would often take out his dominant starting lineup and insert equally fearsome reserve players.

It all came

You Gotta Believe

We came out

En route to an unblemished 8-0 record against CUNY competition that year, the John Jay team came up with numerous ways to win: overpowering blowout victories; dramatic late-inning come-from-behind victories; even the occasional nailbiter of a pitcher’s duel. In the opening game of the season against Brooklyn College, the Bloodhounds were losing 6-2 in the bottom of the eighth when the offense finally sprang to life, capped by a Sheptuk grand slam that left Clinton Field and landed in the middle of 11th Avenue. They also came up with interesting ways to lose in compiling an 18-7 overall record. Against Concordia College, a wild pitch allowed a ninth-inning strikeout victim to reach first base, and eventually score when the next batter hit a game-winning home run.

every day

At mid-season, after losing back-to-back doubleheaders, the team had a 6-6 record “and there was this sense that this was going to be another struggle year,” said Lamberti. “Instead, we got on a streak and won the next 10 games.”

together.

knowing we were gonna win. We were so brash.

The success of the 1978 team was a function of talent, work ethic and team chemistry —

The players responded to and reaped the benefits from a coach who was more than just a savvy recruiter. “Lou was a great organizer and a fine coach,” said Mulligan, who, like Lamberti, Brant and DeMartino, is a member of the John Jay Athletics Hall of Fame. “He always made you feel like you wanted to put forth a special effort, considering how hard he worked.” Lamberti added that few worked harder than Mulligan, who would go on to a six-season professional baseball career in the Minnesota Twins minor league system. “When Bobby pitched, you had a sense that you didn’t want to screw up, because you knew how hard he worked,” said Lamberti. “He always went the extra mile.”

with the latter element providing

the glue that ultimately made the championship possible. 19

There was a lot of good will and encouragement, but it wasn’t any kind of groundswell. We’d see professors

The championship was clinched with little of the fanfare that today accompanies such achievements. It was the first year of the CUNY baseball conference, when no playoff or tournament system and no championship game at Shea Stadium existed.

The admiration is clearly mutual.

and other people

They are without

come over to

a doubt

Clinton Field

the most sincere

to watch a game

Hall of Famer Bob Mulligan talks pitching with John Massoni (right) and other members of the 2007 John Jay baseball team.

before they had to

group of people I’ve ever seen.

graduated. “These kinds of things kept us going,” said Lamberti. “Some of us would get together on our own as things would happen. A lot of guys were with the PD. Shep [Mike Sheptuk] was crime scene, McMahon was homicide, and they used to run into each other almost every day.”

go teach a class, but

there were no pep rallies,

“We call each other every couple months,” Brant added, and we still call each other by our team nicknames from back then. I wouldn’t think of calling Mulligan “Bob”; to me, he’s still “Muggsy.”

none of that stuff. The team’s sparkplug, third baseman Rich Hubert (center, with beard and sunglasses) and his teammates in the dugout during spring training.

“We held a team meeting and decided we had to win this thing for Lou,” Brant remembered. “Lou was really down, because he wanted to win so badly. And once we started winning, we felt invincible. It all came together. We came out every day knowing we were gonna win. We were so brash.” “We felt — and I still believe — we were as good as many of the Division I schools in the area,” Mulligan opined. The championship was clinched with little of the fanfare that today accompanies such achievements. It was the first year of the CUNY baseball conference, when no playoff or tournament system and no championship game at Shea Stadium existed. As for college-wide fan support, Lamberti said, “There was a lot of good will and encouragement, but it wasn’t any kind of groundswell. We’d see professors and other people come over to Clinton Field to watch a game before they had to go teach a class, but there were no pep rallies, none of that stuff.”

20

Coming Apart and Staying Together Once the magical season was over, the inevitable dispersal of the team began. First, the seniors moved on. Brant graduated summa cum laude and went on to a long and distinguished law enforcement career. Lamberti graduated magna cum laude en route to law school and what has become a successful estate-law practice in Brooklyn, Mulligan played one more year before leaving John Jay early to pursue his professional baseball dream. Others went on to various police, fire or security careers, or noncriminal justice jobs in the private sector. While the strong bonds among the champions would be stretched, they would prove unbreakable. The groundwork for the lifelong friendships was put in place during their playing days, when an annual end-of-season barbecue was held at Brant’s parents’ house in Queens. Players and their parents attended, and the tradition continued even after Brant had

The 1978 champions remain closely connected to their alma mater, turning out in surprising numbers for John Jay alumni functions, fundraisers, Hall of Fame induction ceremonies and other events. “I tell everyone that I played ball at John Jay and I’m still in touch with my teammates,” said Genovese. “That’s so special. When they have the annual Lou DeMartino dinner, we always have a table of 12-14 guys show up.” The players credit current head coach Dan Palumbo with helping them stay connected. “There are a lot of similarities between the way Dan is running things and the way Lou ran things,” Lamberti observed. “He’s made an effort to keep us involved and in contact, which is nice. I think there’s the same level of commitment on Dan’s part, and he’s instilled that in his kids — and the results speak for themselves.” The admiration is clearly mutual. “They are without a doubt the most sincere group of people I’ve ever seen,” Palumbo said of the baseball alumni. “With them, everything comes from the heart. They have bonded so well, both on and off the field.” Palumbo’s players have taken notice as well. “The fact

that they’re still together is really amazing,” said all-star pitcher John Massoni, a senior. Added shortstop Xavier Perez, a junior and another conference all-star: “We spend a lot of time together — it’s a big part of our program. We know that it leads to success, so that must have been part of the secret of what made that team special, too.”

A sizable contingent of his old teammates, who took time before the ceremony to mingle with the current John Jay varsity team, attended Brant’s 2007 induction into the John Jay Hall of Fame. Mulligan tipped his cap to the younger players: “These kids are so respectful, so well mannered. They treat us like royalty. We try to impress on them how we stay in touch, and how they should too.”

Going back to get my degree at age 32 was probably my biggest achievement. Baseball has been my life, yet through it all,

Mulligan, who went from professional baseball to the NYPD to his current calling as a social studies teacher and head baseball coach at Monsignor Farrell High School on Staten Island, becomes almost wistful when speaking of his alma mater. In 1994, he finally received the bachelor’s degree he had stopped pursuing 15 years earlier. “John Jay always holds a special place in my heart,” he said. “Going back to get my degree at age 32 was probably my biggest achievement. Baseball has been my life, yet through it all, the big picture is the relationships I’ve gotten out of it.” Peter Dodenhoff is editor of @ John Jay.

21

the big picture is the relationships I’ve gotten out of it.

Reflections on a Prize continued from page 3

So began my second act, which, in its own quiet way, was filled with narrow escapes worthy of Indiana Jones. our students can write their own second acts, often turning unpromising beginnings into dramas of discovery, enlightenment and success.

To teach by keeping curiosity awake. To teach, endeavoring to make pupils feel their importance, by the prophetic hope placed in their conduct.” I keep a poster of Alcott’s maxims on the wall of my office. They remind me that teaching is and ought to be a sacred task: one that not only enriches minds but also restores and cultivates spirits. In a world that too often rewards the pursuit of self-interest, teaching gives us a glorious opportunity to be generous. In a society in which we struggle too often to be one another’s masters, it gives us a dignified and honorable opportunity to serve. But my most important reason for thinking about second acts is that I work at a college that is largely dedicated to providing the means by which our students can write their own second acts, often turning unpromising beginnings into dramas of discovery, enlightenment and success. John Jay is a place where everyone — students, faculty and administrators — all have to work very hard, but it is also a place where those burdens are generally lightened by a shared spirit of endeavor and a confidence in the value of our common goals.

22

I am forever impressed by the second acts that are being written and performed every day by the students at John Jay. When one has taught at a college for more than 10 years, one has heard a tremendous array of stories. The ones told by John Jay students are affecting and inspiring. Every September, John Jay welcomes students who are pulling themselves up from poverty, students who are single parents seeking to provide a better life for their children, students who have fled oppression and war in far-flung corners of the world. One of my most happily memorable days as a professor at John Jay came when a student who had battled successfully to overcome heroin addiction proudly handed me the manuscript of her first book. I take pleasure and pride in the remarkable synthesis by which John Jay receives resources far less than those enjoyed by some other colleges and converts them into groundbreaking research, into the renewed and strengthened lives of its students and, yes, the occasional Pulitzer Prize. Having lived a first act as a lawyer and a second act as an obscure but hard-working graduate student and professor, I am now beginning a third act as a prize-winning author. John Matteson, PhD is a full professor in John Jay’s English Department. He won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for biography for his acclaimed book Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father.

PLANNED GIVING Everyone can play a part in the future of the College, especially in ensuring the success of future programs and activities. A bequest to the John Jay College of Criminal Justice Foundation, Inc. will contribute significantly and forever, either toward the John Jay Endowment Fund or in support of a particular program, lectureship or scholarship fund. When formulating your bequest, the following wording is suggested: I give and bequeath to John Jay College of Criminal Justice foundation, inc., New York, NY, $________ to be added to the principal of the John Jay Endowment Fund, the income to be credited each year in my name. It is as simple as that, and just imagine what your gift will provide for future generations of students who follow in your footsteps.

23

Alumni Worth Noting I was looking at different colleges and what they did and John Jay stood out. It had the number one forensic science program in the country. It combined everything I liked.

Alumni Worth Noting

Marcel Roberts

Meredith Robson

Although he was born in New York City, Marcel Roberts (BS ’02) grew up in Divonneles-Bains, a French town near Geneva, Switzerland. He liked school and had a particular interest in science and the law. When it came time to choose a university, he went to an American library to look for colleges in New York City. “I was looking at different colleges and what they did and John Jay stood out. It had the number one forensic science program in the country. It combined everything I liked.” Little did he know at the time that this decision would eventually lead to a PhD in chemistry and now to a postdoctoral fellowship at McGill University in Montreal, Canada where his research involves inventing a micro fluidic chip to detect proteins.

When Mayor Steve Gold of Beacon, NY appointed Meredith Robson (MPA ‘88) as city administrator last March, he noted “Meredith joins Beacon with a great deal of experience in all areas needed.” It’s not surprising. In her 20-year career in state and local government, she has done almost everything when it comes to running the day-to-day operations of a city.

At John Jay, he majored in forensic science, graduating in 2002. “I knew I would eventually try for a master’s. But at the time, the idea of getting a PhD hadn’t crossed my mind. It was so beyond my expectations.” What put the doctorate in his sights was the scientific research he was able to do through CSTEP (Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program) and the academic professional polish he received from the Ronald McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program. Professors Anthony Carpi, Ronald Pilette and [retired] Dr. Morris Zedeck helped steer his course. As an undergraduate, he studied the uptake of heavy metals by a plant, specifically barley, to find a greener way of cleaning areas that had been polluted with heavy metal. “John Jay is a very encouraging environment. You could do any science coming out of the forensic science program at John Jay. I could have done physics or biology, just as easily as I did chemistry. They give you the fundamentals in every discipline.” Even after he graduated and went on to Boston College for a PhD, it was Professor Thomas Kubic of John Jay’s Department of Sciences who would give him a “pep” talk. His doctoral work at Boston College was in electrochemical and spectroscopic studies

of biomolecular complexes. “My first project was on how electrons flow through DNA. There are many repair proteins in the body so one way of seeing if DNA is damaged is to see how electrons flow. And if we can understand how that works, maybe we can reproduce it in a protein and see if we can more easily detect DNA damage.” Another project involved developing a nano-electrode with the idea of inventing a chip or small device that could detect something in a sample. “It could be a cheap and fast way of detecting something in the body and my original idea was that this would be great for forensics as well as for clinicians. John Jay’s forensic science program allowed me to think in an applied and practical way. When I got to McGill for the post-doctoral fellowship, I wanted to expand my discipline. A lot of cool stuff is being done in biomedical engineering because it involves making things that are actually usable.” Last May, when Roberts attended the Undergraduate Poster Session sponsored by the Department of Sciences, he said, “I was amazed at what they were able to do with the science program.” When he had attended John Jay, only four students were able to do posters. “The students and their work at the poster sessions were as good as I’ve seen in PhD candidates at Boston College. The posters were extremely professional. And there were so many. What a transformation!”

Prior to her appointment in Beacon, she managed Watertown, CT as well as Vernon, NJ, where she was given the Outstanding Service Award in 2000 by the Chamber of Commerce. Also in New Jersey, she served as the director for local government budget review for the Office of the State Treasurer, as assistant township administrator in Montgomery, special assistant to the administrator in West Windsor, and as a community development specialist in East Brunswick. She has dealt with budgets of all types, labor negotiations, recycling, grant applications, zoning, developing wastewater systems, traffic management, interactions with other government officials and community leaders, and much more. And it all started with attending John Jay’s Master of Public Administration Program at West Point where members of the military, their families, and civilians are eligible to attend courses. “I was working at West Point at the time. With my undergraduate degree in commercial recreation from Southern Illinois University, I was working as a sports specialist for youth programs on the post. I happened to see a flyer about John Jay’s MPA program at West Point. I wasn’t well versed in what public administration really was, but it sounded like something in which I would be interested. I started taking a couple of courses and really enjoyed it. Even now, I still use the information from the classes in human resources and budget. The program gave me a broad enough picture of what’s involved in public administration and frankly, these days, it would be hard to get the position I have without an MPA.” “I think John Jay’s program was very solid. It

24

John Jay’s program was very solid. It gave me the preparation I needed to get started in the field. gave me the preparation I needed to get started in the field. I took everything at West Point with the exception of the review course for the comprehensive exam. For someone working, as I was at the time, they offered enough courses quickly enough that I was able to go through the program in two years.” The beneficiaries of her education and experience are now the residents of Beacon. “It’s really a community that is moving forward and that was one of the things I was looking for,” she says. Beacon incorporates five square miles with a population of 14,000, about 135 employees and a budget of $13 million. On the Hudson River near Poughkeepsie, the city has a lot of waterfront, parks and trails, a growing artist community, and is home to Dia, one of the world’s largest contemporary art museums. “Beacon has so many incredible and positive things that are going on like river front development, Main Street redevelopment, lots of operational change and many positive people working on things. So it’s a really neat place to be and a good time to be here.” She says one of the most challenging aspects of her work “is just having enough time to get it all done. There are a lot of balls in the air.” But the rewards make it worthwhile. “The ability to eventually see the result of your work, whether it is a new park or roads that were redone, is the most rewarding aspect of my work.”

25

Alumni Class Notes

Alumni Worth Noting When I came to the College, I immediately got involved with student government. It allowed me to interact with the entire John Jay community. I was president of the Student Council in ‘83-‘84.

It was a tremendous experience. It remains one of the best experiences of my life.

Clarence Smith, Jr. An expert in immigration law, Clarence Smith, Jr, (BA ’84) was hired in December 2005 as a partner in Connell Foley, a prestigious 72year-old New Jersey firm. He brought to the firm an immigration practice that includes employers, businesses and companies in employment-based immigration matters. “The firm was interested in the fact that I was familiar with the government’s rules, regulations and laws pertaining to immigration as well as the workings of the Department of Labor and other agencies that are involved.” His immigration expertise was developed when he served as assistant chief counsel in the Office of the Chief Counsel for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) where he represented the department in exclusion, deportation, removal and rescission proceedings. His experience at Connell Foley and the seven years he spent with DHS have provided him with a deep understanding of this highly complex issue. “The government has to look at illegal immigrants with an eye on national security. We also have to be concerned about the cases that call for equitable relief. For example, there are children who were brought here illegally as kids, say 4 or 5 years old. They are now adults and have been here all their lives, and for all practical purposes, they are Americans. They have no status. On the one hand we want to secure our borders, but at the same time there are a lot of people who have these unique situations we should somehow address.” “One of the reasons I wanted to take this position at Connell Foley was because I spent my entire legal career in government advocating its perspective and Connell Foley gave me the opportunity to advocate from the private litigant perspective. I have been fortunate to have had the best of both worlds.”

Errol A. Adams, BA ’97, obtained a JD after graduating from John Jay and

Nakeisha M. Daniel-Martins, BA ’05, is currently employed with Services

worked for the New York City Department of Homeless Services and the

for the UnderServed, a non-profit organization that provides supportive

New York City Department of Correction. He is currently working as a

services to New Yorkers with special needs. She is a qualified mental health

senior law librarian in the New York State Unified Court System.

specialist who works with people with an Axis I diagnosis and a history of homelessness.

Kay-Daphne Airola, MA ’93, a divorce and custody attorney for more than 10 years, is the owner of Mother Lode Mediation in San Andreas, CA. Her

Justo Diaz, BS ’80, began his law enforcement career as police

firm handles real estate mediations as well.

administrative aide with the New York City Police Department in 1968. In 1976, he became a U.S. Deputy Marshal. After receiving his degree, he

Arthur Arsenault, BA ’08, says that graduating in 2008 was the biggest

became a special agent and retired in 1999 with the rank of supervisory

achievement in his life. He returned to school after many years in retail.

special agent with the U.S. Customs Service. His career included

Manford G. Ayers, MPA ’02, is a captain with the Montclair, NJ Police

assignments in New York City, San Juan, and Washington, DC. He was

Department. He also works as an adjunct at John Jay in the Department of

asked to return to federal service in 2002 with the Transportation Security

Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration.

Administration as a special agent in internal affairs. Currently, he is a supervisory investigator with the government of the District of Columbia.

Joe Billy Jr., BA ’82, recently retired from the FBI as assistant director for

Following in his footsteps, his son is a special agent with the U.S.

counterterrorism, after 30 years of service. He is now vice president of

Department of State.

global security for Prudential Financial.

After graduating from Fordham University School of Law in 1988, he began a career in public service that included serving as an assistant district attorney in New York County. His experience in public service, he says, “enabled me to take on a lot of responsibility early in my legal career and as a result, it helps in the private sector. Having a real working knowledge of the court system and justice system, helps me now with private litigants.” Smith grew up in the South Bronx, one of ten siblings. “I was thinking about public interest/public service law and I thought John Jay would have more programs geared to that.” He entered John Jay through the SEEK program (Search for Education, Elevation and Knowledge) and majored in government and public administration. “I was 19 years old when I came to John Jay. The College has been wonderful for me. Professors Rubie Malone and James Malone were instrumental in my success. They are my mentors to this day. When I came to the College, I immediately got involved with student government. It allowed me to interact with the entire John Jay community. I was president of the Student Council in ‘83-‘84. It was a tremendous experience. It remains one of the best experiences of my life.”

Debra Forman-Targhi, BA ’04, recently obtained a master’s degree. Pete Borges, BA ’77, joined the U.S. Army after graduation and retired honorably after 23 years. He received an MPA in 2001 from Troy University

Stephanie I. Fowler, BA ’97, is employed as a house officer in security at

and started a second career with the U.S. Department of Justice in the

Crowne Plaza Times Square.

grants division of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services

Joseph “Rick” Fuentes, MA ’91, the superintendent of the New Jersey

(COPS).

State Police, was among a select group of law enforcement professionals

Warren T. Channell, BS ’82, spent 30 years as a corporate security

chosen for Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government’s Executive Session

manager. He graduated from Florida A&M University College of Law and has

on Policing and Public Safety, a three-year working group. He holds a PhD in

entered into private law practice in Winter Garden, FL.

criminal justice from CUNY.

Leanne T. (Curcio) Cook, BA ’99, is currently serving as a program

Dina M. Gaballa, BA ’03, is vice president and bank secrecy act/anti-

development specialist for the New Jersey Department of Corrections and

money laundering administrator at New York Community Bancorp, Inc.

is working towards a master’s in social work at Rutgers University.

Since graduating magna cum laude from John Jay, she has been working in the field of anti-money laundering and financial crimes investigations for

Richard J. Cruz, BS ’96, has been working in the forensic social work field

approximately five years. Recently, she passed the ACAMS examination

for more than nine years. Currently, he is a forensic case manager for the

(Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists) and has

Education & Assistance Corporation in the Brooklyn Adolescent Forensic

officially earned the "CAMS" title.

Link, which provides pre- and post-release discharge planning and case management for youth on Rikers Island or in juvenile justice detention. He

Leslie Gee, BS ’82, recently retired as a senior special agent with the U.S.

also graduated from the French Culinary Institute in 2005.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in the New York field division. His last assignment was working with the Joint Firearms Task Force. He is now

Edwin Cuebas, BS ’77, was recently named president of the National Law

working as a background field investigator.

Enforcement Associates. He is a 24-year veteran of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, retiring as a supervisory postal inspector. He is currently

Shirvahna Gobin, BA ’02, is the development director for the Ecologies of

the vice president of global securities and investigations for JP Morgan

Learning Project (EOL) at the New York Theological Seminary where she

Chase. He received a master’s from Utica College in economic crime

manages operational and fund raising activities. Prior to joining the EOL

management and holds certifications as a fraud examiner, financial crimes

project, she was the service coordinator for Safe Horizon’s September 11th

investigator and professional investigator.

Fund. She is finishing a master’s at Baruch College.

Larry Cunningham, BS ’97, left the Bronx District Attorney’s Office in July

Dr. Alfredo E. Granados, MA ’97, was recently promoted to associate

for the position of assistant professor of legal writing at St. John’s

director of operations for the Central New York Psychiatric Center, which provides mental health services for the New York State Department of

University School of Law.

Correctional Services.

26

27

Alumni Class Notes

Alumni Class Notes

Michael L. Grassi, BA ’07, a police officer in New Jersey, is pursuing a

Gary P. Jenkins, BA ’99, was promoted to executive director of the Client

George H. Mendez, Jr. , BA ’08, attended John Jay College part-time while

Scarlet Sarker, BA ’05, is a computer trainer for the St. Louis County

master’s degree at Seton Hall University.

Services Division of the New York City Human Resources Administration/

working for the New York City Police Department full-time. He was recently

Library in Missouri.

Medical Insurance and Community Services Administration with close to

hired by the Clarkstown Police Department in Rockland County, NY.

Martin A. Greenberg, MA ’70, was awarded a PhD in criminal justice from

Lezlie A. Scott, BS ’95, is a library associate.

500 staff members under his jurisdiction.

CUNY in 2001. He is currently an assistant professor of criminal justice at

Paul J. Montana, BS ’99, has been a New York City police officer for the

the College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY and would love to hear from his

Erin Marie Johnston, MA ’06, is currently working as a behavior

former classmates. In 2005, the University of Pittsburgh Press published

specialist in forensic services at Georgia Regional Psychiatric Hospital in

his third book, Citizens Defending America: From 1620 to the Age of

Savannah, GA.

Terrorism. He is now completing a biography of Eliot H. Lumbard, a former Antigona Kukaj, BA ’05, spent the summer as a peace fellow for The

adjunct professor at John Jay, who was instrumental in the development of

Ryan N. Shapiro, BA ’04, has held a number of positions in security

past nine years. On April 3, 2008, he received the Police Officer of the Year

management since graduation. At present, he is the security and safety

Award from the 68th Precinct in Brooklyn, NY.

director for the Union League of Philadelphia, a private club. The security Marc J. Monte, BA ’98, recently opened The Law Office of Marc J. Monte

department ensures safety and security for the club’s high profile members

in Rockaway, New York.

and is responsible for the club’s valuable artifacts.

Advocacy Project working with the Landmine Survivors Network in Tuzia,

a number of trend-setting criminal justice initiatives including: New York

Bosnia where she helped to advance the rights of disabled war survivors

State Identification and Intelligence System, upgrading police training, the

who need long-term care, rehabilitation, and social and economic support.

establishment of the New York City Police Foundation, and bringing together

She received a master’s in human rights studies from Columbia University.

the leading experts on organized crime who would eventually craft the first Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO).

George F. Kurtyka, MA ’90, was elected to the City of Derby, Connecticut Tax and Sewer Board.

Gregory G. Haines, MA ’05, serves as an investigator conducting healthcare fraud investigations for WellPoint, Inc., a health benefits

Raymond Lebowitz, BA ’79, retired from New York City Fire Department

company. He obtained a CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner) designation from

and is residing in South Florida. He is a member of the local Community

the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners in 2008.

Emergency Response Team that is activated during hurricanes and other natural disasters. He is chaplain and adjutant of the local American Legion

John R. Hayes, BS ’96, retired from the Yonkers Police Department with

post, secretary of the Broward County FDNY Retirees Association, and

the rank of detective and shifted to the private sector in 2004, assisting his wife with her security company, Tactical Operational Support Services, LLC in Tequesta, FL. The company won a $4.2 million contract with the Canadian Government providing the Canadian Military, who are part of the

Amar R. Moody, BA ’02, has been working for New York City

Ronald Spadafora, BS ’86, the deputy assistant chief for the New York

Administration for Children’s Services since April 2006.

City Fire Department, celebrated the publication of his new book, McGraw-Hill’s Firefighter Exams.

Richard Nedlin, BA ‘99, was hired as Pitkin County’s deputy district attorney in Colorado.

Regina M. Stevens, BS ’01, has been a corporal with the Delaware State Police since July 2001.

Maritza Olivares, BS ’01, has been working as a social security insurance specialist at the Social Security Administration. She says, “my education at

La'retta A. (Bunkley) Stroman, BA ’05, is a grants management

John Jay College has been a tremendous help in my success. It has

assistant with the Syracuse Housing Authority.

broadened my opportunities for the future. I recently attended the 2008 Melody Y. Summers-Diouf, BS ’99, is working with the New York State

reunion at John Jay and marveled at how I was treated. Electing to go to

Department of Education as a paraprofessional one-on-one teacher at the

John Jay College has been one the greatest things I ever did.”

Secondary School for Law. She is particulary proud of her student of three

assistant deputy director of the Florida chapter of the 9-11 Foundation. He

Stephanie M. Pinder, MA ’04, currently holds the position of manager of

years who is graduating with a Chancellor’s Award for Remarkable

is currently training for the 2009 Senior Olympics and will compete in the

Emergency Psychiatric Screening Services for Cape May County/Cape

Achievement.

pentathalon and several other track and field events such as the 100 and

Counseling Services in New Jersey. Cindy E. (Vasquez) Torres, BS ’04, after receiving her degree in public

200 meters, long jump and triple jump. He holds the Florida State Triple

international coalition forces in the Middle East, with mobile scanning units

Peter Pizzola, BS, MS ’84, was recently promoted to assistant

administration, began working for NADAP, the National Association on Drug

commissioner of the New York City Police Department’s crime laboratory.

Abuse Problems in New York City. Now an office manager, she supervises

Charles M. Lorello, BS ’95, began his federal law enforcement career

He also holds a PhD in criminal justice with a concentration in forensic

10 clerical staff and acts as operations liaison for internal and external

with the United States Customs Service in 1986 as a K-9 officer.

science from CUNY.

resources. “I owe my success to all I learned at John Jay,” she says.

Jump record in his age class.

to detect contraband at critical boarder crossing locations. Carl V. Hendrick, MPA ’88, was appointed case manager last April for the Orange County, NY Office for the Aging.

Currently, he is a course developer/firearms instructor for the Customs and John A. Hlavaty, BA/MA ’96, graduated from Rutgers School of Law and

Border Protection Academy at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center

represented clients at the Legal Aid Society and the Office of the Public

in Georgia.

Defender. Capitalizing on those invaluable experiences, he opened a

Mahendra M. Ramgopal, MA ’05, recently opened a law office at 54

Daisy Torres, BA ’98, is a vice president of ING Private Wealth

Franklin Street in Manhattan that concentrates on criminal law and general

Management. She heads the middle and back-office operations, which are

practice. He is a member of the New York County Lawyers’ Association.

part of the ING umbrella. Her division works in investment finance for Latin

Matthew K. Mahoney, BS ’92, participated in internships with the U.S.

private practice on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in 2005. “I credit my

Customs Service, the New York City Police Department and the Department

success to John Jay College and its remarkable faculty,” he says.

of Investigation while a student at John Jay. In 1995, he became a New Thomas P. Huller, MPA ’77, was in the first class to graduate from John

York City police officer assigned to Brooklyn.

America. Sandy P. Rao, BA ’03, MS ’08, recently completed a master’s in protection management at John Jay. He is working for the U.S. Marshals Service as a

Dr. Richard H. Ward, BS ’68, has been selected as the dean of the Henry

deputy marshal in the New York City area.

C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences at the University of New Haven. (The college is named after alumnus Henry C. Lee, BS ’72,

Jay in 1967 with an associate’s degree. He served in the New York City Hazel Maldonado, BA ’07, was recently appointed as human resources

Police Department for 37 years and retired as a lieutenant detective.

coordinator at KPMG, one of the top four accounting firms. On a personal note, she has traveled througout Japan and China.

Michael G. James, BS ’88, served as an assistant district attorney in

Michael A. Reddington, AS ’04, completed 20 years of service with the

the internationally renowned forensic scientist.) Prior to his appointment,

New York City Police Department in July. He is a detective-investigator

Ward was associate vice president for research and special programs at

currently assigned to the Organized Crime Control Bureau’s Narcotics

Sam Houston State University where he had also served as dean of criminal

Division.

Bronx County from 1992 to 1997. He now is an assistant United States

justice. Previously, he was vice chancellor for administration at the

Robert Martinez, BA ’87, received a master’s degree in social work in

attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

1994 and is currently working on his doctoral dissertation in social welfare Stephen M. Jefferson, BA ’83, retired from the New York City Police

at Adelphi University. In 2003 and 2004, he was an adjunct at Fordham

Kristoffer E. Rivera, BS ’00, is an assistant vice president at Wachovia

University of Illinois, Chicago after serving as vice president and dean of

Bank in Great Neck, NY.

graduate studies at John Jay.

Department in 1989 and subsequently worked as a insurance investigator.

University Graduate School of Social Services teaching generalist social

José M. Rodriguez, BA ’05, a graduate student in counseling psychology

Jason H. Weishar, BS ’02, has been a police officer with the U.S. Capitol

He moved to Orlando, FL in 1995 where he founded a private investigation

work practice and clinical practice. He currently is the borough director at

at Fairleigh Dickenson University, is working with the New Jersey Division of

Police since January 2003.

agency, Coastline Investigative Services, which provides a variety of

the New York City Administration for Children’s Services.

Youth and Family Services.

David Melvin Whigham, BS ’99, relocated to the Washington, DC area

investigative services.

and is currently working for the International Community Corrections Association.

28

29

Anonymous, Photographers on the Brooklyn Bridge, n.d. Courtesy of the Institute Archives and Special Collections, Folsom Library, Rensselaer Polytechnic University

John Jay College T H E

C I T Y

U N I V E R S I T Y

O F

N E W

Y O R K

of Criminal Justice 899 TENTH AVENUE NEW YORK, NY 10019 www.jjay.cuny.edu