F E A T U R E  S T O R Y
CNR Community Mourns the Loss of 11th President

Hundreds gathered at the College on March 29, 2009 to bid a final farewell to Sr. Dorothy Ann Kelly, OSU, 11th President of the College and Provincial Superior of the Ursulines of the Eastern Province, who died on March 27, 2009. Among those in attendance were the Prioress General of the Ursulines Cecilia Wang, who came from Rome for the funeral Mass, as well as the Provincial Superiors of the Central and Western Provinces, dozens of Ursuline sisters, local dignitaries, including Westchester County Executive Andy Spano and New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson, numerous members of the College of New Rochelle Community, family, and friends.

“She touched  thousands of lives,” said CNR President Stephen J. Sweeny. “She took the legacy of the Ursulines and the College and moved it to new heights in her presidency. Many of us called her our second foundress.”

“Dorothy Ann Kelly was a beautiful woman, with style and flair and wit and infectious humor that could easily turn mischievous, and all this wrapped in wisdom,” said Father Leo J. O’Donovan, SJ, who gave the homily at the Mass.

A dedicated advocate for the education and empowerment of women, and for insuring educational access for all Americans, Sr. Dorothy Ann was recognized widely as a national leader in higher education. 

A graduate of the College, she returned to CNR as a teacher of history and then later academic dean before being appointed president in 1972. During the 25 years of her determined leadership, the College grew from one school of 800 students to four schools with seven campuses and a student population of over 6,500. 

Sr. Dorothy Ann played a vital role in the establishment of three of the College's four schools -- the Graduate School, now offering programs in art, communication studies, education and human services, the School of New Resources, an international model in adult education, and the School of Nursing, which remains on the cutting edge in preparing nurses to meet today's health care needs. 

No stranger to being the first or only woman to achieve a particular goal or status, in 1995, Sr. Dorothy Ann was the only women's college president appointed by the President of the United States to be a member of the official U.S. delegation to the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, China.  In recognition of her leadership role in independent higher education, in 1994, Sr. Dorothy Ann became the first woman to receive the Henry D. Paley Memorial Award from the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU). In 1987, she was named the first woman Chair of NAICU -- and in 1978, Sr. Dorothy Ann became the first woman Chair of the New York State Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities.

After retiring from the presidency in 1997, she served as Chancellor until 2001. She later served as Superior of the Ursuline Community of St. Teresa in New Rochelle and in 2003 was named Provincial Superior of the Eastern Province of the Ursulines, a position she held until her death.

A R O U N D  C N R

School of Nursing Receives $50,000 Grant

On March 18, 2009, the Verizon Foundation presented a two-year, $50,000 grant to the College’s School of Nursing for a telenursing pilot program. The School is one of the first baccalaureate nursing schools in the nation to incorporate telenursing into its formal Home Healthcare Nursing curriculum. Pictured at the presentation ceremony are (l.-r.) Tom McCarroll, Verizon executive director of state and local government affairs; Dr. Mary Alice Donius, Dean of the School of Nursing; and Patrick Gaston, Verizon Foundation President.

Faculty Presents Sabbatical Research

Professor Robert Wolf shows slides of his Asia trip.

A Sabbatical Forum, sponsored by CNR President Stephen J. Sweeny and the Rank, Tenure and Salary Committee of the Faculty, was held on April 2, 2009 in the Castle Parlors. During the forum, faculty members made presentations on research done through fall 2008. Dr. Connie Vance, Professor in the School of Nursing, spoke on her mentor program for new nurses; Robert Wolf, Professor of Art in the Graduate School, presented a slide show of his photographic journey through Cambodia and Thailand; Dr. Cynthia Kraman, Associate Professor of English in the School of Arts & Sciences, discussed her role as writer and read a number of her recent poems; Dr. Isola Kokumo, Instructional Staff at the Co-op City Campus of the School of New Resources, discussed his research into the ethnic (tribal) factor in Nigerian politics; and Dr. Marie Santiago, Associate Professor in the School of Nursing, detailed the work she has been doing with partnerships and cultural enrichment for our nursing students.

Catholic College Consortium Meets at CNR

The guest speaker at the Consortium meeting was Dr. Michael James from The Center for Catholic Education at Boston College, who presented the results of several years of dialogue and research on “Principles of Good Practice for Students Affairs at Catholic Colleges and Universities.”

Dr. Joan Bailey of the Office of Mission & Identity at CNR and Mission leaders and Student Services personnel from members of the Consortium of Lower Hudson Valley Catholic Colleges met at CNR on March 26, 2009, to discuss how Catholic institutions educate students about their Catholic identity and how their Catholicity is embedded in their practices. Also discussed at the meeting were strategies to convey to students, faculty, and staff how the program, curricula, and practices can be measured in student learning outcomes.

Finding God in All The Galleries

"Finding God in All The Galleries," a series of four lectures given by the Reverend Leo J. O’Donovan, S.J., president emeritus of Georgetown University, on the Main Campus of CNR concluded on April 14, 2009.  The lectures followed the liturgical year of Advent, Ordinary Time, Lent, and Eastertide. As Father Leo pointed out, as the liturgical year celebrates the mystery of faith, so art over the centuries has imagined and re-imagined that story, its forms, and its meaning.

Encaustic Works 2009 Opens at Castle Gallery

A group photo of the many exhibiting artists in attendance at the Encaustic Works 2009 opening reception. For more opening reception photos and information about Encaustic Works 2009, visit the Castle Gallery website.

On April 5, 2009, the Castle Gallery held an opening reception for its third exhibition of the 2008-2009 season, Encaustic Works 2009. The juried exhibition, which features the work of 40 artists, was organized by Laura Moriarity, Exhibition Director of R&F Handmade Paints, located in Kingston, NY. The purpose of the exhibition is to demonstrate and document the impact that encaustic is having on contemporary art. This ancient medium has re-emerged, adapting to the stylistic demands of the 21st century. This exhibition, on view at the Castle Gallery through June 19, 2009, gives exposure to the evolving nature and versatility of encaustic paint.

Meri Weiss Reads From New Novel at JOC Campus

Meri Weiss, Instructional Staff at the School of New Resources John Cardinal O’Connor Campus, and author of Closer to Fine, read for students and faculty in the Gordon A. Parks Gallery on March 25, 2009 during the School’s annual Booktalk event. Ms. Weiss’ debut novel was nominated for the Lambda Literary Award for first novels. Following the reading, Ms. Weiss signed copies of her book. Here, Dean of the School of New Resources Elza Dinwiddie-Boyd poses with Professor Weiss after the reading.

Dutch Nursing Students Visit CNR

Visiting Dutch nurse practitioner students toured The College of New Rochelle's Main Campus on March 23, 2009 at the invitation of the School of Nursing.

Several Dutch nurse practitioner students were officially welcomed to CNR in March by School of Nursing Dean Mary Alice Donius, who later spoke to the group about the future of health care in America.  This is the third trip for the NP students from the Netherlands to study Advanced Practice nursing education, regulation, and practice in New York State. Nurse practitioners are allowed to diagnose and prescribe medications.  After touring the campus, the students spent the evening in lively discussion with family nurse practitioner students from CNR. The discussion was moderated by Professor Deborah Kelly, Clinical Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing.

Author Jennifer Scanlon Speaks at Women’s History Class

SAS students in the Women in American History class listen to guest lecturer and Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at Bowdoin College Jennifer Scanlon speak about Helen Gurley Brown, the longtime editor of Cosmopolitan Magazine. Brown is the subject of Professor Scanlon’s new biography, Bad Girls Go Everywhere: The Life of Helen Gurley Brown.

SNR DC-37 Campus Launches
Second Distinguished Adjunct Faculty’s Tertulia/Round-table Series

Speaking at the DC-37 lecture were Dr. Nibaldo Aguilera, Instructional Staff at the School of New Resources DC-37 Campus, and Dr. Patrice Gouvier-Marks, DC-37 Campus Director.

The School of New Resources DC-37 Campus launched the Second Distinguished Adjunct Faculty’s Tertulia/Round-table Series on March 30, 2009. Students and faculty gathered at the DC-37 Campus to explore the growing impact the world’s great religions are having on culture, politics, and society. The aim of the series is for students and the community to be exposed to the best minds of the teaching faculty.

A L U M N A E / I  S P O T L I G H T

As a graduate of the College’s Master’s Degree Program in Art Therapy Thomas Brown’s fondest memories come from his working with instructors.  They were, according to Tom, “professional, supportive and extremely knowledgeable.”  What he learned most was to focus on the process and not the product, the opposite of his BFA indoctrination. While this has helped the patients he has worked with as an art therapist, it has ultimately allowed him to go further in his own art. Tom has worked at Bellevue Hospital for the past 13 years in inpatient and outpatient psychiatric adult and adolescent programs as an art therapist and primary therapist. His training at The College of New Rochelle prepared him with the flexibility and skills that brought him clinical success with these varying patient populations and settings.  In 2001 he studied art education at the School of Visual Arts and received a New York State permanent teaching license for grades K-12. He has been sculpting at the Art Student’s League in New York City since 2003 under the tutelage of Gary Sussman.  At the League he has been honored with a Merit scholarship in 2004; a Best in Show Award in 2005; participation in the League’s 130th anniversary exhibition, The League Then and Now, also in 2005; and the Edward G. McDowell Travel Grant in 2006.

“The College of New Rochelle Graduate Art Therapy program provided me with the basic tools and training to service many unique and different populations.”  Thomas Brown GS’95 Art Therapist Bellevue Hospital New York, NY

CNR Alumnae/i & Students Photo Contest
The College of New Rochelle's Alumnae/i Association is pleased to announce CNR 's photo contest for alumnae/i and students. Share your great pictures with friends. Deadline for submission is May 15, 2009. For more information, please log on to www.mycnr.com, call (914) 654-5293 or e-mail alum@cnr.edu.

C N R  S T U D E N T  N E W S

CNR Student Profile

“I considered a lot of schools, and honestly, CNR was by far the most appealing.” Stephanie Ubiera Year: 2011 School: School of Arts & Sciences Major: Biology Hometown: Brooklyn, New York m o r e

CNR Students Participate in Good Friday Way of the Cross

CNR students and peer ministers from the College at the third station, at 42nd Street and Second Avenue, where Jesus Falls for the First Time. On the left and speaking to the gathering is Merin George SAS’09; and holding the crown of thorns is Mirham Rojas SAS’10. With the students, and on the far right, is Helen Wolf, Director of Campus Ministry at CNR.

On Good Friday, April 10, 2009, The College of New Rochelle participated in New York City’s twenty-seventh consecutive Good Friday Way of the Cross. The Stations began at Holy Family Church on Dag Hammarskjold Plaza and processed across Manhattan, ending near Holy Cross Church on 42nd Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues.

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Megan Showell SAS’09, a major in Chemistry and Mathematics with a minor in Philosophy, presented her paper, “The Freedom of Invisibility: Merleau-Ponty and Ellison’s Invisible Man” at the Fifth Annual New England Undergraduate Philosophy Conference at Providence College in Rhode Island on April 25, 2009. This paper is a version of her term paper from Dr. Jennifer Scuro’s Existentialism in Literature course from Fall 2008. Megan’s paper was selected through a blind review and the conference had a highly selective acceptance rate.

And back on the diamond, Megan was selected softball pitcher of the week (April 7, 2009) in the Hudson Valley Women’s Athletic Conference (HWAC). With Megan pitching, the much improved CNR team scored its first two wins of the 2009 season sweeping a doubleheader from Brooklyn College, 6-3 and 7-3. During the wins, senior Megan pitched back-to-back complete games, allowing a combined total of two earned runs, and she struck out a combined 13 batters. She also did not walk a single batter during the doubleheader sweep for the College.

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CNR Students Attend National Model United Nations

The CNR Model UN team, from far left in black coat: Francoise Mbakamouyeme SN’12, on the left at the back: Jennifer Aybar SAS’10, Sakina Laksimi SAS’10, Hellen Konyango SAS’11, Mirham Rojas SAS’10, far right: Mariana Martinez SAS’10, Justinne Orjuela SAS’12 and Takesha Bailey SAS’10.

From April 5 to 9, 2009, eight delegates from CNR Model United Nations team attended National Model United Nations (NMUN) in New York City.

 This year, CNR Model UN had the honor of representing Liberia, a country which inspired  the students of The College of New Rochelle because it is the first African nation being led by a female president.

 The CNR Model UN delegates had the opportunity to work with students from many nations including France, China, Germany, Switzerland, and Ecuador. At the UN, the students discussed global issues ranging from illicit trafficking of nuclear materials to using technology in educational and social development.

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This semester Kara Sherrisse Lawrence SAS’10 is working in Albany as a New York State Assembly session intern. She is the only full-time staff member in the Albany office of Brooklyn Assemblyman Karim Camara. She has a hands-on role in obtaining co-sponsors for his legislation, scheduling meetings, and other duties. Sherrisse’s internship also entails participating in classes about the state legislative process and state politics, and she must complete a research project on the passage of a bill by the state legislature.

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Jelena Krstic SAS’10 is working with the town of Mamaroneck on their Cool Cities greenhouse gas emissions audit. The town of Mamaroneck is conducting a municipal gas emissions audit. This inventory of greenhouse gas emissions is the important first step toward carbon reduction.

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CNR Honor Students Attend
Northeast Regional Honors Council Conference

Erin Daley SAS’09, center, an English major in the SAS Honors Program at CNR, presented her paper entitled “The Deluge Myth: Woman as Preserver and Destroyer.”

Three students from SAS Honors Program, accompanied by Honors Program Director and Associate Professor of History Dr. Amy Bass, presented their research at the annual conference of the Northeast Regional Honors Council, held this year in Annapolis, MD. The conference, which attracted over 400 students and faculty from over 68 colleges and universities, had a selective program of papers connected to the theme, “Embracing Contradictions.”  Erin Daley SAS’09, an English major, presented her paper entitled “The Deluge Myth: Woman as Preserver and Destroyer,” while Sarah Hnath SAS 09, a biology major, presented “To Test or Not to Test: Investigating the Controversies of Genetic Testing for Huntington’s Disease.” Rounding out the group, Alexandria Bignall SAS’09, a double major in psychology and women’s studies, drew a large audience for her paper “Reproduction of Resistance:The Cyborg Woman in Contemporary Science Fiction,” which examined the role of gender in films such as Blade Runner. Bignall’s research prompted one of the liveliest question and answer periods of the conference, as faculty and students alike debated how women are characterized in science fiction films.

F A C U L T Y / S T A F F  F O C U S

“We believe that partnerships and signature programs, such as the St. John Fisher Ed.D., offer limitless opportunities for growth at The College of New Rochelle. They build on CNR’s solid reputation as an academic leader, and, as importantly, leverage us for promising 21st century innovations.” Ronald D. Valenti, Ph.D. Director College and District Partnerships The College of New Rochelle m o r e

Dr. Michael Anker, Instructional Staff at the John Cardinal O’Connor Campus of the School of New Resources, published his first book, The Ethics of Uncertainty: Aporetic Openings, in January 2009.

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Dr. Amy Bass, Associate Professor of History and Honors Program Director in the School of Arts & Sciences, chaired a session, “Political Issues in Asia," at the Northeast Regional Honors Council's annual conference, held this year in Annapolis, MD in March. The conference theme, “Embracing Contradictions,” was demonstrated in the offerings of the panel, which included a paper comparing the 1936 Olympics to the 2008 Olympics, held in Beijing, China. Three CNR Honors students also presented papers at the conference.

Dr. Bass has published the fifth book in her series “Sporting” with Temple University Press:  Muhammad Ali:  The Making of an Icon by Michael Ezra.  According to a review in Sports Illustrated, the book is “a fresh, intellectually challenging and ultimately invigorating understanding of the fighter and the man.“

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Dr. Elisabeth Brinkmann, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies in the School of Arts & Sciences, recently published two articles. The first is a chapter, entitled “Rhetoric and the Consistent Ethic of Life: Some Ethical Considerations,” in a book by Tom Nairn, The Consistent Ethic of Life: Assessing Its Reception and Relevance (Orbis Press, 2008). The second article is part of the Battleground series of reference books aimed at high school students.  Dr. Brinkmann’s article appears in the two-volume, Battleground: Religion (Greenwood Press, 2009) edited by Daniel L. Smith-Christopher and is on religious responses to HIV/AIDS.

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Dr. Andrea DeCapua, Assistant Professor of Multilingual, Multicultural Education in the Graduate School, gave a presentation on her research on English Language Learners with limited or interrupted formal schooling at the New York State Association of Bilingual Educators (NYSABE) annual conference in Tarrytown, NY on March 6.  On March 25 and 26 she made two presentations at the annual Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Language (TESOL) convention in Denver, CO, entitled “Six Esssential Criteria for Students with Limited Formal Schoolong,” and “MALP:  A Promising Pedagogical Instructional Model.”

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Cristina deGennaro, Associate Professor of Art in the School of Arts & Sciences, participated in an Artist Residency Fellowship at The Fundacion Valpaaraiso in Almeria, Spain in summer 2008 and has been selected to participate in another residency in Taos, NM in summer 2009.

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Dr. Kenneth J. Doka, Professor in the Graduate School, has just edited a book with Amy Tucci entitled Diversity and End-of-Life Care, part of the Living with Grief series.  The book is published by the Hospice Foundation of America.  It is the 24th book Dr. Doka has written or edited and his second book in 2009.

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Dr. Constance Iervolino, Associate Professor of Education in the Graduate School, was the featured guest on the one-hour radio show Pathways to Learning sponsored by the NY Archdiocese. The topic was “Making Meaningful Change and Making It Last.”

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Dr. Esta M. Rapoport, Assistant Professor of Education in the Graduate School, has received a letter of approval for her book on the social skills problems of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to be published by Rowman & Littlefield later this year.

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Dr. Frank Rizza, Assistant Professor of Mental Health Counseling and Career Development in the Graduate School, has co-authored a study, “The Attitude of Teachers Regarding the Inclusion Setting,” that has been accepted for presentation at the 3rd American Institute of Higher Education Conference in Nashville, TN in April. The paper will be published in the conference proceedings, a journal of articles drawn from papers presented at the conference. Both the journal and the conference are peer reviewed.

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Dr. Jennifer Scuro, Assistant Professor of Philosophy in the School of Arts & Sciences, presented a paper, “The Consequences of a Heliocentric Epistemology,” on the panel “Philosophical Interventions: The Ethics of Sense and Aesthetics of Existence” at the Feminist Epistemologies, Methodologies, Metaphysics and Science Studies [FEMMSS] 3 Conference: The Politics of Knowledge, held at the University of South Carolina in March.

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Meri Weiss, Instructional Staff at the John Cardinal O’Connor Campus of the School of New Resources has just published her first novel: Closer to Fine. 

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