Terrier Volume 76, Number 1 - Spring 2012 | Page 10

Academic Conferences, Symposiums and Colloquiums
Professor Dr. Will Milberg,
delivered the Keynote Address,
Globalization after the Crisis: The
Future of the Euro, the Dollar and
the Renminbi. Other financial
experts discussed the role of
Germany, the European
Monetary Zone and specifics of
the EU labor market. Dr. Paddy
Quick (Chair, Economics, History
and Political Science) moderated
one of the panels.

A m e r ica n S t u d i e s
Co l lo q u i u m

Jennifer Wingate (Fine Arts/
American Studies) presented the
lecture, Teaching American
Studies through the Lens of
Commemorative Practices
on April 11 for the Second Annual
St. Francis College American
Studies Colloquium. She talked
about how memorials and
monuments reflect the changing
values of Americans over time as Sophie Berman, Gregory Tague, Irina Ellison, Kristy Biolsi, and Kathleen Nolan.
T o wa r d a G l o ba l
well as the way they choose to
P syc h o lo gy
Relations), Alexandria Egler (Religious Studies),
remember, honor and reflect on important
Professors Jennifer Lancaster and Marisa
Theo Gangi (English), Van Havercome (English),
historical events. The event helped spotlight the
Cohen (Psychology) co-chaired The Institute for
Sara Haviland (History), Timothy Houlihan
new Certificate in American Studies.
International and Cross-Cultural Psychology
(Provost), Alex Kustanovich (Library), Mitch
three-day conference Toward a Global Psychology,
Levenberg (Academic Enhancement),
April 12-1 4. Keynote Speakers included Michael J.
Ian Maloney (English), Stephen Marino (English),
Stevens, Georg Lind and Deborah Best who spoke
Eric Platt (History), Arnold Sparr (History) and
about terrorism, global democracy and gender
Jennifer Wingate (Fine Arts). CUNY English
roles around the world. Professor Uwe P. Gielen
Professor Brenda M. Greene delivered the
(Psychology) opened the conference with his
Keynote Address. Brooklyn Borough President
photography exhibition, Dragon Seed: The Chinese
Marty Markowitz delivered opening remarks.
in New York City.

A Co l lo q u i u m o n
Moral Sense

Brenda M. Greene (Medgar Evers College) delivered
the Keynote Address.

B r o o k ly n A e s t h e t ic s
Wendy Galgan (English) organized a one-day
conference on April 21 which celebrated Brooklyn
and its incredible variety. More than a dozen
St. Francis professors and administrators took
part including Vanessa De Almeida ’00 (Alumni

On April 26, Gregory Tague (English) organized
A Colloquium on Moral Sense as a way to show
the interconnectedness of the worlds of science
and liberal arts. Dr. Kristy Biolsi (Psychology),
Dr. Kathleen Nolan (Biology), Dr. Irina Ellison
(Biology), and Dr. Sophie Berman (Philosophy)
presented papers during the event.

F r e u d ’ s La s t S e s s i o n — O n t h e C o u c h w i t h F r e u d

T

he Psi-Chi International Honor Society in Psychology, Psychology
Club, and Student Activities sponsored a special trip to take in a
performance of the acclaimed Off-Broadway play “Freud’s Last
Session”. After the play, students, faculty and friends took part in a Q&A
session with cast members and the author.
“It was a wonderful experience! The students and faculty alike truly
enjoyed watching such an intellectual conversation play out in front of them,”
said Psychology Professor Kristy Biolsi, who organized the trip with
Professor Renee Goodstein. “It is always a pleasure to take the learning
experience outside of the classroom and take advantage of what New York
City has to offer.”
The play centers on a conversation between Dr. Sigmund Freud and author
C. S. Lewis on the day England enters World War II, and two weeks before
Freud commits suicide. (He was dying of cancer.)

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Uwe P. Gielen, who retired at the end of the Spring
semester with John Hogan, after Hogan interviewed
him about his life’s work.

= Watch the video of these events at www.sfc.edu/terrier

M i s ca r r ia g e s o f J u s t ic e a n d W r o n g f u l C o n v ic t i o n s
Sociology and Criminal Justice Professor Emily Horowitz produced a series of lectures for an undergraduate course that looked at failures of the judicial
system, introducing students to several people whose lives were needlessly torn apart by a legal system that failed them. The series, open to all community
senior citizens at no charge, examined the resources (and lack thereof) devoted to those who have served time and want to rejoin society in a constructive way.
It also examined the lives of people who were wrongly convicted.
Watch video of these events at
www.sfc.edu/terrier

February 7
Kellie Phelan’s life finally began
to turn around after giving birth to
her second child while in jail on
Rikers Island. She was taken in by
Hour Children, an organization that
supports incarcerated and formerlyincarcerated mothers and their
children. Phelan is now a program
coordinator for Hour Children, one of
the few places that helps mothers in
that critical transition period from
prison to the real world. Visit
www.hourchildren.org.

February 14
Fernando Bermudez spent 18 years
in a maximum security prison for a
murder he did not commit. Bermudez said that prosecutors pursued his
case even though several witnesses
said he did NOT do it, he didn’t fit the
description, and that another suspect

The Tension Between
C at h o l ic a n d
C h a r t e r Sc h o o l s
— February 13

T h e EU C r i s i s a n d t h e
Future of the Euro
Peter Gomori (Management and Information
Technology) coordinated this March 10 half-day
conference which focused on the European Union
and the ongoing financial crisis. New School

Campus Happenings

Charter schools were introduced
as a way to improve the public school
system through innovation and
competition, but in New York State,
charters have had the unintended
consequence of reducing enrollment
at parochial schools, says Abraham
Lackman of Albany Law School’s
Government Law Center at the panel
discussion entitled, The Tension
Between Catholic Schools and
Charter Schools. St. Francis College

had been identified repeatedly. All
the witnesses who testified at trial
recanted, saying their testimony had
been coerced. Now a new college
graduate and thinking about
becoming a lawyer, Bermudez is
intervening on behalf of others who
have been wrongfully convicted and
helping them gain their freedom.

trial. “The judge in charge of the case
told Jesse’s lawyers that if he goes
to trial and gets convicted, she will
give him the maximum possible
sentence, for every count, served
consecutively; ’he will die in prison.’
She also made it clear she never had
a moments doubt of Jesse’s guilt,”
said civil rights attorney Ron Kuby,
who worked to have the courts
reopen the case to prove that
Friedman was not only innocent, but
a victim of overzealous police
officers and prosecutors.

April 17
Bernard Baran and his lawyer John
Swomley explained that overturning
a wrongful conviction without DNA
evidence is a next-to-impossible
task. It’s why Baran spent 22 years
behind bars even though he was
innocent of charges of sexual
molestation. Baran was swept up in
a nationwide wave of hysteria that
resulted in the imprisonment of
numerous innocent people. The
guilty verdicts were based on
children’s testimony, testimony that
had been manipulated by prosecutors and police.

Fernando Bermudez with Professor
Emily Horowitz.

February 21
Jessie Friedman was coerced into
pleading guilty to several counts of
sexual molestation or risk facing
more than 300 years behind bars in a

Ron Kuby, Professor Emily Horowitz
and Jesse Friedman.

John Swomley with Bernard Baran.

and the Manhattan Institute hosted
the event which also included Sol
Stern, contributing editor of the City
Journal; James Cultrara of The
Catholic Conference and Joe
Williams of Democrats for Educational Reform.

333 — February 15

Thomas J. Volpe with Michael Covitt.

The executive producer of the film
333, Michael Covitt, presented
his documentary about a tribe in
Northern Mali devoted to teaching
the Ancient Manuscripts of Mali.
The scriptures are from the Sufi
tradition of Islam and instruct

followers to a peaceful resolution
of conflict through dialogue,
tolerance, understanding and
forgiveness. Emeritus member
of the Board of Trustees, Thomas J.
Volpe, sponsored the event.

Joe Williams, St. Francis Professor Fred Siegel, Abraham Lachman, Sol Stern,
James Cultrara, and St. Francis Provost Timothy Houlihan.

Wa lt W h i t ma n
Writers Series: Ben
Marcus — March 8
Reading from his new novel, The
Flame Alphabet, Ben Marcus painted
a horrifying picture of a world where
the sound of children talking causes
the death of their parents. Marcus
said that The Flame Alphabet was a
way for him to express the importance of language. “It has the ability
to show us to ourselves and to

Author Ben Marcus speaks with Noel T.
Jones ’12.

deepen our experience. It’s insanely
powerful.”

Is The West Best?
— March 28
Arguing that liberal democracy
offers, “the best and perhaps the
only means for all people, no matter
what race or creed, to reach their
full potential and live in freedom,”
Ibn Warraq set out his claims from
his new book, Why the West is Best
at the forum, Is the West Best?.
The event was hosted by St. Francis
College, Telos Press, Encounter
Books and the New York Chapter of
the National Association of Scholars.
The discussion was moderated by

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