SFC Students on the Go
Kappa Delta Pi Education Honor Society members went to the United Nations, January 27 for the 18th Annual Committee on Teaching About the United Nations( CTAUN) conference at UN Headquarters. This year’ s conference, Refugees: The 21st Century Challenge, was attended by Education Professor Peter Leibman’ 71, Tyler McKinney’ 17, Kristina Hernandez’ 17, Cristina Perez’ 17, Clairetza Felix’ 17, and Jhane Castillo-Facey’ 17. ●
SFC Psychology students Christine Maniscalco’ 17, Alexa Rutkowska’ 19, Ismarie Rodriguez’ 17, Monica Murray’ 18, and Alexandra Ottaviano’ 18 won first place for best poster at the 25th Annual Pace University Psychology Conference May 12. Their poster“ Women’ s Dating Preferences: Comparing Dating Styles with Personality Types” looked at whether women want to be with“ good” or“ bad” guys. The research was conducted as part of Professor Karen Wilson’ s Experimental Psychology course. ●
Psychology Professor Arwina Vallejo’ 03 took members of her Psychology of Women course to meet with chef and former owner of Anisette, Suzanne Letulle Riva( Carroll Place, Follia, Cotta) to talk to the students about her experiences as a female in restaurant industry. The students spoke to Riva about overcoming stereotypes and facing bias in certain careers, two topics that were part of on-going class discussions.
Attendees included Iyana Powell’ 18, Casey Pyle’ 18, Gladys Adusei’ 19, Tierah Fredrique, Kristal Lewis-Bullen, Erin Gonzalez’ 19, and Angela Hudelson with Chef Suzanne Letulle Riva and Professor Arwina Vallejo’ 03. ●
Growing human organs in pigs, eliminate ravaging disorders like cystic fibrosis, or stopping mosquitoes from transmitting the Zika virus; scientists are looking for ways to achieve it all through a new forma of gene therapy called CRSPR and St. Francis College Biology and Health Care Management students heard about progress from a leading expert in the field. Chair of Biology and Health Sciences Department Kathleen Nolan brought six students to the City College of New York to learn from and meet Dr. George M. Church, a professor of Genetics and Health Sciences and Technology of Harvard and MIT at the Tenth Annual Louis Levine-Gabriella de Beer Lecture in Genetics. He spoke about how CRISPR, a technique that allows scientists to alter DNA might be able to make amazing medical breakthroughs and even help reverse the aging process. ●
Faculty Notes
Yadira Moran-Ulrich’ 02( Assistant Director of Human Resources) was featured in the February 2017 issue of Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. Yadira talked about the challenges of maintaining a diverse, inclusive environment. http:// mydigimag. rrd. com / publication /? i = 384015 & ver = html5 & p = 6
Peter Leibman’ 71 heads the collaboration between the Education Department and Boody Junior High School, which now employs more than 30 St. Francis graduates thanks to Principal Dominic D’ Angelo. Their story was featured on a recent episode of Currents, titled“ A Partnership Grows In Brooklyn.” http:// netny. tv / episodes / currents / partnershipgrows-brooklyn /#. WDXVQ2QrI18
Dr. Steven M. Lipson( Biology) presented his research paper,“ Mechanism of Anti-rotavirus Synergistic Activity by Epigallocatechin Gallate and a Proanthocyanidin-Containing Nutraceutical” at the American Society for Microbiology“ Microbe 2017” conference in June in New Orleans. Professor Lipson’ s research reported for the first time, a mechanism to explain how certain plant chemicals interact to produce an improved anti virus effect. The work is scheduled to be published in the journal, Food and Environmental Virology.
Estelle Press( Nursing) was featured in an issue of Women in Higher Education for the story“ Nursing Education Addresses an Evolving Health Care Landscape.” Nurse Press talked about the importance of offering all people access to equal healthcare options and treatment.
Howard Skrill’ s( Fine Arts) pastel on paper creation, Daniel Webster from the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, University Heights, the Bronx, 2013 was part of the exhibition“ Picturing Social Justice and Human Rights” at the Boston Graduate School for
Psychoanalysis in Brookline, Massachusetts. In addition, his drawing of Edward Snowdon was published in the March 2017 issue of the magazine Average Art. The Grief Diaries: A Magazine of Art & Writing about Loss featured Skrill’ s drawings from his frequent trips to Green-Wood Cemetery.
Daniel Webster: http:// www. bgsp. edu / gallery-1581 / picture-social-justice / item-64 /
Grief Diaries: http:// www. thegriefdiaries. org / art-by-howard-skrill
Jennifer Wingate( Fine Arts) is now Editor of the peer-reviewed scholarly journal Public Art Dialogue( Routledge). She also co-chaired a panel Public Art Dialogue( PAD) at the College Art Association annual conference in New York in February. Professor Wingate arranged for the organization’ s award reception held at the Queens Museum with special guest Mierle Ukeles, who came in from Israel to attend. In addition Wingate delivered the lecture“ Citizen Artists: World War I and the Creative Economy” at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. ●
6 | ST. FRANCIS COLLEGE TERRIER | SUMMER 2017