Civil rights lawyers Stephen Bergstein ’89 (Political Science) and Christopher Watkins ’85 (English) conducted on-campus workshops in a series of critical thinking classes on Oct. 29., Nov. 2 and 3.

In the classes, which are offered by the Office of Special Programs funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Bergstein and Watkins presented real cases for the students to argue. Wendy Vierow’s (Special Programs) class focuses on the development of both verbal and written analytical skills. In recent weeks, students have been learning to identify fallacies in arguments as well as examining the validity of evidence.

The lawyers’ visits to class were well-timed to coincide with the students’ current course of studies. Vierow said both lawyers were impressed by the students’ abilities to analyze the cases and the lively discussions that resulted in the mock courtroom.

Lynne Johnson ’90 (Communication and Media) has been named senior vice president of social media for the Advertising Research Foundation. In this newly created role, Johnson will oversee the organization’s social media development and strategy and spearhead the launch of its Social Media Council. Johnson was previously senior editor and community director for Fastcompany.com, an online business magazine.

Jennifer Piren ’04g (Humanistic/Multicultural Education) received the Commitment to Diversity award from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas where she is assistant director for residential facilities. In her role, Piren conducts diversity training workshops for student affairs and helps facilitate a course in the Women’s Studies program.

Alex Storozynski ’83 (Political Science) has been awarded the Military Order of Saint Louis for his biography, “Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and the Age of Revolution,” which was published in early 2009.

John Agnelli III ’02g (Humanistic/Multicultural Education) has been named dean of campus life at the New York Institute of Technology in New York.

Jonathan Engel ’06 (History) graduated cum laude from Pace University School of Law in White Plains, N.Y., in May. At Pace Law School, Engel participated in the National Trial Competition, and served as an honors prosecution intern with the Westchester County District Attorney and the Mount Vernon City Court Bureau. In September, he will begin a career as a civil litigator, focusing on medical malpractice and surrogate’s court matters, with McCarthy Fingar LLP, also in White Plains, and a joint venture with a Brazilian law firm. Engel was the recipient of the History Department’s 2006 Outstanding Graduate Award.

E. Kim Strauss ’06g (Childhood Education) has won the Distinguished Chapter Officer Award, the highest honor that Kappa Delta Pi, International Honor Society in Education, presents to its officers. Strauss is the president of the New Paltz Zeta Zeta Chapter of Kappa Delta Pi. To earn this distinction, Strauss successfully met criteria for excellence in leadership, involvement in the chapter’s activities, positive relationships with fellow officers and enthusiasm for the society’s mission and values. She will be recognized at the Kappa Delta Pi Convocation 2009, to be held in Orlando, Fla., in October. At this event, the Zeta Zeta Chapter will also receive a Chapter Program Award in the area of Community Service.

Philip Berkowitz ‘75 (Journalism) is among 46 attorneys recognized as leaders in their fields by Chambers and Partners in the 2009 edition of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business. Berkowitz, from New York, was recognized as a leader in the labor and employment field.

Erika Savage '09 (Sociology - Human Services)

Bexis Matos '09 (Journalism - Public Relations)

The education that Bexis Matos ‘09 (Journalism, Public Relations) and Erika Savage ‘09 (Sociology – Human Services) received at New Paltz will be shared in classrooms across the East Coast.

The recent graduates have been accepted to the highly selective Teach for America program for the 2009-10 academic year. Teach for America is a national organization that places recent college graduates in urban and rural schools.

Matos begins a five-week training session on June 23. Come September, she will be teaching secondary-level social studies in Philadelphia. Savage leaves for training in July before moving to Baltimore and working in early childhood education. Students like Matos and Savage are placed in one of 29 regions based on their prior experiences and undergraduate studies.

Acceptance into the program is rigorous. Only 20 percent of the more than 24,000 applicants were accepted to the corps for the 2008-09 academic year. In addition to receiving pre-service trainings this summer, Matos and Savage will also receive ongoing professional development during their two-year commitment.

Matos decided to apply for the program because of her educational background.

“As a recent immigrant from the Dominican Republic and a Bronx resident, I have experienced firsthand the struggles of educational inequality,” she said. “The Bronx high school I attended lacked the basic resources such as after-school programs, a library, computers as well as sufficient books to accommodate students.”

At New Paltz, Matos worked hard to “reach the level of my educationally advantaged counterparts.” In April, Matos received the Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence.

Savage said she applied for the program because she wants to make a difference. She added that the mission of Teach for America, which is to eliminate educational inequality, matches her own values.

“I want to use my experience and knowledge to help children,” she said. “And I am up for a challenge and different adventures.”

Last year, there were 6,200 corps members teaching in classrooms across the country. Graduates from all academic majors, career interests and backgrounds can apply to the program.

Alumni in the News

Dan Einschlag ‘07 (Music) and his wife, Emily, hosted the largest seder in America and the largest seder on any university campus in the world at the University of Florida -Gainesville, April 8-9. Dan prepared the food at his Rockland, N.Y. restaurant and traveled to Florida to help Rabbi Berl Goldman with the spiritual and ritual aspects of the meal, which had 600 students in attendance.

Andy Eisenberg ‘81 (Chinese Studies Contract Major), who received a Ph.D. from the University of Washington – Seattle in Chinese History in 1991, was recently promoted to the rank of full professor at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in East Asian history (China, Japan, Korea) from the classical to early modern periods.

Denis Fred Simon ‘74 (Asian Studies, Political Science), who now teaches in the School of International Affairs at Pennsylvania State University, has been appointed as the Hai-Tian (Sea-Sky) Scholar by China’s Dalian University of Technology to acknowledge his contributions in the areas of global management of technology and cross-border innovation. The Hai-Tian Scholar Award is part of an ambitious program by the Dalian University of Technology to improve the quality of research through faculty-to-faculty collaboration with eminent researchers around the world. For more information, visit http://sia.psu.edu/main.cfm?m=faculty&p=simon.

Jill Wetzel ‘06 (Theatre Arts – Costume Design) was honored this year at the annual United States Institute of Theatre Technology National Conference in Cincinnati. She was selected as one of 20 national students graduating with an Master of Fine Arts in theater design to be recognized as part of the Young Designer’s Forum. Students are selected through a highly competitive process that includes nomination and portfolio review. Wetzel is graduating this spring from Florida State University and plans on working at The Glimmerglass Opera Festival in Cooperstown, N.Y., this summer and then moving to New York City in the fall.

Reunion Weekend set for Oct. 17-19

In mid-October, alumni will return to campus for a weekend full of celebrations, activities and, most importantly, catching up. Reunion Weekend 2008 takes place from Oct. 17 to 19.

Faculty and staff are encouraged to participate in the festivities.

Scheduled events include class gatherings, museum tours, hikes at the Mohonk Preserve, a wine tasting, concerts and theater performances. The weekend will also feature special programs honoring graduates from 1948, 1953, 1958, 1968 and the 1970s. To view a full schedule of events or to register, visit www.newpaltz.edu/alumni/reunion.