(New York, NY) Natasha Pearl, CEO and founder of Aston Pearl, has been elected to the Marymount Manhattan College Board of Trustees. Pearl has more than fifteen years of unique global industry experience with the ultra-high-net-worth and family office marketplace.

(New York, NY) Senior Vice President of Marymount Manhattan Maureen Grant will be leaving the College after nine years of loyal service. Maureen graduated from Marymount Manhattan in 1960 with a double major in English and Philosophy. She has dedicated her career to higher education in a variety of capacities, as a scholar, professor, division chair, dean and vice president.

(New York, NY) On May 2, 2008 New York City’s community and dance supporters gathered for the 17th Annual Champagne Gala Benefit at Marymount Manhattan College. The event raised a total of $25,325, which supports Marymount Manhattan’s Dance Department, its programs, choreographers and costumes and sets. The benefit honored Robert Swinston, assistant to Merce Cunningham, who served as the 2008 Honorary Chair for the benefit performance and reception.

(New York, NY) Marymount Manhattan College is pleased to announce that the 2008 President’s Medal Gala Benefit:Celebrating the Mind, Body and Spirit raised $325,000 for the College. Proceeds from the event will be applied toward MMC’s capital campaign efforts to increase student access to higher education.

(New York, NY) Betty K. Heinig has joined Marymount Manhattan College as the new Vice President for Institutional Advancement.

(New York, NY) The Drop & Go program at MMC recently donated a total of 475 bags of clothing and household items, 100 books, and approximately $1,000 in food to Goodwill, the Salvation Army and Programs for the Homeless and Hungry. The annual Drop & Go program allows students to donate used items at the end of the year to local charities instead of throwing them away. “The Drop & Go Program can both minimize a resident’s impact on the environment and provide to those in need,” said Misty Beasley, director of Residence Life. The program collects books, appliances, electronics, plastics, bedding, linens, rugs, clothing, shoes, kitchenware, toiletries, cleaning products and non-perishable unopened food. 

(New York, NY) Marymount Manhattan College was awarded $758,367 from the Higher Education Capital Matching Grant Program of the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY) to support construction of the Lowerre Family Terrace. Marymount Manhattan was one of 33 colleges and universities throughout the state of New York to be awarded grants for construction and renovation projects ranging from sports and wellness centers to dormitory facilities. DASNY approved 40 projects totaling $52 million.

(New York, NY) A mission of Marymount Manhattan College is to educate a socially and economically diverse population. One of Marymount Manhattan’s exemplary programs recently received a gift from one of its supporters.

(New York, NY) Families and friends cheered as 413 graduates walked across stage to receive their undergraduate degrees from Marymount Manhattan College on May 16, 2008. The 59th Commencement Ceremony was held in Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center.
Platform guests included the Board of Trustees, MMC administrative leaders and faculty members. 

(New York, NY) On May 16, 2008, Marymount Manhattan College’s 2008 Baccalaureate Ceremony was held at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle. Graduating seniors receive their hood for commencement. The ceremony integrates members of the MMC community including students, faculty and staff. 

(New York, NY) MMC hosted a successful series of events to celebrate Earth Day and to launch The Year of the Environment thanks to the energy and interest of the College community on environmental issues.

(New York, NY) Richard West Sellars, a retired National Park Service historian and author of Preserving Nature in the National Parks: A History, will be the Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow at Marymount Manhattan in spring 2009. He will be in residence at the College, April 16-20, 2009. Dr. Sellars’ visit to Marymount Manhattan connects with The 2008-2009 Year of the Environment, a college-wide effort to raise awareness of environmental issues through coursework, events and activities.

(New York, NY) Marymount Manhattan College will celebrate graduating students with the Baccalaureate Ceremony and Commencement, including presentations of the Honorary Degrees, on May 16, 2008.

(New York, NY) Stephanie Allen ’08 and Federico Floridi ’09 were distinguished as the recipients of a Prize for Excellence at the Undergraduate Research Symposium at Dominican College in Orangeburg, N.Y. The Marymount Manhattan students were the only recipients of a perfect score at the April 26th symposium and will present their work at the President’s Medal Gala on May 1, 2008. Attendees will be able to hear about the progress these students have made in their field, a great accomplishment for undergraduate students. Their poster, “Shapes and sizes distribution of Pacific seamounts” utilized several computer programs and extensive knowledge, much of which was attained in preparation for this project. 

(New York, NY) The first annual fundraiser on April 9th for the Byrd Drucker Aphasic Fund was a great success. The event raised $5,730 thanks to 17 generous individual donations. Approximately 50 guests attended the free reception that included friends and colleagues of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD), the International Aphasia Movement and the Drucker family.

(New York, NY) Marymount Manhattan College congratulates students Olivia Warren and Jeffrey Lewis, who have been awarded prestigious Jeannette K. Watson Fellowships. The Jeannette K. Watson Fellowship awards 15 talented New York City undergraduate students with paid internships for three summers. The challenging internships promote personal development and help shape the career and educational goals of awarded students.

(New York, NY) Kent Worcester, chair of the Division of Social Sciences and associate professor of political science at MMC, sees the influence of the humble political button amidst the presidential campaign in a largely Internet-dominated culture. Professor Worcester shares his interest in political buttons with the College by holding a regular button sale/informal political straw poll with his students every election year. Professor Worcester, whose own collection includes buttons dating back as far as the Woodrow Wilson presidency, says political buttons can communicate a lot about candidates and political trends.

(New York, NY) Marymount Manhattan students, faculty and staff have teamed up to offer a series of events focusing on environmental issues, starting during National Environmental Education Week (NEEW), Monday, April 14 through Friday, April 18 and continuing on Earth Day, April 22, 2008. Faculty panels, a guest speaker, table displays and activities in the Black and White Galleries, and film and video screenings will include practical lifestyle tips and generate conversations encouraging the College community to “go green.” This week-long Earth Day celebration marks the launch 2008-09, The Year of Environment, a college-wide effort to raise community awareness of serious environmental issues. Through a campus-wide initiative, including coursework, the introduction of an Environmental Studies minor, campus speakers, Honors Day events, Strawberry Festival, the Rudin Lecture, media presentations, and extra-curricular activities, MMC hopes to promote our individual and collective commitment to sustainable living.

(New York, NY) Marymount Manhattan College proudly announces that NBC’s Hoda Kotb will serve as mistress of ceremonies for the 2008 President’s Medal Gala Benefit, scheduled on May 1.

(New York, NY) On March 28th, five Academic Access students were given the Premier Key to Access Award through a cooperative project of Learning Disabilities Resources Foundation (LDRF) and Premier Assistive Technology. The Program for Academic Access was also awarded the license to use Premier software on all its program computers and to install it on at least one library computer.

(New York, NY) The 12th Annual New Jersey Communication Association (NJCA) Conference, “Collaboration and Its Offspring,” boasted 170 students, professors, administrators, scholars and communication professionals from six states and 40 colleges and universities. The Communication Arts Department at Marymount Manhattan College hosted the event on March 22, which featured keynote speaker Dawn Braithwaite, Ph.D., a Willa Cather Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Communication Studies Department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The conference provided a forum to exchange ideas, information and research. Anastacia Kurylo, assistant professor of communication arts at Marymount Manhattan College and vice president of the NJCA, coordinated the event.

(New York, NY) Eight Marymount Manhattan students from the Nutz and Boltz of Comedy will represent the College as they compete with 32 colleges and universities across the country in the Rooftop Comedy National College Comedy Competition. On March 7, Rooftop Comedy hosted an on-campus talent search contest for student comedians. Eight students made it to semi-finals.

MMC students Katie Carter and Alice Yorke are leading Uncommon Women Week, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of “Uncommon Women and Others,” a play by Wendy Wasserstein that premiered at MMC’s own Theresa Lang Theatre in 1977. The series of events will bring the College community together around the question “What makes you uncommon?” The week will take place during Women’s History month and will include student performances of “Uncommon Women and Others,” panel discussions on women’s issues, and other events from March 28 through April 4.

(New York, NY) Marymount Manhattan has been awarded a $1.5 million challenge grant from The Kresge Foundation to support construction of the Lowerre Family Terrace, a major project of This is the Day, the campaign for Marymount Manhattan. In order to receive the Kresge grant funds, the College must raise an additional $9.3 million in campaign contributions by July 1, 2009.

(New York, NY) RateMyProfessors.com provides an anonymous venue for students to critique professors. “Professors Strike Back” is a counter-initiative launched by mtvU.com which features video clips of professors reacting to remarks posted by students. With students exercising the freedom to comment on professors- as harsh graders or classroom dynamos, it seemed only a matter of time before professors would jump on the social networking bandwagon to respond.

(New York, NY) The Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) at MMC inaugurated a group Aphasia therapy program for survivors of Aphasia and their families on March 1. The department has teamed up with the International Aphasia Movement (IAM) to launch this special program.

(New York, NY) Marymount Manhattan College is pleased to announce that the recipients of honorary degrees to be awarded at the 2008 Commencement ceremony include Dr. Elaine Pagels, the Harrington Spear Paine Foundation Professor of Religion at Princeton University, and two former members of the MMC Board of Trustees, Theresa Lang ’97 and Mary Anne Schwalbe. Commencement will take place on May 16, 2008 at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center.

(New York, NY) Marymount Manhattan congratulates six of its community members, who will present their projects at the Eastern Psychological Association Convention, March 13-16 in Boston, MA. Along with MMC faculty advisers, the following four students and two alumnae will present their projects: Matthew Pittsinger, Sean McCarthy, LisaMarie Goodell, Laurissa Mallozzi, Larissa Kline ’07 and Lindsay Meyer ’07.

(Albany, NY) Lieutenant Colonel Robert F. Porr, MSC, USAF, a Marymount Manhattan alumnus from the class of 1981, is among 19 individuals being honored by the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU) during the 2008 Independent Sector Alumni Hall of Distinction Awards Ceremony and Legislative Reception, March 3 in the War Room of the New York State Capitol in Albany. 

(New York, NY) Marymount Manhattan celebrates the launch of the public phase of a major fundraising initiative, This is the Day, the campaign for Marymount Manhattan. This is the Day has already raised $14.3 million. The campaign’s ambitious goal of $25 million supports three broad themes: increasing student access through expanded financial aid resources, enhancing the learning environment by making strategic improvements to the College’s facilities and advancing academic excellence through the creation of fixed-term academic chairs. These priorities reflect opportunities to transform the College while upholding our deep-rooted commitment to providing the best possible education for our capable and motivated students.

(New York, NY) On May 1, the 2008 President’s Medal Gala Benefit: Celebrating the Mind, Body and Spirit, will honor Jana Klauer, M.D, a physician specializing in nutrition, exercise and weight management. Dr. Klauer further promotes vitality and wellbeing of others as an author, a lecturer for global audiences and a health resource for the media.

(New York, NY) Through her involvement with the leadership program NYC LP56, MMC student Lynze Schiller helped transform a storage room into a multi-use safe haven for community members in the Bronx.

(New York, NY) Communication Science and Disorders (CSD) students from Marymount Manhattan will complete an internship program that will fulfill the New York State requirements and enable them to acquire the Certificate for Teaching Students with Speech and Language Disabilities upon graduation this spring. On January 31, the CSD students met with internship supervisors to prepare for the culminating internship with the Department of Education.

(New York, NY) All 11 Marymount Manhattan students who took the New York State Teacher Certification Examinations (NYSTCE) for the 2006-2007 program year have passed.

(New York, NY) Five Marymount Manhattan College students have been selected to present their research abstracts at the first Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (cIcu) Undergraduate Research Exposition.

(New York, NY) Marymount Manhattan College is taking new steps to further advance its position as an environmentally sustainable institution. By completing a thorough Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory, the MMC community will assess its energy consumption and greenhouse gases emissions and help set further goals and plans towards achieving climate neutrality.

(Baltimore, MD) Marymount Manhattan congratulates Jessica Stevens ’09, a Biology major, for earning first place honors at the 10th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium in the Chemical and Biological Sciences. Stevens presented her poster, entitled “The Role of CDK5 in Non-Neuronal Tissues” which describes her research of CDK5, a type of protein, under the guidance of associate professor of Biology Ann Aguanno in the Molecular Biology Laboratory at MMC. Stevens competed in the “Molecular Biology and Biochemistry” group with students from various colleges and universities throughout the northeast region.

(New York, NY) In connection with an upcoming MMC production of The Grapes of Wrath, the Theatre Production Workshop is hosting an interdisciplinary dialogue series that will explore issues relating to the play. This is the second time the College is presenting this type of discussion series, as last year’s dialogues explored Richard Wright’s Native Son. The five-part series will involve MMC faculty and students and encourage discussion about the historical context of the play.

(New York, NY) Marymount Manhattan College’s Teacher Education Department earned accreditation for all of its programs at a meeting of the Professional Standards and Practices Board for Teaching, a subcommittee of the New York State Board of Regents.

(New York, NY) Marymount Manhattan has signed on to participate in the University and College Accountability Network (U-CAN) initiative. U-CAN is the first national consumer information resource created and provided directly by colleges and universities to prospective students and their parents. U-CAN is designed to present Web-based information about colleges and universities in a common format. It consists of profiles that contain comparable data, narratives and links to the institution’s Web site.

(New York, NY) The Marymount Manhattan community enjoyed observing artist Everett Raymond Kinstler paint an oil portrait of bestselling suspense author, Mary Higgins Clark, at the College on October 10.

(New York, NY) Marymount Manhattan College recently implemented Alertify, a broadcast alert and notification system, as part of its Emergency Response Plan for the Marymount Manhattan community. In the aftermath of the tragedy at Virginia Tech, MMC is among an increasing number of colleges and universities that have deployed mass notification systems. “We are committed to ensuring the safety of the MMC community,” says Paul Ciraulo, vice president for administration and finance at MMC. “Through Alertify, we can communicate faster and more efficiently with our students, staff and faculty.”

(New York, NY) Marymount Manhattan is pleased to announce that Arianna Meli, a first-year student at MMC, has been selected to be a part of a special project spearheaded by Seventeen magazine. “Freshman Fifteen” features a group of 15 female students who will share their experiences as first-year college and university students in the magazine and online through MySpace pages. Seventeen has partnered with MySpace for the project, which serves as a resource for college-bound teenagers. Meli and the other 14 participants will write daily blogs and post videos on MySpace chronicling their college experiences. The project is also featured in the October 2007 issue of the magazine, and will be mentioned in the college section of future issues.

(New York, NY) Marymount Manhattan is pleased to announce that Elizabeth Perez ’06 has been selected as an Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratory Training Fellow for 2007-2008. The Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) Laboratory Fellowship Program trains and prepares scientists for careers in public health laboratories and supports public health initiatives related to infectious disease research.

Marymount Manhattan College has been awarded a $130,000 grant from the Ford Foundation to support a project titled “Integrating Macroeconomic Strategies and Economic and Social Rights” led by faculty member Radhika Balakrishnan. Along with project teams and advisory groups, Balakrishnan, professor of International Studies and Economics at MMC, will examine aspects of macroeconomic policy in the U.S. and Mexico and evaluate them in light of human rights principles.

(New York, NY) On August 30, dean and vice president for Academic Affairs Dawn Weber recognized MMC faculty member Susan Behrens with the 2007-2008 Teaching Excellence Award. Behrens is an associate professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Marymount Manhattan. She teaches courses in speech-language pathology and audiology: Normal Language Acquisition, Phonetics, Socio- linguistics and Issues in Bilingualism, and Speech and Hearing Science.

(New York, NY) Marymount Manhattan is pleased to announce that its incoming class of freshmen and transfer students is the largest in the history of the College. MMC has seen an 11 percent increase in full-time students and a 20 percent increase in part-time students as compared to fall 2006.

(New York, NY) Fourteen new accomplished faculty members will join the Marymount Manhattan community at the start of the 2007-2008 academic year. The College is pleased to welcome each of the following individuals, whose academic expertise will enrich the MMC learning environment.

(New York, NY) A total of 553 full- and part-time Marymount Manhattan students earned Dean’s List Honors as a result of their grades for the Spring 2007 semester.

(New York, NY) In June 2007, President Judson R. Shaver joined other college and university presidents in becoming charter signatories to the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment (ACUPPC). Colleges and universities in the ACUPPC model ways to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions, integrate sustainability into their curriculum, and yield students who exercise a concern for the environment. This past July, Marymount Manhattan College met and exceeded the American College and University goal of purchasing at least 15 percent of its electricity consumption from renewable sources.

(New York, NY) Marymount Manhattan’s Fourth Annual Golf Tournament at the Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York was a great success. The event, which took place on August 6th, 2007, raised about $125,000 for the College. Proceeds will help MMC continue fulfill its mission of providing a high quality liberal arts education to a diverse body of students.

President Judson R. Shaver and the Board of Trustees Request the Honor of your Company at a Memorial Service for William Edwards Murray 1925-2007

(New York, NY) Assistant professor of teacher education, Twila Liggett, received two Daytime Emmy Awards as the executive producer of the program Reading Rainbow. The program’s founder, Dr. Liggett served as the executive producer from the show’s inception in 1983 until the fall of 2006.

(Bedford Hills, N.Y.) On May 31, Marymount Manhattan College hosted the graduation ceremonies for the Bedford Hills College Program (BHCP) at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. This ceremony marked the 10th year anniversary of the program; in 1997 MMC became the program’s degree granting institution as part of a unique consortium of colleges that supports BHCP. 

On Thursday, March 8, Marymount Manhattan will host the 2007 Jack and Lewis Rudin Distinguished Visiting Scholars Lecture. Author and Boston Globe columnist James Carroll will serve as this year’s speaker.