Spotlight

May 22, 2000

Brooklyn College Celebrates Installation of President Christoph M. Kimmich

During Its Seventy-fifth Commencement Exercises

Alice Newcomb-Doyle (718) 951-5882

     Brooklyn, N.Y. -- Signaling a new beginning for both the recipients of degrees and Brooklyn College itself, students, faculty, alumni, administrators, and guests will gather to salute more than 2,000 graduates and to officially welcome Christoph M. Kimmich, the eighth president in the College's seventy-year history. The installation and Commencement exercises, which will be simulcast on the Brooklyn College Web site, will be held on the campus Quadrangle, on Thursday, June 1, at 10:30 a.m.

     Dr. Matthew Goldstein, chancellor of the City University ofNew York, will be among several dignitaries present to greet the audience. The Honorable Benno C. Schmidt, Jr., vice-chairman of the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York, will preside over the installation of President Kimmich.

     During the Commencement ceremony, President Kimmich will give his first major speech to students since he assumed the presidency in February. He is expected to outline his vision for Brooklyn College as a flagship institution that strives "to be the best," and that is recognized around the country as an exciting liberal arts college.

      The honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters will be awarded to Constance Emmer Lieber for her support of research and services in the mental health field, and to A. M. Rosenthal in recognition of his lifelong service to journalism and his support of the City University of New York. Deborah T. Poritz, chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court and a 1958 graduate of Brooklyn College, will receive a Presidential Medal.

     Alumni honors will be conferred upon Harriet Brathwaite, Class of '59, an activist in the nursing profession and a pioneer in the mental health care field; William E. Hellerstein, Class of '59, a champion of the legal rights of prisoners and defendants who has argued on behalf of the accused before state and federal courts; and Francine Lifton Klagsbrun, Class of '52, a renowned journalist, author, and lecturer on such diverse subjects as feminism, Jewish culture, and the family.

     Brooklyn College, founded in 1930 and located on a twenty-six acre tree-lined campus in Flatbush, is one of the eleven senior colleges of the City University of New York. It enrolls 15,000 undergraduate and graduate students who are representative of the diverse population of Brooklyn and New York City. The school is nationally known for its core curriculum, which has been hailed as one of the "bright spots" in American higher education.

 Constance Emmer Lieber
     For thirty years Constance Emmer Lieber, '45, has been a leaderoas both philanthropist and advocateoin the advancement of mental health research and services. In dedicating herself to improving the treatment and care of individuals with schizophrenia, she has addressed issues in one of society's most devastating mental illnesses.

     Lieber began her career in the field of art and design, which she studied at Brooklyn College and continued at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture. For many years she was an interior designer of residential and office spaces in New York City and Westchester County.

     During the 1970s, Lieber turned to work in the mental health sphere, serving on the boards of the Association for Children with Learning Disabilities of Westchester County, the Larchmont-Mamaroneck Guidance Center, and the Mental Health Association of Westchester County. In the 1990s, she became a member of the board and the long-range strategy committee of the National Mental Health Leadership Forum. She has also served on the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Mental Health and is currently a member of the National Advisory Council for Health Sciences of Columbia University.

     Lieber is president of the Essel Foundation, which she cofounded with Stephen Lieber in 1963. The foundation supports research in neuroscience and biological psychiatry as well as higher education. The foundation made possible the establishment of the Lieber Center for Schizophrenia Research at Columbia University, a "center without walls" that facilitates collaborative research.

     Since 1989, Lieber has been president of the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depressive Disorders (NARSAD). The Lieber Prize, funded by the Essel Foundation and presented by NARSAD, has been given since 1987 to recognize extraordinary achievement in schizophrenia research.

     Among the numerous honors Lieber has received are the New York State Psychiatric Institute Centennial Award in 1998 and the American Psychopathological Association Distinguished Service Award in 1999.

     In recognition of her steadfast support of research and services in the mental health field, Brooklyn College will award Constance Emmer Lieber the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.

 A.M. Rosenthal
     World-renowned journalist A. M. Rosenthal has been an insightful and provocative writer and commentator for more than half a century. As a columnist for both the New York Times and New York Daily News, he has been firm in his support of the rights of the individual and provided a voice of conscience for the world. His work reflects a vast knowledge of both national and international issues and displays a blend of idealism and pragmatism that makes his voice unique in American letters.

     Rosenthal was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and moved to New York as a boy. He discovered his lifelong passion when, as a student at City College, he walked into the office of the college's weekly newspaper, the Campus. He became the newspaper's editor, which led to a position as college correspondent for the Times.

     In his senior year, in 1943, he was hired as a general reporter for the Times. Working full time, he took six additional years to complete his college degree.

     In 1945 he was appointed on a fill-in basis to the Times bureau at the newly established United Nations. The nine-year post piqued an interest in foreign affairs, leading to assignments in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan, and Ceylon.

     He was sent to Poland in 1958 but was expelled from the country for probing into internal affairs and the Communist Party. Subsequently, in 1960, he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his reportage from Poland. After corresponding from Switzerland, Africa, and Japan, he returned to New York in 1963 to serve as metropolitan editor of the Times and, beginning in 1977, as executive editor. Under his stewardship, the paper grew from two to four daily sections. Rosenthal formally retired from the Times on January 1, 1988, but continued as a columnist for more than a decade. He now writes an internationally syndicated column for the Daily News.

     Rosenthal has written two books and more than one hundred magazine articles. In addition to the Pulitzer, he has won several Overseas Press Club awards and Front Page prizes. In 1998 he was again nominated for a Pulitzer, by some thirty spiritual leaders worldwide, for his commentary on religious persecution in China and other countries. In recognition of his lifelong service to journalism, and his faith in the power of reasoned discourse to provide information and shape opinion and public policy, and for his unwavering support of the City University of New York, Brooklyn College will award A. M. Rosenthal the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.

  Deborah T. Poritz
     Deborah T. Poritz, chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, has had a distinguished career in public service as an attorney and a jurist. From academia to the bar to the bench, from literature to the law, her professional life attests to her unshakable belief in the need to provide equal justice for all members of society.

     Poritz received a bachelor's degree in English from Brooklyn College in 1958, graduating magna cum laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow in American and English literature at Columbia University and continued her studies at Brandeis University. From 1967 to 1970 she taught at Ursinus College in Pennsylvania, after which she entered law school.

     Poritz received a juris doctor degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1977 and joined the Office of the New Jersey Attorney General as a deputy attorney general. She advanced rapidly, becoming assistant chief of the Environmental Protection Section in 1981; chief of the Banking, Insurance, and Public Securities Section in 1984; and, in 1986, director of the Division of Law, where she supervised three hundred deputy attorneys general, managed civil litigation in state and federal courts, and handled major trial court and appellate matters.

     In 1989 Poritz was named chief counsel to New Jersey Governor Thomas H. Kean. From 1990 to 1994, she was a partner in the Princeton law firm of Jamieson, Moore, Peskin & Spicer. She returned to public service in 1994 when she was appointed attorney general for the State of New Jersey, the first woman to hold the position of chief law enforcement officer in that state.

     She was appointed chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court in 1996 by Governor Christine Todd Whitman. Poritz is the first woman to serve in that capacity.

     Among the thousands of issues she has considered was the question of whether the Boy Scouts violated the state's Law Against Discrimination in terminating the membership of a gay assistant scoutmaster. Justice Poritz spoke powerfully in comparing intolerance toward gays to the bigotry faced by women and minorities. This landmark ruling will have a lasting impact within and beyond the boundaries of her home state.

     For her legal acumen, for her leadership as a jurist, and for her willingness to embrace personal and professional challenges and change, Brooklyn College will honor Deborah T. Poritz with the Presidential Medal.

 Harriet Brathwaite
     Harriet Brathwaite, '59, has dedicated her life to the fields of nursing and mental health, advocating on behalf of African Americans and their health care needs. She has been a pioneer in the mental health care field, first as a nurse and administrator, then as a lobbyist and spokesperson for the professional rights of nurses, serving as a mentor and role model for young African American women.

     Brathwaite graduated from Brooklyn College with an associate's degree in nursing. At a time when most nursing students were single and lived in special boarding houses for women, Brathwaite was one of the first to study nursing after marriage. She went on to receive a bachelor's degree in nursing from Long Island University in 1965 and a master's degree in psychiatric and community mental health nursing from Adelphi University in1973.

     After beginning her career as a staff nurse for City Hospital in Queens, Brathwaite moved into the mental health field, serving as a nursing service consultant in psychiatry for the New York State Department of Health. In 1976, she joined Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens as a mental health team leader. Appointed chief of service a year later, Brathwaite held this position until her retirement in 1993. She was also an assistant professor of nursing at Long Island University from 1987 to 1992.

     Brathwaite has been a fervent supporter of nurses' professional rights. She was a trustee of the political action committee of the New York State Nurses Association and was a member of its council on legislation, which supports such issues as better working conditions for nurses and their right to diagnose patients and make treatment decisions. She was chairperson of the legislative committee for the National Black Nurses Association, which works toward increased career opportunities for people of color and studies the health care needs of African Americans. She is also legislative district coordinator for New York State Assemblymember Fred Thiele.

     Brathwaite is on the board of directors of the Brooklyn College Alumni Association and is cochairperson of its capital campaign committee.

     In recognition of her pioneering spirit and devotion to the mental health field, her community service, and political activism, Brooklyn College honors Harriet Brathwaite with the Distinguished Alumna Award.

 William E. Hellerstein
     William E. Hellerstein is a champion of the legal rights of prisoners and defendants who has argued forcefully on behalf of the accused before state and federal courts.

     Hellerstein graduated from Brooklyn College in 1959 with a bachelor's degree in political science. He earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1962, and began his career as staff counsel for the United States Commission on Civil Rights, where he had major responsibilities in the fields of voting rights and employment discrimination. As an associate with the firm of Brennan, London & Buttenwieser in 1962, he became involved with First Amendment litigation. In 1963 he was named associate appellate counsel in the criminal appeals bureau of the Legal Aid Society of New York; in 1969 he became attorney-in-charge, a post he held for sixteen years and in which he earned his reputation as a noted civil rights and appellate advocacy authority.

     Hellerstein has argued more than two hundred appeals in federal and state courts, including several before the United States Supreme Court. In a landmark case, Hellerstein successfully argued that only in extreme circumstances could police enter a suspected felon's home and arrest that person without a warrant.

     In one of the most significant cases of Hellerstein's career, he represented the inmates of Attica State Penitentiary following their violent rebellion in 1971. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit set an important precedent in issuing a restraining order to protect prisoners from possible beatings by guards in retaliation.

     Hellerstein began his teaching career in 1978 as an adjunct associate professor of law at the New York University School of Law. In 1985 he joined the faculty of the Brooklyn Law School, where he is an expert in criminal law and procedure, especially in constitutional law, and civil rights law. From 1990 to 1997, he also served as special counsel for pro bono matters at Proskauer, Rose, Goetz & Mendelsohn.

     Hellerstein's legal writings have been widely published throughout his career. The New York State Bar Association has honored Hellerstein for Outstanding Contribution to the Delivery of Defense Services and Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Criminal Law Education. In recognition of his tireless dedication to civil rights advocacy and to upholding the rights of the accused, and his long career in legal education, Brooklyn College will honor William E. Hellerstein with the Distinguished Alumnus Award.

 Francine Lifton Klagsbrun
     As a writer and lecturer, Francine Lifton Klagsbrun has created new ways of thinking about the often disparate perspectives on feminism, Jewish culture, and family. Her popular newspaper columns and books have illuminated the complex intersection of faith and modern life, paving the way for frank investigation not only within families but also among cultures.

     Klagsbrun graduated magna cum laude from Brooklyn College in 1952 with a degree in sociology and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Concurrently, she earned a bachelor of Hebrew literature from the Jewish Theological Seminary. She then received a master of arts degree from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University.

     Known for editing the best-selling Free to Be. . .You and Me with Marlo Thomas, Klagsbrun She is also a regular columnist for The Jewish Week and Moment magazine. She lectures widely on family, social, and religious issues and has been a guest on numerous radio and television shows.

     Klagsbrun is a trustee of the Jewish Museum and founding chair of the board of overseers of the She served on the Commission for the Study of Women in the Rabbinate of the Jewish Theological Seminary and played an active role in advocating for women to be ordained as Conservative rabbis.

     In recognition of her prolific literary achievements in the realm of social issues, Jewish culture, and family life, as well as her efforts to advance the role of women in Jewish religious life, Brooklyn College will honor Francine Lifton Klagsbrun with the Distinguished Alumna Award.


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