(L-R): Dale Smith, Vice President of Marketing; Jessica Perilla, CW Alumni & Award Recipient; and Karen Smith, President

At The College of Westchester’s (CW) June 3, 2010 Commencement Ceremony, Jessica Perilla, a 2001 graduate of the Multimedia Management and Development program, was awarded with CW’s First Annual Alumni Achievement Award.  She excelled while at CW and was immediately hired by the Partnership for a Drug Free America, where she had been doing an internship that had been arranged by our Office of Career Services.  She also went on to earn her bachelor’s degree in graphic design from The School of Visual Arts.  After graduating SVA, Jessica left her full-time job to start her own company – Jessica Perilla Design – an award-winning venture which has grown to over 100 clients, some very well known, such as Real Simple Magazine, Aeropostale, and Wiley Publishing.  Jessica is a member of several professional design and entrepreneurial organizations, started the Mural Project through which artists donate their skills to create murals in hospitals, including Montefiore in the Bronx, and founded an online network dedicated to women entrepreneurs called “Web2Fem.”   Jessica has remained a loyal CW alumnus, continuing to interact with faculty, attending events, and currently assisting the CW Online Division in website design.  It is for all of these fine accomplishments that Jessica was presented with this prestigious award.

LIM College’s Maxwell Hall, which was expanded and renovated by Marner Architecture in 2009, has been recognized with an Outstanding Design award from American School & University (AS&U) magazine.

AS&U is an information source for education facilities and business professionals—serving the nation’s K-12 and higher education administrators responsible for the planning, design, construction, retrofit, operations, maintenance and management of education facilities. Since 1983, AS&U has hosted the premier competitions for education design projects.

Maxwell Hall will be featured in AS&U’s upcoming Educational Interiors Showcase. Published in August each year, this is a special issue entirely devoted to the best in educational interiors and facility planning. Educational administrators and others interested in educational facilities look to the Educational Interiors Showcase issue as a guide to award-winning ideas and innovations for America’s schools and universities. Honored projects also appear on the SchoolDesigns.com website.

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SVA took home the School of the Year award at the ADC 89th Annual Awards Ceremony, hosted by the Art Directors Club (ADC), an international organization for creatives in integrated media. The award was given to the school with the most cumulative ADC Cubes won across all categories, and SVA tied with Miami Ad School for the honor.

A number of SVA students were recognized individually for their projects. Alumnus and current MFA Illustration as Visual Essay Department student Jungyeon Roh (BFA 2009 Illustration) won a Gold Cube in the Illustration category for her book Today is Sushi Day. Bronze Cubes were awarded to Alex Sunyoung Koo (BFA 2009 Advertising) and Julissa Ortiz (BFA 2009 Advertising)  in Collateral Advertising; and to Wesley Gott, a current student in the MFA Design Department, for Television and Cinema Design. Jang Cho (BFA 2010 Advertising), Marianna D’Annunzio (BFA 2010 Advertising), Sungkwon Ha (BFA 2009 Advertising) and Eunjung Yoo (BFA 2010 Graphic Design) also received Merit awards for their advertising and design submissions.

The awards ceremony took place on Wednesday, May 19, at the SVA Theatre, 333 West 23 Street. Cubes were presented by top industry professionals including Richard Wilde, chair of the BFA Advertising and Graphic Design Department. SVA students, alumni and faculty were also featured in the Art Directors Annual 88.

The LIM College Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team met with success at SIFE’s National Expo in Minneapolis on May 11-13.  The SIFE team, for the first time in LIM College history, won their league competition and advanced to the semi-finals. The LIM College team was one of only 20 SIFE teams across the nation, out of the nearly 200 colleges/universities who were eligible to compete at the national level, to attain this honor.

SIFE works with teams of college students on campuses around the world to teach ethical and socially conscious business practices. LIM College SIFE has sought to improve the lives of individuals through service-oriented business projects. This year, SIFE completed seven projects, including providing job search training for women in need, coaching local entrepreneurs in merchandising for a small children’s boutique, and helping a young entrepreneur and LIM College alumna grow her business in manufacturing eco-friendly accessories in Guatemala.

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The College of Westchester recently held its 36th Annual High School Awards Program. This program recognizes outstanding high school business and computer education students from over 40 area high schools from the counties of Westchester, Putnam, Bronx, Rockland, Orange, Dutchess, Fairfield, and the Borough of Manhattan. The honorees were chosen by their high school education instructors for recognition in the categories of achievement, determination and leadership. As a result, over 450 students were awarded certificates. Addressing the honorees was Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop Emeritus of New York. His Eminence provided thought-provoking comments and guidance to the recipients. 

The College of Westchester is committed to the community at large and education overall, and this event is proof of its commitment. It is rewarding to recognize such promising students in our community, even if they don’t choose to attend our college. CW exists to develop in students, the skills and abilities needed for the greater marketplace of the future. Over the past 95 years one attribute of CW that ensures students’ success in the marketplace is our continual evolution with employment trends and employers’ needs. We offer high quality, practical, career-focused, collegiate education leading to graduate success and security

SVA Acting Chairman Milton Glaser receives the National Medal of Arts from President Obama

School of Visual Arts (SVA) Acting Chairman and longtime faculty member Milton Glaser has received the National Medal of Arts. Glaser is one of twelve Americans to be recognized this year for their outstanding achievements and support of the arts. The medals were presented by President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama in an East Room ceremony at the White House on February 25, 2010. Glaser is the first graphic designer to receive the honor.

The National Medal of Arts is a White House initiative managed by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Each year, the NEA organizes and oversees the National Medal of Arts nomination process and notifies the artists of their selection to receive a medal, the nation’s highest honor for artistic excellence.

“These individuals and organizations show us how many ways art works every day. They represent the breadth and depth of American architecture, design, film, music, performance, theatre, and visual art,” said NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman. “This lifetime honor recognizes their exceptional contributions, and I join the President and the country in saluting them.”

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(L-R) George Santiago, Briarcliffe College President and Vic Latino, La Fiesta Radio

Briarcliffe College President Dr. George Santiago, Jr., was the recipient of a Top 50 Hispanic Leaders of Long Island award during the first-ever Latino Awards Gala held earlier this month by La Fiesta Radio, Long Island’s only Latino radio station.  

“Long Island is home to 350,000 Hispanics and La Fiesta is committed to reaching and serving this growing segment of our population,” said Dr. Santiago. “It is truly a great honor to be recognized in the company of such distinguished honorees.”

Dr. Santiago, the first in his family to achieve a college education, advanced to a master’s and doctorate, eventually dedicating himself to a career in education.  At Briarcliffe College, he introduced the Hispanic Scholarship program to support the dreams of higher education among young Latinos.  His educational and community outreach and personal commitment to the Hispanic community have been recognized by Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, the Long Island Hispanic Chamber, 100 Hispanic Women, Adelante, and others.  He has regularly appeared in the media as an expert source on social and educational matters affecting Hispanic students in the metro New York area.

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SGA and Phi Theta Kappa members who delivered the toys to White Plains Hospital included (standing) Michael Adebiyi, Genaro Cruz and Denise Martinez, and (sitting) Kasey Grafer and Daniel Neves.

CW’s Student Government Association (SGA) helped raise $1,500 for Haiti’s earthquake victims, and with the college’s match, over $3,000 will be given to the Red Cross, which will directly benefit those who suffered a great tragedy on January 12. 

Philanthropic efforts such as this one, is of the norm for CW’s SGA.  Each holiday season they hold a toy drive, which benefits the children of White Plains Hospital.  Additionally, twice a year, they hold a chance drawing for the benefit of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a charity the college has supported for over 35 years. 

Students involved in these great causes talk about the great fulfillment they experience, which is something that can’t be taught in the classroom, but is still part of the college’s mission to, “….encourage personal excellence.”

Congressmen John Kline of Minnesota (far left) and Buck McKeon of California (far right) were at LIM College on December 14 to attend a breakfast given by APC Colleges. Both men are members of the House Education and Labor Committee. During their visit they were given a tour of the LIM College Townhouse by students Delisha Fields (second from left) and Nina Pantano (second from right).

From left: LIM College President Elizabeth S. Marcuse, President Emeritus Adrian G. Marcuse and New York State Assemblyman Jonathan Bing cut the ribbon at Maxwell Hall, LIM College’s newly-expanded location at 216 East 45th St. in Manhattan.

LIM College held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on October 21 to celebrate the expansion of its location at 216 East 45th Street in Manhattan. New York State Assemblyman Jonathan Bing, who received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from LIM College at the school’s May 2009 Commencement ceremony, attended and cut the ribbon alongside LIM College President Elizabeth S. Marcuse and President Emeritus Adrian G. Marcuse.

The expansion and renovations to the College’s existing space at 216 East 45th Street were completed in time for the beginning of the Fall 2009 semester, for which enrollment increased to an historic high of nearly 1,400 undergraduate and graduate students combined. The expansion of this location — known within LIM College as Maxwell Hall in honor of the College’s founder Maxwell F. Marcuse — is another major milestone in an incredible period of planned strategic growth. Under the leadership of President Marcuse, LIM College, which in September marked 70 years of educating future fashion industry professionals, has seen its enrollment quadruple since 2001.

Said President Marcuse, “At LIM College we educate students in the business of fashion. To stay ahead of the curve in an industry that is constantly evolving, we ourselves have to continuously grow and innovate. With this new space we sought to create an environment on the cutting edge. In addition to a modern, open lounge area for students that includes Jittery Joe’s Coffee Bar and a new LIM College Bookstore we have also expanded our Math Center and added new classrooms and visual computer labs.”

All these improvements come on the heels of the opening of LIM College’s Center for Graduate Studies & Continuing Education on the eighth floor of the same building this past spring. The Center for Graduate Studies & Continuing Education houses the nation’s only MBA program with concentrations in Fashion Management and Entrepreneurship.

Larry Marner Architecture executed President Marcuse’s vision to create a state-of-the-art environment that not only facilitates learning and working, but also builds on LIM College’s strong tradition of community by creating a place where students, faculty and staff can come together to share information and exchange ideas.

Says President Marcuse, “Our new space is important because it supports our mission, which is to educate the nearly 1,400 women and men enrolled in our undergraduate and graduate programs and prepare them for successful careers in the fashion industry. Completing this expansion means that we are now even better equipped to serve our students’ educational needs and to continue to provide the fashion industry with its future leaders.”

The 17,000 square-foot addition increases LIM College’s total campus to more than 100,000 square feet in midtown Manhattan.

Said Assemblyman Bing, “I am proud to help LIM College inaugurate this new space. This latest expansion demonstrates the College’s continuing commitment to providing quality education in New York and to helping the state’s economy thrive by preparing a new generation of fashion business executives.”