More than 1,700 students from Berkeley College locations in New Jersey and New York, and Berkeley College Online, received Baccalaureate and Associate degrees. It was the largest graduating class in the 81-year history of the College.

“Today is a celebration of your accomplishments,” said Dario A. Cortes, PhD, Berkeley College President. “For more than 80 years, Berkeley College has been changing the lives of students who came to us in search of a better and more prosperous future. The education that they received has enabled thousands of them to find success in their careers.”

The members of the graduating class are beginning their careers at 630 companies including Bank of America, Calvin Klein, JP Morgan and Price Waterhouse Cooper, among others.

Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Borough President, delivered the Commencement Address and was given an honorary Doctor of Law degree.

“Be the entrepreneur. These businesses that today are in America started with the genius of one person,” Mr. Markowitz told the graduates. “It’s young and innovative rising stars like you who create the exciting jobs and businesses that can really change the world.”

Honorary degrees also were awarded to two Berkeley College Trustees Emeriti. Gwendolyn Jordan Dungy, PhD, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Pedagogy degree, and Sharon Anderson Lewis, PhD, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

A leader in business education for 80 years, Berkeley College is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and enrolls more than 8,700 students — including more than 800 international students — in its Baccalaureate and Associate degree programs. The College has four New York locations — Midtown Manhattan, Lower Manhattan in the Wall Street area, Brooklyn, and White Plains. And in New Jersey there are four locations — Woodland Park, Paramus, Woodbridge, and Newark.  Berkeley College Online also offers full degree programs. Programs are offered in more than 20 career fields. The website address is www.BerkeleyCollege.edu.

Berkeley College has appointed Jennifer Iacino, EdD, as Dean, Student Development and Campus Life, Online.

Berkeley College is proud to announce the appointment of Jennifer Iacino, EdD, as Dean, Student Development and Campus Life, Online. In this role, Dr. Iacino will be responsible for all aspects of student life through Berkeley College Online and will work closely with students, faculty and staff in the creative design and implementation of student development programs. 

“Dr. Iacino has held diverse leadership positions in higher education for the past 12 years,” said Edwin Hughes, EdD, Vice President, Student Development and Campus Life. “Her experience will help Berkeley College actively engage our online community and meet the distinct needs of these online students.” 

Before coming to Berkeley College, Dr. Iacino served as an External Evaluator for the Advancing Environmental Literacy Project, a grant-funded program of innovative sustainability curriculum at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, NC. She also has worked with several programs at Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL, including the Women in Math, Science & Engineering Living-Learning Community; the Center for Leadership & Civic Engagement; and the Student Activities department. 

Dr. Iacino holds an EdD in Higher Education and a BS in Political Science from Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL; and an MA in Higher Education Administration from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She is a native of Fort Lauderdale and Tallahassee, FL. 

A leader in business education for 80 years, Berkeley College is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and enrolls more than 8,700 students — including more than 800 international students — in its Baccalaureate and Associate degree programs. The College has four New York locations — Midtown Manhattan, Lower Manhattan in the Wall Street area, Brooklyn, and White Plains. And in New Jersey there are four locations — Woodland Park, Paramus, Woodbridge, and Newark.  Berkeley College Online also offers full degree programs. Programs are offered in more than 20 career fields. The website address is www.BerkeleyCollege.edu.

SVA Portfolios, the online gallery of award-winning and cutting-edge creative work by members of the SVA community, has been nominated for a Webby Award in the Self-Promotion/Portfolio category. Presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, the Webby is the leading international honor for excellence and innovation on the Internet.

The Webby Awards presents two honors in each category—The Webby Award and The Webby People’s Voice Award—annually. Members of the Academy select the nominees for both awards, and also select the winners of the Webby Awards. The People’s Voice Award is chosen by popular online vote, with hundreds of thousands of people from across the world making their choice for the site they believe is most innovative on the Web.

SVA was the first college anywhere to launch a gallery on Behance as an exclusive online network where its 30,000 alumni, 1,100 faculty members, and 4,100 degree-seeking students could share work, collaborate and build their own communities. The portfolios are also featured in the larger Behance Network, which attracts over 10 million visitors per month. In addition, Behance offers users services to further enhance their productivity and creative potential including personal portfolio sites, a curated site of artwork, and a blog to jump start the creative process and professional development.

To support SVA Portfolios and cast your vote visit the Webby Awards online. Voting closes Thursday, April 26.

Thursday, May 10, 2012, 1pm Radio City Music Hall, 1260 Avenue of the Americas.  Private event; Press seats available at 212.592.2010 or proffice@sva.edu.

New York, March 27, 2012 – School of Visual Arts announced today that acclaimed multimedia artist Laurie Anderson has accepted an invitation to speak at this year’s commencement exercises. The event takes place on Thursday, May 10, 2012, 1pm, at Radio City Music Hall, 1260 Avenue of the Americas, New York City. The ceremony is a ticketed event and open to students and invited guests only; a live webcast will be streamed at www.sva.edu/commencement.

As a lifelong exemplar of artistic curiosity, Ms. Anderson is particularly well suited to address the 1,100 degree candidates in SVA’s 2012 graduation class,” said *SVA President David Rhodes*. Ms. Anderson was nominated by *MFA Art Practice Chair David Ross* and will also receive an honorary degree at the ceremony.

Laurie Anderson has been an arch observer of the American scene for more than four decades through her work as a visual artist, composer, poet, photographer, filmmaker, vocalist and instrumentalist. Widely recognized as a pioneer in the use of technology in the arts, Ms. Anderson has toured the United States and internationally with shows ranging from simple spoken word performances to elaborate multimedia events. In 2002, she was appointed the first artist-in-residence for NASA, an experience that culminated in her 2004 touring solo performance, /The End of the Moon/. In 2008, she completed a two-year worldwide tour of her performance piece /Homeland/, which was released to critical acclaim as an album on Nonesuch Records in 2010.
Ms. Anderson’s recording career was launched in 1980 with /O Superman/, a haunting single that rose to No. 2 on the British pop charts. Her album releases include /Big Science/ (1982), /Mister Heartbreak/ (1984), /United States Live/ (1984), /Strange Angels/ (1989), /Bright Red/ (1994), and the soundtrack to her feature film /Home of the Brave/
(1986). As a composer, Ms. Anderson has contributed music to films by Wim Wenders and Jonathan Demme; dance pieces by Trisha Brown, Molissa Fenley and Bill T. Jones; and a theatrical production by Robert LePage. Ms. Anderson’s visual work has been presented in major museums throughout the United States and Europe and is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Laurie Anderson will join a distinguished group of leaders in the arts, humanities and public service who have spoken at SVA’s commencement exercises in past years, including playwrights *Edward Albee* and *Tony Kushner*, historian *Robert A. Caro*, Governor *Mario Cuomo*, biologist *Dr. Gerald Edelman*, opera singer *Ronan Tynan* and actor *B.D. Wong* as well as /New York Times/ columnists *Maureen Dowd*, *Nicholas Kristof* and *Frank Rich*.

School of Visual Arts is a comprehensive college of art and design offering the degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts in advertising; animation; cartooning; computer art, computer animation and visual effects; film and video; fine arts; graphic design; illustration; interior design; photography; and visual and critical studies; the degree of Master of Fine Arts in art criticism and writing; art practice; computer art; design; design criticism; design for social innovation; fine arts; illustration as visual essay; interaction design; photography, video and related media; products of design; social documentary film; and visual narrative (beginning summer 2013); the degree of Master of Professional Studies in art therapy; branding; digital photography; fashion photography; and live action short film; the degree of Master of Arts in critical theory and the arts; and the degree of Master of Arts in Teaching in art education.

With over 6,000 students and 1,100 faculty members, SVA represents one of the largest and most influential creative communities in the world. SVA counts some of the world’s most acclaimed artists among its more than 27,000 alumni. Many thousands of them constitute the core of the cultural capital of the world, New York City, while thousands of others can be found throughout the U.S. and in over thirty countries. Some notable alumni include: fine artists Inka Essenhigh, Rodney Alan Greenblat, Keith Haring, Suzanne McClelland, Elizabeth Peyton, Alexis Rockman, Kenny Scharf, Gary Simmons and Sarah Sze; photographers Guy Aroch, Renée Cox, Justine Kurland and Lorna Simpson. Others include Paul Davis, principal, Paul Davis Studio; Sal DeVito, creative director, DeVito/Verdi; Pete Hamill, author and journalist; Patrick McDonnell, creator, /Mutts/ comic strip; Bill Plympton, Academy-Award nominee, /Guard Dog/; Bryan Singer, director, /X-Men/, /Usual Suspects/; Carlos Saldanha, director, /Ice Age: The Meltdown/ and /Rio/; Harris Savides, cinematographer, /Zodiac/ and /Milk/.

School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City is an established leader and innovator in the education of artists. From its inception in 1947, the faculty has been comprised of professionals working in the arts and art-related fields. SVA provides an environment that nurtures creativity, inventiveness and experimentation, enabling students to develop a strong sense of identity and a clear direction of purpose.

“From the homepage to every other page on the site, we’re showing off the best work made by our students, faculty and alumni—their words, images, blogs, tweets and more,” says SVA Executive Vice President Anthony P. Rhodes.

The website’s redesign was led by SVA Director of Design and Digital Media Michael Walsh and implemented by the New York-based interactive agency Funny Garbage. SVA’s new site provides an easy-to-navigate framework for finding information and discovering new content and its homepage is curated daily, reflecting SVA’s ever-growing pool of talent in the fine arts, design, advertising, film and photography communities. The rich visual content also enables users to tap into SVA’s exhibitions and public programming, which appeal to the New York arts community at large.

In addition, SVA’s Briefs blog has been redesigned and renamed as the blog you are currently reading, SVA Close Up, and the College now has an official presence on Tumblr, too.

To start exploring SVA’s new website, visit sva.edu.

On Tuesday, March 6, more than 100 students, faculty and administrators from New York’s degree-granting proprietary colleges reminded lawmakers that TAP is both a smart investment in the state’s future and a vehicle that allows New Yorkers to maintain access to higher education.

In highlighting their message, delegates representing New York’s Association of Proprietary Colleges (APC) thanked lawmakers for rejecting deep cuts to TAP in recent years, and acknowledged their support of the governor’s proposed 2012-13 budget, which maintains TAP at current levels.

However, APC delegates reminded lawmakers that in 2010, students enrolled in colleges that only offer two-year degrees had their TAP awards slashed by 20 percent. As a result the maximum award went from $5,000 to $4,000. The reduction impacted thousands of students, some of whom need TAP the most.

Students Emily Acle, Carinne Cusanelli, Samantha Scopo, and Vinessa Soluri — under the supervision of Department Chair Eric Feigenbaum, Associate Chair Marjorie Lee Woo, and with assistance from Professor Grailing King — styled four mannequins in fashions created exclusively from DHL’s shipping and packing materials. The mannequins were donated by Goldsmith. Dan Evans, Goldsmith’s President and Creative Director, is a member of LIM College’s Fashion Industry Advisory Board.

After an online competition, the top two mannequins, created by Vinessa Soluri and Carinne Cusanelli, were showcased at DHL’s space in the Event Lobby during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Damrosch Park. DHL served as the official logistics provider of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week for the 11th straight season.

Vinessa and Carinne also won prizes of $250 each, provided by Bill Levine, President of WL Concepts, a leader in creating innovative visual displays, graphics and signage.

Visitors to the DHL booth were able to select DHL fashion accessories, also created by the students, and have their photograph taken with the DHL-branded mannequins on a simulated fashion runway. The photographs were taken by LIM College students under the direction of professor and award-winning fashion photographer Michael Creagh.

On Friday, March 23 at 7pm, Geoff Manaugh, a noted futurist, former senior editor at Dwell magazine, contributing editor at Wired UK and founder of the architecture blog BLDGBLOG, will go head-to-head with New York Times’ Data Artist-in-Residence Jer Thorp. And on Friday, April 6 at 6pm, Zach Frechette, founder of Quarterly Co., co-founder of GOOD magazine and an adviser to Collaborative Fund, sits down for a conversation with Molly Steenson, a digital strategist, design researcher and GirlWonder.com editor emeritus.

“As an interaction design program, we work to encourage broad explorations of design such that fields that seem peripheral take on possibility,” explains MFA Interaction Design Department Chair Liz Danzico. “It is in this way that everything becomes material for making, everything becomes a possibility for exploration. The On the Verge series intends to broaden the edges of our understanding such that the seams where disciplines converge and diverge become more visible.”

All lectures are free and open to the public, but registration is required. For more info and to register, visit interactiondesign.sva.edu/events.

The survey results were released Jan. 17 at the National Retail Federation (NRF)’s 101st Annual Convention at the Javits Center in New York City. A press release about the students’ survey findings has now made its way onto more than 300 media outlets’ websites, throughout the U.S. and internationally. These include the websites of 162 local TV stations (in cities including Phoenix, San Diego, Honolulu, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Seattle), 30 trade publications, and 87 newspapers, including the Houston Chronicle, Boston Globe, Yahoo! Finance, Los Angeles Daily News, Newsday, Dallas Business Journal, and the Anchorage Daily News.

In announcing the release of Shopping Trends Among 18-25 Year-Olds, LIM College student Alexis Michaelides said, “We have read and observed what industry leaders had been saying about our use of technology for shopping and it did not match our own habits and preferences.”

“As part of our activities as an NRFSA we decided to survey our peers to analyze how 18-25 year-olds shop, where we shop, how much we spend, our preferences for shopping online and via mobile devices versus in stores, and the role social media plays in our shopping activities,” said Patrick Mays, another member of the LIM College NRFSA team.

“And sure enough retail observers have been significantly overestimating our use of online and digital technology for shopping. We like shopping in stores and are not as engaged in shopping on the Internet as many have touted.  I guess the demise of the brick and mortar format of retailing– at least for 18-25 year-olds– is grossly exaggerated,” Nicole Flasch-Mihalko, another member of the LIM College NRFSA team concluded.

LIM College was the first higher education institution to promote participation in NRFSA and first to register their student members. Under the direction of faculty advisor Professor Marla Greene of the Marketing & Management Department and Marketing & Management Department Chair Dr. Dudley Blossom, and with Robert Wallstrom, President of Saks OFF 5TH as a consultant, the LIM College group’s survey of 310 18-25 year-old primarily female consumers was conducted online this past fall.

“One of the goals of NRFSA is to encourage campus groups to engage in activities that build the skills and understanding of retail to succeed in careers in retail and related industries,” said NRF Foundation Executive Director Kathy Mance. “Their leadership and initiative in creating and undertaking a survey epitomizes what we hoped to foster when we formed NRFSA. The students will certainly enjoy the benefits of such extra-curricular efforts as they continue their education and move into the world of retailing.”

In September 2011, NRF launched the National Retail Federation Student Association to foster and recruit talented students into the retailing industry, enhance their educational experience at participating colleges and help them build an early network of peers who will become leaders in the industry.