The Visual Arts Press, the in-house design studio at SVA, received awards in this year’s HOW Magazine: International 2011 Design Awards. Proof, the undergraduate catalog, was awarded a Brochures Merit for 2011 – 2012 as well as 2010-2011, while issues 6 and 7 of Dear Dave, along with The Wilde Years exhibition catalog were recognized for Editorial Merit.
The prizes for all five print publications are included in a special section in the March 2011 issue of HOW Magazine.
Famed fashion designer Carmen Marc Valvo visited LIM College on February 24 to sign copies of his new book, Dressed to Perfection: The Art of Dressing for Your Red Carpet Moments (Rizzoli, February 2011).
The event, which was sponsored by LIM College’s Adrian G. Marcuse Library and attended by students, faculty, staff and alumni, also featured an installation of gowns from the designer’s collection and a question-and-answer session led by Fashion Merchandising faculty member Michael Palladino.
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Today Berkeley College hosted the first national two-day Presidential Summit of 61 leaders, including 32 presidents from regionally accredited proprietary institutions of higher education as well as representatives of higher education associations who met for a national conversation at the Princeton Club in New York City. The institutions are located in 18 states and Puerto Rico.
“As a leading institution for preparing students and graduates for successful careers, Berkeley College initiated this summit for regionally accredited proprietary institutions to explore ways in which we can continue to maintain the high standards of providing a superior college education for students,” said Dario A. Cortes, PhD, President of Berkeley College. “This Summit provides a venue to have a national conversation regarding how we can best strengthen higher education in the U.S. and especially in our sector.”
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Four current students from the MFA Interaction Design Department have won the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Councils’ Data Visualization Challenge with their entry Catalyzing the Global Dialogue. Clint Beharry, Sera Koo, Gene Lu and Tina Ye (who worked with Yang Yang of stickybits) were selected by a panel of judges that included faculty members from RISD, Harvard and the University of Toronto, as well as MFA Design Criticism Department faculty member Paola Antonelli,who is senior curator of the Department of Architecture and Design at MoMA. The competition is a collaboration between the Global Agenda Councils on Design and Innovation, visualizing.org and GE, calling out to the world’s interactive designers to develop cutting-edge visualizations that help elucidate the interconnectedness among issues on the global agenda.
The students’ winning visualization will be shown at the Summit on the Global Agenda, held in Dubai, UAE, from November 29 – December 1. The team will also recieve a cash prize of $3,000 from GE.
Berkeley College recently kicked off a yearlong celebration honoring its 80th anniversary. The theme for the year-long celebration is Changing Lives for 80 Years. The anniversary year will focus on commemorating the many lives that have been changed by the College over the years.
“The year 2011 will be a significant one for Berkeley College, not only because of all we plan to accomplish through our strategic planning initiatives, but also because 2011 marks the 80th anniversary of our ever-expanding teaching and learning community,” said Berkeley College President Dario A. Cortes, PhD, in an address to faculty, staff and guests at a holiday reception held at The Venetian in Garfield, NJ.
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The Association of Proprietary Colleges (APC) applauded Governor Cuomo for his support of the state’s Tuition Assistance Program.
The governor today released his proposed 2011-12 Executive Budget, calling for TAP to remain at “current year levels.” In offering his budget, Governor Cuomo told the Legislature that New York will have to grow its way out of the current fiscal crisis. APC strongly supports this position.
“We understand these are very tough fiscal times for New York state,” said Stephen J. Jerome, APC president and president of Monroe College in the Bronx and New Rochelle. “The governor recognizes that TAP is an investment in New York’s future, and therefore will help the state emerge from its economic crisis.”
Two-year programs offered by APC Colleges are often the straightest path to higher education for many economically disadvantaged students, including single parents, working men and women, and minorities. The existing TAP policy will limit access for these students, many of whom have the academic qualifications to attend college, but not the financial means.
Berkeley College is pleased to announce the appointment of Marlene Doty as Vice President, Library Services. In this role, she leads the continued development of library resources and services that provide a contemporary means of information delivery and integration of information literacy throughout the College experience.
“Ms. Doty is aprogressive thinker who has led the Berkeley College library system to the forefront of technology,” said Glen Zeitzer, PhD, Berkeley College Provost. “She is dedicated to acquiring the resources and services our students need to excel.”
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A member of the Association of Proprietary Colleges was the subject of a Jayson Blair-type assault from a now-former Village Voice reporter who made up sources and quotes in a recently published article about the proprietary sector of higher education.
Rob Sgobbo, who also freelanced for the Daily News, was fired from both publications after the Village Voice determined he quoted a fictitious Berkeley College student and concocted quotes and a source from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
APC President Stephen Jerome, president of Monroe College, sent a memo to APC members, informing them that the Village Voice acknowledged Sgobbo crafted a story about a former Berkeley College student who the report claimed left school in debt and without a degree. The subject of student debt load is sensitive as the federal government has singled out proprietary colleges for the ability of their students to repay debt.
The article, “For-Profit Blues,” was an unjustified attack on Berkeley College and the entire proprietary sector, Jerome said.
“The story didn’t sit right with our colleagues at Berkeley because their representative never said the things the reporter attributed to her,” he said. “So Berkeley did some digging and was able to confirm the student didn’t exist, and that quotes in the story, including those from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, were invented. Berkeley demanded a retraction, and the newspaper quickly and rightly issued one, along with a public apology.”
Several news outlets picked up the story, recalling a similar case in 2003, when New York Times reporter Jayson Blair received international notoriety for widespread plagiarism and for manufacturing quotes and sources on several high-profile stories.
Dear Colleagues,
We know the old saying, “don’t believe everything you read.” It’s one that’s become increasingly relevant as stories about some of New York’s colleges are published. Even though New York has the strongest proprietary sector in the country because of the high standards to which we all hold ourselves, as well as state regulatory standards, the story that’s been playing out in the public is much different than the one we know to be true.
But in the rush to make “for-profit” a four-letter word, and burden us with new regulations aimed at a few unscrupulous operators, the facts are being pushed aside. The latest example came last week when the Village Voice admitted that reporter Rob Sgobbo fabricated a story about a former Berkeley College student who the report claimed left school in debt and without a degree.
The story didn’t sit right with our colleagues at Berkeley because their representative never said the things the reporter attributed to her. So Berkeley did some digging and was able to confirm the student didn’t exist, and that quotes in the story, including those from the U.S. Government Accountability Office and Berkeley representatives, were invented. Berkeley demanded a retraction, and the newspaper quickly and rightly issued one, along with a public apology.
This is a win, yes, but hardly a complete victory. How much other bad information is out there and, as of now, uncorrected? We’re well aware of how the GAO quietly revised down its inflammatory report on the proprietary college sector, the very report that informed new federal Education Department’s regulations that unfairly target the proprietary sector. Shame on us if we don’t take Berkeley’s lead and fight back even more vigorously – we can’t allow ourselves to become scapegoats for someone else’s political agenda and outrageous disregard for journalistic principle.
As we meet in Albany this week to discuss priorities for the upcoming year, an item that will now dominate our agenda is to redouble our efforts to set the record straight about the quality of our programs and the imbedded unfairness of proposed federal regulations targeting our colleges. There are countless alumni and students whose futures are brighter as a result of the education they received – and are receiving – from proprietary colleges. That’s a fact we need to get on the record.
Sincerely,
Stephen Jerome
The Visual Arts Press, the in-house design studio at SVA, received awards in this year’s HOW Magazine: International 2011 Design Awards. Proof, the undergraduate catalog, was awarded a Brochures Merit for 2011 – 2012 as well as 2010-2011, while issues 6 and 7 of Dear Dave, along with The Wilde Years exhibition catalog were recognized for Editorial Merit.
