Hello, 2008-09 DSC Steering Committee!
by Advocate Staff
Jill Belli is in her 4th year at the GC, working towards a PhD in English as well as certificates in American Studies and Interactive Technology & Pedagogy. Her interests also center on Composition & Rhetoric and Utopian Studies, subjects she teaches as a Chancellor’s Fellow at Queens College. After serving as a DSC At-Large representative last year, Jill is returning as an English program representative, member of the Steering Committee, member of the Tech Fee Committee, and co-chair of the Health Issues Committee. She looks forward to meeting many of you as the semester gets underway!
Gregory Donovan is the returning Co-Chair for Student Affairs of the Doctoral Students Council. He is beginning his fifth year as a PhD student in Environmental Psychology and is a certificate candidate in Interactive Technology & Pedagogy. Gregory also serves as a student representative on the Graduate Council’s Information Technology Committee and the Interactive Technology & Pedagogy Doctoral Certificate Program’s Executive Committee. He has previously served as an At-Large Representative for the DSC, as a Student Representative on the Graduate Center Technology Fee Committee and as the Environmental Psychology Student Officer for Academic Appeals. His writing and research concerns how cyberspace(s) shape young people’s identity development, education, and political engagement within urban environments. These interests, particularly as they regard educational and participatory cyberspace(s), are what he would like to advocate for within and on behalf of the Doctoral Students Council.
Rob Faunce is a fifth year PhD student in English, with emphases on queer studies, 20th century world literature, and intersectional theses. As a third year Steering Committee member and in his second term as Co-Chair for Communications, he is eager to keep lines of communication open with the GC community — so please feel free to contact him directly at robfaunce@gmail.com whenever a question, comment, or concern strikes. Rob also sits on the Executive Committee of Graduate Council and is a full-time lecturer in the Program for Writing & Rhetoric at SUNY — Stony Brook.
Allyson Foster is a 5th year PhD student in the English program, with a specialization in medieval literature. Her research interests include late medieval women’s literary culture, manuscript studies, and medievalism in the Victorian period. She is currently a Chancellor’s Teaching Fellow at Hunter College, and also teaches literature at Barnard College.
Anton Masterovoy is a student in the History PhD program. He is interested in helping students with all matters related to our major research tool and workspace — the GC Library, and hence chairs the Library Committee. Let’s work together on this!
Christine Pinnock is a 4th year doctoral student in the Anthropology program. Her research interests engage gender, immigration, kinship networks, and labor with a particular focus on Afro-Caribbean domestic workers in the U.S. and their social networks outside of the formal economy. This will be Christine’s first-year on the Steering Committee and she hopes to work towards developing a mentoring program at the G C. Please feel free to contact her for any questions or comments at christinepinnock@gmail.com.
Chris Alen Sula is a doctoral candidate in philosophy and a member of the doctoral certificate program in Interactive Technology and Pedagogy. His research focuses on individuals’ interactions with each other and the world, including topics in metaethics, intentionality, and cognitive science, as well empirical work in moral psychology and evolutionary biology and formal models of social behavior and decision making. He is currently a Writing Fellow at Lehman College, where he previously taught for three years.
Denise Torres is a third year student in the social welfare program. She is a former homeless healthcare administrator and clinician who remains actively involved in assuring the delivery of health and behavioral health services to vulnerable populations. She has served as her Program Representative, as Business Co-Chair, and on Steering over the last two years. As a social work clinician she has worked on the Wellness Center situation and has chaired the Health Issues Committee. She is happy to be returning to serve the GC community and looks forward to an exciting and productive year!
Tasha Youstin is a student in the Criminal Justice Doctoral Program housed out of John Jay College on West 59th street. She received her MA in Criminology from the University of Florida. This will be Tasha’s first year serving on the Steering Committee, and she is enthusiastic about being a liaison to other students while helping to make policy improvement that will affect the GC community.
Tasha’s main focus this year will be on raising the estimated cost of attendance at the G C in order to allow student to take out more money in federal student loans. Tasha is a published author in the field of Criminology and focuses on sex offenders, theory testing, and statistical methodology. Aside from school, Tasha is a musician and can often be found singing in pubs around New York on the weekends. She loves to travel and spend time with her 2 year old dog — a puggle named Odin.
Summer Lovin’ Happened So Fast… Summer at the GC was not dull. Health insurance is coming (we are told), a new Nurse Practitioner is actually in the building (make an appointment if you need one!), a new Provost has been announced and will be welcomed very soon, the Technology Fee was raised by 80th St (if you blinked, you missed it) at a July meeting. Tell your DSC rep how you feel — if you don’t know him/her/them, visit cunydsc.org to find out!
Special Guest(s) at the DSC Plenary! With all the action over the summer in the Graduate Center, we needed special guests to clarify and elucidate what’s gone on. In that vein, we have enlisted many, many speakers to discuss the new Nurse Practitioner at the Wellness Center, the announcement of a new Provost, the Technology Fee increase that has surprised us all as we pay our bill this Fall, and much, much more: VP for Student Affairs Matthew Schoengood, Director of Student Affairs Sharon Lerner, Associate Director of Student Affairs and Director of Student Services Elise Perram, and Assistant VP for Information Technology Robert Campbell. All are welcome at a DSC Plenary: September 12, 6pm, room 5414 of the Graduate Center.
Important Dates DSC Plenary Meetings: Sept. 12
Oct. 24 (Fall party to follow)
Nov. 21
Dec. 12 (holiday party to follow)
DSC Steering Committee Meetings: Aug. 29
Oct. 3
Nov. 7
Dec. 5
DSO Media Board Meetings: Sept. 19
Nov. 14
