Terrier Volume 78, Number 1 - Spring 2014 | Page 6
Campus Events
Piper Kerman
Pat Kiernan
DECEMBER 4, 2013
Professor Michele Montecalvo wanted to make her
Health Issues class more relevant for her students
this semester so she decided to tap into a hot piece
of popular culture. She assigned the memoir,
Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman, now a
popular Netflix TV series.
“I wanted to highlight some of the social injustices
that happen in the health care system,” said
Professor Montecalvo.
But the students weren’t satisfied with just
reading the memoir. They wanted to hear about it
from the author. More than 40 of them sent emails
FEBRUARY 6
and tweets to Kerman, requesting she come and
talk to the class. The letters, which contained
personal stories, also related sections of Kerman’s
memoir to the Healthy People 2020 Objectives
published by the Centers for Disease Control.
To their great surprise, she said yes and visited
St. Francis on Dec. 4.
“I didn’t think the power of Twitter, email, and
social networks would actually get her here. But
it did,” said Joseph Tran ’15, a biology major.
“It was a great experience,” added psychology
major Any Chen ’16.
One of NY1’s most famous news anchors, Pat
Kiernan, visited St. Francis to meet with students
taking Broadcast News Writing. He told them
that in a world where many people now get their
information from Facebook and Twitter, it’s vital
for traditional newsrooms to set themselves up
as curators of the news, giving viewers in-depth
coverage of only the most important stories.
View the SFCTV Story
NY1 Anchor Pat Kiernan with Joseph
Schmucker ’14, Amber Ferguson ’14, Michael
Garay ’14, Kareem Cooper ’14, Yubelis Garcia
’15, Kellie Delgado ’14, and Keah Watkins ’15.
Memorial Concert for
Richard Berleth
Piper Kerman with Professor Michele Montecalvo and her Health Issues class.
Miriam Leuchter
FEBRUARY 24
Urban Monk
FEBRUARY 10
FEBRUARY 14
Miriam Leuchter, the Editor-in-Chief of Popular
Photography and American Photo magazines spoke
to members of the St. Francis Photography Club and
others about professional photography and how
social media and apps are affecting the industry.
Gadadhara Pandit Dasa, author of Urban Monk
— Exploring Karma, Consciousness and the Divine,
spoke during Professor Ben Wood’s Religions
of India class. He described his journey growing
up in a wealthy family detached from his Indian
heritage and the family’s loss of everything. This
loss led to his discovery of the Hindu sacred text,
the Bhagavad-Gita, and his transformation into a
monk living on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
Amanda Sullivan ’15, President of the SFC
Photography Club with Miriam Leuchter and
photo club moderator Virginian Franklin. See
their photos on Instagram @SFCPhotographyClub
The marking on
Gadadhara Pandit
Dasa’s forehead
represents the
footprint of God.
“The idea is we’re
trying to humble
ourselves before God
by placing God’s feet
on our head.”
Concerts at Half Past Twelve celebrated the life of
Communication Arts Professor Richard Berleth
who passed away Oct. 12, 2013. A concert entitled
“From Bach to Bartok” featured Gregory Fulkerson
on violin.
Emily Berleth and her daughter, Katy Huber,
with violinist Gregory Fulkerson.
The Exonerated
MARCH 28
Fernando Bermudez, Jabbar Collins, and Jesse
Friedman all spent years in jail for crimes they did
not commit. They recently performed in the play,
The Exonerated, taking on the real life roles of
people who are also wrongly convicted… and sit
on death row.
Stop and Frisk Explained
MARCH 13
Steve Wasserman, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society, gave a special
lecture in Professor Nickie Phillips’ Urban Law Enforcement Problems
class devoted to the NYPD practice of stop-and-frisk. Dr. Wasserman
addressed the constitutionality of the stops and the disproportionate
impact on minority communities, including police practices in NYC
public housing.
4 | ST. FR ANCIS COLLEGE TERRIER | SPRING 2014
Dr. Steve Wasserman, the
Legal Aid Society.
Fernando Bermudez, Jesse Friedman, and
Jabbar Collins all played roles in this emotional
performance.