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Summer 2006
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Welcome to e-News from the Adelphi University Honors College
I have long thought of launching a newsletter for Honors College alumni, and am delighted that we can bring it to you in this e-format.
I know how plugged in Honors alumni are, and I hope that this e-newsletter will be an easy and effective way of staying in touch.
Please feel free to make suggestions, particularly on topics you'd like to see covered, and keep us posted on what you've been up to since graduation.
Enjoy!
Richard Garner
Dean
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The Honors College Says Goodbye to Seth Michelson, Senior Tutor
For the past three and a half years, the Honors College has enjoyed the lively and learned presence of Seth Michelson. Thanks to him, fortunate freshmen know what it is to have the often dreary requirement of freshman composition transformed into an experience of passionate intellectual inquiry. Other students enjoyed Professor Michelson's wit and wisdom during the lunchtime Poetry Roundtables he organized, which joined pizza and poetry in the most delightful way.
Honors students had two opportunities to spend a final poetry evening with Professor Michelson at Dean Garner's house on May 2 and May 4, 2006. As in times before, Professor Michelson chose a selection of poems; Dean Garner squeezed as many chairs as he could fit around the dining tables, and everyone enjoyed a hearty meal (including Professor Michelson's favorite dessert, chocolate cake), followed by an intense discussion of poetry. May 4 also marked the annual banquet of the Student Government Association at which Professor Michelson was recognized as Teacher of the Year.
Professor Michelson has moved to Los Angeles to complete his doctorate at the University of Southern California, where he was awarded a prestigious fellowship in comparative literature. He can be reached at
sethmichelson@gmail.com.
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New Academic Director Gregory Mercurio
This fall, Gregory Mercurio M.A. '96, a longtime Honors College teacher and advisor, will join Nicholas Rizopoulos as an Honors College academic director, sharing the duties of advising the growing number of seniors preparing theses.
An illustrator, editor, reviewer, and theatrical artist, Professor Mercurio has been an active member of New York's theater community for 20 years. His sets have appeared in a number of well-known theaters and productions, including the premieres of plays by Charles Ludlam, Terrance McNally, Horton Foote, and Bertolt Brecht. A three-time recipient of grants from the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., he has also been a guest artist at the University of Miami's Performing Arts Department, a scenic artist and associate designer at Washington, D.C.'s Studio Theatre, and has painted and sculpted for the United States Army and the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, MA.
In addition to his work as a thesis advisor in English and the performing arts, Professor Mercurio teaches seminars and independent tutorials in critical theory, gender studies, and the 19th century novel in England and France.
He holds a B.A. in English and theater from the University of Scranton, an M.A. in art from Adelphi, and an M.Phil in English from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is currently completing his Ph.D. at CUNY's Graduate Center with a doctoral dissertation on the work of Marcel Proust.
We are delighted that Professor Mercurio will now be with us full time.
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Honors College Scholarship Endowments
Many thanks to all of you who have contributed to the Honors College Scholarship Endowments over the past two years.
Created to support Honors students, the endowments are already being put to good use.
Money from the endowments will make it possible for Samuel Adams '08 to study theater in London this fall. An ambitious student, Samuel boasted a 3.96 GPA last spring. The financial support means he can expand his horizons by studying abroad, a dream that would have been unrealized without the financial support.
Each year at Homecoming we recognize the three classes with the greatest number of donors and the three classes with the highest overall giving. Last year's honored classes were:
For Most Members Donating:
First Place: '02
Second Place: '05
Third Place: '98
For Greatest Total Contribution:
First Place: '99
Second Place: '98
Third Place: '02
Please give generously to these endowments. With your support, they will grow each year, enabling us to help even more students.
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Honors Alumni Gain Awards, Grants, and Promotions
We hope to make this column a regular feature. Please let us know of your successes so that we can spread the news.
Marta Jimenez '00 reports from Boston University that her cloning research is going very well, and her latest results will soon be published. She has been awarded a Carl Storm Fellowship, which will enable her to travel to a Gordon Research Conference.
Tom Westerman '03 has been awarded a grant from the Human Rights Institute and the Henry J. Marks Prize at the University of Connecticut, where he is pursuing a doctorate in history. These awards will enable him to continue his research this summer at the Hoover Institute at Stanford.
Tashi Sharma '04 has been named a financial center manager for Citibank in Bethpage.
Robert Meekins '06 was awarded one of Boston University's two Presidential Fellowships. He will begin his doctoral studies in history this fall.
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