2021 Year in Review at Brooklyn College
Dec. 21, 2021
Despite the ongoing pandemic, there was a lot to celebrate in a year that saw new institutional alliances, big initiatives, prestigious awards, and a safe and successful partial return to campus.
President Michelle J. Anderson welcomed back students on the first day of the fall 2021 semester, marking the first time many students, faculty, and staff were back on campus in more than a year.
2021 was another year in which the COVID-19 pandemic cast a large shadow over everyday life. For the second year, Brooklyn College celebrated commencement online in May. But by the fall, the college was ready to start bringing students, staff, and faculty members back to campus, with many courses delivered either fully in-person or in a hybrid model.
The year was not without its challenges, but there were many highlights as well.
1. To support students, the college raised more than $2.1 million through various channels like the Student Emergency Assistance Fund, which received donations from more than 500 individual donors. One of the major funders? The students themselves. The Undergraduate Student Government raised some $40,000 to assist their classmates. “We wanted to help as many Brooklyn College students as possible,” said USG Chief of Staff Aharon Grama. The fundraising kept going into GivingTuesday, when the college raised $157,000, the highest total the college has ever raised on the annual day of “global generosity.”
2. Over the summer, just days before she would ascend to the New York State governorship, then Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul visited the campus to announce a major Brooklyn healthcare alliance aimed at shoring up the workforce. The initiative gives the college funding to upgrade laboratories and equipment and places it squarely at the center of helping to create a school-to-career pipeline.
Then Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul outside the campus' Bedford Avenue gate in August announcing the new healthcare career hub.
3. Not to be outdone in the healthcare arena, the college also celebrated the launch of the Brooklyn College Cancer Center—BCCC-CURE (CommUnity Outreach, Research and Education)—the first education-based cancer center in Brooklyn dedicated to underserved residents of the borough and focused on research, education, and community service. “No one should have to look outside of Brooklyn for these resources, particularly people in underserved communities,” said President Michelle J. Anderson, herself a cancer survivor.
4. Not one, but two students—Patrick Ihejirika, a psychology major, and Abiha Kazmi, a biology and sociology double major—were named 2021 Goldwater Scholars. They became only the second and third Brooklyn College students to win the award, one of the country’s most prestigious for undergraduate students who want to go into research in science, math, or engineering.
5. The college maintained many of its national rankings, but this year added the accolade of no. 1 in the nation for affordable, quality education by Intelligent.com.
6. Many of our professors helped prove why the college offers such a quality education, none less than Distinguished Professor Emeritus Tania León, who won the Pulitzer Prize in Music in June. "It's a big recognition from my colleagues and something I will cherish,” she said at the time. “I hope that my sounds can contribute to the canvas of sounds in the Americas."
7. Associate Professor for Performance Justin Townsend won the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design of a Musical for his work on Moulin Rouge! “We are so fortunate to have such incredible artistic talent contributing to our social conscious among our faculty, students, and alumni who have made Brooklyn College’s Theater Department one of the best in New York City,” said Maria Conelli, the dean of the School of Visual, Media and Performing Arts.
8. Former Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College student Thomas Nazziola ’06 was nominated for a Grammy Award, crediting many of his professors with helping him develop his talent as a composer.
A lifelike rendering of the early primate species Purgatorius mckeeveri, which Assistant Professor of Anthropology Stephen Chester helped analyze as part of a team of researchers who discovered the first fossil evidence of any primate. Illustration by Andrey Atuchin
9. Assistant Professor of Anthropology Stephen Chester was part of a discovery of the first fossil evidence of any primate, illustrating what happened 66 million years ago following the mass extinction that wiped out all dinosaurs and led to the rise of mammals. “It adds to our understanding of how the earliest primates separated themselves from their competitors,” said Chester.
10. Last but never least, one of the most iconic visitors the college has had in a while, Steven Spielberg, chatted with Associate Professor María Pérez y González and Professor Emerita Virginia Sánchez Korrol. The interview, conducted on Zoom and attended by nearly 750 people, was part of the Puerto Rican and Latino Studies program’s West Side Story lecture series. “The entire series has been an incredible success, and this was the proverbial icing on the cake,” said Pérez y González.
