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VIRTUAL
SALUTE
TO GRADUATES
JUNE 30, 2020
There are moments in our history that impress an indelible mark upon us, when we
are called to do extraordinary things under the press of an indescribable moment.
Anyone graduating in the midst of the COVID19 pandemic will be marked by this
extraordinary moment. But even among that national class graduating in 2020, you
are different.
At a time when the inequitable imprint of this scourge underscores the other inequities
in our society, the City College—and those who work study and graduate from
it—stand apart. You graduate from an institution established to redress inequality,
an institution that each generation has the responsibility of scanning the social and
Vince Boudreau political landscape, and setting its sights on rectifying that which sits most uneasily in
President the light of that responsibility.
It has been over fifty years since we have faced the kinds of challenges we face today to our democracy, to the fabric
of our society, and to the health and security of our people. As an institution, we were made for this moment. As
graduates of CCNY, you now shoulder the responsibility of giving voice to your vision of that just society, a vision
we have worked to develop and instill in you all the days of your work with us.
You have struggled, sometimes mightily and against long odds, to reach this day, and we beam with pride at your
accomplishment. You have contributed, in your questions and your ideas, to our vision, and as an institution we have
adjusted that vision to account for your values and experiences. We have witnessed the flowering of your potential
and expansion of your capacity.
For all of these reasons, and with sadness and joy, we now bid you farewell in the full confidence of what you will
do with your gifts. Hold tight to the vision of our college, and carry it into the world as you leave. Cherish and
nurture a sense of yourself as especially equipped to meet the demands of the day. Be confident in your voice,
even as you venture into new and different territory. You leave our campus equipped for your professional life, with
academic credentials and a full cache of skills. But you also carry a vision of a better day, and it needs constantly to
be nourished by your courage and commitment.
You are the light of our lives, the fulfillment of our hopes, and our best chance at a fair and just society. I am honored
to offer each and every one of you my most enthusiastic and profound congratulations.
Vince Boudreau
President
In his 1988 book, “Planethood,” Ferencz wrote: “Indelibly seared into my memory
are the scenes I witnessed while liberating these centers of death and destruction.
Camps like Buchenwald, Mauthausen, and Dachau are vividly imprinted in my mind’s
eye. Even today, when I close my eyes, I witness a deadly vision I can never forget-
the crematoria aglow with the fire of burning flesh, the mounds of emaciated corpses
Benjamin B. Ferencz stacked like cordwood waiting to be burned…I had peered into Hell.”
Honorary Recipient
Once the International Military Tribunal’s prosecution of German Field Marshal,
Herman Goering and his henchmen was concluded, the United States tried a broad cross section of Nazi criminals.
Ferencz was involved in this effort, scouring Nazi offices and archives in Berlin with other researchers. They found
overwhelming evidence of Nazi genocide by leading Germans in various sectors.
Appointed Chief Prosecutor for the United States in The Einsatzgruppen Case, Ferencz led the pursuit for justice
in what the Associated Press called “the biggest murder trial in history.” Twenty-two defendants were charged with
murdering over a million people. He was only 27 and it was his first case. All of the defendants were convicted.
Thirteen were sentenced to death. The verdict was hailed as a great success for the prosecution. Ferencz’ primary
objective had been to establish a legal precedent that would encourage a more humane and secure world in the
future. He said of the experience: “Nuremberg taught me that creating a world of tolerance and compassion would
be a long and arduous task. And I also learned that if we did not devote ourselves to developing effective world law,
the same cruel mentality that made the Holocaust possible might one day destroy the entire human race.”
During the Vietnam War, Ferencz focused on the need for a peaceful world. Ferencz dedicated himself to writing
about world peace. His book “Defining International Aggression-The Search for World Peace” was published in
1975. Ferencz felt that there was little sense in denouncing aggression, terrorism, and other crimes against humanity
unless these offenses became part of an international criminal code enforced by an international court. He published
another two-volume documentary history, “An International Criminal Court-A Step Toward World Peace,” which
was intended to be a tool that nations could use to build a structure for peace.
At Harvard, Ferencz had studied jurisprudence under Roscoe Pound, one of the world’s top jurists. Ferencz’ research
was recorded in another two-volume book, “Enforcing International Law-A Way to World Peace,” published in
1983. To spread the word, he wrote another book, “A Common Sense Guide to World Peace.” In 1988, Ferencz
co-authored the best-seller “Planethood” with Ken Keyes, Jr. It advised ordinary citizens how to help establish
international law and urged UN reform. At the end of the Cold War, the world community finally discussed the
establishment of an international criminal court. When the Rome Statute was affirmed by vote in 1998, Ferencz
asserted that “an international criminal court—the missing link in the world legal order—is within our grasp.” Since
Rome, Ferencz has been active at Preparatory Commission sessions for the ICC, monitoring and making available
his expertise on current efforts to define aggression.
He continues to write and speak worldwide for international law and global peace. The City College of New York is
proud to honor Benjamin B. Ferencz with the degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.
Hajtovic has shown exemplary leadership and excellence outside the classroom and lab, too. Beginning in his
sophomore year, he helped plan and operate a student-run once monthly free medical screening clinic at a church
soup kitchen in Upper Manhattan. Under the direction of CSOM clinical professor and medical student advisor
Holly G. Atkinson, it serves an extremely vulnerable population, many of whom do not have permanent residences.
Hajtovic and his fellow students offer blood pressure screenings and counseling. The blood pressure testing has
often caught highly elevated blood pressures, helping send patients to the emergency room in time.
Hajtovic has served as treasurer, and is currently president-elect, of the CSOM chapter of Physicians for Human
Rights [PHR], mentored by Atkinson. He will work with her and fellow students in planning for PHR’s 2020
National Student Conference scheduled for November at CCNY. Hajtovic has been elected to PHR’s National
Student Advisory Board as co-chair of the conference and is also president of the Surgery Group at CSOM. Other
highlights of the Valedictorian’s accomplishments include serving as a BronxCare Hospital pediatrics department
intern.
At community level, when Hurricane Sandy ravaged his Rockaway Beach hometown in October 2012, Hajtovic
rose up for what he described as the defining moment of his life. After the Rockaway boardwalk was destroyed, he
spearheaded a project to establish a new bike path. His team gathered thousands of petition signatures, pushing the
city to accelerate reconstruction efforts.
As he works toward his medical degree, Hajtovic is interested in pursuing a surgical subspecialty. His interest in
neuroscience peaked in summer 2019 during a six-week research fellowship at Istanbul University, working in a
neuro-immunology lab and shadowing the neurosurgery department.
Born of Indian immigrant parents in upstate New York, Joseph is a Macaulay Honors
standout. She’s been hailed in the Spitzer School as “a model of the future student who
pursues diverse skill sets to more effectively perform and address society’s myriad of issues.”
She was initially drawn to the interdisciplinary nature of architecture. With a variety
of interests in high school, she found studying architecture to be the most liberating
academic option for her. Once Joseph started her architectural education at CCNY, she
Isabella Joseph quickly learned how much more there is to architecture beyond the design of buildings.
2020 Salutatorian She continues to be inspired by the broader implications of the discipline and the ways
spatial and design thinking can be applied in the most pressing issues of our time.
Joseph made the Dean’s list every year at City College. She helped revive the J. Max Bond Center for Urban Futures,
the Spitzer School’s applied research center, and recently was part of a team that developed mapping resources for
community boards 9 and 10 in response to COVID-19. She gained valuable experience as an architectural intern
at the global firm Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) Associates, collaborating with its design team on the Changi Airport
Terminal 5 project in Singapore. She is currently serving as the sole student juror for the Reimagining Brooklyn
Bridge competition, a joint initiative between the Van Alen Institute and NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson’s
office.
Joseph’s other accolades include being named a WX Women in Real Estate Scholar of Merit this April, a Rudin
Scholar in spring 2019, a CUNY Chancellor’s Global Scholarship recipient in summer 2018, and a United States
Green Building Council (USGBC) Greenbuild Scholarship recipient in fall 2016.
Crossing disciplines, she received a Climate Policy Fellowship from the Colin Powell School. Her work included co-
writing a policy brief with teammates from economics and mechanical engineering on innovative financing strategy
for resilience projects at NYCHA public housing developments.
One of her most memorable moments at CCNY was when she shared her experience from that fellowship to the
Colin Powell School’s Board of Directors, including General Colin Powell. Joseph fondly recalled that the experience
made her see herself as part of the continuum of accomplished individuals that City College has produced.
Joseph is currently completing concurrent architectural and written thesis projects also dedicated to NYCHA
housing in the architecture school and the Macaulay Honors College. She is interning at Gates Ventures, working on
a climate policy campaign, before returning to Kohn Pedersen Fox this fall.
She aspires to become a civically-engaged architect “who not only designs and plans infrastructure projects, but also
contributes my abilities, voice, and perspective to the most pressing issues of my time.”
You and your families are justifiably proud of your graduation accomplishment. You
may be the first college graduate in the family, or the first sibling. Whichever it is,
your accomplishment is a source of personal and family pride.
Your degree represents the aspirations, the dreams fulfilled and validates the many
sacrifices of your parents and possibly other family members. It reinforces the faith
they placed in you. It establishes your achievement as a benchmark for others in your
immediate and/or extended family to emulate.
Gary Calnek
President, CCNY It also is a personal sense of pride, confirmation, and recognition of your capabilities,
Alumni Association as well as a harbinger of the type of success that possibly awaits you. Take time to
absorb and assess this personally and celebrate the accomplishment with family.
However, your graduation has also occurred during the Covid-19 Pandemic and is somewhat bittersweet. The
Coronavirus Pandemic is the equivalent of a global health tornado, upending lives, dreams, spreading sickness,
sadness, economic hardship, hunger, ruin, uncertainty, and even death. It has completely reordered what you
thought post-graduation held for you. It has injected pervasive sadness and layered uncertainty over your plans.
Remember as a graduate of CCNY, you come from a long and distinguished tradition, dating back to 1853,
when the Alumni Association was established by the first graduation class. We are the oldest alumni association
connected to a public college in the U.S.
Our alums include 10 Noble Laureates. We have played a major role in shaping NYC, the state, and nation. We as
graduates from the CCNY are among the second largest number of alums nationwide that have moved into the
middle class and above. Your place awaits you!
It is important that you confront the pandemic challenge and persevere over what now appears to be an
overwhelming obstacle. Remember previous alums graduated during WWI, WWII, recessions, depressions, the
Korean conflict, the Vietnam War, and the tragedy of 9/11.
These tragic events created the opportunity for graduates to use their talents to contribute to overcoming these
major obstacles, improving our city, state, nation, and the world.
The CCNY baton is now being past to the Class of 2020. I know that you are up to the challenge and will continue
the proud tradition of being “New York Tough, Smart, Strong, Disciplined and Loving.”
We also invite you to join the Alumni Association and some of our affiliates through this link, which will increase
your professional network and maintain a relationship with prior and current graduates, while perpetuating the
“1853 Tradition.” Your first-year membership is our gift in recognition of your graduation. Learn more at www.
ccnyalumni.org.
Congratulations again!!!
Gary Calnek
President, CCNY Alumni Association
May 2020
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING)
A.H. Rezwanuddin Ahmed
DOCTOR OF MEDICINE
Adela Rose Abogado
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Ugochukwu Akpara
(CHEMICAL ENGINEERING) Ali Ayesha
Fang Liu Lisa Amercio
Thomas William Long Nicholas Apping
Apoorva Vinayak Rudra Henry Chen
Robyn Elizabeth Smith Christy Chon
Megan Marie Webster Adel Elzanie
Hao Zhou Ivie Eweka
Danielle Ferstler
Madona Gadalla
The Sydney & Helen Jacoff Scholarship William Hallett Greene (Black
Josias Agustin-Mendez Studies Major)
Sean Apparicio Inayah Ansari
Naajidah Correll
Cassie Noel Nordgren Marie Maynard Daly Award for
Excellence in Science
Jaileessa Casimir
Certificate of Academic Achievement Downer Language Prize The Riggs Gold Medal Essay Award
in Italian Joshua Borrego (Portuguese) Tyanna Harris
Catherine Lau Vanessy Exavier (French)
Selina Wang Tifany Montero (Spanish) The Marilyn Sternglass Overall Merit
Ingrid Nin (French) Award
Certificate of Academic Achievement Abir Petiwala (French) Brittany Zayas
in Middle East and North Africa Tania Salazar (French)
Studies Fariha Wadud (Spanish) The Teacher-Writer Award
Yossra Gad Mossad Abdelwahab Kristine Slentz
Salma Ahmed Luisa Eneida Antonia Ruiz Vásquez
Seher Ali Award
Tahamina Hossain Amado Marte Taveras History
Mónica Barnkow The Barbara Brooks Award
Certificate of Excellence in Middle Yuki Sugimoto
East and North Africa Studiess Ángel Estévez Tuition Award
Majid Aldohan Melissa Lora Cabrera Sandi E. Cooper Prize in History
Eva Friedberg Jessica Orozco Josias Agustin-Mendez
Abir Petiwala
VIRTUAL SALUTE 2020 | 38
Joan Kelly Award Beatrice and L. Richard Guylay The Sidney Zolot Award for
Joeline Allsop Class of 1934 Prize for Academic Excellence in Music
Susan Evans Achievement and Service to CCNY’s Laura Fotovich
The Campus Matthew Rotker-Lynn
Leslie Steigman Bayor Award Clark Adomaitis
Sadaab Rahman Jaquelin Bautista
Philosophy
Arthur Teidemann Award Dot Giannone VMLY & R Scholar Tamny Award for General Excellence
Kiran Baldeo Eli Joseph in Philosophy
Jerry Beersdorf
Herman Lew Scholar Jean Paul Winter
Jewish Studies Ingrid Nin
Sandra Brand Tamny Prize for Outstanding
Charlotte McCann Desmond Maxwell Scholarship Graduate in Philosophy
Taylor Becker Sean Apparicio
Eibshutz Family Scholarship Roxie Xie Alexandros Gloor
Bridgette Feliz Carmen Salvador
Media Scholars
Isadore Goldstein Scholarship Luna Cubides
SG Lehmann Anthony Galanda Theatre and Speech
Jasmine Martin Friar’s Club Award
Hope Scholarship Terrell F. Merritt Cassie Nordgren
Renee Chelsea Davila Ana Naumovska
Eric Ocasio Seymour Peck Award for Performance
Michael & Irene Ross Scholarship Ashleykate Preza Solayna Coreas
Ian Cohen Santiago Serrano Josephine Hardy
Bridgette Feliz Devin Velez David Manuele
Candida George Roxana Ventura Leticia Marie Mendoza
Kim Giles Kristen Wiggs Christian Pineda
Micah Lopez
Valeria Lopez Ostrovsky Family Fund / Chantal Seymour Peck Curtain Call Award
Nana Magradze Akerman Award Kevin Coxaj
Tania Salazar Ley Comas Stephanie Criollo
Amelia Smyth Maggie Girgis Altagracia Frias
Alejandra Vanegas Roberto Malave
Irving Rosenthal Award For Vladimir Manosalvas
Wartell Family Scholarship Excellence in Journalism and Om Raj Raut
Sophia Cieri Exceptional Promise and Service
Breona Couloote Sandham Award for Excellence in
Directing
Media & Communication Arts Bert Saperstein Fellowship Amanda P. Cruz
Art Stevens PRSA NY/CCNY Bhima Aryateja
Scholar Tomas Ruiz Scanlan Award for Academic
Jody Karga Achievement
Abigail Gabor
BAFTA-NY Scholarships Music
John Hayden Edward H. Rensin Memorial Award Bessie Spector Award for Excellence
Ashika Kuruvilla Khalangi Gayle in Technical Theatre
Madison Moment
Ernest Borek Scholarship Fund Ward Medal The Dean’s Award for Academic
Ahammad Chowdhury Nelson Ferreira Excellence
Polina Tsupko Jing Jin Marina Aweeda
Cameron Chan
Frank & Rose Brescia Award I Lorraine Wyler Memorial Scholarship Farhan Haque
Pauline Casino Maria Marionkova Katerina Jou
Yuliana Dominguez Paez Pranav Parsi
Jana Makki Akshara Ramakrishnan
Nilaab Meer Mathematics Alan Samsonov
Glen Pesola The Israel E. Drabkin Memorial
Rania Tamimi Award The Dean’s Medal for Academic
Sarah Van Achievement
Frank & Rose Brescia Award II Hadi Aziz
Mohammed Abid The Bennington P. Gill Award Neha Balapal
Meherin Halim Abdoulaye Maiga Juliet Chen
Omar Oudit Shaina George
Kevin Tang The Emil L. Post Memorial Award Deseree Irving
Nathaniel Sands Kush Patel
The Leon Greenstein Award Terrique Pinnock
Liang Chen Leela Rangachar
Physics Tara Ranjbar
Benjamin Harrow Memorial Award Dr. Bernard Hamermesh 1940
Mohammed Kallash Scholarship Pyser Edelsack Award for Distinction in
Alexandros Gloor Community Health & Social Medicine
Albert & Frances Hochman Kimberly Serna
Scholarship Award Michio Kaku Scholarship in
Miguel Alonso Chavez Pachas Theoretical Physics
Dina Elhadidy Jireh Garcia
Alejandra Tabares Merna Youssef
Ward Medal
Ahammad Chowdhury
VIRTUAL SALUTE 2020 | 42
GROVE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING Grove School of Engineering Honors Society of American Military Engineers
Program Scholarship
Valedictorian Mariam Aleem Brandon Asencio
Anisa Lajka Aisha Ali Cheikh Babou
Arafat Arman Kevin Budhu
Salutatorian Leutrim Cahani Ethan Chiu
Silvija Skemaite Chieh-Huang Chen Mahmud Farhan
Melvin Cherian Hinda Goldberg
Engineering Alumni Medal Award Ethan Chiu Mahmudul Hasan
(Biomedical Engineering) Jessica Chiu Tasnuva Hoque
Jessica Penn Michaela Chum Jonathan Khaimov
Reem Eldewak Stelios Loizou
Engineering Alumni Medal Award Michelle Erlich Lana Nashurdeen
(Chemical Engineering) Zoe Filopoulos Amitesh Prabhudayal
Ayoub Diouri Yocheved Friedman Peter Raczkowski
Danielle Gonzalez-Wu Tad Saffarally
Vagan Grigoryan Balbina Salas
Engineering Alumni Medal Award Tasnuva Hoque Lizzette Salmeron
(Civil Engineering) Brian Hsiao Jennifer Scheinhorn
Michelle Erlich Janice Huang Reginald Tetteh
Damian Jachyra Alejandro Varela
Engineering Alumni Medal Award Neda Avital Kohananoo Michael Vera
(Computer Engineering) Jie Wen Li Connie Wu
Naman Pujari Darren Lin
Dillon Naidu
Engineering Alumni Medal Award Kirstyn Natavio Biomedical Engineering
(Computer Science) Nhu Nguyen
Gong Qi Chen Michael Ousseinov Wallace H. Coulter Award for
Andrea Ozuna Outstanding Undergraduate Academic
Engineering Alumni Medal Award Jan Pazhayampallil Performance in Biomedical Engineering
(Earth Systems Science and Amitesh Prabhudayal Gazi Inkiyad
Environmental Engineering ) Naman Pujari Vadim Mell
Michael Hubbs Siddharth Rajan
Melissa Rodriguez Wallace H. Coulter Award for
Engineering Alumni Medal Award Tad Saffarally Outstanding Undergraduate Research
(Electrical Engineering ) Darius San Agustin Performance in Biomedical Engineering
Simon Heimowitz Kyle Schepis Danielle Gonzalez-Wu
Saddique Shafi Rodrigo Guerra
Engineering Alumni Medal Award Syed Shahabuddin Kyle Schepis
(Mechanical Engineering) Tubaa Shahid Dharia Silas
Dina Sayd Zane Shatz
Elijohn Siggaoat Harold Shames Award for
Stefanos Spiratos Undergraduate Academic Excellence
Interdepartmental Awards Sudeep Sureshbabu Jessica Penn
Alejandro Varela
Grove Scholars Yu Ting Yang
Aye Phyu
Alison Richards Mini-Circuits (Kaylie) Scholar
Reginald Tetteh
This year The City College of New York celebrates primary responsibility for funding the University
the 173rd anniversary of its founding. The need for became that of New York State rather than New
an institution like The City College was recognized York City, an enlarged Board of Trustees, appointed
as early as 1847, when the State Legislature by the Governor and the Mayor, assumed control
authorized a local referendum to determine whether in 1980.
a public college should be established in the City of
New York; at the time, the city had a population of a The City College of New York, originally limited to
half-million people and two private colleges, which undergraduate programs in classical and practical
had high tuition and only 247 pupils. The vote was courses of study, has continually enlarged both
overwhelmingly in favor of the proposition, and the the breadth and the depth of its offerings. Today
Free Academy was established in a new building it offers more than sixty undergraduate programs
at Lexington Avenue and 23rd Street. The doors and majors and more than forty graduate programs,
to its first entering class opened in January, 1849, including PhD programs in six disciplines.
and a class of seventeen young men graduated in
1853; with friends and family members, that first The City College moved to its present location
commencement was too large for the chapel at the in 1907, and now occupies a thirty-five acre Neo-
Free Academy, so it was celebrated in Biblo’s beer Gothic and modern campus on historic St. Nicholas
garden. Heights. It is really a small university, with a College
of Liberal Arts and Science and four professional
In 1866 the name of the Free Academy was changed schools—the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School
by legislative act to The College of the City of New of Architecture, the Grove School of Engineering,
York. Since then, it has been called CCNY—an School of Education, and the CUNY School of
unofficial designation the College retained even Medicine (formerly the Sophie Davis School of
after its name was again changed in 1929 to The Biomedical Education).
City College. Students, alumni and friends call the
College, simply, “City.” The college colors, lavender The City College is the nation’s flagship institution of
and black, were chosen by the student body in public higher education, predating the midwestern
1866. The beaver, symbol of intelligence, industry state and land-grant colleges by two decades. It
and determination, was voted to be the College’s is the number 2 college in the nation with the
official athletics’ mascot by a student-wide poll in greatest success of ensuring the social mobility of
1934. our students. For more than 170 years it has been a
primary avenue of advancement for generations of
The governing body of the College, originally New Yorkers who might not have had the chance to
the Board of Education, was replaced in 1900 by attend college. Today it continues to fulfill the aim
a separate Board of Trustees appointed by the of its founder, Townsend Harris, who said: “Open
Mayor. In 1926, the Board of Higher Education was the doors to all—Let the children of the rich and
established to govern both City and Hunter College the poor take their seats together and know of no
(founded in 1870), and subsequently the entire distinction save that of industry, good conduct and
City University system, established in 1961. After intellect.”
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