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Kingsborough Community College
College Now Course Coordinators

Dear Students:

Welcome to college... NOW! As Course Coordinators from the different academic departments
at Kingsborough represented in the College Now program, we are responsible for curriculum development and the preparation of course materials, the hiring and observation of faculty and the conduct of professional development workshops. Our goal is to ensure that the quality of the program's coursework and faculty are of the highest caliber. By participating in College Now, you are guaranteed to have a collegiate experience while you are still in high school.

Best of luck in your studies!

Dr. Marcia Babbitt - Course Coordinator ESL BW. Dr. Babbitt is the chair of the English Department and a former director of the Intensive ESL Program, a content-based interdisciplinary program designed to accelerate the progress of entering ESL students. Marcia holds a Ph.D in Linguistics from the CUNY Graduate Center. She is co-author, with Rebecca Mlynarczyk, of "Keys to successful content-based ESL programs: Administrative perspectives," (in Content-based College ESL Instruction, ed. L. Kasper, Lawrence Erlbaum, 2000). She is also the author of "Making writing count In an ESL learning community," (in Academic Writing Programs, Case Studies in TESOL Series, ed. I. Leki, TESOL, 2001).
   
Dr. Eleanor Cory - Course Coordinator HUM 1. Professor Cory is a composer who has been teaching for almost 30 years, the last 12 of which have been at Kingsborough Community College. She writes for orchestra, chorus, chamber ensembles and soloists. She has 2 CDs of her music on the Composers Recordings Inc. and Soundspells labels as well as individual pieces on groups CDs. She has received grants and honors from the National Endowments for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, Mary Flagler Cary Trust, and PSC-CUNY Research Foundation among others.
   



Dr. Voorhees Dunn - Course Coordinator BSS 1. Dr. Dunn is an associate professor in the Department of History, Philosophy, and Political Science. Previously he has taught at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, the University of Texas at Dallas, and the University of South Alabama at Mobile. He teaches American Government and Politics, Introduction to Criminal Justice, Constitutional Law, and The American Legal System. He has B.A., M.A..Ph.D degrees in political science from Rutgers University. His most recent publication "Arthur T. Vanderbilt's Impact on Judicial Reform at the New Jersey Constitutional Convention of 1947" appeared in the Rutgers Law Journal (Summer 1998). He is an active member of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, the American Association of Scholars, the Federalist Society, the Sons of the American Revolution, the National Rifle Association, the National Committee for Responsible Patriotism, and the Council on America's Military Past. Dr. Dunn lives with his wife Gloria, a newly retired nurse anesthetist, in New Jersey with their Golden Retriever, Clementine, and four pet turtles.
   





Professor Ronald Forman - Course Coordinator MAT 01/03. Professor Ronald Forman is an Assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Sciences at Kingsborough Community College. Professor Forman has taught everything from Elementary Algebra to Advanced Calculus in his 33 years at Kingsborough. Additionally Professor Forman taught as an adjunct at Brooklyn College for 20 years. During his 20 years at Brooklyn College, Professor Forman taught courses in Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, Advanced Calculus and Topology. Before coming to Kingsborough, Professor Forman had teaching experience in both the Intermediate and High School System. Ron has been the Scheduling Chairman of the Mathematics Department for more than 25 years. He has been on the Personnel and Budget Committee for more than 20 years. He was on the Executive Committee of the PSC Union for 3 years and for 2 years was the PSC's Grievance Counselor for 2 years. For the past 3 years, Ron has done a popular radio program "Sweet Sounds" from 5 - 7 PM on WKRB 90.9 FM. The program features selections from the Great American Songbook. For over 20 years Ron was a co-owner of Comics Unlimited, the nation's 3rd largest distributor of comic books and related items. Ron was educated at Brooklyn College, The Courant Institute and NYU's School of Mathematics Education.
   
Professor Matthew Gartner - Course Coordinator ENG BW/W. Matthew Gartner is an Assistant Professor of English at Kingsborough Community College. He received his Ph.D from the CUNY Graduate Center in 1999 with specializations in Poetry, Nineteenth-Century American Literature, and American Studies. He has published scholarly articles in Studies in American Fiction, The Nathaniel Hawthorne Review, The New England Quarterly, and American Literature, among other publications. He has been at Kingsborough since 2001, and teaches a wide range of courses, including writing-intensive literature courses in Poetry, Drama, and American Literature. He is active in Kingsborough's Learning Community program, where writing courses are "linked" with content-area courses, and he has received three PSC-CUNY grants. He is currently at work on a collection of short stories.
   










Dr. Fredric L. Mayerson - Course Coordinator BA 10. Dr. Mayerson is a Professor of Business at Kingsborough Community College. He has been a faculty member for 19 years. He holds a Ph.D degree with honors, and an M.B.A. with honors in finance and executive management. He further holds an additional Master's degree as well as a professional diploma. His doctoral dissertation received the Phillip J. Moore and Schuyler Joyner awards for excellence on the New York State and national levels respectively. Over the years, Dr. Mayerson has served on several departmental and college-wide committees including the Departmental Personnel and Budget Committee. He has been co-recipient of a federal grant designed to train small business owners in the utilization of business oriented software. In addition, he has developed many courses at Kingsborough such as Fundamentals of Business, Principles of Marketing, and Managerial Decision-Making. He has also created several courses entitled The Industrial Process, which examines large-scale manufacturing. Presently, Dr. Mayerson is development a comprehensive scholarship database for students transferring to senior college. In 2001, Dr. Mayerson served as faculty advisor to a team of students who participated in the Society for Advancement of Management's International Student Case Competition and led them to a first prise (the James Rutherford Trophy) in this prestigious international competition. Dr. Mayerson has appeared on radio and television programs as a financial expert, and has had business experience in both the public and private sectors. As chief financial officer of 2 public sector organization, he was involved with numberous aspects of financial investment and retirement planning as well as several other functions of management. Dr. Mayerson is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and an investment advisor. He has developed and conducted more than 300 financial management seminars, and currently serves as a consultant to a wide array of professionals in this area. Dr. Mayerson has published extensively in professional journals, and has lectured throughout the United States.
   
Professor Maxine McGarvey - Course Coordinator BA 10. Professor McGarvey received her BAfrom Adelphi University and her MBA from C.W. Post. Her interest in marketing served her well while working for a major communications company. Here at Kingsborough, Professor McGarvey teaches courses in the funadementals of business, business and marketing and business and communications. According to Professor McGarvey "the world of business is constantly changing and it's interesting to try and keep up."
   
Dr. Estelle Miller - Course Coordinator SD 10/11. Dr. Miller is currently Director of the Center for Women and Non-traditional students at Kingsborough Community College. She also teachers the Student Development Orientation course and the Career Exploration course to the first year ESL Intensive population. Dr. Miller graduated from Brooklyn College with a B.A. degree in History and continued her education by obtaining an M.S.W. degree in clinical social work. She earned a certificate in psychoanalytic psychotherapy from The Center for Counseling and Psychotherapy in New York City and completed her graduate studies earning an Ed.D. from Teachers College, Columbia University in Adult and Continuing Education. Dr. Miller has held various positions at the College including Director of the Retention Office, Chairperson of the Academic Awards Committee and is currently a member of the Strategic Planning Committee subcommittee on student services.
   










Dr. Mary Theresa Ortiz - Course Coordinator SCI 1. Dr. Ortiz is Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Kingsborough Community College of The City University Of New York. She teaches a wide range of courses: General Biology, Human Anatomy & Physiology, Marine Biology, Human Genetics, Nutrition, Microbiology. She is actively engaged in Eelgrass (Zostera marina) Research and Remediation in Jamaica Bay, NY. Mary serves on the department Curriculum Committee, chairs the department's Computer Committee, is the departmental Pre-Med/Pre-Vet Advisor, and serves as the Faculty Advisor for the KCC Engineering Club. Mary has made many presentations on a local and national level and publishes in national journals. Prior to her position at KCC, Mary was a Research Scientist in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Computer Operations at The New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island, NY. During the Summer of 1994 Mary was a Faculty Counselor with the Engineering Flight Group for the NASA/FAMU (Florida A&M University) Space Life Sciences Training Program (SLSTP) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In 1995 she was a Research Fellow with the NASA/ASEE (American Society of Engineering Education) Summer Faculty Research Program in the Technology Office at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. A certified New York State Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Mary is a Motor Vehicle Operator (MVO) and member of the North Shore Rescue Squad, Inc., Staten Island, NY, volunteer ambulance, and a Certified Instructor Coordinator (CIC) with the Staten Island Emergency Medical Training (SIEMT) Center. Mary earned her Master's and Doctoral degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ). She earned her Bachelor's degree in Biology and Mathematics from Wagner College, Staten Island, NY. Mary was also a Sunday School teacher for 25 years in the Holy Rosary School of Religion, Staten Island, NY.
   


Dr. Robert Singer - Course Coordinator ENG BW/W. Dr. Singer is a Professor of English at Kingsborough, CUNY and adjunct Professor of Film Studies and Liberal Studies at the Graduate Center, CUNY. He received a Ph.D. from New York University in Comparative Literature. He co-edited the Zola and Film: Essays in the Art of Adaptation (2005), The Brooklyn Film (2003), and he also co-authored the text, The History of Brooklyn's Three Major Performing Arts Institutions (2003). Professor Singer is currently working on two separate book projects. He has written articles on the Faust myth for the Mellen Series in Comparative Literature, the Rodopi Perspectives in Modern Literature, and the Centennial Review, as well as articles on film studies for Film/Literature Quarterly, Griffithiana, and PostScript. Among his professional honors and awards have been PSC-CUNY Study Grants and the NEH Study Grant for College Teachers. He has also written and directed several independent short films. Professor Singer has worked with College Now for over 10 years as Coordinator of the English Program.
   


Professor Sam Taitt - Course Coordinator COM 11. Sam Taitt is the host and producer of the critically acclaimed cable show Brooklyn45 with Sam Taitt, and a professor in the Department of Communications at Kingsborough Community College. An advocate for higher education, he created the College Now Mass Communications program which assists students in more than 20 New York City high schools in earning college credits. Under the auspices of STRIVE, he established a partnership with businesses and political leaders to help improve quality of life for Flatbush residents and foster community participation and empowerment. Community outreach lead to his candidacy for New York City Council in 2005 wherein he received the endorsement of The New York Times, Amsterdam News and the New York Daily News, respectively. In his work with UNESCO and the London-based Commonwealth Broadcasting Association, Mr. Taitt made presentations to government and business leaders in Canada, Central and South America, China, London and Paris. He is former executive producer of Internet Connect on New York radio stations WLIB and WWRL. From Guyana and Trinidad to St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Grenada and Dominica, in his early years as an announcer on Radio Barbados, Sam Taitt was known for his enlightened opinions, strategic intelligence and melliflous voice. As a journalist and radio/TV producer, he covered regular meetings of the heads of government of Caribbean countries, and often interviewed the then Prime Ministers of Jamaica, Guyana, Barbados and St. Lucia during the early planning meetings for what has now become CARICOM. He later became General Manager and CEO of the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation. Professor Taitt, a native of Barbados, received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Brooklyn College (CUNY) and training in voice presentation at BBC (London and New York). He is a sought after speaker with mass appeal.


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