- Ready to Come Home This Weekend?
- Law Remains Popular Choice for Harpur Students
- Student Spotlight: William Kang `06
- Harpur College Welcomes Visiting Professor
- Harpur Friends & Family
- Shop Harpur Online
- Back Issues
Ready
to Come Home This Weekend?
It's here! Homecoming is right around the corner! It's not to late to make plans for the weekend. Please join us at Binghamton University's second annual Homecoming.
All alumni are encouraged to "come home again or for the first time" and participate in this annual event for Binghamton University. Special reunions or homecomings are being organized for alumni groups who have indicated an interest in a homecoming. Click the banner above for more information, including hotels, events, and a list of people who are planning to attend. Hope to see you there -- and please stop by Harpur College's table for free refreshments!
Law Remains Popular Choice for Harpur Students
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James Thomas, associate dean of Yale Law School, recruited Binghamton's best at Law Day 2002. |
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"It’s so great to be back!" Three of the seventy-five law school representatives were back on familiar turf. Marcia Ferziger Nagorsky `92 from the University of Chicago, Joanna R. Nudelman `95 from Brooklyn Law School, and Theresa McNerney `97 from St. John’s University (all pictured below) returned to their alma mater to recruit prospective students at Law Day 2002. Each alumna praised the additions to our campus, especially the new union, and said they know how well Harpur College prepares its graduates for law school.
"It’s a privilege to visit with these students," said Nagorsky, "I couldn't be more proud to have graduated from here." |
Harpur College students flocked by the hundreds to Law Day 2002, an annual event hosted by Pre-Law Academic Advising and the Career Development Center to connect students with law schools. Click here for photos of the event.
With seventy-five schools attending (follow the link for a list of them), students had no lack of admissions counselors to ask their most pressing questions about grade requirements, LSAT scores, applications, and everything else they need to get started in one of the most popular careers among Harpur College graduates.
In his welcoming remarks to law school representatives, Rodger Summers, vice president for student affairs, said 18 - 20% of each graduating class of Harpur College has applied to law school either as seniors or after graduation. Approximately 350 BU graduates applied to law school last year. Over the past five years, about 90% of senior applicants have been accepted to at least one school.
Summers remarked that our alumni are very helpful in educating our students about the practice of law, such as holding lawyer’s roundtables (such as the one held last year: see http://harpur.binghamton.edu/1025hotline/#roundt), internship programs, and presentations in classes (such as last year’s event in Professor Scalet’s Environmental Law class: http://harpur.binghamton.edu/1012hotline/#alumni).
Summers said Harpur College not only prepares students well for law school, but our pre-law advisor, Heather Struck, traveled to nearly 50 law schools over the past six years to keep her finger on the pulse of what they're looking for in applicants, such as courses and activities.
Several campus activities help prepare students for law school, such as the Thrugood Marshall Minority Pre-Law Society, which organizes visits to law schools and brings in guest speakers, Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity, the Binghamton University Mock Trial Club, in which students can argue fake court cases, and the Debate Team, which competes on the national level.
Law school representatives said students are applying in droves for career flexibility and a competitive edge in the job market. "It’s a diverse degree and practical for anything you want to do," said Margie Martin, an admissions counselor for New York Law School.
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Brian Burton `03 |
"I've always been interested in law. I find it to be an extension of politics, which fascinates me. There are a lot of schools that interested me today at the law fair, but I'm taking the LSAT on Saturday, so I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself," said political science major Brian Burton '03.
"A law degree makes your resume really stand out. It can bring people into service-oriented careers, which is what law was meant to be," said George Justice, of University of Tulsa College of Law.
Phil Friedman, of St. Thomas University School of Law, noticed an inverse relationship between the economy and number of applications. He remarked that when jobs are scarce, students want three more years of school. "Your options are many. You can go into corporations or social agencies. Law is a master key."
Seventy five law schools from as close as Syracuse and as far away as California traveled to Binghamton to attract our students.
Demetrius Greer, director of admissions from Chapman University School of Law, flew here from Orange, CA. "We’re interested in geographic diversity and make every opportunity to recruit nationally in an effort to build a high quality entering class. We want a good mix," he explained."We've been very pleased with the Binghamton graduates that come to Touro and we're constantly seeking ways to attract the top graduates," said Grant Keener, director of admissions at Touro Law School in Long Island. He jokingly called Binghamton University a "feeder school," because of the high number of our students who apply there.
The law fair featured schools with a broad range of admissions criteria, including several Ivy League law schools like Harvard, Cornell, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale, all of which Harpur College alumni have attended recently.
"I've been coming here for years," said James Thomas, associate dean of Yale Law School, which is reputed to be the most competitive law school in the country. "We’re looking for exceptional people and you've got some here."
Student Spotlight: William Kang `06
Last May, the Harpur Hotline introduced Mark Newman `71, an alumnus who endowed the largest scholarship of its kind at Binghamton University: a "free ride" for four years, including tuition, books, housing and meals to a student with high grades, SAT scores above 1400, and financial need. We are pleased to introduce the lucky recipient of Newman’s generosity.
William
Kang `06 received some great news over the summer. A letter from Binghamton
University informed him his education and all related expenses would be
free, thanks to the Mark Newman Scholarship.
"I was pretty surprised," he said. His mother was also delighted, but not just because of the suddenly decreased financial burden. "She felt it showed that I did well in high school. She was proud of that."
No wonder she’s proud. Kang earned a 1520 on his SAT, including a perfect 800 on the math section. He graduated from Paul D. Schreiber high school in Port Washington, Long Island with a 4.5 grade point average (on a 4.5 scale) and exemplifies the "well rounded student" colleges recruit so hotly.
Kang was principal first violinist in his high school orchestra and served as concertmaster, meaning the musicians tuned their instruments to his before performing. (If you've ever wondered why someone stands up and plays an 'A' before a concert, that’s why.) Kang also plays guitar and used to lead musical worship for his church’s youth group.
Kang played varsity volleyball in high school and also enjoys basketball and football. Right now he plays intramural volleyball, but wants to get more accustomed to college life before getting involved with more sports or music.
His guitar sits in the lounge of Rafuse in Dickinson Community, which serves as a makeshift room for Kang and five other men. "We're not really crammed, but there's no privacy," said Kang. He jokingly compared it to military barracks and feels the group gets along pretty well.
Instead of coming to college with a career choice set in stone, Kang wants to explore different subjects "I was thinking I'd take this year to kind of find direction and see where I'm headed," he said. Kang is currently enrolled in Music Theory, General Psychology, General Physics 1 (calculus based) and Calculus 3.
Kang said he hasn't felt pressured to declare a major and he's taking the crowded campus in stride. "I'm finding Binghamton a comfortable place and I'm making lots of friends."
"Mr. Newman's scholarship really took a lot of burden off," said Kang. Without the distraction of financial worries, Kang can continue his academic success and find a new course to follow, led by his education at Harpur College, thanks to Mark Newman.
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Harpur College Welcomes Visiting Professor
Wong was born in China and migrated with his family to Hong Kong in the early 1950's, where he has lived ever since. He is currently associate head and associate professor of Geography at Hong Kong Baptist University. Although he is a long way from home, Wong is no stranger to upstate New York. He earned his Masters at Syracuse University and Ph.D. from the College of Environmental Science and Forestry, SUNY at Syracuse. Wong is an environmental social scientist interested in people's perception and understanding of their environment. His research includes the human and policy dimensions of sustainable development (which focuses on human beings and their right to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature), human adjustments to natural hazards, urban green space planning and design, environmental awareness and perceptions, and environmental education. Wong said his interest recently shifted to cross-cultural analysis of environmental issues and on the relationship between globalization and environmental transformation, with emphasis on Chinese and Asian cities. He is also involved in a cross-cultural study entitled "Improving metropolitan environment through the provision of public parks in Hong Kong and Germany," which is jointly sponsored by the two countries. Wong currently teaches two Asian Environmental Studies courses titled "Greening the Asian Cities," and "China's Environment and Sustainable Development Problems," both cross listed between Environmental Studies and Asian and Asian American Studies. He wishes to express his gratitude to the Asian and Asian American Studies Program by giving him this invaluable opportunity to teach at Binghamton University. "I am delighted to meet many distinguished scholars on campus, to teach students from very diverse ethnic backgrounds, and to interact with nice people in the community," he said. Wong says he is looking forward to the "very pleasurable and productive experience" as visiting professor at Harpur College and plans to explore opportunities for fruther academic exchanges or collaborations between "the two BU's" (Binghamton University and Baptist University) during his tenure here.
In response to your much-appreciated feedback, the Harpur Hotline has developed a regular feature of alumni news. Please send us anything you want: publications, promotions, marriages, babies, graduations, retirements, etc. Many thanks to everyone who shared their stories. Here's what some of your fellow Harpur alumni are doing:
1950: Harpur College mourns Guido Iacovelli, who passed away on September 25, 2002. Born in Civetella Casanova, Italy, he moved to the United States as a child and served in the US Army during World War II. A successful restauranteur and businessman, Iacovelli was active in the local community, including the Binghamton University Alumni Association. He is survived by four children, six grandchildren, and many friends. 1972: Peter Salgo, a lawyer whose dealings with the handicapped and AIDS patients inspired him to become a social worker to the terminall ill, died on July 20, 2002 at his home in Jamaica Plain, MA. A former legal aid lawywer, Salgo taught at the New England School of Law from 1977 to 1986. For several months before his death, he was a social worker at Hospice Care Inc. in Stoneham, MA.
Shop
Harpur Online http://www.bkstore.com/binghamton If you don't see what you want, ask for it!
Shop the campus bookstore from the comfort of your PC or Mac. Want to pick up a copy of the new Harpur history book The Cornerstone? Visit... Binghamton University Harpur College Shopping Online For hats, shirts and other apparel, see http://www.bkstore.com/binghamton/merch.html |
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Harpur College
is pleased to welcome Kenneth Wong, visiting professor of Asian
and Asian American Studies, on loan to us from Hong Kong Baptist
University for the 2002 - 2003 academic year. His position is sponsored
by the Freeman Foundation, who last year awarded Harpur College's
Asian and Asian American Studies program $1.75 million dollars.
For other Campus News, visit: http://www.binghamton.edu
September
25, 2002
September
12, 2002
August
23, 2002
July
23, 2002
June
21, 2002
May
31, 2002
May
24, 2002
May
17, 2002
May
3, 2002
April
19, 2002
April
2, 2002
March
19, 2002
March
5, 2002
February 19, 2002
February
6, 2002
January
18, 2002