Over 700 high school students attended LIU’s seventh annual “Stage the Change” conference, held at Tilles Center. Students participated in theater, film and dance workshops conducted by prominent professional companies, including Dance Theater of Harlem, New York Film Academy and Tectonic Theater Project. The workshops focused on creating original works of theater, film and dance connected to themes such as racism, gun control, addiction, mental illness, LGBTQ issues and climate change. The event’s guest speaker was Gavin Creel, a Tony and Olivier Award winning actor. Creel has starred in Broadway productions of Hello Dolly, Book of Mormon and Thoroughly Modern Millie.

Dr. Adriana Gaviria Duque, Executive Director of the Fulbright Commission in Colombia, visited the Brooklyn campus to educate LIU students and faculty on a number of Fulbright initiatives. Specific discussion topics included the Fulbright Scholars, Specialist and English Teaching Assistants (ETA) programs. The event was sponsored by the Honors College, LIU Global and the Dean’s office at the Richard L. Conolly College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Richard Nader, LIU’s Chief Research and International Officer, also helped coordinate the event. Nader was selected for a 2019-2020 Fulbright-Nehru U.S. International Education Administrators (IEA) award to India.

Long Island University is one of five universities participating in a wide-ranging research project with The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The project awards $1.7 million to the five universities. Once completed, the research will help the FDA better understand how to employ its quality management resources when inspecting drug companies’ manufacturing operations. LIU’s primary role is to provide manufacturing plants with pharmaceutical product and regulatory expertise. This ensures that product characteristics contributing to potential risk are identified and included in overall assessed risk. The project will benefit consumers and yield invaluable ancillary findings.

Dr. Kevin Meehan, Associate Professor of Psychology on the Brooklyn campus, is part of a joint team of researchers who received a R21 Research Grant Award from the National Institute of Mental Health. Meehan and the team are utilizing smartphone technology to study whether or not disrupted sleep leads to higher instances of suicidal thoughts and impulses. The project represents the first of its kind to focus on sleep disruption, interpersonal relationships and suicidal thoughts as experienced in the moment by patients with chronic and severe mental illness.

Dr. Jennifer Rauch (AC in Blended & Online Learning, ’18), Professor of Journalism & Communication Studies on the Brooklyn campus, won a Silver Nautilus Book Award and was a finalist for a Marshall McLuhan Book Award for her new book Slow Media: Why Slow is Satisfying, Sustainable and Smart (Oxford University Press). Rauch was invited to speak about Slow Media at a McLuhan Salon at the University of Toronto as well as at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy. She also appeared on popular podcasts The Politics Guys and Team Human to discuss the book. Additionally, Slow Media was featured in The New Yorker for a story about “The Urgent Quest for Slower, Better News.”

Long Island University’s musical theatre program is one of the top 30 in the nation, according to OnStage, a popular online publication that covers theatre on an international level. The article specifically lauded the University’s Career Services and Cooperative Education program, noting: “Beyond working with acclaimed performers and instructors on and off-campus, students at LIU Post gain outstanding direction and leads.” Other schools on the list included: Carnegie Mellon University, University of Miami, New York University, Berklee College of Music, Penn State University, University of Michigan and Syracuse University.

Long Island University hosted over 900 administrators and teachers for two social emotional learning (SEL) training sessions, in conjunction with the Sanford Institute. The sessions were held on the Brooklyn campus and featured the First Lady of New York City Chirlane McCray, NYC School Chancellor Richard Carranza and LIU President Dr. Kimberly Cline. Earlier this year, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a partnership between the City’s Department of Education and Sanford Harmony, a research-based PreK-6 SEL program. In partnership with LIU, Sanford Education Programs and National University System have provided an early-childhood education to 8 million children through more than 18,000 schools across the nation.

Dr. Bill Schutt (BA in Biology, ’78), Professor of Biology on the Post campus, will deliver the prestigious Darwin Day Lecture at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto on February 12, 2020. The internationally recognized holiday celebrates Charles Darwin, who was born on the same day in 1809. The ROM is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada. It attracts more than one million visitors every year. Schutt also serves as a research associate in residence at the American Museum of Natural History. He is an award-winning author of both fiction and nonfiction books.

LIU alumna Ali Rose Harton (BFA in Musical Theatre, ’15) starred in Centenary Stage Company’s debut of Nunsense.The play is a comedy about five nuns who put on a variety show in the school auditorium to raise funds to pay for the burials of their tragically deceased sisters. It has become an international phenomenon with more than 5,000 productions worldwide and translated into 21 languages. Harton played the role of Sister Mary Hubert. She recently performed in the Off-Broadway production of It Came From Beyond.

Students in LIU’s Music Technology, Entrepreneurship and Production program are recording original music in Reservoir Studios, a premier recording studio in Manhattan. The studio is owned by Patrick Dillett, who has previously collaborated with LIU professor Tony Dofat. Dillett is a four-time Grammy award winner and has worked with renowned artists such as Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Sufjan Stevens, Norah Jones and Queen Latifah. Dofat oversees the University’s original record label, which holds international distribution with The Orchard, a Sony Company.