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LIU Brooklyn Professor Myrna Fischman Wins Lifetime Achievement Award

LIU Brooklyn Accounting Professor Myrna Fischman, Ph.D., CPA, kicked off her 49th year at the University last month with the start of the fall semester, following a very eventful time in the spotlight.

On Oct. 4, The Wall Street Journal published an announcement from the Marquis’ Who’s Who Magazine, which had honored Dr. Fischman with a Lifetime Achievement award.

On Sept. 12, Dr. Fischman was honored as a Woman of Empowerment by P.O.W.E.R. (Professional Organization of Women of Excellence Recognized) for “her outstanding contributions and achievements for over 50 years in the fields of finance and education,” the organization said.

In July, CUTV news profiled Dr. Fischman in an hour-long video feature with host Jim Masters. Masters, who earned his Bachelor’s in communications from LIU Post, also hosted Fischman three times on his radio show this summer.

Dr. Fischman began her career at LIU in 1970 as an adjunct. She has been a professor of accounting, taxation and tax law since 1979, a director of the School of Professional Accountancy since 1984, and a director of the Center for Accounting & Tax Education since 1986, as well as the accounting department chairman and the coordinator of the graduate capstone courses.

She says she has no plans to slow down.

“I have to keep busy some way,” Dr. Fischman said. “Of course, when I have an opportunity to promote LIU, that’s what I’ll do!”

Dr. Fischman exhibits a conspicuous passion for her profession and the University, underscoring the tremendous value in LIU’s emphasis on small class sizes and engaged learning in the classroom.

“We have professors who practice what they teach,” she said. “They get the students so excited about it, and they all do extremely well in the classes.”

In addition to gushing about her fellow faculty members, Dr. Fischman enthused about the experiential education on display through conducting real audits and earning internships at prominent companies.

“That’s how you get to know, not only what’s in the book, but what’s in real life,” she explained. “That’s what we do here at LIU.”

Dr. Fischman has been the recipient of a number of other prestigious awards including a 2014 Department of the Treasury Award from the IRS, a 1997 Special Director’s Award in Recognition of 40 Years of Service in the Volunteers in Technical Service Program, and a Distinguished Worldwide Humanitarian Award. She established the Myrna L. Fischman Excellence in Accounting Scholarship to provide financial aid to deserving candidates interested in pursuing a similar career path.

She’s also had a successful career as an accountant in private practice. Starting out, she served in the office of the Queens District Attorney as a community fellowship coordinator and the chief accountant investigator in the rackets division. Later she was an assistant controller at Sam Goody, Inc. She is a member of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants and past president of its Brooklyn chapter.

LIU Pioneer’s Football Catch Makes the Leap to ESPN’s Top 10 College Highlights

The LIU Post Pioneers not only went 5-0 Saturday by defeating Shippensburg 41-39 in an away game but sophomore defensive back Nazir Streater’s sensational one-handed interception also came in at No. 1 on ESPN’s Sportscenter Sunday morning as one of the Top 10 College Football Plays of the Week.

Streater leaped in the air to snag a pass with his right hand and held onto the ball as he tumbled to the ground. His defensive masterstroke was featured several times during the ESPN broadcast, which collated highlights from all of college football.

But the outcome was still on the line with five seconds to go and LIU down by a point when Pioneer kicker Joey Tolgyesi drilled a 34-yard field goal to keep LIU’s Division II football team undefeated.

As Newsday noted in its story about the game, the victory on the gridiron followed a major announcement on Oct. 3 that the University will be consolidating its Brooklyn and Brookville athletic departments next year under the heading, “One LIU.” Going forward, LIU’s football team will have a new nickname, a new mascot, and new colors as the squad moves into the Division 1 Northeast Conference.

“We’re familiar with the teams and feel that we can go in and be competitive right away,” LIU Post coach Bryan Collins told Newsday.

“This was a pivotal game for us,” Collins continued. “Credit to our kids: They kept their focus on the task at hand. It was really a culmination of a very different type of week and now we get to head home with a win.”

Streater, Tolgyesi and their Pioneer teammates will host Saint Anselm College at the Bethpage Federal Credit Union Stadium on Homecoming this Saturday, Oct. 13, with the kickoff slated for 1 p.m.

Watch full clip here. 

#1 – 4:32 Division II DB, LIU Post’s Nazir Streater, channels his inner Odell Beckham Jr. with a one-handed interception

Post Theatre Company Opens its New Season on Oct. 5th with “Ubu Roi”–a Dark Comedy Like No Other

As Ma and Pa Ubu, Emi Aungst and Logan Clingan plot to carry out many despicable deeds in the dark satire, "Ubu Roi."

“Ubu Roi”, the iconoclastic play by Alfred Jarry that sparked a riot at its Paris premiere over a century ago, will take to the Little Theater Mainstage starting Oct. 5th as the Post Theatre Company’s ambitious 2018-2019 season gets underway.

Jarry’s nihilistic masterwork, written in 1896, is a surreal parody of “Macbeth,” with over-the-top characters, grotesque comedy and bloody massacres perpetrated by Ma and Pa Ubu in their quest for power. It caught audiences so off guard at its December 1896 premiere that it closed the same night it opened after they shouted it down.

Here at the Little Theater under the direction of Melanie S. Armer, the production promises to be no less engaging and provocative, but these days, given what’s happened in the world on stage and off, the audience may take their entertainment sitting down, without acting out. Certainly they’re guaranteed a good time—maybe even a laugh riot.

“Working on ‘Ubu’ with the students at LIU Post, I’ve been reminded how infectious and cathartic laughter is,” said Melanie Armer.

The Post Theatre Company, a non-for-profit resident theatre company of the Department of Theatre and Dance at LIU Post, is staffed by professional artists and regularly commissions guest artists to work closely with our students.

“The company employs professional artists as directors and designers of our productions to provide a bridge for the students between the academic and professional worlds,” said Heather Drastal, general manager of the Post Theatre Company.

The company’s creative contribution to the cultural landscape of Long Island was the recent subject of an article in Newsday, which showcased a rehearsal of “Ubu Roi” in progress.

“Ubu Roi” runs Oct 5-6th and Oct. 11-13th at 7:30 p.m., with matinees on Oct. 7 and Oct. 14th at  3 p.m.

Next on the calendar are two pieces developed and directed by students that will run in the Rifle Range Laboratory, which is in the same building, starting Oct. 26-27th at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 28th at 3 p.m. There’s “A Day on Venus,” written and directed by Aaron Cooper, and “Vincent and Us,” an Honors Thesis, devised and directed by Isabelle Reutens.

Returning to the Mainstage in November will be “Iphigenia & other Daughters,” written by Ellen McLaughlin and directed by Dina Vovsi, starting Nov. 9-10th and Nov. 15-17th at 7:30 p.m., with matinees at 3 p.m. on Nov. 11th and Nov. 18th.

General admission is $15, $12 for seniors and $10 for students. Tickets can be purchased online at tix55.com/ptc700. For more information, call the box office at 516-299-2356 or email post-ptc@liu.edu.

The Little Theater is located on Post Road across from the main library at LIU Post, nearest the West Entrance (Tilles Center) off Northern Boulevard (Route 25A).

LIU Announces Unification of Post and Brooklyn Teams Into ‘One LIU’ Division I Program

On hand to make the announcement at the historic New York Athletic Club with LIU President Kimberly R. Cline, on the left, and Northeast Conference Commissioner Noreen Morris, on the right, is LIU Brooklyn Men's Basketball Head Coach Derek Kellogg, who's holding the ball.

Beginning in September 2019, LIU Will Unite Brooklyn and Post Campuses; Teams Will Compete at the Highest Level of Collegiate Athletics

New York — Long Island University today announced its athletic programs will be unified into a single NCAA Division I program. The move, beginning in September 2019, is the next step in the university’s vision to elevate its brand nationally. By uniting its athletic programs into a single NCAA Division I program, LIU’s Post and Brooklyn campuses will be unified into “One LIU.”

“Long Island University is a nationally recognized teaching and research institution,” said LIU President Kimberly R. Cline. “We understand the importance of athletics in enhancing our brand nationwide by unifying our university community and our 200,000 alumni around the world. Our student-athletes competing at the highest-level plays a major role in this. We are extremely pleased that the NCAA has embraced this vision for our university’s future.”

The university made the announcement at the historic New York Athletic Club in front of an enthusiastic audience that included LIU student-athletes, coaches, administrators, faculty, alumni, and long-standing supporters of the university.

“It’s a historic day for LIU,” Dr. Cline told Newsday. “They’ve been talking about this for 10 or so years, and it’s wonderful for our students. It helps them be able to compete at the highest level in a wonderful conference.”

“This is an exciting step forward for Long Island University,” added LIU Board of Trustees Chairman Eric Krasnoff. “Athletics plays such an important role in bringing people together and promoting educational values. As we elevate the LIU brand nationally through academic excellence and world-class research, our athletics program will unite our entire community and compete at the highest levels.”

This effort elevates LIU’s program and builds on its proud tradition of athletic excellence.  In the university’s history, the program has combined for 23 national championships, 215 conference titles, and 362 All-Americans.

In order to honor LIU’s strong tradition of athletic excellence, the university announced the new program will combine the traditional colors of both campuses into a united blue and gold. LIU also announced that students and alumni will help choose the new mascot for the unified program.

“As a longtime partner of LIU, I applaud President Cline and the University for their efforts to advance both the academic and athletic programs,” lauded Brett Yormark, CEO of BSE Global. “Barclays Center is a neighbor to the Brooklyn campus and we have enjoyed hosting many of the University’s college basketball games over the years. We are looking forward to continuing our role in helping to elevate the student-athlete experience.”

All of LIU’s teams will continue competing in their current conferences for the 2018-19 academic year, honoring schedules with opponents. The unification will be effective for competition beginning in Fall 2019. The university will elevate seven current Post programs to Division I, including expanding its membership in the Northeast Conference with men’s cross country, men’s lacrosse, and football, which will make the transition to the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).

This initiative will put students first by providing additional opportunities and the university will honor current scholarships to student-athletes. LIU is committed, first and foremost, to all of its student-athletes graduating on time, with a LIU diploma.

“The Northeast Conference looks forward to the growth and enhancement of the league through the unification of the LIU athletic departments into a more robust Division I program with the addition of LIU’s football, men’s lacrosse, and men’s cross country teams to the conference,” noted Northeast Conference Commissioner Noreen Morris. “With the announcement of the LIU unification, we are excited about the future of LIU Athletics and the NEC.”

“Today’s announcement regarding our athletic program’s enhancements will allow us to focus our resources on improving opportunities for our students while continuing the tradition of excellence of our university,” said LIU Director of Athletics Debbie DeJong.  “This is an exciting beginning to the next chapter in LIU Athletics.”

Further information and updates about the unification can be found at one.liu.edu 

Internationally acclaimed photographer Dana Gluckstein to kick off grand opening of Steinberg Museum of Art at LIU Post on October 18th

Brookville, NY –Long Island University is pleased to announce that award-winning artist Dana Gluckstein will be on campus for the Oct. 18th premiere of her powerful exhibition titled “DIGNITY: Tribes in Transition.” Gluckstein’s remarkable exhibit chronicles her decades spent photographing Indigenous Peoples as they struggle to maintain their identity in a changing world.

“It’s my sincere wish that DIGNITY will serve as a call-to-action in support of all Indigenous Peoples,” said Gluckstein, shown above with three generations of San women. Her DIGNITY advocacy campaign in association with Amnesty International created a tipping point for President Barack Obama to endorse the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2010.

“We’re thrilled to present compelling photographs by Dana Gluckstein as we introduce our newly renovated Steinberg Museum of Art,” said Barbara Applegate, museum director. “We invite Long Islanders to be inspired by our unique visible storage suite that makes viewing our collection of 5,000 objects feel limitless.”

“The Steinberg Museum of Art provides our students with unique experiences that reflect our entrepreneurial spirit while supporting engaged learning and high-quality research,” said LIU President Dr. Kimbely R. Cline. “Dana Gluckstein’s work embraces each of these values with sensitivity and beauty.”

“Nothing inspires or instructs more profoundly than great art and architecture,” said Steven Breese, Dean of the College of Arts, Communications & Design at LIU Post. “At this special event, the Steinberg draws together these two powerful forces: the compelling photographs of Dana Gluckstein coupled with the unveiling of the Steinberg’s new exhibition gallery and innovative visual storage. We are proud to offer our students, faculty and community the opportunity to experience this very special exhibit – and, like all great art, we know that you will find DIGNITY beautiful, insightful and powerful.”

Chanter in Hawaii, photo taken by Dana Gluckstein in 1996.

“DIGNITY: Tribes in Transition” opens October 18, 2018  and runs until March 8, 2019. Dana Gluckstein will speak on opening night and sign copies of her book. Earlier in the day she’ll meet with students to discuss her work. The show will open to the public at 7 p.m. 

For more information about Dana Gluckstein, go to www.danagluckstein.com

The Steinberg Museum of Art is on the ground floor of the B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library, 720 Northern Boulevard, Brookville, NY 11548.

(Photo of Dana Gluckstein with three generations of San women taken by Tai Power Seeff)

LIU Partners with Rep. Tom Suozzi to Expand Long Island’s Biotechnology Industry

Rep. Tom Suozzi talks about transforming Long Island's economy as John Preston, founder of MIT Technology Licensing Office, and Kara Cannon of Enzo LIfe Sciences listen during a panel discussion held at the Tilles Center at LIU Post on Sept. 24th.

How to turn the Long Island Expressway into “The 495 Research Corridor” was the issue raised here by Congressman Tom Suozzi when he hosted a conference Monday at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts that brought together more than 70 leaders in the fields of biotechnology and life sciences.

“Today’s forum is to promote our region as the premier research destination for life sciences and to provide for the continued growth of Long Island,” said LIU President Dr. Kimberly R. Cline as she welcomed the participants. “Innovation is at the forefront of everything that we do at LIU, and our increasingly robust research agenda speaks to our commitment to join with others on Long Island so we will truly be known as High-Tech Island.”

She added that the panelists assembled at the LIU Post campus are proof that Long Island is ready for an investment in time, energy and talent to transform our region and make us a driving force in life sciences for decades to come.

“We have a cluster of businesses and research institutions that already exist here,” said Rep. Suozzi (D-Glen Cove), who noted that New York State is the third largest recipient of research dollars in life sciences in the country, right behind California and Massachusetts. “The challenge is that the money that comes here is not matched by private sector investment.”

As Newsday noted, the state receives $2.2 billion in National Institutes of Health grants, and $1.7 billion of that sum goes to New York City, Long Island and Westchester. Suozzi said that his goal is to demonstrate that Long Island’s expertise stretches along the LIE from the Brookhaven National Laboratory to Cold Spring Harbor Lab and the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset. He credited Kevin Law, president and chief executive officer of the Long Island Association, who was also a panelist, with coining the phrase, the 495 Research Corridor.

“We’re very fortunate to have LIU participating,” said Law, who praised Dr. Cline for her role in promoting the Island’s vital transformation. “We have over 25,000 Long Islanders already employed in the life sciences industry,” Law noted, “and that is more than Grumman ever had in its heyday.” Until its manufacturing facilities shut down on Long Island in 1996, the Grumman Corporation was once one of the nation’s largest aerospace contractors. Law told the conference that Gov. Andrew Cuomo has recognized that Long Island has the best chances of any region in New York to take the lead in pushing life sciences to new breakthroughs.

The featured speaker was John Preston, founder of the MIT Technology Licensing Office, who was introduced by Dr. Randy Burd, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at LIU.

“He really stands at the forefront of technology transfer,” said Dr. Burd, “and he is always pushing the boundaries of innovation.”

As Preston told the audience with a smile, “The rate of technological change is insane right now. It’s hard for me to even keep up with it, and I spend my life working on technology.” Currently, Preston is the managing partner of TEM Capital, a privately held equity investment company, as well as the director of many private companies. He compared Long Island’s economy favorably to that of other countries and saw a great deal of potential in Suozzi’s initiative if small-dollar investors can be encouraged to get in on the ground floor.

“Right now, only the ultrarich are getting invited to do the founding investment,” he said.

Kara Cannon, global head of sales and marketing for Enzo Life Sciences, Inc., a leading life sciences and biotechnology company, said that her division has almost 400 employees working on Long Island. “We’re committed to staying here,” she said, and praised the forum for connecting established companies, startups and investors. “There’s a lot of technology and opportunity on the Island.”

And Long Island University is proud to play its part.

LIU Post Hosts University of Salzburg Dean to Discuss How Students Can Learn More About Teaching Diversity in a Changing World

LIU Post Professor Shaireen Rasheed, left, and Dr. Ulrike Greiner, Dean of the School of Education at the University of Salzburg

As a further sign of the growing collaboration between LIU and the University of Salzburg, its Dean of the School of Education, Dr. Ulrike Greiner, came to the College of Education, Information and Technology as a visiting professor and gave a public lecture on “The Austrian Landscape and the Diversity Beliefs of Students.”

Dr. Greiner’s host was Professor Shaireen Rasheed, who recently became the co-director of the doctoral program in Interdisciplinary Studies at CEIT. They first met in 2016 when Dr. Greiner visited LIU Brooklyn. Last year, thanks to a Fulbright scholarship, Professor Rasheed spent two weeks at the University of Salzburg, working with undergraduate and doctoral students as well as giving a public lecture at the Austrian university. She has also been doing research in Europe on immigration issues—a topic that has become increasingly charged on both continents.

“I found out from my work over there that even though the issues are different, they are not uncommon. They overlap,” said Professor Rasheed. “The challenges are the same.”

This spring Dr. Greiner and Professor Rasheed virtually co-taught an undergraduate course via Skype and Blackboard so education majors from both LIU and the University of Salzburg could learn about teaching diversity within an international framework. The professors hope to initiate a month-long exchange program beginning next spring with students and faculty.

One of the LIU Post students who participated in last semester’s cross-Atlantic class via the Internet was Georgina Peralta, a junior majoring in childhood education with a specialization in Spanish.

“We asked the Austrian students what kind of economic and academic challenges they go through,” she said. “It was very refreshing to walk in someone else’s shoes from across the world.” She found the experience very rewarding. “It made me think about policymaking and what goes into the laws of education.”

“We should exchange students so they get to know a broader horizon of how teaching and learning works in different countries,” said Dean Greiner. She cited a recent study that found that one of every two students attending Austria’s primary schools is multi-lingual, meaning that even though they might be born in Austria, their parents were immigrants—and German was not the only language spoken at their new home.

“We have an increasing number of students coming from a diverse background,” she explained, “so we have to equip our teachers to handle a really diverse classroom. We have to adapt our pedagogy.”

Student demographics have also been changing in American classrooms, noted Professor Rasheed, who stressed how important diversity training is for today’s educators. “When you have teachers who are more aware of cultural diversity, it makes for better students, and it makes for a better climate in the school.”

Until now, just the business schools at LIU and the University of Salzburg had formed a relationship, so this collaboration marks the first time for the colleges of education.

So far, five LIU undergrads have signed up for the spring exchange program, and there’s room for many more.

“We will really mentor them,” said Dean Greiner. The LIU students will be placed in English classes in Salzburg so they can observe classroom instruction firsthand, and they’ll be taken on cultural outings to Vienna as well. “One month gives you the opportunity to change your beliefs and have a deeper experience,” she noted. In the fall, students from the University of Salzburg are expected to come to LIU. “Our schools want teachers with international experience,” Dean Greiner added. “What you gain is experience in adapting to new situations.”

In October, Dean Greiner, in conjunction with colleagues in Political Science, Philosophy and the Teacher College in Salzburg, is co-hosting an international conference at the University of Salzburg on the topic, “National Populism and Education,” and Professor Rasheed will be the keynote speaker.

LIU Brooklyn Alum Names New Academy in Liberia After Her English Professor Here

A special day for students at the Josephine Clark Academy, a school founded in Liberia by Rose Kingston, a graduate of Connolly College who named it after her English professor at LIU Brooklyn

When LIU Brooklyn Professor Josephine Clark learned that her former student had actually founded a school in Liberia and put her name on it, she said she nearly fell out of her chair.

“It was mind-blowing!” exclaimed Clark, an adjunct English professor who’s been teaching at the Brooklyn campus for almost three decades. Rose Kingston, a dance major, had taken Clark’s non-Western Literature class in the Fall 2012 semester, and she was struggling. “I remember that Rose seemed a little bit timid when she first came to my class.”

“Professor Clark inspired me,” said Kingston (Brooklyn ’14, BFA). “She helped develop in me the love of learning.”

Born in Liberia, Kingston had left that West African country in the middle of its first civil war when she was 9 years old. Third grade was as far as she’d gotten in school. She’d seen the bodies of dead civilians, been shot at, and survived a rocket attack on the ship leaving the seaport that would take her to a refugee camp in Ghana. She came to America when she was 15.

“I was placed in the ninth grade because of my age, not my ability,” Kingston said. She managed to graduate from Sheepshead Bay High School in Brooklyn (no longer in operation) and enter LIU. There, in her dormitory, she followed up a recommendation from her freshman orientation and signed up for her first counseling session.

“I was so depressed. I think I was suffering from symptoms of PTSD,” she recalled, marveling over the impact the psychologist had on her. “I was able to pull together and understand what was happening to me and put names on my different emotions.”

But it was in English 64 where she encountered Professor Clark.

“I felt I couldn’t read,” Kingston said, and she asked her teacher to recommend a class that would help her improve. “She said, ‘You’re smart. You just need someone to fully understand where you are academically and to help guide you through this process. And if you would agree, I will tutor you.’ I thought she was joking. And she said, ‘I’ll tutor you every Saturday from 10 to 2 o’clock. If you come on campus, I’ll come on campus.’

“Her dedication and her focus were unbelievable,” Professor Clark said. “A lot of it was reading and comprehension—and confidence.” In those sessions, they bonded. Clark went to her graduation ceremony from Connolly College in 2014, but then lost touch with her student. In the meantime, Kingston had gotten her Master’s in Education from Montclair State University in New Jersey—and returned to her native country.

In 2016, Kingston founded the Josephine Clark Academy in an abandoned warehouse on a piece of land she owned in a village about seven miles from the country’s capital, Monrovia.

“The community I live in didn’t have any schools,” said Kingston. She started with 14 children, one of them her own son; today she has 43 students, ranging in age from 3 to 16. Her goal is to craft an individual education plan so each one could overcome the gap in their education because of the war. “They don’t have a learning disability,” she said. “They just have a deficiency because of the lack of resources.”

Besides running her new academy, Kingston also teaches English language arts and dance, too. She says she’s the only ballet teacher in Liberia.

Looking back, Kingston has many people to thank for helping her stay on track at LIU Brooklyn. She credited the dance department as well as her counselors at the Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP), named after the former Deputy Speaker of the New York State Assembly.

“The HEOP program has been instrumental in the lives of so many students here who couldn’t have survived—especially that first year of college—without the counselors and the support people and the tutors that HEOP provides!” explained Professor Clark. “It  gives them the chance to find out all that they really can do.” According to HEOP director Kamel Boukerrou, 275 students are currently enrolled in the program at LIU Brooklyn.

“Thank God for HEOP because they gave people like me a second chance,” Kingston said. “I’m so grateful to everyone who helped me at LIU.”

A couple of years ago, Clark was recovering from surgery when she suffered a life-threatening blood clot. “I should have died that night,” Clark recalled. “Afterwards, I kept asking myself, ‘Why am I still here?’ I said, ‘God, what is it you want me to do? Do you have more students at LIU that you want me to go and harass?’ All of a sudden this year, I get this information; so I said, ‘Well, I guess I need to be here!’ I really thought that she was just joking when she told me that one day she was going to open a school and name it after me.”

“What better name to give this school than ‘Josephine Clark Academy’?” Kingston exclaimed. “Every time I say the name, I remember what LIU did for me through Professor Clark!”

Currently Kingston is working to establish the Josephine Clark Academy Foundation in the United States to make it easier to obtain financial support to expand her program—and shrink the long waiting list of children eager to learn at a school in Liberia named after her inspiring LIU Brooklyn English professor.

“This story is exemplary of LIU at its best,” said Dr. Leah Dilworth, chair of the English Department at LIU Brooklyn, adding that Kingston’s accomplishment was another example of the good work that teachers and students are doing here every day.

In the photo above, Rose Kingston, left, poses with her teacher, Professor Josephine Clark, at a recent visit to the LIU Brooklyn campus this summer. To get more information on the academy, contact Rose Kingston at roskingston@yahoo.com 

Research Trip to Israel Is a Resounding Success for Seven LIU Post Students Studying Bats in the Desert

This August, seven LIU Post students joined Dr. Kent Hatch, an Associate Professor of Biology, to study the behavior of bats in the desert of Israel.

From July 27th until August 14th, Aaron Mayo, Daniela Mathieu, Disha Lumsir, Chanpreet Singh, Mallory Slack, Simone Smith and Indira Rojas were in the Israel conducting research as part of a Biology 290 course. The course itself was created and taught by an international team of professors from Israel, Italy, and the US and included not only the LIU students, but five students from Israel and one India. Working alongside Israeli graduate students at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the LIU students were testing two hypotheses about bat habits—and managed to disprove both of them.

The goal of the first study was to find out how loud music, often played at campgrounds, can effect bat behavior at night when they are feeding, and the second study was meant to see if temperature determines where bats choose to roost for the night.

Using specialized mist nets, the students helped catch the bats and hold them for about a week so they could analyze their behavior.

Despite the old saying, bats aren’t blind. They can see as well as humans. At night, they use sound waves and echoes—a process called echolocation—to navigate and find food in the dark. According to Dr. Hatch, the study revealed that the lower frequencies of campground music that are audible to the human ear don’t bother the animals because they rely on higher frequencies of sound to get around.

To test the second hypothesis, the students released the bats into a chamber that had one roost at a cool temperature and the other at a warmer temperature. Surprisingly, bats in groups of two or more preferred the warmer roost, while solo bats chose the cooler one. Researchers had thought the bats would do the opposite.

Dr. Hatch praised the LIU students for working hard every day starting at 8 in the morning and lasting until midnight—and impressing their academic colleagues.

“They did really well and got lots of compliments from the Israeli professors and the Italian professor there,” said Dr. Hatch.

With hard work comes great rewards: students also got the opportunity to travel while they were in Israel. One weekend, they took a trip to the Dead Sea. Later they visited the coastal city of Eilat on the Gulf of Aqaba, where they hiked in the mountains, which proved to be one of the highlights of the trip. When the course was completed, they spent time in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where they rejoined some of the Israeli students they’d befriended in the desert.

“It was hard and a lot of work,” said Aaron Mayo (Post, ’19), “but it was rewarding. Honestly, I look at research in a whole new light.”

Diana Ross, Pat Benatar and George W. Bush Highlight This Fall’s Season at Tilles Center

The incomparable Diana Ross takes the Tilles Center stage on Oct. 6.

Tilles Center for the Performing Arts at LIU Post begins its 2018-2019 season with a remarkable line-up this fall. Among the featured guests are the supremely talented Diana Ross, a pair of very funny guys, Steve Martin and Martin Short, the iconoclastic rockers Pat Benatar and Melissa Etheridge, plus NFL sports icon Terry Bradshaw and former President George W. Bush, just to name a few.

“We always present world-class orchestras, unique dance performances and national Broadway tours but now we’ve also added more classic rock and pop shows,” said Shari Linker, Tilles Center’s director of communications and engagement, who wanted to remind LIU students that “it’s not just your father’s performing arts center!”

Indeed, the Tilles Center’s diverse programming appeals to an audience of many generations. And, of course, there’s not a bad seat in the house.

As always, LIU students with the proper ID can receive discounts that range from $15 to $20 a ticket, depending on the show and available seating. Students also have the chance to work in the box office, be an usher at performances, or become an intern in the administrative office.

“We are always looking for students,” said Linker. “In fact, many of our full-time people started off as students here.” She suggested that interested students drop by the Tilles Center office located off the Goldsmith Atrium and speak to whoever’s sitting at the front desk.

The new season officially gets underway on Sept. 13th  when former quarterback and current TV sports analyst Terry Bradshaw takes the stage at 8 p.m. for an inspirational and, no doubt, hysterical evening moderated by WFAN’s Mike Francesa.

Next up on Sept. 22 will be Neil Sedaka, the multi-million selling pop star known for his 1960s’ radio chartbusters like “Calendar Girl” and “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do.” He penned his “Stairway to Heaven” a decade before Led Zeppelin unleashed theirs—and the title is their only similarity. He’ll be followed on Sept. 28 by the highly entertaining Jon Batiste, best known for leading his Stay Human band on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Here he’ll be diving deep into the American musical landscape, ranging from the early jazz of New Orleans, where he’s from, to the sounds of the present.

Diana Ross—Motown singer who founded the Supremes, actress (“Lady Sings the Blues”) and record producer—kicks off the Gala 2018 show at Tilles Center at 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 6. Billboard magazine named her the “Female Entertainer of the Century” in 1976. Forty years later Ross received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, handed to her by President Barack Obama at the White House.

In partnership with the Global Institute at LIU, headed by former Democratic Congressman Steve Israel, Tilles Center will present a talk by President George W. Bush at 7 p.m. on Oct. 25, less than two weeks before the November mid-term elections, so what he has to say could have national repercussions.

Also on the bill in October are Melissa Etheridge on Oct. 7, as well as Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, who will perform an acoustic show on Oct. 12, which marks LIU Post’s Homecoming weekend. Long Island native and hit EDM artist 3LAU (aka Justin Blau) is set to play the 2242-seat Concert Hall the night before.

A much smaller venue, the recently renovated Krasnoff Theater at Tilles Center, formerly Hillwood Recital Hall, gets its grand opening on Sept. 28. So stay tuned for that event’s special line-up.

Those wild and crazy guys, Steve Martin and Martin Short, say they’ll provide “An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life” at the Tilles Center on Nov. 18. Whether they’ll live up to their promise remains to be seen.

For a closer look at the Tilles Center calendar of events, click here.

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