NYC Division of Veterans Services applauds “tremendous work LIU is doing with the veteran population”

LIU Brooklyn took another important step forward to serve veterans this week when it opened the Student Veterans Resource Center.  The ribbon cutting was held at an event with student veterans, top officials, and senior University officials.

The Student Veterans Resource Center will serve as a centralized point of contact for student veterans, with an on-site VISTA AmeriCorps representative working to help improve LIU’s services and programs, and a representative from the Department of Veterans Services present at least one day per week.  It will utilize varied, comprehensive services from on and off-campus partners, provide meaningful opportunities to help student veterans build transferable skills, and serve as a meeting space for student veterans to connect with one another.

At the ceremony, Student Veterans Organization treasurer Christian Lopes talked about his experience at LIU Brooklyn, where he was welcomed and mentored by a veteran student peer.  Lopes highlighted his positive experience and believes this new Resource Center will allow the University do even more to help veterans.

Other student veterans who support the project include Kuen Fung, who noted that the Resources Center will provide “a very strong foundation to unite the veteran community, and will be the link between the student veterans and what they want to do.”

Dr. Scott Krawczyk, Dean of the Richard L. Conolly College of Liberal Arts and Science, gave a dynamic speech about the need to support student veterans.  Dr. Krawczyk came to LIU Brooklyn following a 30-year career in the United States Army, where he retired in 2015 at the rank of Brigadier General and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.  He praised the tools available at the Resource Center and vowed to work as an advocate for student veterans to get them the support they need to succeed.

New York City Division of Veterans Services Assistant Commissioner for Whole Health and Community Resilience, Dr. Darlene Brown-Williams, spoke next applauding LIU Brooklyn for the opening of the Center and the newly formed partnership with the NYC DVS.

“DVS is honored to recognize the tremendous work LIU is doing with the veteran population,” Dr. Brown-Williams said.  “Through this resource center, LIU is providing invaluable opportunities for student veterans to not just graduate from college, but to thrive both in school and in their pursuits beyond education, which is something that we are especially committed to at DVS.”

She talked about a new public-private partnership, the NYC Veterans Mentoring Initiative: Mentor A Vet-NYC.  This partnership brings together City government, service providers, universities, and others to ensure that New York City veterans and their families have access to high-quality mentorship. This program is the City’s first contribution to a larger initiative for student veterans called Veterans on Campus–NYC.

Among the other senior leaders to attend the Ribbon Cutting were Assistant Dean Roland Robinson, Dean of Students Jessica Hayes, Dean Edgar Troudt, and Dean Karlene Thompson.

LIU Brooklyn has been rated by militaryfriendly.com as a “Gold” recipient for being a school that is friendly to veterans– http://militaryfriendly.com/schools/long-island-university/.

In the age of social media, when information travels at a blinding pace, award nominations become a live event.

When Norman Steinberg was nominated for an Emmy, though, as part of the writing team for Flip, he found out with a phone call.

“I had left Los Angeles and was back in New York,” said Steinberg. “The head writer of the show called, Herb Baker. He said, ‘We’ve been nominated.’”

With no Internet in 1971, Steinberg verified the information the only way he could: in print. “I saw my name in Variety,” he recalled.

The Emmy festivities weren’t yet what they are today – “You went to the Emmy show, had a few drinks and went home,” Steinberg recalled – but he still dressed to impress.

“I borrowed a brown velvet suit from a friend,” Steinberg said with a laugh. “My mother pinned up the pants.”

Steinberg’s mother and wife attended with him, and were there to see Steinberg collect his Emmy, when Jimmy Durante presented the award for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Variety or Music to the staff of Flip, including Steinberg, Baker, and the show’s star, Flip Wilson, among others.

Now, Steinberg draws on his writing experience as he leads the TV Writers Studio at LIU Brooklyn, and as another cohort of aspiring writers begins the program, Steinberg looks to this year’s Emmy nominees as examples for his students.

“If there is a distinct manner of telling stories,” Steinberg said of this year’s writing nominees (including Atlanta, Veep, Better Call Saul, and The Handmaid’s Tale, among others), “that’s where I’ll go in and dissect, and show how their technique of telling stories can help us understand how to tell our stories.”

With the proliferation of original content on cable and streaming platforms, there’s certainly no shortage of opportunities, although that abundance creates its own challenges. “The problem is that there is not enough time with the way television has exploded across the spectrum,” Norman said.

So, how does he navigate the myriad options available? “Rather than saying, ‘What’s the new show?’ I see where the writers I like are showing up.”

And, as more of Steinberg’s students graduate from the TV Writers Studio, he knows they’ll continue to “show up” across the broadcast and streaming spectrum.

A proven organizational leader and highly regarded teacher has joined LIU Brooklyn, as the University has appointed Dr. Scott Krawczyk as Dean of Conolly College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Krawczyk joined LIU from Georgetown University, where he was a lecturer in the School of Continuing Studies following a distinguished 30-year career in the United States Army that included 13 years at the United States Military Academy at West Point, his alma mater. Dr. Krawczyk served as head of the Academy’s Department of English and Philosophy, and was responsible for all aspects of academic program implementation and organizational operations for a department of 50 faculty and four staff members. During his tenure as head of the department, he established West Point’s first-ever writing center, along with a formal Writing Across the Curriculum Program and a Cadet Writing Fellows Program. He also crafted the vision, strategic plan and design concept for the Academy’s Arts and Humanities Center, and founded the Creative Arts Project at West Point.

Prior to his tenure at West Point, Dr. Krawczyk served as a speechwriter in the Office of the Chief of Staff of the Army, a Ranger Company Commander with the 75^th Ranger Regiment at Fort Benning, Ga., and an Intelligence Officer within the XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, N.C. He retired from the Army at the rank of Brigadier General in 2015 and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.

Dr. Krawczyk was the first cadet in the history of the Academy to graduate with a BS in English, and also holds a Master’s in English from the University of Rhode Island and a PhD in English Language and Literature from the University of Pennsylvania.