CUNY names 12 distinguished professors

The City University of New York elevated 12 faculty members to the rank of distinguished professor during the 2022-23 academic year, the highest classification that the University can bestow on members of its full-time faculty. The designations were formally approved by the CUNY Board of Trustees in May and June and bring to about 145 the number of distinguished professors actively serving on the University’s faculty. Their outstanding contributions and credentials are spotlighted in a recently revamped section on CUNY’s website.  

Distinguished professors have built international reputations as leaders within their fields and have been consistent producers of innovative and influential research in the natural, formal, social and applied sciences or noted contributions in journalism, the humanities and creative or performing arts.

“The 12 faculty members who have recently been elevated to CUNY’s distinguished professoriate join a group of extraordinary scholars and teachers who have built international reputations for their scholarship, creativity and vision,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “We congratulate these individuals on this latest recognition of their accomplished status as leading lights within their fields.”

Appointments to the title of distinguished professor require the completion of a rigorous process of administrative and peer review. Campuses are required to submit recommendations from 10 professors or people of comparable standing outside of CUNY who are themselves notable in the nominee’s field, and candidates must receive the full endorsement of their college’s leadership and CUNY’s Chancellor prior to Board of Trustees review and approval. 

The newly named distinguished professors represent six CUNY colleges, with faculty appointments at Brooklyn College, The City College of New York, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy, Hunter College and Queens College. Some of these scholars jointly serve on the faculty at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Prized Public Impact

CUNY’s distinguished faculty members produce scholarship and other work that advances the University’s commitment to strong public-impact research, a key component of the mission that was outlined in the University’s recently unveiled “CUNY Lifting New York,” a strategic plan to transform CUNY by 2030 and strengthen the many impacts it makes locally, regionally and economically. Among the newly appointed CUNY distinguished professors are:

• Terry Huang, the chair of health policy and management in CUNY’s Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy. Dr. Huang, a former senior leader at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is known globally for finding innovative approaches to  chronic disease prevention and the improvement of community health. As the director of CUNY’s Center for Systems and Community Design, Dr. Huang has been collaborating with NYC Parks to evaluate the impact of the Community Parks Initiative, a $318 million park equity investment that has led to the redesign and renovation of more than 60 neighborhood parks throughout the city. He recently received another large grant from the NIH for a related project that leverages the park improvements in the development of strategies to enhance neighborhood vibrancy and mental wellbeing. Elsewhere, Dr. Huang is the founder of Firefly Innovations at CUNY, a unique public health entrepreneurship platform for health equity startups. Since launching in early 2020, Firefly Innovations has successfully accelerated more than 50 early-stage venture companies mostly led by women and diverse founders.

• Sarit Golub, an acclaimed social psychologist at Hunter College whose years of study of sexual behavior and stigma have transformed how health care is delivered to people affected by HIV-AIDS. Dr. Golub’s groundbreaking work demonstrated how to get people to use HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, known as “PrEP.” The strategy has been widely adopted as the HIV-prevention standard – by the city’s Health Department, federal health authorities and nations including China and India. Dr. Golub has earned 13 federal grants totaling more than $20 million and published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles.

• Masha Gessen, a renowned Russian American journalist, who joined the full-time faculty at CUNY’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism in March, and last month was named the school’s first distinguished professor. A staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of 11 books, Professor Gessen has been honored by numerous national and international media and public policy organizations for producing insightful and impactful journalism and commentary in international affairs, Russian affairs, human rights, LGBTQI+ culture and politics. Gessen, who was born in Moscow and came to the U.S. as a refugee, adds one of the world’s most influential journalists and thinkers to the ranks of CUNY’s faculty.

• Interdisciplinary artist Patricia Cronin, one of three newly appointed distinguished professors from Brooklyn College. Cronin’s work includes “Memorial to a Marriage,” a marble sculpture and the world’s first monument to marriage equality, bronze versions of which are permanently on display at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx and at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, Scotland. Cronin, who earned an MFA from Brooklyn College in 1988, joined the college’s faculty in 2003 and is renowned for addressing gender studies, queer theory, politics and social issues in her artistic practices.

Former recipients of the honor include Queens College’s Kimiko Hahn, a poet who was elected to the board of chancellors of the Academy of American Poets earlier this year; Wayne Koestenbaum at the CUNY Graduate Center, who secured a 2023 Guggenheim Fellowship and is a founding figure in queer studies; Distinguished Professor Emerita Tania León of Brooklyn College, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2021 and became the first CUNY-affiliated faculty member to receive a Kennedy Center Honor last year; and Myriam P. Sarachik, a trailblazing physicist and distinguished professor at The City College of New York who overcame sexism and personal adversity to become a widely acclaimed leader in her field. Prior to her passing, in 2021, Sarachik established an endowed visiting professorship at City College.

Below is the full list of 12 new distinguished professors:.

Brooklyn College

• Patricia Cronin, Art

• Jason Eckardt, Music

• David Grubbs, Music

City College of New York

• Benjamin Steinberg, Mathematics

• Maria Tamargo, Chemistry

Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY

• Masha Gessen, Journalism

CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy

• Renee Goodwin, Epidemiology and Biostatistics

• Terry Huang, Health Policy Management

Hunter College

• Sarit Golub, Psychology

• Cynthia Hahn, Art and Art History

Queens College

• Ammiel Alcalay, Classical, Middle Eastern and Asian Languages and Cultures

• Talia Schaffer, English