Thursday, February 15, 2024

The Fires: Hoboken 1978–1982 in Partnership with the Hoboken Historical Museum, Diaspora Solidarities Lab, and New Jersey Council for the Humanities from February 1–April 15, 2024

CENTRO, The Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, has announced the opening of the exhibition, The Fires: Hoboken 1978–1982 in partnership with the Hoboken Historical Museum, Diaspora Solidarities Lab, and New Jersey Council for the Humanities from February 1–April 15, 2024. CENTRO is the largest university-based research institute, library, and archive dedicated to the Puerto Rican experience in the United States.

Centro's Directora is Dr. Yomaira C. Figueroa-Vásquez, an Afro-Puerto Rican writer, teacher, and scholar who was born and raised in Hoboken. In addition to serving as CENTRO's Directora, she is a Professor of Africana, Puerto Rican & Latino Studies at CUNY Hunter.

The exhibition, first installed at the Hoboken Historical Museum, features the work of Christopher López, a Puerto Rican Lens-Based Artist, Educator, and Public Historian.

Dr. Figueroa-Vásquez expounds, "The Fires: Hoboken 1978-1982 is a multidisciplinary show that surfaces the living histories of the fires and arsons that transformed the city of Hoboken from the 1970's-1980's. Through a violent cocktail of intimidation, greed, corruption, and indifference, over 50 Hoboken residents, mostly children, lost their lives in fires that ravaged the city during the era of post-industrial urban renewal. Arriving four decades after the apex of the fires, photographer Chris López, a Bronx native of Puerto Rican parentage, critically engages the afterlives of arson, displacement, and dispossession. Unlike the historic and well documented history of fires in the Bronx, very few photographers captured images of the arsons in Hoboken and even fewer scholars have studied the phenomenon. The existing archive is deeply indebted to the work of journalists, the painstaking work of community organizers, and a few documentary filmmakers who captured the terror, uncertainty, and destruction of that time period. In this context, The Fires represents the first exhibit of its kind to visit this history alongside those who were most deeply impacted."

We encourage everyone to visit this powerful exhibit, which will be displayed at the Silberman School of Social Work in El Barrio, located at 2180 3rd Ave. Visiting hours are Mondays-Fridays 10am-5pm.

Thursday, February 8, 2024

Petrosino Invited by the National Academies of Science to Serve as a Member of the Board on Science Education committee on PreK-12 STEM Education Innovations

 Associate Dean at the Simmons School of Education and Human Development invited to serve on Board on Science Education committee for PreK-12 STEM Education Innovations

Associate Dean for Research and Outreach at Simmons School of Education and Human Development, Anthony Petrosino, has recently been invited and has accepted the invitation to serve as a member of the Board on Science Education committee on PreK-12 STEM Education Innovations. This board is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and seeks to identify and understand any “research gaps or factors that impede or facilitate widespread implementation of new initiatives at local, regional, and national levels.” 

Dr. Petrosino’s board appointment will last until April 2025.


Description

An ad hoc committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will conduct a consensus study to: Review the research literature and identify research gaps regarding the interconnected factors that foster and hinder successful implementation of promising, evidence-based PreK-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education innovations at the local, regional, and national level;

Present a compendium of promising, evidence-based PreK-12 STEM education practices, models, programs, and technologies;

Identify barriers to widespread and sustained implementation of such innovations; and

Make recommendations to the National Science Foundation, the Department of Education, the National Science and Technology Council’s Committee on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education, state and local educational agencies, and other relevant stakeholders on measures to address such barriers.