The lush and smoky lure of an "American in Paris," the defiant skirl of a Scots bagpiper, and the plaintive strings of the Persian violin echoing music from the soaring peaks of Azerbaijan were all part of the magic that Brooklyn College faculty brought to the Woody Tanger Auditorium as part of the recent Eleventh Annual Faculty Day presentation on May 23.

Faculty Day emerged from a desire to foster a sense of community and to enrich the quality of intellectual and social life on campus. It affords an opportunity for colleagues from diverse disciplines to meet in a variety of events––symposia, artistic and poster presentations, and a luncheon with roundtable discussions. The day culminates in an awards ceremony and reception.

Presented for only the third year, the talent show has become a highlight of the day, an entertaining interlude in the scholarly schedule. With the Conservatory of Music's Paul Shelden serving as BC's Henny Youngman/MC in residence, attendees in the full hall were first treated to tap dancing by Health and Nutrition's Kathleen Axen. Then a trip down memory lane was led by some of the local talent, including a circa-1960s folk group composed of Geri De Luca and Len Fox from English and Education's David Forbes on mandolin. It included a poignant and still meaningful rendition of Erik Anderson's paean to the civil rights movement and a small musical diamond, "Thirsty Boots."
Computer and Information Science's Scott Dexter, accompanied by drums, entertained with the hypnotic sound of the Persian violin favored by Central Asian musicians, followed closely by Roger Dunkle from Classics, who tickled the ivories with Gershwin before being joined by Shelden on clarinet in a duet of "My Funny Valentine."

Before the Faculty Day Chorus closed the show, John Chamberlain exchanged the study of stones in the Geology Department for the haunting sounds of the rocky Scottish highlands. Joined by Biology's Jennifer Basil on vocals and bodhran, a Celtic drum, the kilted pair performed "The Flower of Scotland," among other new and traditional tunes.

The Faculty Day lineup began with a bountiful continental breakfast set out in the fifth-floor State Lounge at the Brooklyn College Student Center. The Library's Mariana Regalado and Provost Roberta Matthews offered words of welcome to both participants and members of the audience.

"Thrilled to Death in New York," an artistic presentation of a trio of excerpts from works in progress by their faculty authors, was next on the schedule. English's Robert Viscusi, executive officer of the Wolfe Institute for the Humanities, ably served as session moderator.

First, Television and Radio's Kurt Odenwald read parts of his Stephen King-like chilling short story, "Wicked Waters." William Offenbaker, English, next presented selections from the first chapter of his feathery puzzler "And One for Alexander." And Kelly Matthews, also of the English Department, brought the session to a rousing conclusion with a reading of the introduction to her story poem "Troy, Redux: Myths, Metals, and the Always Importance of Location," with an accompanying slideshow. The city alluded to in the title was not Homer's Troy, but Matthews' own hometown of Troy, New York.

A series of seven symposia on subjects as varied as the free software movement to challenging college students' perceptions of homosexuality to simple strategies to get the most out of teaching with technology completed the morning's agenda.

Over an informal catered lunch of tuna fish wraps, red-skin potato salad and scrumptious chocolate-chip cookies, along with other delicacies, faculty members could wander among displays of art, including photographs, books, paintings, and handmade jewelry by faculty members as well as nearly a score of poster presentations of ongoing faculty research projects. Among the latter, for example, was a presentation titled "Impact of Early Childhood Center Programs on Low-Income Student-Parent College Adjustment and Performance." To those who wondered, the School of Education's Carol Korn-Bursztyn explained how she wrote the grant and how she and her colleagues are following a number of Brooklyn College students through a two-year period of individual interviews, focus groups, and documentary evidence.

Faculty members were also invited to sit in on various luncheon roundtable discussions led by other faculty and members of the administration. One such roundtable was titled "Why Brooklyn College? What About Us is Value-Added?" in which Associate Provost Jerry Mirotznik, of Health and Nutrition Sciences, English's Ellen Belton, and Andrew Sillen, vice-president of institutional advancement, encouraged participants to debate questions such as "What do we have to offer students?", "Can we make our diversity work for us?", and "How do we serve the needs of students and their parents?"

After the talent show, another series of symposia closed out the afternoon sessions. Among them was one titled "Social Justice and the Arts and Humanities in the Classroom," at which English's Roni Natov, Martha Nadell, James Davis, and Education's Karel Rose discussed how social justice issues, from the Iraq war to the widening U.S. income gap, play a role in their teaching and in their students' lives. Davis summed up much of the roundtable's subject matter when he commented about his students, "Most of them know about social justice but they know a hell of a lot more about social injustice."

The Brooklyn College Library was the setting for the evening's events—an awards ceremony held in the Woody Tanger Auditorium and a faculty reception. Among those faculty members who received awards were Laurie Rubel, Education, who was honored with the Award for Excellence in Teaching; Irina Patkanian, Television and Radio, who received the Award for Excellence in Creative Achievement; Martha J. Bell, SEEK, who was the recipient of the Eric M. Steinberg Award for College Citizenship; and Judylee Vivier, Theater, who was named the Claire Tow Distinguished Teacher.

Provost Roberta Matthews also was honored for her achievements throughout her thirty-year career and during her tenure at Brooklyn College.