Newswise — New York City College of Technology (City Tech) will mark the annual rite of passage for graduating students at its 64th Commencement Exercises on Thursday, June 3, beginning at 10:30 a.m., in the Theater at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. President Fred W. Beaufait will confer more than 1,500 degrees, including approximately 1,000 associate and 560 baccalaureate.
Delivering the commencement address and receiving an honorary doctorate in humane letters is Peabody and Emmy Award-winning reporter Ti-Hua Chang, who has worked for WNBC News since 1993.
The President's Award will be conferred on Marva Clark Gordon '69, who is being honored for her nearly three decades of leadership in the clinical, administrative and research areas of the nursing profession and for establishing the Dr. Marva L. and Mr. John Gordon Scholarship Fund, demonstrating her strong commitment to future generations of City Tech students.
The Class of 2004 valedictorian is Dianne A. Monrose, 32, who is graduating with a bachelor of technology degree in computer systems. As an undocumented immigrant from Jamaica, she struggled for six years to save money from her earnings as a babysitter and nanny in order to attend college.
Ti-Hua ChangHonorary Doctorate of Humane Letters and Commencement SpeakerTi-Hua Chang has been a reporter with WNBC News in New York since 1993. In 1996, he won the prestigious Peabody Award for a series of reports he filed on accused drug-dealing murderers who escaped to the Dominican Republic and how that government's extradition policies prevented U.S. police from arresting them. He has reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, on a string of terror blasts overtaking the city and from Bosnia, filing reports from that war-torn country as he traveled with an Americares convoy throughout several combat-ravaged cities.
Some of Chang's investigative reports for WNBC include features on New York City's takeover of the Fulton Fish Market and the surprisingly easy ways to order a gun through the mail. In January 1998, Chang filed a series of live reports from the White House on allegations that President Clinton had an affair with a White House intern and allegedly directed her to lie to an investigative panel.
Chang joined WNBC from WNYC-TV, New York, where he was host of his own talk show, "New York Hotline." Previously, he was a reporter at WCBS-TV and an investigative producer at ABC News. Among the stories Chang covered for ABC was a report from inside a Mexican jail that had been taken over by armed drug dealers and an investigative piece on the death of civil rights leader Medgar Evers, in which he uncovered four new witnesses to the murder, eventually leading to the re-opening of the case.
The recipient of many awards and honors, Chang has won four Emmys; the Philadelphia, Denver and Detroit Press Association Awards; and the Associated Press and United Press International Awards. Very active in Asian-American community affairs, Chang was both a national and local New York board member of the Asian-American Journalists Association. He also has been published in a number of magazines, including the Sunday New York Times and The Detroit News.
Chang received his bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School of Communications in 1972 and a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism in 1977. He is married and has a newborn son.
Dianne A. Monrose 2004 Valedictorian
"I had to believe that I was doing something for myself, something that nobody could take away from me." So says Dianne A. Monrose, about the six years she struggled to save money from her earnings as a babysitter and nanny for families in New Jersey and Brooklyn, some of whom were not thrilled about the idea of her going to college.
All the days of working multiple jobs to support herself, evenings spent in class and nights poring over her books have paid off as Monrose, now 32, is graduating at the top of her class at New York City College of Technology. On June 3, in The Theater at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, she will graduate with a bachelor of technology degree in computer information systems. She will also deliver the 2004 Valedictorian Address to more than 1,500 other graduates and thousands of their friends and family members.
On hand will be her nine-month-old daughter Gianne and her husband of four years, Gilford T. Monrose, a manufacturing coordinator at Scholastic who is also receiving his bachelor's degree in biblical and theological studies this June from Nyack College.
Monrose's journey began in 1992 when she came to New York at age 21 on a tourist visa from Jamaica and was urged by her father to stay because she would have a better future in America. As an undocumented immigrant, she was apprehensive about looking for a job because of the restrictive immigration laws. So she took babysitting and nanny jobs, all the time saving for college.
In Jamaica, Monrose had completed a three-year college program in hospitality management and thought of pursuing her studies in that area, but the field of computer programming won over. "I discovered I had a love for programming and problem solving when I took an introductory computer science course during my first semester at City Tech," she says.
While maintaining a full academic schedule, Monrose, an East Flatbush resident, has worked for the MTA-New York City Transit Authority since 2002. In addition, she has volunteered in Brooklyn's Fort Greene community through the College's TechCorps, where she helped neighborhood residents learn to use computers and write their résumés and worked as a teacher's aide at PS 46. She has also mentored teenagers and served the homeless through her church, Mt. Zion Church of God 7th Day.
Things became particularly hectic when she was pregnant, as she took six courses and worked 20 hours a week. "I don't know how I did it, but my faith in God kept me going. My husband, who is my greatest supporter, sometimes calls me 'Superwoman.' There were days I felt overwhelmed. He would say, 'Go get 'em, Tiger, you can do it!'"
Through all her responsibilities, Monrose maintained her 3.95 grade point average. She made the National Dean's List in 2000-2001 and was inducted into the College's Tau Phi Sigma and Phi Theta Kappa honor societies. She also received an award for community service from TechCorps (Americorps). She explains that in the last three years at City Tech she received financial aid covering about half of her tuition, including a scholarship for women pursuing careers in fields in which they are underrepresented from the Helena Rubinstein Foundation, which helped her stay in college.
Monrose says that her role models are her parents, especially her mother, who was a secondary school teacher in Jamaica before retiring. "I saw how she was dedicated to what she did, giving wholeheartedly to her students and in so doing was loved and respected by all. It's made me want to help people, too."
She is thinking of becoming a New York City Teaching Fellow after graduation and teaching mathematics and technology or trying for a full-time post at the MTA while working for a master's degree in education or business administration. Down the line, she and her husband might start their own business, possibly in publishing.
There's an inspirational quote that hangs in a hallway of the MTA that Monrose says pretty much sums up the way she wants to be in the world. "It says that whatever you do, do it with quality and excellence. 'Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it. Autograph your work with quality.' I strive to do this every day."
Marva Clark Gordon '69 President's Award Recipient
When Dr. Marva Loretta Clark Gordon was a high school senior in Camden, New Jersey, in 1964, she was selected by her drama teacher for the role of a maid in the school play. She refused the part, even though the teacher threatened to fail her.
"I stood my ground and informed the principal that my great-great-grandfather had been a slave and a boot smith to Abraham Lincoln, and that both my great-grandmother, who helped raise me, and my mother worked too hard to see me in such a menial position," says Gordon, whose father died in a car accident when she was a young child. Her resolve made local newspaper headlines and she went on that year to win the annual citywide speech contest.
Struggling to earn enough money to pay for college, she sacrificed sleep and worked full-time as a nurse's aide on the midnight to 8 a.m. shift and took classes in the mornings and evenings. In her first semester, she could only afford to take one course. In 1969, she graduated from City Tech with an associate's degree in nursing and was the class speaker (equivalent to valedictorian).
Dr. Gordon is being honored for her nearly three decades of leadership in the clinical, administrative and research areas of the nursing profession. Before retiring in 1997, she was associate chief of nursing service at the Cleveland Veterans Administration Medical Center and also held the position of associate chief of nursing research there. In addition, she held faculty positions as an assistant clinical professor of nursing systems at three universities in Ohio. She is also being recognized for establishing the Dr. Marva L. and Mr. John Gordon Scholarship Fund, demonstrating her strong commitment to future generations of City Tech students.
By far the top among her many fond memories of City Tech is meeting the man who became her husband of 32 years, John Llewellyn Gordon, who died on Thanksgiving Day 2001.
In addition to her AAS degree from City Tech, Dr. Gordon, who became pastor of Heaven Bound A.M.E.Church in Tucson earlier this year, holds a BA in sociology from Richmond College, an MA in sociology from Hunter College, an MS in community mental health from Long Island University, a BS in nursing from C.W. Post College, and an MPh and PhD in sociology from St. John's University.
The largest public college of technology in New York State, New York City College of Technology (City Tech) of The City University of New York is a recognized national model for urban technological education and a pioneer in integrating technology into the teaching/learning experience. Some 11,300 students currently are enrolled in 53 career-specific baccalaureate, associate and specialized certificate programs in 21st century technologies and other fields. Another 11,500 students are enrolled in scores of adult education and workforce development courses and programs. Located at 300 Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn, City Tech is at the MetroTech Center academic and commercial complex and is convenient to all public transportation.
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