2015-2016 Writing Fellows

David Bridges

I am a PhD candidate in Music Composition at the CUNY 

Graduate Center. My dissertation is focusing on the use of the chromatic lower neighbor motion as an agent in creating an isomorphic structure and dramatic locus in Stravinsky’s The Fairy’s Kiss. As a composer, clarinetist, and conductor I have worked with many performers and ensembles and currently am on the board of directors for The Astoria Choir. I teach music appreciation and various music theory courses at the Brooklyn College Conservatory. As a returning WAC Fellow I am working with faculty to develop effective writing in their classes, collaborating with the research librarians to tutor students writing research papers, continuing the WAC/Thesis collaboration, and developing my own courses around WAC principles.

My signature project for this year is curating projects of current and previous WAC fellows on this ePortfolio site.

Emily Channell-Justice

I am a PhD candidate in Anthropology at the CUNY Graduate Center. My dissertation research project followed young political activists during the 2013-2014 mass mobilizations in Ukraine. I examine how they engage with the changing nature of state practices and the use of violence during protest. I look specifically at education-based and feminist activism to understand how some activists are more or less marginalized from mass protest because of their political ideologies. I have been an adjunct lecturer in Anthropology at John Jay College since 2010. I speak French, Ukrainian, and I am studying Romanian for my next research project. I am a new WAC Fellow at BCC and am working with faculty to develop and enhance writing-based and writing-intensive courses.

Svetlana Jovic

I am a PhD candidate in developmental psychology at the CUNY Graduate Center. My current research explores some of the ways in which socioeconomic and racial/ethnic backgrounds predispose young people to seeing the world, and other people in it, as more or less just and trustworthy. I spent three years teaching psychology at Hunter College, and presently, as a visiting lecturer, I teach at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.

As a returning Writing Fellow at Bronx Community College, I serve as a liaison to the Social Science and Business Departments helping faculty develop their writing assignments. In addition, I co-facilitate the WAC/Thesis project I conceptualized and initiated with a former fellow, Jennifer Chancellor, in the fall 2013, which entails developing and implementing a campus-wide writing assignment to engage students in creative writing activities allowing them to express their knowledge and thinking about the course content in ways that are seldom used in the college classroom.

In collaboration with the Pratt Center for Community Development, and together with a Writing Fellow, Jennifer Pipitone, I am also conducting a Participatory Action Research (PAR) with BCC student – a photo-narrative ethnography of the South Bronx. 

Basil Lvov 

I am a PhD candidate in Comparative Literature at the CUNY Graduate Center and an ABD at Moscow State University’s School of Journalism, Department of Literary Criticism. I am writing a dissertation comparing the 1920s debate among the Russian Formalists over quantitative methods of literary scholarship with the ongoing debate in American academia over digital humanities. One of the figures of my dissertation is Boris Yarkho, who applied mathematics and statistics in his study of literature, anticipating digital humanities by decades. As a Formalist, I believe that learning how to write is crucial not only for good style but sharp and creative thinking. My goal as a writing fellow is to work with my colleagues from BCC in developing writing assignments and teaching techniques in order to help students improve their learning and communication skills through writing. In doing this, I created my WAC signature project Icebreakers for Teaching Language and Literature, which can be found here under "English".

Jennifer M. Pipitone

I am a PhD candidate in Environmental Psychology at The Graduate Center, CUNY and a visiting lecturer at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. My current research explores the ways in which engagement with the physical environment shapes student cultural, environmental, and self-awareness within two study abroad programs in Morocco and Indonesia. Previously, I taught for three years in Hunter's Psychology Deparment, and completed two years as a Graduate Research Fellow with John Jay's Research & Evaluation Center and two years as a Research Associate with the Provost's Undergraduate Research Initiative at Hunter College. 

As a WAC Fellow, I serve as a liason to the Health, Physical Education & Wellness (HPEW) department, and to the Geography & Environmental Sciences faculty in the Chemistry department. My goal is to support faculty in weaving experiential learning activities paired with structured reflective writing into their lesson plans in effort to assist students in personalizing, contextualizing, and thinking critically about class material. Additionally, I am collaborating with Svetlana Jovic, a returning WAC fellow, to conduct a community-based Participatory Action Research (PAR) project with BCC students entitled "Photo Narratives for Change: Toward Youth-Inclusive Communities in the South Bronx." 

For my signature project, I collaborated with the HPEW faculty to create an online resource book that blends writing with experiential education to promote skills-based learning for their community health certificate program: Writing + Experiencing Community Health

Christian Siener

I am a doctoral student in Geography at the CUNY Graduate Center where I study urban political economy. My dissertation focuses on the politics, history, and infrastructure of New York City's extensive homeless shelter system. As a new WAC fellow at BCC this year, I am working with the Engineering, Physics & Technology and Modern Languages Departments to develop their existing Writing Intensive courses.