6/23/2008
Beacon Conference Recognizes Student Scholars
Note to Editors: A 300 DPI Press Image is available at the following URL: http://www.bergen.edu/pr/Beacon300.jpg
Bergen Community College hosted the sixteenth annual Beacon Conference for Student Scholars at Two-Year Colleges on June 6, 2008. Established in 1993, the annual conference and competition recognizes, celebrates and showcases the achievements of outstanding two-year college students in academic research and writing.
Students from 17 colleges in five states participated in the Beacon Conference. Local participating institutions included Bergen Community College (Paramus), Dutchess Community College (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.), Rockland Community College (Suffern, N.Y.) and Westchester Community College (Valhalla, N.Y.). Other students traveled from colleges in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
The students worked with mentors to submit papers that demonstrate outstanding scholarship and originality in 18 academic subject areas.
All submitted papers were read and ranked by three judges; the top three papers in each category were selected for presentation at the Beacon Conference. The fourth-place paper was included in a “poster” presentation session held in the Anna Maria Ciccone Theatre at the College prior to the awards ceremony at the conference’s conclusion. The outstanding presenter and the presenter’s mentor were recognized at the awards ceremony; each received a $100 prize.
In the American literature category, Bergen student Jack D. Hildebrand (Bergenfield) won the “Outstanding Presenter” award for his work, “Constructing Middleness: Hawaiian Identity in Deborah Iida’s Middle Son.” He was mentored by Bergen professor Dr. Geoffrey Sadock.
The conference was co-directed by Bergen professors Dr. Dorothy Altman, Dr. Alan Kaufman and Dr. Maria Makowiecka.
“We are proud of the way the Bergen Community College faculty, students and staff worked together to host an outstanding conference,” Dr. Altman said. “We are especially proud of our ‘Outstanding Presenter’ award winner Jack D. Hildebrand and the other Bergen student presenters who participated in the highly competitive Beacon Conference 2008.”
Fourth-place award winners and poster presenters from the College were: Lee Z. Ifhar (Cresskill) for “Much More Than a Farm: Rock as an Educational Instrument,” mentored by Stacey Balkan; Sheila Denise Kennedy (Fort Lee) for “A River of Depth of Two Phantoms: Response to Huckleberry Finn,” mentored by Mark Altschuler; and Humberto Martinez (River Edge) and Anthony Pone’s (Mahwah) “New Ways Students are Coping With Higher Textbook Prices,” mentored by Dr. Barry Freeman.
Other participants from the College were: Stephanie Zambrano (Saddle Brook) for “Girl(s) Interrupted,” mentored by Stacey Balkan; Sharon Lowery (Edgewater) for “A Quest to be Heard,” mentored by Dr. Maria Makowiecka; John Hendricks (Ramsey) for “The Fiend in Frankenstein,” mentored by Dr. Dorothy Altman; Kevin M. Corrigan (Oakland) for “The Institution of Slavery as Presented in the Accounts of Olaudah Equiano and Harriet Jacobs,” mentored by Dr. Dorothy Altman; and Chantal Wolf (Ridgewood) for “To Age Gracefully or Not, That is the Question,” mentored by Anne S. Maganzini.
During the Beacon Conference, visitors were encouraged to tour Gallery Bergen – an eight-month old art gallery at the College – which featured Professor Theo Solomon’s “Women, Kids, Children and Babies,” a collection of photographs taken in the artist’s travels around the world.
For additional information on the Beacon Conference, please visit www.beaconconference.org
Bergen Community College is a public two-year coeducational college, enrolling more than 15,000 students in Associate in Arts, Associate in Science, and Associate in Applied Science degree programs and certificate programs. More than 10,000 students are enrolled in non-credit, professional courses through the Division of Continuing Education, the Institute for Learning in Retirement, and the Philip J. Ciarco Jr. Learning Center, located at 355 Main Street, Hackensack. Information about the College is available at http://www.bergen.edu or by phoning the Welcome Center at 201-447-7200.