It’s rainy today, but it’s still starting to feel like spring is really here.

Temperatures are warming up, flowers are starting to bloom, the New York region feels more vibrant than it has in a long time. Here at Pace University, we’re feeling a real sense of renewal and reinvigoration, too.

In New York City, we’ve nearly completed work on 161 William Street, where we’ve taken over the full building, where we have a new lobby just for us, and where, finally, big, bold Pace signage went up on the facade. In Pleasantville over the last few weeks, we had the chance to cheer on our Setters basketball teams—both women and men—in the NCAA’s March Madness, where the women made it to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2001. And at Haub Law, U.S. News has ranked our environmental law program as No. 1 in the country for the second consecutive year and the third time in four years.

We’re all excited for our first in-person Commencement in three years, at which we’ll celebrate this year’s Class of 2022 and also graduates from the Classes of 2020 and 2021. It’ll be our biggest and best Commencement ever, a huge celebration for 20,000 graduates and guests at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens. We’re going to have some big announcements coming very soon about honorees and speakers, and I can’t wait to see all our graduates in person. You can learn more about plans for Commencement 2022 here.

Finally, we’re just as focused on making Pace an even better place for our faculty and staff as we are for our students. We extended the survey window for the Great Colleges to Work For survey, which will help identify ways we can improve our workplace environment. Faculty and full-time staff, if you haven’t completed the survey I really hope you’ll do so by this Friday, April 8. Check your Pace email for your survey form, sent from surveys@modernthink.com.

I wish a Ramadan mubarak to all those who are currently celebrating, and a happy Passover and Easter to those who soon will be celebrating. Enjoy the spring.

Dyson College Assistant Professor of Political Science Kiku Huckle, PhD, has devoted much of her academic career to exploring complex questions related to the intersection of culture, identity, and politics. Immigration and immigration policy has increasingly been a focus of her work.

“My colleague Katsuo Nishikawa Chavez and I were chatting about projects, commenting how a lot of the immigration research we see is very United States-centric. We’re very much concerned with who’s coming in, what is their impact here, how can they become citizens,” says Huckle.

“But that leaves out this huge area of immigration politics that we’re not addressing at all—what happens when people leave?” she asks.

Particularly, Huckle and Nishikawa Chavez wanted to give voice to the stories of DREAMers. A name derived from the proposed Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, DREAMers refer to undocumented immigrants who entered the country as minors—sometimes as infants or toddlers—who face risk of deportation because they were not born in the United States. Some DREAMers, in fact, don’t find out they are not American citizens until applying for a job or college.

“But that leaves out this huge area of immigration politics that we’re not addressing at all—what happens when people leave?” Huckle asks.

“I actually found out because our school was pushing to send out college applications, so they were like ‘oh, just have this information ready,’” said one interview subject from Huckle’s documentary, The Price of a Dream.“ But when I asked my mom about the information, she said ‘You don’t really have it. You weren’t born here.’”

“My life in the US was pretty normal,” he added, “except that I didn’t know I was an immigrant until it was time to apply for colleges.”

Because the DREAM Act is a legislative proposal—it hasn’t been approved by the Senate to become law—DREAMers are encouraged to apply for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), a 2012 Executive order that enables DREAMers to work or study in the United States for a given period of time if they meet certain requirements. Yet, since one’s DACA status must continually be renewed (and its existence is constantly under threat) not all DREAMers opt for a life permanently in limbo—and instead return to the country they were born in, even if it is entirely unfamiliar culturally or linguistically.

“My life in the US was pretty normal,” he added, “except that I didn’t know I was an immigrant until it was time to apply for colleges.”

Huckle and her colleague were interested in shedding light on these stories—individuals who often identified themselves as American, but opted to leave once they became fully aware of their status and the uncertainties and obstacles it rendered. Thus, with a grant from the Migration Narrative Project (funded by the Henry Luce foundation) Huckle and Nishikawa Chavez were able to travel to Leon, Mexico, where they interviewed five DREAMers who decided to return to their birth country—ultimately concluding that building a life in Mexico as legal citizens was preferable to staying in the United States.

The interviewees—who grew up in different areas of the United States and had different life experiences in America—discussed the reasons for leaving. They discussed the lack of security in the United States, the sheer amount of jobs closed off to them, lack of benefits, and constant threat of deportation.

“In the states I was doing menial jobs, manual labor, my whole education was a waste. Here, I actually feel like my education is serving me something. I am somebody here, I have a career, I can upgrade…there’s opportunity here,” said one interviewee.

“Undocumented students cannot get in-state tuition. Even if I would’ve been accepted to a public university, they might’ve charged me for out of state tuition, which is about three times more,” noted another interview subject. “Even if I graduated with a bachelor’s degree, I wouldn’t’ve been able to work, because I didn’t have a Social Security Number.”

Yet, they also discussed the immense difficulties of leaving the country where they had long considered home—and contributed to in the same manner as any legal citizen.

“I don’t fully understand Mexico that well,” said another interviewee, “Yeah, I know I’m Mexican by birth, but that’s about it,” said one interviewee. “Getting used to the expressions, the way people speak, people are very quick to pick up you’re not from here.”

The uncertain status of these individuals can also make for some incredibly heart-wrenching stories. One interview subject was split from his family after being deported, missing his mom’s funeral and the birth of his son, who were in America. His partner, also a DREAMer, decided that she would return to Mexico with their newborn son, so they can raise the family together and continue to have a life together. Had she stayed in America, the mere prospect of seeing one another would have been incredibly difficult and risky.

“My mom’s buried (in the states) I’d like to go drop off some flowers, say hi,” he said. “I missed my mom’s funeral, I missed the birth of my son…those are things I can’t get back. You can’t get time back.”

The documentary explores poignant questions of identity and belonging—a common thread amongst the interviewees is that their status renders them in an “in-between” state, where they don’t feel like they belong entirely in either country. As Huckle notes, the power of individual stories can give a human element to the issue, and can perhaps help shape policy.

“These are really good people who are being treated unfairly,” said Huckle. “If we could reshape our understanding of ourselves and recognize that the way that we treat people makes our country better or worse, that will help us understand a better approach to immigration.”

We encourage you to watch The Price of a Dream, available for viewing below.

The increasing synergy between healthcare and machine learning technologies. Understanding how big data is revolutionizing the business world. The relationship between environmental sustainability and the financial markets. These are just a few of many interdisciplinary realms that are increasingly working in concert in the 21st century—something that Pace faculty is committed to exploring through research and scholarship, while preparing students for the challenges ahead.

On April 7, Pace’s Office of Research and Graduate Education invites you to The Future of Pace, an interdisciplinary online conference featuring panel discussions and faculty research presentations, as well as a keynote address by Dan Porterfield, president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a global nonprofit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society.

The primary goal of the conference is to bring together faculty to help Pace address its future needs through scholarship and academic programs. The conference also hopes to encourage greater interdisciplinary cooperation among faculty with overlapping interests and use Pace’s Strategic Plan as a guideline to help foster innovative scholarship.

Register for The Future of Pace Conference

“The new Strategic Plan has identified four areas of academic opportunity—technology and business, health, wellness, and sciences, sustainability and justice, and arts, humanities—for our faculty to develop new scholarly programs," said Associate Provost for Research Avrom Caplan, PhD. "The conference is arranged around those themes with the goal of getting faculty to talk about their work among their peers.”

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The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University will bestow the 2022 Robert S. Tucker Prize for Prosecutorial Excellence on Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark and the Bronx District Attorney’s Office, in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the field of criminal prosecution and excellence in prosecutorial practice.

“District Attorney Clark, along with the entire Bronx County District Attorney’s Office consistently work towards the end goal of a fair and just criminal justice system for all, with an emphasis on criminal justice reform. The last two plus years of the global pandemic have been challenging for our entire criminal justice system, however, Darcel Clark and the Bronx County DA’s office have not skipped a beat and have stuck to DA Clark’s mission – pursuing justice with integrity,” said Dean Horace E. Anderson Jr. “It is our privilege to recognize her with the Tucker Prize for Prosecutorial Excellence, along with the entire Bronx DA’s office, many of which we are proud to call Haub Law alumni.”

The Elisabeth Haub School of Law has had the privilege to enjoy a long history with District Attorney Clark and the Bronx District Attorney’s Office. In 2016, District Attorney Clark was honored by Haub Law with the Pioneer of Justice Award. The Pioneer of Justice award recognizes and celebrates the achievement of phenomenal women in our society who are breaking glass ceilings and laying down foundations for a more equal future. Additionally, throughout the years, DA Clark has participated in several events at the law school, including a prosecution roundtable sponsored by Haub Law’s Criminal Law Society. Throughout the years, dozens of Haub Law alumni have worked at the Bronx County District Attorney’s office, with 51 currently employed in capacities such as Assistant District Attorneys, Supervisors, Bureau Chiefs, and more.

Darcel Clark became District Attorney for Bronx County on January 1, 2016. She is the first woman in that position and the first African-American woman to be elected a District Attorney in New York State. Since serving as District Attorney, Clark has enacted a vertical prosecution model to streamline the criminal charging process, while also implementing reforms to address wrongful convictions and administrative case backlogs. Since becoming elected, she has opened the Rikers Island Prosecution Bureau focused on investigating crimes committed by inmates and visitors, the Public Integrity Bureau which investigates corruption and crimes by public servants, government employees and elected officials, and the Conviction Integrity Bureau. The Conviction Integrity Bureau was created when DA Clark took office and, in addition to handling wrongful convictions, it recently moved to dismiss 500 old convictions that relied on a detective who was later charged with perjury. She has also pioneered initiatives focused on drug avoidance and recovery, a Bronx Community Justice program, and focused many of her efforts on positively engaging the Bronx community, such as the Saturday Night Lights program, where kids can play basketball and soccer or engage in other activities in a free, safe place.

Clark is co-chair of Prosecutors Against Gun Violence, and a Board Member of both the National District Attorneys Association and the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York. Before her election as District Attorney, Clark served as an Associate Justice for the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division, First Department; a New York State Supreme Court Justice in Bronx County; and a Criminal Court Judge in Bronx and New York Counties. She begin her legal career at the Bronx District Attorney’s Office, where she prosecuted drug felonies, violent crimes and homicides, and eventually served as a Supervising Assistant District Attorney in the Narcotics Bureau and the Deputy Chief of the Criminal Court Bureau. A lifelong Bronx resident, Clark was raised in public housing and educated in public schools. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Boston College, where she serves as a member of the Board of Trustees, and her law degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C.

“District Attorney Clark’s remarkable career has been a testament to the values and commitment to equal justice that we seek to honor with this award,” said Robert S. Tucker, Chairman and CEO of T&M, whose generous gift has endowed this annual award. “DA Clark’s push to crack down on gun crimes and gang violence has been matched only by her tireless efforts to achieve true criminal justice reform and fairness for residents of the Bronx. She has fought for the rights of the mentally ill to ensure that the system seeks treatment whenever possible before jail. She has been a steadfast champion of ethics and integrity and has worked hard to give our prosecutors the resources and support they need to keep our city safe. We are so grateful to present her with this award as recognition of her extraordinary achievements in public service.”

The Robert S. Tucker Prize for Prosecutorial Excellence is awarded annually to an individual or a group of individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the field of criminal prosecution and who demonstrate excellence in prosecutorial practice. Honorees are selected each year by a jury comprised of former prosecutors and faculty members from the Elisabeth Haub School of Law. The award ceremony brings together Assistant District Attorneys from across the region and state, civic leaders, members of the judiciary, New York City government and the Haub Law community to recognize these distinguished individuals for their work. The prize is made possible by the generous support of Haub Law alumnus and Pace University Board of Trustees member Robert S. Tucker. Past Award Recipients include, Eric Gonzalez, Brooklyn District Attorney, Barbara Underwood, New York Attorney General, and Richard Brown, Queens District Attorney.

The ceremony for the Robert S. Tucker Prize for Prosecutorial Excellence will be held on Tuesday, April 26 at 6:00 p.m. at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University. For additional information on the ceremony, please contact Christie Wisecarver.

“I always said jokingly as a kid, I wanted to run a bodega.”

Denise Santiago, PhD, director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, has been with Pace for more than two decades. Over the years, she couldn’t help but notice some of her students were hungry, often worrying about their meal plans and sharing where free food could be found. “It wasn’t out of greed,” she explains. “It was out of hunger and necessity. I read up on the literature knowing this is not just an issue specific to Pace, but nationwide.”

She’s right. Food insecurity is a pervasive problem, but it’s especially prevalent on college campuses. According to a 2019 survey, 39 percent of college students had experienced food insecurity in the 30 days prior to the survey. A 2020 survey found that 52 percent of students had visited a food bank, while 30 percent frequently relied on the services of a food pantry.

Santiago knew that her students were hungry, sometimes relying on a single meal a day, or prioritizing MetroCards and textbooks rather than groceries. Santiago was determined to help—and she set her eyes on creating a campus food pantry.

“Provisions is my bodega.”

In 2015, she conducted a survey to gauge how many students were likely food insecure, using the federal poverty level as an indicator. The number? Close to 1,500 students were living below the poverty line. The data, though, could not tell her how many were living at or slightly above that line—and those students were likely prioritizing tuition and housing costs over food. It was evident that the need was significant.

It wasn’t easy, and it didn’t happen overnight, but in 2019 the Provisions food pantry opened. The generous donation of a faculty donor secured the food pantry as an institution on Pace’s NYC Campus, and it was renamed Provisions, a Bhandari Jain Family Food Pantry, named after the faculty member and in honor of the Jain religion, which holds the motto Parasparopagraho jīvānām, or soul renders service to another.

Provisions now serves approximately 250 guests, some of whom belong to the Pace Active Retirement Community (PARC). A recent student initiative, Fare Trade, helped Provisions partner with Invisible Hands, a delivery service that can now deliver Provisions food boxes to members of PARC. Four student volunteers dedicate about fourteen hours a month to provide twice-monthly food distribution. Whereas many food pantries offer a few days’ worth of meals, Provisions offers up to two weeks of food (depending on household size).

Santiago is still at the center of Provisions, a Bhandari Jain Family Food Pantry. Knowing that her students can find support when they need it is both a point of pride, and of humility. “It brings a lot of joy. And then people send us these wonderful emails, really thanking us. We don’t do it for the thanks, but it just humbles you.” She now finds her childhood dream of a bodega has been realized, proudly saying, “Provisions is my bodega.”

Need food resources in Westchester or Haub Law? We’ve got our community covered. Check out the Mobile Food Pantry in Pleasantville and Haub Law’s recently launched pantry.

Pace’s New York City and Westchester LGBTQA+ Centers have even more reason to feel proud.

In late February, the Leonard-Litz Foundation awarded the centers a $23,000 grant as part of their mission to "help LGBTQ+ people fulfill their potential....by funding organizations which advance the interests and well-being of the LGBTQ+ community through advocacy, programs, and services that meet the needs of LGBTQ+ people.”

Pace’s LGBTQA+ Centers have reflected this mission for years through leadership events, support groups, advocacy initiatives, and identity development services. Associate directors LaDarius DuPree and Rachel Simon applied for the grant to help fund their annual Q-Camp leadership retreat and a new program, the TGNCNB (transgender, gender nonconforming, nonbinary) and QTPOC (queer and trans people of color) Leadership Series.

Q-Camp seeks to disrupt that notion; Q-Camp seeks to heal.

Q-Camp has been a beloved event since 2015, bringing LGBTQA+ students from both Pace campuses together for an intensive leadership retreat. DuPree believes Q-Camp helps confront the misconception that LGBTQA+ people exist not as leaders but as outsiders, on the margins of society. He says, “Q-Camp seeks to disrupt that notion; Q-Camp seeks to heal.” One of the camp’s attendees echoes the importance of creating a queer-identified community, saying, “Q-Camp is important for LGBTQA+ students at Pace University because it gives students a space to really exist and feel safe in a space with other queer kids; it is imperative that queer kids get those spaces.”

The TGNCNB and QTPOC Leadership Series will bring experienced facilitators to the New York City and Westchester Pace campuses to provide semester-long engagement with undergraduate students in identity-specific spaces, not only to further offer support and engagement for queer students, but to help them go even further. According to DuPree, “Through our work, Rachel and I are fostering the next generation of Queer greats; a connected community of Setters that will go forth and add a little more vibrance to this world.”

More than anything, this grant reaffirms the importance of, as DuPree describes it, blending queer discourse with leadership development. With this new grant, there is little question that Pace’s LGBTQA+ Centers will continue to elevate queer voices and cultivate exceptional leaders.

Learn more about Pace’s LGBTQA+ Centers, and check out their resources, upcoming events, and more.