HNY WELCOMES THREE NEW BOARD MEMBERS
Herman Bennett is Professor of History at the Graduate Center who has most recently published: African Kings & Black Slaves: Sovereignty and Dispossession in the Early Modern Atlantic (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019). His previous books include: Africans in Colonial Mexico: Absolutism, Christianity & Afro-Creole Consciousness, 1570-1640 (Indiana 2003) and Colonial Blackness: A History of Afro-Mexico (Indiana 2009). Since 2013 he has been the Executive Officer (EO) of the Educational Opportunity & Diversity Programs (OEODP) at the Graduate Center. As EO of the OEODP, Director of the CUNY Pipeline Program, and the Project Director of the GC’s Black Male Initiative, he administers various enrichment, mentoring, and fellowship programs aimed at under-represented minorities both at the graduate and undergraduate level.
Aside from his administrative experiences working with under-represented communities, as a scholar and teacher of the African diaspora Professor Bennett has vast experience training graduate students, producing PhDs and mentoring junior faculty. The American Historical Association, in recognition of his service as mentor alongside his contribution to institutional inclusion and transformation, awarded him the 2013 Equity Award.
Wendy Rosenthal Gellman is an attorney in New York, NY. She served as Senior Counsel & Senior Advisor to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio in the Mayor’s Office of Appointments. Ms. Gellman previously served as Senior Counsel & Senior Policy Advisor to United States Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY). She specialized in legislative issues, policy, and government grants regarding education, the arts, cultural institutions, historic sites and tourism. She co-taught a Fordham University Law School legislative project course on student loans.
Ms. Gellman is a graduate of New York University School of Law, where she was a member of the editorial staff of the New York University Law Review. Ms. Gellman previously practiced law as an associate with the firm of Richards & O’Neil, and the firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. A graduate of Cornell University, College of Arts & Sciences, Wendy volunteers in many capacities for Cornell. She established an annual lectureship in modern English literature. She is a member of the Cornell University Council, the President’s Council of Cornell Women, and served as an alumni class officer. Ms. Gellman also serves as an officer and board member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation of Cornell, Inc.
Ms. Gellman was also the Founder and Chairperson of the Advisory Board of the Coalition for the Homeless’ Camp Homeward Bound, a summer sleep-away camp for homeless children.
Lindsay Kryzak is the Director of Corporate Communications for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Before joining PANYNJ, Lindsay worked in Washington for U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer for nearly a decade, serving as Speechwriter and later Director of Digital Media. Lindsay also managed digital communications for Senator Schumer’s political arm and campaigned on Senate races in Montana, Alaska, and Nevada. Lindsay is an active alumna of two institutions with robust Humanities curricula, the University of Rochester (Rochester, NY) and St. Paul’s School (Concord, NH), and sits on the Alumni Advisory Council for Indian Mountain School. Lindsay is a Dutchess County native and lives in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn with her dog, Mr. Lincoln.
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