[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 106 (Thursday, June 28, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1430-E1431]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             DR. MURIEL PETIONI HONORED BY BARNARD COLLEGE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 27, 2007

  Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to share with my colleagues 
here in the House, wonderful news about one of my constituents--one of 
Harlem's most beloved living legends--Dr. Muriel Petioni.
  In addition to her many accomplishments and awards, Dr. Petioni--
noted physician, community activist and educator--recently received 
Barnard College's highest honor when she received the Barnard College 
Medal of Distinction at the College's 115th Commencement Ceremony. 
Located in my 15th Congressional District in New York, Barnard College 
is an independent liberal arts college for women affiliated with 
Columbia University.
  Dr. Petioni was recognized for her commitment and tireless service to 
the Harlem community where she has worked for almost six decades to 
ensure that the residents receive the best quality healthcare possible. 
This remarkable woman is a true public servant, an advocate for all 
people, and a woman whom I am proud and honored to call my friend.
  Dr. Petioni--congratulations.

                       [From the New York Beacon]

      Dr. Muriel Petioni Receives Barnard College's Highest Honor

       Dr. Muriel Petioni, physician, educator, community 
     activist, and Harlem living legend, received the Barnard 
     Medal of Distinction--Barnard College's highest honor--at the 
     College's 115th Commencement ceremony May 15. The ceremony 
     took place on Barnard's historic Lehman Lawn in upper 
     Manhattan.
       Dr. Petioni was honored for her almost six decades of 
     service to the Harlem community, where she has worked 
     diligently to ensure that the underprivileged and 
     underserved, especially women and children, receive proper 
     medical attention and equal access to health care.
       Accompanying Dr. Petioni to Barnard's commencement were the 
     Honorable David N. Dinkins, 106th Mayor of the City of New 
     York; the Honorable Percy Sutton, former Manhattan Borough 
     President; Dr. James E. Gunther, pastor emeritus of the 
     Transfiguration Lutheran Church in Harlem; Dr. Conrad Graves, 
     founder and president of Central Harlem Inter-Agency 
     Programs; her son Charles (Mal) Woolfolk; Hanif Shabazz, 
     executive producer of Light Action Production; and Nicola 
     Barlow Licorish.
       ``It is hard to believe that Dr. Petrioni celebrated her 
     93rd birthday this past January. She has managed to do so 
     much and touch so many in such a short time,'' Mayor Dinkins 
     said. ``If asked, she will tell you that her secret lies in 
     her ability to (as she says) `go with the flow and ride with 
     the tide.' ''
       In addition to honoring Dr. Petioni, Barnard College 
     celebrated the achievements of distinguished actor and 
     playwright Anna Deavere Smith; acclaimed writer Joan Didion; 
     Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof; and vice 
     president of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and former 
     president of Bryn Mawr College Mary Patterson McPherson. All 
     five honorees were awarded the Barnard Medal of 
     Distinction, and Smith delivered a rousing keynote address 
     on the importance of art and activities.
       This year couldn't be more appropriate for Barnard, the 
     historic liberal arts college for women, to honor Dr. 
     Petioni. 2007 marks the 70th anniversary of her graduation 
     from Howard University Medical School, where she was the only 
     woman in the College of Medicine's Class of 1937. This 
     trailblazing accomplishment became only the first of many in 
     an illustrious career dedicated to community health care and 
     the advancement of women in medicine that has spanned eight 
     decades.
       ``Dr. Petioni's career is simply remarkable--not solely for 
     her extraordinary accomplishments and the many barriers she's 
     broken through, but for all that she has given back, to 
     Harlem, to medicine, and to generations of women who've 
     followed her,'' said Judith R. Shapiro, president of Barnard 
     College. ``We at Barnard are honored and humbled to present 
     Dr. Petioni with the Medal of Distinction.''
       The Barnard Medal is just one of many honors that have 
     recognized Dr. Petioni's achievements.
       The Dr. Muriel Petioni Hospital in Yele, Sierra Leone, West 
     Africa was established and named after her in May 2006, and 
     in April 2007, plans were announced for the creation of the 
     Dr. Muriel Petioni Charter School for health, scholarship and 
     community leadership in New York City, for students from 
     first grade to high school.
       Born in Trinidad and raised in Harlem, Dr. Petioni knew 
     from an early age that she

[[Page E1431]]

     wanted to follow in the footsteps of her physician father. 
     After graduating from medical school, interning at Harlem 
     Hospital Center (one of the first white hospitals to 
     integrate), and serving as a college physician at several 
     universities around the country, Petioni returned to Harlem 
     and set up a private practice in the same office her father 
     had used on West 131st Street. She treated patients in the 
     community for the next 40 years, sometimes making house 
     calls, primarily to the poor, the underserved, mothers with 
     small children, and the elderly.
       In addition to her private practice, Dr. Petioni worked 
     tirelessly to serve her community in other ways--serving for 
     thirty years as school physician in Central Harlem for the 
     New York City Department of Health, founding the Friends of 
     Harlem Hospital Center in 1987 to raise funds and provide 
     support for the 120-year-old hospital, and sitting on the 
     boards of numerous worthy organizations, including the Harlem 
     Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, the Columbia School of 
     Social Work, the American Cancer Society, the Harlem Council 
     of Elders, and the Handmaids of Mary.
       Perhaps Dr. Petioni's greatest influence though has been 
     felt by the generations of young female physicians she has 
     mentored and encouraged. Dr. Petioni not only personally 
     mentored countless individuals, but also built organizations 
     dedicated to the advancement of women in medicine. In 1974, 
     she founded the Susan Smith McKinney Steward Medical Society 
     for Women, a professional association dedicated to the 
     empowerment of black women physicians. In 1976, she 
     established the Medical Women of the National Medical 
     Association, now known as the Council for the Consensus of 
     Women, and served as its first president. Dr. Petioni has 
     also worked diligently with the Coalition of 100 Black Women 
     for over 25 years, developing a mentorship program to guide 
     young black women into careers in medicine.
       The idea was bold for its time. Founded in 1889, Barnard 
     was the only college in New York City, and one of the few in 
     the nation, where women could receive the same rigorous and 
     challenging education available to men. Today, Barnard is 
     among the strongest liberal arts colleges in the country, and 
     the most sought-after women's college.

     Increasing Diversity in Higher Ed Faculty Remains a Challenge

                            (By Ami Burger)

       Despite 30 years of affirmative action and hard work, the 
     ranks of faculty of color in higher education remain 
     frustratingly small.
       In 2003 (the most recent year for which data are 
     available), the Chronicle of Higher Education reported that 
     less than 12 percent of full professors in America were 
     people of color: six percent Asian, three percent African 
     American, two percent Hispanic, and 0.3 percent Native 
     American. For female faculty of color, the numbers are even 
     more dismal: In 2003, only 1.2 percent of full professors 
     were African American women, one percent were Asian women, 
     0.5 percent were Asian women, 0.5 were Hispanic women, and 
     0.1 percent were native American.
       Closer to home, the outlook isn't much brighter. The 
     University of Minnesota reported that four percent of its 
     full-time tenured faculty were people of color that year, the 
     same percentage as the University of Iowa, Purdue University, 
     and the University of Chicago.
       According to Nancy ``Rusty'' Barcelo, the University of 
     Minnesota's vice president and vice provost for equity and 
     diversity, those low numbers reflect the academy's need for 
     entirely new models in the faculty recruitment process. ``Our 
     advertising, our position postings, our mission statements, 
     our compacts--all of our institutional documents and actions 
     need to reflect that diversity is a core value in everything 
     we do,'' Barcelo says.
       Faculty diversity at the University of Minnesota is at the 
     heart of the U's ``Keeping Our Faculties: Recruiting, 
     Retaining, and Advancing Faculty of Color'' symposium. Held 
     at the University four times since 1998, Keeping Our 
     Faculties is the Nation's only conference focused entirely on 
     increasing faculty of color in colleges and universities. The 
     2007 conference, held April 12-14, attracted over 300 
     participants and presenters from 115 different institutions.
       ``The idea of merit is so ingrained into the culture of 
     higher education, but who's deciding what is `meritorious'?'' 
     asks Caroline Turner, who originated the idea of the faculty-
     of-color discussion while an assistant professor at the U of 
     M and is now a professor at Arizona State University. ``If 
     we're going to increase the numbers of faculty of color, we 
     need to redefine merit to include more than just these 
     academic journals or only those graduate schools,'' she says. 
     ``The lens has to be widened.''
       One notable success story in the effort to diversify the 
     faculty is the McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, 
     nine-week summer research-apprenticeships for undergraduates 
     who are first-generation, low-income, or part of groups 
     who are underrepresented in graduate programs. These 
     research apprenticeships, which are directed by a faculty 
     mentor, are designed to increase the rate of doctoral 
     program completion by these students.
       Hundreds of colleges and universities, including the 
     University of Minnesota, participate in the program, which 
     has shown significant success in building a ``pipeline'' of 
     students of color into graduate school. In 2003-04, more than 
     2,100 students participated in the program, and of those 
     students, more than 56 percent enrolled in graduate school in 
     the fall of 2004.
       The importance of mentoring graduate students and junior 
     faculty of color was a common concern of symposium attendees. 
     ``If there was one theme I heard repeated throughout the 
     conference, it was the need to provide mentoring for faculty 
     of color,'' notes Barcelo. A number of breakout sessions 
     focused on mentoring programs at institutions including the 
     University of Georgia, Creighton University, and Indiana 
     University, which have found some measure of success in 
     retaining faculty of color.
       ``I remember seeing a magazine ad years ago that said 
     `Great minds don't think alike,' '' adds Turner, ``and I 
     thought to myself, `Wow, they've got it right!' Academia will 
     not be able to keep up with the global economy and the 
     educational needs of our students if we don't have all our 
     minds--the minds of women, of racial and ethnic minorities, 
     of all underrepresented groups--at the table and in the 
     classroom.''

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