STANDING Brooklyn’s Biggest Booster
Doctors party for hospital’s b-day
FORT GREENE
It’s an early happy birthday to this
hospital!
Leaders of Fort Greene’s Brooklyn
Hospital Center began the celebrations
for its upcoming 175th anniversary
with an awards ceremony
recognizing local do-gooders and organizations
for their service to the
community over the last century.
The Kings County medical center,
which opened in 1845, doesn’t actually
turn 175 until next year, but hospital
leaders are marking the milestone by
bestowing 175 individuals and institutions
with awards for their contributions
to the borough at events over
the next three years, the fi rst of which
they hosted on Jan. 31, according to a
bigwig at the hospital.
“We’re leading up to the actual
anniversary with a year of programming
and awards to generate excitement,
also to point out the synergies
between other great institutions
and individuals who have helped to
make Brooklyn the most dynamic
borough in the world,” said Debbie
Niederhoffer, the chief development
officer of the hospital’s fund-raising
arm, the Brooklyn Hospital Foundation.
The first three award recipients
included Fort Greene Councilwoman
Laurie Cumbo; Fort
Greene Park Conservancy Associate
Director Julian Macrone,
who advocates and helps raise cash
for the neighborhood’s eponymous
green space; and civic guru Brad
Vogel, a board member of the Walt
Whitman Initiative, which promotes
the legacy of the late Bard of
Brooklyn, including his local literary
career and stint as an editor of
the old Brooklyn Daily Eagle —
which bears no relationship to the
current periodical of the same name
— as well as his time as a nurse-intraining
at the Brooklyn Hospital
Center, according to Vogel.
“Walt Whitman remains in these
ample hills. We can look for him
under our boot soles,” the honoree
said.
The fi rst awards ceremony was a
smashing success, helping to build
momentum as medical-center staff
continue with the multi-year anniversary
bash, Niederhoffer said.
“It was great excitement, was really
palpable,” she said. “As we go forward
in our celebration we’re going
to be uncovering a lot of tremendous
synergy.” — Julianne Cuba
DOWNTOWN
A new record
Standing O congratulates the justices
assigned to the Civil Term of
Kings County Supreme Court, who
last year completed more jury trials
and decided more non-jury cases
than justices in any other county in
COURIER L 38 IFE, FEB. 15–21, 2019 DT
the state, announced Justice Lawrence
Knipel (left).
The civil term
justices handle
non-criminal cases,
including name
changes, foreclosures,
and elderlaw
cases, among
others, according to
the New York State
Unifi ed Court System
, which added
that Brooklyn is
home to the busiest
civil term in the
Empire State.
The O salutes these speedy purveyors
of justice. — Julianne McShane
BROWNSVILLE
Hurray for Brookdale Hospital,
which partnered with Councilwoman
Alicka Samuel to donate
more than $4,600 worth of Samsung
tablets to a non-profi t education
group for use in its cutting-edge
robotics program for Brownsville
scholars.
Councilwoman Samuel handed
over the tablets — which were paid
for by the Brownsville medical center
— to reps for Elite Learners
amid a ceremony at PS 284 on Osborn
Street near Sutter Avenue on
Jan. 28.
Hospital honchos caught wind
of the need for the tablets, which
allow kids in School District 23 to
program and control Lego Mindstorm
automatons as part of the
education group’s Elite Robots curriculum,
after Samuels praised the
program at a meeting attended by
Brookdale’s head of IT, according
to Brookldale Vice President Khari
Edwards.
And it turned out Brookdale had
some left-over 10-inch tablets that
didn’t intergrate with the rest of its
systems, making the donation a nobrainer
for the medical center, according
to Edwards.
“It worked out amazingly,” he
said. — Colin Mixson
CLINTON HILL
Starting a new role
Three cheers for Pratt Institute’s
fi rst Vice President for
Communications and Marketing
James Kempster, who took the
helm on Feb. 4.
Kempster, who joined the Clinton
Hill institution last winter
and most recently served as its
interim Vice President for Institutional
Advancement, will be an
excellent asset to the team, bringing
his 30 years of communications
in education, according to
Pratt’s president.
“Jim’s comprehensive experience,
ambition, and creative vision
along with his dedication and
enthusiasm for Pratt, uniquely
position him for this leadership
role,” said Frances Bronet. “His
intellectual and professional capacities
and generosity are vast;
he is the ideal person to direct
Pratt’s efforts forward into its
next exciting phase.”
Kempster, who before joining
Pratt was the Assistant Vice President
for Marketing and Communications
at Brown University,
will lead a newly created communications
and marketing team,
which will support the university
and its mission by assisting
in public relations, marketing,
messaging, branding activity, as
well as marketing needs, enrollment,
fund-raising, and institutional
priorities.
Kempster said he is eager to
take on the challenge to continue
to support and grow the institution.
“We have an opportunity to
build a new collaborative communications
and marketing model
here at Pratt unlike any I have
experienced before in my career,
because our faculty, students,
staff, and alumni do the work of
design and storytelling in everything
they do,” said Kempster.
“Partnering with our colleagues
to promote their students and
programs, to co-own the Institute’s
brand, and to develop effective
new communications channels
will make my team’s work so
much richer, innovative, and supportive
to the Institute.”
— Julianne Cuba
TABLETS FOR EVERYONE!: From left, Councilwoman Alicka Samuel, students Savannah
McGarrell, Giani Wright, Amiyah Maxwell, and Na-Kaylee Thompson-Santos, and
Brookdale Hospital Vice President Khari Edwards. Photo by Steve Solomonson
Hospital gives tablets to PS 284