Vincent Boudreau
Dear Members of the City College Community,
I am deeply sorry to bring sad news, but Professor Judith Stein, a beloved member of our CCNY community, passed away Monday night. Dr. Stein was a distinguished professor in our history department, specializing in American history, particularly in areas of labor and civil rights history. She was a true CCNY intellectual in the very best sense of the word: her writing and research focused on issues of economic transformation, class struggle, and the search for justice in our society. In her embrace of these topics, she was as much a passionate advocate as academic analyst: her most recent public presentation on this campus addressed issues of what an academic institution should do when our values are under assault. As I listened to her speak, I remember feeling that I was hearing a truly authentic CCNY voice.
Professor Stein taught at CCNY for 50 years, and retired only last semester. Over the course of her work here, she wrote about the forces that shaped the conservative turn in American politics, drew a deeply engaging portrait of the global context in which Marcus Garvey lived and worked, and described the way political decisions undercut the American steel industry. In bringing these projects into her classroom, she treated decades and decades of City College students to a front row view of the pivotal issues of their time. We will all miss her voice and her sparking mind, and are vastly the better for the time she spent among us.
We will make details of her funeral or memorial arrangements available as we learn of them. We do know that a scholarship fund is being established in her honor.
Vince Boudreau
Interim President